The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 168: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a eee THE MYSTERIES. 155 rns een pentane But it was then too late to amend the step he had taken—-too late to retrace his way. He could not quit the vessel, now that she was fairly under weigh like a bird upon the wing ;—and he therefore resigned himeelf to the fate which forced him epon this Voyage across the Atlantic — consoling himeelf, moreover, with the thought which flashed to his mind, that it would be alike safer and easier to nego- who, hs well knew, were able to procure i, and whose influence he could command ! The vessel in which he had embarked was a schooner: it was small, but a fast-sailer and an excellent sea-boat ;—and in the rough weather which was speedily encountered, it fully justified all the praises that the captain was wont to bestow upon his “craft.” Fortunately for Ramsey, there was not a sou! on board who had ever seen him before the occasion of his embarkation; nor did the remotest shadow of a suspicion exist that he was otherwise than what he professed to be—“ Mr. Gustavus Wake- freld, a merchant.” A month passed, we say, since the good schooner Fire-Fiy put out of the Mersey on her voyage to New York. During this interval, as we heve tikewise ob- served, she encountered some tempestuous weather: bat she weathered it all, though somewhat impeded m her course by the adverse winds with which she had at times to contend. More than two-thirds of the distance were however accomplished by the expiration of the fourth week; and Ramsey had already laid down, in a methodical manner, the various plans which he intended to adopt on his arrival in the States, when an incident occurred which changed his position, his thoughts, and his schemes with a bewildering suddenness. The extreme beauty of the weather had called Ramsey one morning from his hammock at an earlier hour than usual. He went upon deck as the sun‘ was about to rise in all that splendour which is most irresistibly overpowering alike to the physical view and the mental conception, upon the broad expanse of ocean. Dark clouds of neutral tint covered the heavens, save in the eastern horizon: and there, in the spot whence the orb of day was to beam upon the world, the sky was of a sombre brown. Reader, you have beheld the gradient flaming ur of the red fire upon the stage of a theatre, — how gra- dimlly it appears and then rises behind the scenery, until 1¢ flames from wing to wing, and from floor to roof, involving the whole place in a blaze of mimic glory. If you have seen this effect of art, gentle reader, when well inanaged and in aspacious theatre, ~—then may you form an idea of how the sun, on the morning whereof we are writing, rose behind those sombre brown clouds which lay piled up, mass upon mass and Jayer apon layer, in the east- ern horizon. And first those elouds began to shine Gimly, like a far-off conflagration: then, lighting up as if with an internal fire penetrating through them, they exchanged their sombre hues for glorious tints of the richest purple and the most vivid crim- son. Soen the edges of the clouds kindled into borders of burnished gold, brightening into fringes of living fire: until the luminous effulgence spread farther and wider over the horizon, and thence rolled itself on and on in a sheet of dissolving light, which gilded at last the entire canopy of heaven! ' And now this flood of living gold revealed a - nn ans & os vessel in the distance—far a-head of the Fire- Fly. Ramsey stood watching her as she seemed to be sailing through the blaze of luminous glory which thus bathed her. Presently the captain of the Fire-Filyg who had been examining her with his giass for some time, exelaimed in a tone of that she was “putting about.” The mate of the schooner took the telescope in his turn and scruti- nised the ship a-head, which was pronounced to be a large brig; and he likewise expressed amase- ment at the course which she was adopting. Ram- sey now ventured to inquire the cause of the astonishment thus inspired by the movements of the stranger-vessel ; and he was informed that she must either be distressed for provisions, or else a pirate. This latter alternative startled the resuscitated criminal; and the captain, observing the mingled alarm and surprise which Ramsey's countenance very naturally denoted, hastened to explain himself more fully. “You see, Mr. Wakefield,” he said, “ it isn't right that that vessel should put about unless it wanted to speak with us. Now there can't well be more than two reasons why it should. The fust is, that it’s in distress for provisions;—and the second is —that it’s a pirate on the look out for any craft smaller than itself.” “ And which do you think is the more probable ?” asked Ramsey, his tone and manner both indicating a feeling of uneasiness. The captain rolied his quid over from one side of his mouth to the other—gave a long and solemn stare at Ramsey —hitched up his breeches —and said at length, “ Well, sir, since you ax me for the candid truth, I’m blowed if I don't think she’s a pirate—’cos she don’t put up no colours, and ‘cos she looks too taut and neat about her rigging to have anything like famine a-ailin’ the crew.” Having thus spoken, the captain proceeded to consult the mate; and the half-dozen sailors form- ing the rest of the crew of the Fire-Fly speedily gathered near the spot where their officers were conversing. The opinion that the stranger-vessel was “no good,” became general; and the schooner hoisted all canvass in order to run away from her. But the brig was enabled to bear rapidly down upon her; and when escape was seen to be impossible, the captain of the Fire-Fiy summoned his crew around him — distributed cutlasses and pistols — and made the following harangue :— “My friends, you can see as well as I can that there’s somethink more than suspicious about that there brig which is dropping down upon us. It may be that she’s commanded by some lubber as doesn’t know when to haul up his colours so as to show a friendly aspeck ; ‘but I’m werry much afeard ‘she'll tarn out a wixen. In this caso, my friends, we've on’y one dooty to perform—which is to de- fend the good ship Fire-Fég till tne werry last. And now, my nien, mark me when I say that if this suspicious-looking craft does prove a rum customer, I for one wilt sooner go to Davy Jones’s locker than haul down our colours or give up our owners’ property to a parcel of buocaneering wagga- bones.” This speech was loadly applauded by the few brave fellows to whom it was addressed: but Ram- sey stood at a distance — moody, silent, and with a gad foreboding in his mind, as he kept his eye (COU (C DOO (CO