Willis the Pilot : A Sequel to the Swiss Family Robinson

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  WILLIS FALLS IN WITH THE SLOOP ON TERRA FIRMA, INSTEAD OF AT THEBOTTOM OF THE SEA, AS MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED--ADMIRAL CICERO--THEDEFUNCT NOT YET DEAD.

  The corvette, notwithstanding the multitude of British cruisersscattered about the ocean, and the other dangers that beset her, heldon the even tenor of her way. A gale sprung up now and then, but theyonly tended to give a filip to the common-place incidents recorded inthe log. This quietude was not, however, enjoyed by all the persons onboard. Willis was a prey to violent emotions; and so it often happens,in the midst of the profoundest calm, storms often rage in the heartof man.

  Whether in reality or in a dream, Willis declared that CaptainLittlestone paid him a visit every night, and invariably asked himprecisely the same questions. On these occasions, Willis asserted thathe distinctly heard the door open and shut whilst a shadow glidedthrough. That he might once, or even twice, have been the dupe of hisown imagination, is probable enough; but a healthy mind does notpermit a delusion to be indefinitely prolonged--it struggles with thehallucination, and eventually shakes it off; providing always the mindhas a shadow, and not a reality, to deal with, and that the patient isnot a monomaniac. The dilemma was consequently reduced to thisposition--either Willis was mad, or Captain Littlestone was on boardthe _Boudeuse_.

  In all other respects, Willis was perfectly sane. He himself searchedevery corner of the ship, but without other result than a confirmationof his own impression that there were no officers on board other thanthose of the corvette; and yet, notwithstanding his own conviction indaylight, he still continued to assert the reality of his interviewswith Captain Littlestone during the night. The Italians say, _Lasperanza e il sogno d'an uomo svegliato_. Was Willis also dreamingwith his eyes open? Might not the wish be father to the thought, andthe thought produce the fancy? There is only one other supposition tobe hazarded--could it be possible, in spite of all his researches,that Willis did see what he maintained with so much pertinacity he hadseen?

  These questions are too astute to admit of answers without dueconsideration and reflection; therefore, with the reader's permission,we shall leave the replies over for the present.

  On the 12th June a voice from the mast-head called "Land ahoy!" muchto the delight of the voyagers. The land in question was the island ofSt. Helena. This sea-girt rock had not at that time become classicground. It had not yet become the prison and mausoleum of Napoleon theGreat. The petulant squabbles between Sir Hudson Lowe and hisillustrious prisoner had not been heard of. Little wotted then theproud ruler of France the fate that awaited him, for, when the_Boudeuse_ touched at the island, all Europe, with the singleexception of England, was kneeling at his feet.

  On the 30th the Island of Ascension was reached. Here, in accordancewith a usage peculiar to French sailors, a bottle, containing a shortabstract of the ship's log, was committed to the deep. Willis thoughtthis ceremony, under existing circumstances, would have been betterobserved in the breach than the observance, for, said he, if a Britishcruiser picked up that bottle within twenty-four hours, she stood achance of picking up the _Boudeuse_ as well.

  On the 15th July the peak of Teneriffe hove in sight This remarkablebasaltic rock rises to the extraordinary height of three thousandeight hundred yards above the level of the sea; it is consequentlyseen at a considerable distance, and constitutes a valuable landmarkfor navigators in these seas. Six weeks later the _Boudeuse_ droppedanchor in the Havre roads.

  Here the three adventurers had to encounter by far the greatestmisfortune that had as yet befallen them. The continental system ofNapoleon was then in force. The importation of everything English orIndian was strictly prohibited. The cargo the young men had broughtwith them from New Switzerland, which already had escaped so manyperils, was, therefore, declared contraband, and seized by the French_fisc_--an institution that rarely permitted such a prize to quit itsrapacious grasp.

  Behold now our poor friends, Fritz and Jack, in a strange land,deprived at once of their fortune and their chance of returninghome--the two beacons that had cheered them on their way! All theirbright hopes of the future were thus annihilated at one fell swoop.Their fortitude almost gave way under the severity of this blow; theexcess of their distress alone saved them. Grief requires leisure togive itself free vent; but when we are compelled, by absolutenecessity, to earn our daily bread, we cannot find time for tears; andsuch was the case with Willis and his two friends; they were herewithout a friend and without resources of any kind whatever.

  If they had only known Greek and Latin; if they had only been halfdoctors or three-quarter barristers, or if even they had been doctorsand lawyers complete, it would have sorely puzzled their skill to haveraised a single sous in hard cash. Fortunately, however, whilstcultivating their minds, they had acquired the art of handling a sawand wielding a hammer. The blouse of the workman, consequently, fittedthem as well as the gown of the student, and they set themselvesmanfully to earn a living by the sweat of their brow. They werecarpenters and blacksmiths by turns, regulating their occupations bythe grand doctrines of supply and demand.

  Jack alone of the three was defective in steadiness; he only joinedWillis and his brother at mid-day. What he did with himself during theforenoon was a profound mystery. He rose before daybreak, anddisappeared no one knew where, or for what purpose. His companions inadversity endeavored in vain to discover his secret; he was determinedto conceal his movements, and succeeded in baffling their curiosity.To judge, however, by the ardor with which he worked, he was engagedin some one of those schemes that are termed follies before success,but which, after success, are universally acknowledged to be brilliantand praiseworthy instances of industrial enterprise.

  If, after a hard day's work, when assembled together in the littleroom that served them for parlor, kitchen, and hall, the power ofregret vanquished fatigue, and sadness drove away sleep, then Jack,who compared himself to Peter the Great, when a voluntary exile in theshipyards of Saardam, would endeavor to infuse a little mirth into thelugubrious party. If all his efforts to make them merry failed, allthree would join together in a humble prayer to their Heavenly Father,who bestowed resignation upon them instead.

  If Willis and his two friends were not accumulating wealth, at allevents they were earning the bread they ate honestly and worthily.They had all three laid their shoulders vigorously to the wheel andkept it jogging along marvellously for a month. By that time, adetailed report of the seizure of their property had been placedbefore the director of the Domaine Extraordinaire, who was thesovereign authority in all matters pertaining to the exchequer of theempire. He saw at once that this capture was extremely harsh, andprobably thought that, if it became known, it would raise a storm ofindignation about the ears of his department. Here were two youngmen--Moseses, as it were, saved from the bulrushes. Lost in the desertfrom the period of their birth, and ignorant of the dissensions thenraging in Europe, they were unquestionably beyond the ordinaryoperation of the law. This will never do, he probably said to himself;the civilization which these two young men have come through so manyperils to seek ought not to appear to them, the moment they arrived inEurope, in the form of spoliation and barbarism.

  The name of this _extraordinary_ director of Domaine Extraordinairewas M. de la Boullerie, and, when we fall in with the name of a reallygood-hearted man, we delight to record it. He felt that the two youngmen had been hardly dealt with, but he had not the power to order arestitution of the property, now that the seizure had been made, andsundry perquisities, of course, deducted by the excise officials.Accordingly, he referred the matter to the Emperor, who commanded thegoods to be immediately restored intact. Napoleon, at the same time,praised the functionary we have named for calling his attention to themerits of the case, and thanked him for such an opportunity ofrepairing an injustice.[I]

  There are many such instances of generosity as the foregoing in thecareer of the great Emperor--mild rays of the sun in the midst ofthunderstorms; sweet flowers blowing h
ere and there, in the bosom ofthe gigantic projects of his life--which many will esteem more highlythan his miracles of strategy and the renown of his battles. Asnothing that tends to elevate the soul is out of place in this volume,we may be permitted to insert one or two of these anecdotes.

  In 1806, Napoleon was at Potsdam. The Prussians were humbled to thedust, and the outrage of Rossbach had been fearfully avenged. A letterwas intercepted, in which Prince Laatsfeld, civil governor of Berlin,secretly informed the enemy of all the dispositions of the Frencharmy. The crime was palpable, capital, and unpardonable. There wasnothing between the life and death of the prince, except the time toload half a dozen muskets, point them to his breast, and cry--Fire.The princess flew to the palace, threw herself at the feet of theEmperor, beseeched, implored, and seemed almost heart-broken. "Madam,"said Napoleon, "this letter is the only proof that exists of yourhusband's guilt. Throw it into the fire." The fatal paper blazed,crisped, passed from blue to yellow, and the treachery of PrinceLaatsfeld was reduced to ashes.

  Another time, a young man, named Von der Sulhn, journeyed from Dresdento Paris; unless you are told, you could scarcely imagine for whatpurpose. There are people who travel for amusement, for business, fora change of air, or merely to be able to say they have been at suchand such a place. Some go abroad for instruction, others, perhaps,with no other object in view than to eat frogs in Paris, bouillabaisseat Marseilles, a polenta at Milan, macaroni at Naples, an olla podridain Spain, or conscoussou in Africa. Von der Sulhn travelled toassassinate the Emperor. Like Scaevola and Brutus, he, no doubt,imagined the crime would hand down his name to posterity. In youth,all of us have erred in judgment more or less. Sulhn thought theEmperor ought to be slain. Unfortunately for him, the Duke of Rovigo,the then minister of police, entertained a different opinion. Hethought, in point of fact, that the Emperor ought not to be killed:hence it was that the young Saxon found himself in chains, and thatthe Duke went to ask the Emperor what he should do with him. We ought,however, to mention that the young man, in his character of anenlightened German, testified his regret that he had not succeeded incarrying out his project, and protested that, in the event ofregaining his liberty, he would renew the attempt. "Never mind," saidthe Emperor to the duke, "the young man's age is his excuse. Do notmake the affair public, for, if it is bruited about, I must punish theheadstrong youth, which I have no wish to do. I should be sorry toplunge a worthy family into grief by immolating such a scapegrace.Send him to Vincennes, give him some books to read, and write to hismother." In 1814, the young man obtained his liberty, his family, andhis Germany, and it is to be hoped that he afterwards became arespectable pater-familias, a sort of Aulic councillor, and that,during the troublesome times in the land of Sauerkraut, he was before,and not behind, the barricades of his darling patria. If he be dead,it is to be supposed that, instead of lying a headless trunkignominiously in a ditch, or in the unconsecrated cemetery of Clamort,he is reposing entire in the paternal tomb.

  On the 15th of March, 1815, the Emperor landed at Cannes--he hadreturned from the island of Elba. On the beach he was joined by oneman, at Antibes by a company, at Digne by a battalion, at Gap by aregiment (that of Labedoyer), at Grenoble by an army. The hearts ofthe soldiers of France went to him like steel to the loadstone--firsta drop, and then a torrent; the Empire, like a snowball, increased asit progressed. At Lyons, the Count of Artois, the setting sun, isobliged to go out of one gate the moment that Napoleon, the risingsun, comes in at another. Smiles, orations, triumphal arches, and eventhe discourses that had been prepared to welcome the Bourbons, wereused to congratulate their successor on his return. Cockades and flagswere altered to suit the occasion, by inserting a stripe of red hereand another of blue there. One national guard, but only one, remainedfaithful to the Bourbons; he would neither alter his cockade nor hiscolors, and remained true to his patrons in the hour of disaster.Everybody asked, what would the Emperor do with him? Would he beimprisoned or banished? Neither; the Emperor sent him a cross of theorder of merit! It is, no doubt, grand to have overthrown thebrilliant army of Murad Bey in Egypt; to have vanquished Melas,Wurmser, and Davidowich in Italy; Bragation, Kutusoff, and Barclay deTolly in Russia; Mack in Germany; and thus to have reduced the entirecontinent of Europe to subjection. But it appears to us that a stillgreater feat was the victory he gained over himself, when, in themidst of the fever excited by his return, and the animosity ofparties, he gave this cross to the solitary adherent of misfortune.Having made these slight digressions into the future, it is properthat we should return to our story.

  The mysterious roads of Providence do not always lead to the placesthey seem to go; it often happens that, when we expect to be swallowedup by the breakers that surround us, we are wafted into a harbor, andthat we encounter success where we only anticipated disappointment.The rigorous enactments of the continental system, that the other dayhad ruined the two brothers, became all at once the source ofunlooked-for wealth; for, on account of the scarcity of colonialproduce, a scarcity dating from the prohibitory laws promulgated in1807, the merchandise of the young men had more than quadrupled invalue.

  From the grade of hard-working mechanics they were suddenly promotedto the rank of wealthy merchants. They consequently abandoned thelaborious employments that for a month had enabled them to live, andto keep despair and misery at bay. Willis, greatly to hisinconvenience, found himself transformed into a gentleman at large,which caused him to make some material alterations in the manipulationand quality of his pipes.

  Fritz busied himself in collecting in, the by no means inconsiderablesums, which their property realised. He did not value the gold for itsglitter or its sound, he valued it only as a means of enabling himselfand his brother to return promptly to their ocean home. Jack undertookthe task of finding a scalpel to save his mother--doubtless adifficult task; for how was he to induce a surgeon of standing toabandon his connexion, his family, and his fame, and to undertake aperilous voyage to the antipodes, for the purpose of performing anoperation in a desert, where there were neither newspapers to proclaimit, academicians to discuss it, nor ribbons to reward it? As for thegentlemen of the dentist and barber school, like Drs. Sangrado andFontanarose of Figaro, the remedy was even worse by a great deal thanthe disease. But, as we have said, Jack promised to find a surgeon,and the research was so arduous, that he was scarcely ever seen duringthe day by either Willis or his brother.

  To Willis was confided the office of chartering a ship for thehomeward voyage, and there were not a few obstacles to overcome inorder to accomplish this. French ship-masters at that time engaged invery little legitimate business; they embarked their capital inprivateering, prefering to capture the merchantmen of England torisking their own. One morning, Willis started as usual in search of aship, but soon returned to the inn where they had established theirhead-quarters in a state of bewilderment; he threw himself into achair, and, before he could utter a word, had to fill his pipe andlight it.

  "Well," said he, "I am completely and totally flabbergasted."

  "What about?" inquired the two brothers.

  "You could not guess, for the life of you, what has happened."

  "Perhaps not, Willis, and would therefore prefer you to tell us atonce what it is."

  "After this," continued Willis, "no one need tell me that there are nomiracles now-a-days."

  "Then you have stumbled upon a miracle, have you, Willis?"

  "I should think so. That they do not happen every day, I can admit;but I have a proof that they do come about sometimes."

  "Very probably, Willis."

  "It is my opinion that Providence often leads us about by the hands,just as little children are taken to school, lest they should betempted to play truant by the way."

  "Not unlikely, Willis; but the miracle!"

  "I was going along quietly, not thinking I was being led anywhere inparticular, when, all at once, I was hove up by--If a bullet had hitme right in the breast, I could not have been more staggered."


  "Whatever hove you up then, Willis?"

  "I was hove up by the sloop."

  "What sloop?"

  "The _Nelson_."

  "Was it taking a walk, Willis?" inquired Jack.

  "Have you been to sea since we saw you last?" asked Fritz.

  "If I had fallen in with the craft at sea, Master Fritz, I should nothave been half so much astonished. The sea is the natural element ofships; we do not find gudgeons in corn fields, nor shoot hares on theocean. But it was on land that I hailed the _Nelson_."

  "Was it going round the corner of a street that you stumbled upon it,Willis?" inquired Jack.

  "Not exactly; but to make a long story short--"

  "When you talk of cutting anything short, we are in for a yarn," saidJack.

  "And you are sure to interrupt him in the middle of it," said Fritz.

  "Well, in two words," said Willis, knocking the ashes out of his pipe,"I was cruising about the shipyards, looking if there was a condemnedcraft likely to suit us--some of them had gun-shot wounds in theirtimbers, others had been slewed up by a shoal--and, to cut the mattershort--"

  "Another yarn," suggested Jack.

  "I luffed up beside the hull of a cutter-looking craft that had beencompletely gutted. But, changed and dilapidated as that hull is, Irecognized it at once to be that of the _Nelson_. Now do you believein miracles?"

  "But are you sure, Willis?"

  "Suppose you met Ernest or Frank in the street to-morrow, pale,meagre, and in rags, would you recognize them?"

  "Most assuredly."

  "Well, by the same token, sailors can always recognize a ship theyhave sailed in. They know the form of every plank and the line ofevery bend. There are hundreds of marks that get spliced in thememory, and are never forgotten. But in the present case there is noroom for any doubt, a portion of the figure head is still extant, andthe word _Nelson_ can be made out without spectacles."

  "But how did it get there?"

  "You know, Master Fritz, it could not have told me, even if I hadtaken the trouble to inquire."

  "Very true, Willis."

  "I was determined, however, to find it out some other way, so Isteered for a cafe near the harbor, where the pilots and long-shorecaptains go to play at dominoes. I was in hopes of picking up somestray waif of information, and, sooth to say, I was not altogetherdisappointed."

  "Another meeting, I'll be bound," said Jack.

  "My falling in with the _Nelson_ astonished you, did it not?"

  "Rather."

  "Then I'll bet my best pipe that this one will surprise you stillmore. You recollect my comrade, Bill, _alias_ Bob, of the _Hoboken_?"

  "Yes, perfectly."

  "Then I met him."

  "What! the man who had both his legs shot off, and died in consequenceof his wounds?" inquired Jack.

  "The same."

  "And that was afterwards thrown overboard with a twenty-four poundshot tied to his feet!" exclaimed Fritz.

  "The same."

  At this astonishing assertion the young men regarded Willis with anair of apprehension.

  "You think I am mad, no doubt, do you not?"

  "Whatever can we think, Willis?"

  "I admit that my statement looks very like it at first sight, butstill you are wrong, as you will see by-and-by. I could scarcelybelieve my eyes when I saw him. 'Is that you, Bill Stubbs,' says I,'at last?'

  "'Lor love ye!' says he, 'is that you, Pilot?'

  "He then took hold of my hand, and gave it such a shake as almostwrenched it off.

  "'Where in all the earth did you hail from?' he said. 'I thought youwere dead and gone?'

  "'And I thought you were the same,' said I, 'and no mistake.'

  "'Alive and hearty though, as you see, Pilot; only a little at seaamongst the _mounseers_.'

  "'But what about the _Hoboken_?' says I.

  "'What _Hoboken_?' says he.

  "'Were you not aboard a Yankee cruiser some months back?'

  "'Never was aboard a Yankee in all my life,' says Bill.

  "And no more he was, for he never left the _Nelson_ till she was highand dry in Havre dockyard; so, the short and the long of it is, that Imust have been wrong in that instance."

  "So I should think," remarked Fritz.

  "Yet the resemblance was very remarkable; the only difference was acarbuncle on the nose, which the real Bill has and the other has not,but which I had forgotten."

  "Like Cicero," remarked Jack.

  "Another Admiral?" inquired Willis, drily.

  "No, he was only an orator."

  "Bill soon satisfied me that he was the very identical William Stubbs,and that the other was only a very good imitation."

  "He did not receive you with a punch in the ribs, at all events, likethe apocryphal Bill," remarked Jack.

  "No; but what is more to the purpose, he told me that, after havingstruggled with the terrible tempest off New Switzerland--which yourecollect--the _Nelson_ found herself at such a distance, that CaptainLittlestone resolved to proceed on his voyage, and to return again asspeedily as possible.

  "'We arrived at the Cape all right,' added Bill, 'landed the NewSwitzerland cargo, and sailed again with the Rev. Mr. Wolston onboard. A few days after leaving the Cape, we were pounced upon by aFrench frigate; the _Nelson_, with its crew, was sent off as a prizeto Havre, and here I have been ever since,' said Bill, 'a prisoner atlarge, allowed to pick up a living as I can amongst the shipping.'"

  "And the remainder of the crew?" inquired Fritz.

  "Are all here prisoners of war."

  "And the Rev. Mr. Wolston and the captain?"

  "Are prisoners on parole."

  "Where?"

  "Here."

  "What! in Havre?"

  "Yes, close at hand, in the Hotel d'Espagne."

  "And we sitting here," cried Jack, snatching up his hat and rushingdown stairs four steps at a time.

  Willis and Fritz followed as fast as they could.

  When they all three reached the bottom of the stairs.

  "If Captain Littlestone is here, Willis," said Jack, "he could nothave been on board the _Boudeuse_."

  "That is true, Master Jack."

  "In that case, Great Rono, you must have been dreaming in thecorvette as well as in the Yankee."

  "No," insisted Willis, "it was no dream, I am certain of that."

  "Explain the riddle, then."

  "I cannot do that just at present, but it may be cleared up by-and-by,like all the mysteries and miracles that surround us."

  FOOTNOTES:

  [I] This circumstance is historical, and will be found at length inthe Memoirs of Napoleon, by Amedee Goubard.