Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

~. a a {on oe a — —_ J Vaan Bee in * eh p “that she had to steer close to the wind—a point - in whicha pear ship is always ata dis- w -advantage compar ith a sloop or schooner. The wind, however, was so stroug that the ship was able to sail at a greater rate than the schooner, and they could see that the Pomona _ was steadily gaining on the smalier vessel at every foot of progress. . Still the Saucy Jane did not hurry herself in . the least or spread another sail, but kept on her course steadily under fore and mainsail, with her two topsails, a jib and flying-jib, while ber staysails and extra jibs were ret in the gas- ie as if she did not intend to use them at At last the frigate got so close to her that she yawed from her course and fired a gun at the American vessel, t Ferris, who was watching the whole scene through the glass, exclaimed, as he saw the shot £0 skipping along the water: “Fallen short, by Heaven! Do you know what metal the Pomona carries, Rogers?” The old artillery sergeant replied at once: ** Yes, your bonor, cert’nly, Got the name and guns of every wessel ever was On the sta- tion.’ , And he rummaged through an old memoran- dum-book, which he produced from one of tha drawers in the office, and announced: ‘Ere it is, your honor: Pomona, frigate, carries thirty-height twelve-p’unders of ’er broadside; a sixty-height-p’under, carrynade, on the quarter-deck, as a stern-chaser, and six car- rynades, of twenty-four p'und, on the fo’k’stle. hat’s hall, your honor,” Ferris began to look [Sang >, § ‘‘Only twelve pounders,” be said, ‘“ Why, confound it, Rogers, that little hooker has a thirty-t wo-pounder long gun aboard, for I saw it when 1 was a prisoner.” Rogers gave a dry sniff, ‘*Wery well, your honor; then hall as I can say won't make much difference. That ’ere frigate ain't goin’ to ketch that ere scaooner, onless the master of the schoooer wants to be come up with.” : ‘* But surely, Rogers, you don’t mean to say that you think that little craft cau seriously think of fighting the frigate?” Rogers sniffed again. “T ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about that, your honor, but ball I saysis this *ere—if that schooner don’t want to be taken, hail she’s got to do is to shoot away some of the frigate’s spars, and she need not bs taken at hall.” As if to verify the soundness of old Rogers’s rediction, at that instant the Pomona fired ber roadside at the schooner, and they could see the shots skipping over the sea, like a shoal of flying fish, all of them dropping short of their mark in the water. Tben the schooner suddenly threw ber bows up into the wind, and, after a chort pause, fired her single gun, with a far deeper report than those of the frigate had made, though not in a broadside like hers; and they saw the shot go skipping over tae water and strike the frigate aasene n the bull, entering vear the bow and raking the deck diagonally. “Good shot!” muttered Rogers, with the pro- fessional enthusiasm of an old arti:Jerist; ‘ that feller knows, how to sight a gun, by the Lord Harry! That took the frigate plump in the ull, and must ’a’ killed arf a dozen fellers, if so be they ’appened to be in the way, your honor.” That sbot seemed to settle the fate of the chase, for the time being. The Pomona fired no more; but kept on her course oe | after the impudent little priva- teer, just as the Belvidera had done, off Sandy Hook, in the sure hope that, when she came up witb the American, she would be sable to blow ber out of the water, with her vastly superior broadside. | So the chase was resumed and kept up for several minutes longer, when old Rogers ob- servod; . “That’ere schooner is a goin’ to fire again, our honor, By the Lord Harry, she’d better o it, or the Pomona will ’ave ’er, as sure as heggs is heggs. She's a-gainin’ on ‘cr, ball the time, in this wind,” he spoke, the schooner, which had been on her course, once more luffed up into the wind, and fired her long gun at tae frigate. This time the shot did not skip over the sea as before, and Rogers said, in bis sententious way: * Hel’wation that time, your honor, Sailors is a-lookin’ hup, with their gannery, nowadays. I remember when they never thought of sich a thing as @ sight or a hel’watin’ quadrant. Used to say they was bonly fib for sogers, ' Look at that, yaur honor, Missed that time, by, the livin’ Jingo.” The exclamation was called forth by the splash of the shot in the sea, far beyond the omona; showing that the gunner of. the schooner had overshot bis mark, The large ship replied with a broadside, and the shots came so close to the schooner, that Ferris said eagerly: te **A little more, and she will be witbin fair gunshot, ers,” ‘That's what I think, your bonor; and what makes me wonder what the Yankee feller can »* ; P 7 ate Sere) - - The Saucy Jane, Privateer. ——_ —_—_ 4. Se be a-thinkin’ of, to let ’er git so close, without | struggle was over at last, be threw himself on puttin’ hup more of bis sails.” “Oh, he’s an impudent scoundrel, Rogers; | and there is nothing he will not doin the way | of daring. But be has met bis match this time, I bope.” The officer watched the contest through the glass now, with an absorbing anxiety that he did not attempt to conceal. The frigate was evidently nearing her prey, and the schooner, for the first time since the chase bad begun, spread ber lighter sails, and | began to hold her own a little better than be- fore, **She’s been a-playin’ slow, your honor, I’m | thinkin’,” remarked Rogers, as he watched the | chase from the window through the long tele- scope. ‘‘The frigate ain’t a-gainin’ no more, world.” indeed, the course of the two vessels had now become more even than before. The frigate sailed faster than the schooner, but, not keep- ing a course so close to, the wind, was constant- ly obliged to tack, in order to keep near enough to the small vessel to have a chance of using her guns, Now that the Saucy Jane had spread ber light sails, the rate of sp ed was more equal, | while the schooner retained all her advantage, as to the angle she was able to present to the wind, The great altitude at which the two watchers | were placed gave them a view of the horizon that covered a radius of nearly twenty-five | miles, and enabled them to see what was going | on in the two vesse!s—as if they had been placed down in a pit, for their express delecta- tion, They saw the frigate, slowly but surely, drawing righ to the schooner again, and then the smail vessel luffed, aud fired her long gun, for the third and last time. Ferris uttered a groan of inexpressible disap- pointment, as he saw the effect thereof. | For that sbot struck and brought down the | foretopmast of the frigate, with the immediate result of throwing her up into the wind to re- pair damages, while the little schooner skimmed away, totally uninjured. The English officer uttered a deep curse as be | saw the spectacle, of wreck whieh the frigate | presented after that successfulshot. He thought | that the chase was over; but he bad forgotten | the marvelous powers of recuperation of a man- | of-war, with a strong crew and a full supply of spare spars, Even while they were looking, they saw the top of the Pomona all black with men, and the wreck of the foretopmast was cleared away in | a space of time that seemed incredibly short to the lookers-on, till she was sailing away again as fast as ever, and with no appearance aboat her of ever having been injured. The captain of the Pomona evidently knew | his business well enough to keep on the chase > of the schooner, and he continued it right along | till the two vessels, pursuer and pursued, grew dim on the horizon, and finally vanished in the limitless blue of the Atlantic. } Then Ferris came down to the Government House, and went in to the broken-down old Govy- ernor, to give bim the information that tbe schooner had gone, with Lady Jane; and that there was no likelibood of their ever seeing it egain, He was rather surprised to find that the old earl received the news with indifference, and seemed to have recovered in a measure his (quanimity, after the blow which bad come upon him, Me was as listless as ever; but did not seem to be stupefied, as he had been in the early morn- ing. ‘Gone, is she?” be said, when the aide-de- camp Communicated the intelligence. ** Well, Ferris, what of it? Suppose we had caught the scouidrel, what good would that have done to Jane? No, no, my boy, she bes goneand I sball never see her again, It is settled, and she has gone over to the enemy. Let her go. She is dead to us, benceforth, and you must remember that, when you are asked any questions,” Ferris promised, and the old man seemed to be more satisfied; for it was bis pride that had been wounded so severely; and that was com- forted by the thought that be could deny the fact of his daughter being alive, till after the war was over, and thus put off, for a time, the dreaded exposure to the ridicule of ‘* those Whigs ” that he hated so bitterly and feared so much, on account of their bitter and sarcastic articles. Tbe Earl of Gowrie was a favorable speci- men of the man who has been brought up in/| the firm belief that the opinion of the small cir- ee cle of people, that constitute the Englist aris- tocracy, is essential to bappiness in this world and the next, and that, if one can only keep well with them, the rest of the world can go without heed. Ferris, on the other hand, bad been as much in luve with Lady Jane as it was ble for a man of his personal attractions be; and he was very much cut-up, about the whole affair. z g, in his desperation, that the whole a | or if she do, it’s honly the least mite in the | | | his horse, took a long and rapid ride’in the mountains above Kingston, and soon bad bis beast in a lather of sweat from. the way in which he punished it, till he came to a gorge in the mountains, from which be had a good view of the ocean once more, What was bis surprise to see, in the middle of the field of vision, the identical schooner that had beeu chased out of sight in the southeast that morning, pow io the offing in front of Kingston, flying a sigual which be recognized as belonging to the English code, He scoured the borizon for the frigate; but for a long time could not see ber. At last be found a speck, down in the southeast, wbich he imagioed-mu:t be the Pomona, but it was clear~ ly out of the question for ber to think of cateh- ing the privateer. As he watched the Saucy Jane, he saw her tacking to and fro, just as she bad been doing when the frigate pounced on ber; and it be- came evident tbat she had come to the same piace as before, to keep the promise made by Blair, the night before, that S would stay in sight of the pert ** for twenty-four hours,” Ferris could not restrain a certain sense of admiraticn for the daring of the man who had been bis successful rival in the effections of Lady Jeune; but he made up his mind to go down to the port at once, to learn what was the desire of the privateersman in signaling in the way ‘be did, lie bad an idea that there was something in all that would give him one more chance to re- trieve bimself with Lady Jane, could he only kill the privateersman, Re rode down in baste, and reached the out- skirts of the town in time to see the schooner within a mile of the pier, stili flying the signal, while a boat was.rowing from her sides toward the port, and already so near that be could -dis- tinguish in the stern-sheets the fi:ure of Eaton, the officer who bad been second in command of © the privateer when he bad been captured the day before. In the stern of the boat was a flag of truce, and the pier-head was full of curious loungers waiting to see what bad brought the Yankee back after the appearance of the frigate that, as they all imagined, had chased her away for good, if not captured ber; the action which bad been witnessed by Ferris and Rogers from the semaphore-tower baving been so tar off that the people of the port had been unable to know what was going on, except that they had heard a great firing of guns far away in the distance aud bad seen the disappearance of the sails of pursuer and pursued under the horizon. Ferris managed to get to the pier-head.in time to receive the emissary of Blair with courtesy, and to ask him his business, as the aide-de-camp of the Governor. Eaton touched bis cap in answer to the salute of the aide, and told him that be carried a letter to the Governor, which be was instructed to de- liver to no one else but Lord Gowrie person- aly. ree, with astiff bow, replied that, as the. Governor’s aide-de-camp, be was accustomed to see all of the official correspondence that passed between Lord Gowrie and otber persons. ‘** This letter is not cfficial, but private,” was Eaton’s reply, in a manner as stiff as his own. ‘Itis a letter from Lady Jane Blair, bis ex- cellency’s daughter, and if you stop it, sir, you way beve cause to regret it all the rest of your life as his lordship will mostassuredly.” — ‘‘In that case, sir,” said Ferris, still more stiffly, * eur leave me no option but to announce you fortbwitb, but you must remember that you bave come bere under a flag of truce, it is true, but also uninvited, and must not expec be protected by it if your communication is not according to the laws of war.” : * Certainly not, sir. I am not asking any favors. You have the right to refuse to receive me, buf you should bave fired a sbot at this boat before she got as near as this if you had wisbed to warn me c ff.” ‘There is no need to warn you off at all. You take your life into your own hand when you come into Kingston to-day, after tbe way in which you bebaved last night,” retorted Ferris, hotly. “I would have you Eaton, that if it were not for the person you bave on board, I shouldorder you to be taken at once and hung to the nearest tree, a6 an ex- ample to all Yankees of your way of behavior, But, as it is, 1 have no option but to take you to the Governor,” : CHAPTER XVIII. THE SURRENDER. ey THE passage to the Government House was a gloomy one for Ferris. He felt that he bad _ en discourteous to a stranger who deserved | different treatment; but he was so much in- censed at the audacity of the privateersman’s visit, under the circumstances, that be could not make up bis mind to do what he knew he ought to re So be passed to the presence of the old Governor without speaking a word to Eaton, and nced the envoy to his chief, without any ceremony t the (E(@) JOO S ANKE a