Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

— ao — | sa ~ - - ' chance to ketch a Yankee, i hope Cap Blair will + their darned old ships!” “As 20 said the last words in a choking voice; and Lord Gowrie was rowed away from the side of the Saucy Jane, and took a straight course to- ward the frigate, which had already managed to get rid of the lost foremast and was rigging up a jurymast to take her into port. There are limits to the power of even a fri- gate to repair damages; and the loss of a fore- mast at the part below decks is enough to com- el any vessel to go to port, where she can get nto a dock, The boat of the Saucy Jane was manned by six sturdy rowers, and old Folger, the mate, was in commaad. out no more, I guess; but if Jobnnay Bull won’t let us out, for fear be won’t never git another | sink bis darned old frigate for bim, and show him that Yankees ain’t afraid of no odds,” Then the boat went on its way toward the | frigate, and they saw it approach her and put the earl aboard. There was a long pause, during which the men of the Saucy Jane watched anxiously for the return of the beat; and then they saw it at last, rising and falling in the trough of the sea, as it came back to the schooner. When it got alongside again, Blair saw that something bad happened; for Folger was loox- ing as black as a thunder-cioud, and the men were all scowling, as if they had been = ia- sulted. The Saucy Jane filled her mainsail and hauled close to the northwest belore Blair said any- thing to his mate. Toen he asked Folger; ‘What is the matter with you? glisbmen insult you?’ Folger broke out at onee with a virulence | that showed how angry he was, and how he bad been keeping in his indignation before, **Tnsult warn’t no name fur it, Cap, They’re the meanest cusses [ ever seen in all my life, darned if they ain't! What do yous’pose they wanted to do?” **T don't know.” “Well, sir, they bad the cheek to want to press Sim Fish, as I’ve knowed fur twenty-nine year, sence he’s b’en to sea in ships along with me; and they wanted to swear that be was a Britisher, by gosh, and a deserter from oue of ee Did the En- ——__ to them that | ** Well, and what did you sa rom the press- | induced them to let Sam off ang?” | ‘* Told ’em, by gosh, that if we warn't let | back to the schooner in the same order we eame, | we'd see if our long gun wouldn’s carry fur | enough to sink his darned old frigate. I tell ye | what itis, Cap: they’re afraid of the long gun, | you kin bet your boots every time. I b’lieve they wouldn’t bave jet Sam out of their darned old ship, if it hadn’t b’en that they was, That | last shot of Mr. Eatons went clear through the heel of the foreraast, and they think we can put our shots just where we want them,” ‘| guess we can, Folger; but, all the same, it | isa long figbt for one gun, however big, to get the best of thirty-eight. It takes too long to pick | the enemy to pieces. / ad so they iet you off at last, did they?” | ‘Yes, sir; but I ain’t.so sure they would if it hadn't ben fur the oid gent as was sent to em in the boat. He allowed as how they couldn’t | take anybody ous of the voat without what he called a breach of some sort.” “A breach of the law of nations, I sup- | “ Guess so, sir; and anyhow, what he said made ’em give up Sam, though they was hot to take him, and to coax the schooner alongside so as to be able to sink her at one broadside.” ». Is that their game, Folger? Well, lam glad | We won’t trouble the gentle- I know in time. We will go there | men to coaw us alongside, - without coaxing, some day when we are ready to have a fight and no ladies onboard, For the esent, 1 think the best thing we can de is to turn our course for the United States, and see what we can pick up on the way.” | Folger Jooked at the British frigate in a re- Td like to git even with the cusses; but if gin’t to | vengeful manner. , **Gawl darn their skins!” he muttered, _be denied that they bave got a most moastrous | big ship, and it would take a power of hammer- ing to kn ock it to pieces. Cappen, do you know | ' what the British captain called us when we was a-goin’ over, the side? A gang of pirates, by | osh! We onghto’t to stand that, ought we?” Blair looked over at the English ship, that | was moving off at a slow pace under ber jury- rjast, and observed in a dry way: “Well, Folger, if they call us pirates, they cannot but admit that we fought our vessel as well as ever a pirate was fought. Oa the whole, I think that the substantial results of this affair are with us, and wecan afford to Jet the En- lishmen indulge in a litile spite, without grum- biing over the names they call us, Hows her head. quartermaster?” | wee ‘* Due east, sir,” ‘* Keep her steady as she is, and don't luff any As he went away, he waved his hat, andcried | : ’ ‘* Good-by, boys! We ain’t goin’ to come back | | more than you can help. I want to have the shores of Florida under our lee to-morrow night if we can manage it in any sort of fashion.” The schooner moved .off at tbe same rapid | pace she always used to show when hauled to | the wind on a taut »owline, and before an bour ' the sails of the English ship had sunk below the | horizon, and the mountains of Jamaica were growing blue in the distanee. Blair then sent for Katon to the cabin, and said to him: ‘From benceforth, Mr. Eaton, I shall trust the Saucy Jane to your care entirely, aod look | to you for the safety of the schooner, I am a married man now, and I believe that they will not allow any man in the navy to command a vesse] so long as his wife is on board,” Eaton smiled, “| believe not, captain. It is supposed that such a man would be thinking of the safety of bis wife all the time, and so might be apt to _ miss a chance to go into action, when his duty to his country demanded a fight.” Blair nodded his head in a wise manner, and answered: “TPney are quite right, Eaton; and I have found it out to-day. IL know, very well tbat I ought to have gone after that English frigate, and done my best to take her asa prize; but I | swear that I was thinking of my wife all the time, and that made me cowardly. L.did not want to go into action. Strange, is it not?’ * Not at all, Captain Biair, L believe that if | J had been married this:mornving, and an enemy was to heave in sight, L should be very much disposed to let the enemy go, and make the best of my way home, There is nothing to ba ashamed of in that, sir.” ‘** Nevertheless, Eaton, 1 know that it is not the right thing for us, when the whole world is looking on at us, to find out whether Yan- have forgotten the days of Paul Jones, to shirk our duty for any. excuse, however good it may appear tobe. I am the sole owner of this schooner, but L am not fit to command her any more, and l am going to turn her over to you, because I know that you ‘are competent, and L can feel safe under your orders.” The conversation took place in the cabin, and Lady Jave was nowhere to be seen, having re- tired into her state-room, possibly to weep over her transgressions, p esibly in the basbfalness common to all young brides, however proud and independent in disposition. Blair looked as if he hardly knew what to say to Haton to excuse bis request to the latter to take command of the schooner, but he managed to add after an awkward pause: ‘*Confound it, man, ve got to comfort my wife after ber strange wedding, haven’t 1/ You don’t think that a woman can have a wedding like that and not feel miserable over it? I shall want all the time 1 bave for the next three days to keep Jane from pining for ber Britisher friends, and if I go to killing them she’ll say that I’m a brute and don’t know my wife's heart, and all that sort of thing. You don’t know Jane as I do, or you would not object to reliev- iug me of the command till | can put my wife ashore, After that, and as soon as the boney- moon is over, | suppose that [ shall be like ail the rest, and she will be willing to part wish me. But in the mean time I must tell ber that. I am not the captain of the Saucy Jane at al!, and that you area very hard man to get along with in case you are crossed, and that Ll have con- cluded to let you have your way in everything, as long as you take me back to the United States.” ‘* Toat is tosay, Captain Blair, that you are about to retire from the sea for the rest of this war, and leave me to command the Saucy Jane?’ ‘* Well, not exactly, but something very like it. I mean that, tor the rest of this cruise, you are to be in command, and J am to be a mere looker-on.” Here the privateersman lowered his voice and gazed at tbe state-room door apprehensively, as he added: ‘Confound it, I want to get rid of the re- sponsibility, I don’t want to be whipping my wife’s relations, and she won’t want me to be doing it, neither. Butit has got to be done, al! the same, and the Johnny Bulls bave got to suffer. So I want you to take all the responsi- bility of the whole thing.” Baten pressed his band gratefully as be whis pered: *' Captain, Blair, I understand your generos- kees The Saucy Jane, Privateer. dog fighting; the same that had won the Serapis against all odds, in his yuvuth. Harry Eaton bad been engaged to Lily Bar- tou when he was first. made a lieutenant, and it was in consequence of the unfortunate affair, between the Chesapeake and the English Leop- urd, that the engagement had been broken off, Oid Barton had sternly fo: bidden bis daugh- ter to speak to Eaton, whom be called a ‘'dis- graced coward” and all sorts of names, In vain had Eaton pleaded for a hearing, till at last the old man sent word to him, that be had no wish to seea coward; butif Eaton wanted to write to him, the commocore, to clear himself from tbe charges that bad caused bis dismissal from the navy, Commodore Barton was always ready to listen to any man. Eaton, on this bint, which he knew he owed to tbe secret intercession of Lily, wrote to the old man, aud told him tke whole story of his persecution, That he bad altered the bias of the commo- dore’s mind was sbown, a few days after, when the old officer sent bim a note,in reply, to give bim the only ray of hope that bad illumined bis patbway since that dreadful court-martial. The coummodore, after a sbort preface, in which be acknowledged that bis mind had been much changed by the perusal of Eaton’s proofs of innocence, went on to say: “At the same time, my young friend, you must not think, that I can, under any circumstances, al- low thé marriage of my daughter to a man with a stainon hisname. No matter by what faiseboods it was placed there, itis ‘here. and must be ipe! out before there can be any union Letween the families of Mr. Eaton and Commodore Barton. It is prob- able that, in consequence of the outrage to which your vessel was submitted, a war will shortly spring up beiween this country and the haughty power that bas brought you to disgrace. When that war comes, you may be able to retrieve the reputation you have now lost. Go, at any bazard, if it be in the garb of a common sailor, and gain for yourself a name as proud as thar which you had before you al- lowed it to be stolen from yor, Yhen, and not till then, you will be a welcome visilor at the house of, ‘Sir, very respectfully yours, ‘** PHINEAS BarTon, Commodore U. S, N.”’ Eaton had kept that letter with bim, all the weary years since the day be got it, He had waited in vain for a war with Engiand, till it seemed as if the American people bad lost all their ancient spirit, and would never go to war, for any insult, however gross, When at last the strife bad opened, and he bad been refused admission to the President fri- gate, he had felt as if be never would get the chance of which the old commodore had spoken so confidentiy. His heart bad sunk within bim at the idea of going out in nothing but a privateer—a species of craft that he had been always tavgbt to de- spise. Since then, however, be had had reason to alter his mind as to the possibility of seeing service in a privateer. The cruise of the Saucy Jane had not lasted — three weeks, and already be had been engaged in two frigate actions, and had sunk one cf the enemy’s gunboats. ° While it was true that the schooner had taken no money prizes, except the somewhat questionable ransoms of the Eng- lish prisoners, she bad acquired a great reputa- tion among the English at Jamaica; and Raton knew tbat the station, being one of the most important in the West Indies, was likely to have a good many sbips there before long, among which the fame of the Sauey Jane would spread, like fire in a baystack, So the matter was settled, and Blair went on deck, mustered the crew, told them that he was abqut fo give up the active command to Mr. Eatun, whom they would bave to address forth- thenceforth as ** Captain,” and whose orders were to be obeyed as implicitly as bis own bad bitherto been. The men gave three cheers at the end of his speech, as sailors do when they are in good spi- rits, and Blair said to Eaton, as he went down into the cabin; “‘ Captain Eaton, to your hands [ commit the safety of my wife: and 1 hope that you will bring us safely to the United States?” Then be disappeared, and Eaton was left alone on the deck of the schooner, the ocean unspotted by a single sail, — The young man said to bimself: ‘‘ The Saucy Jane bas proved a talisman of luck to one commander, What will she prove to the newt #” ; He lovked doubtfully at the sun. It was very red, and was going down in the midst of a bed of vapor that gave it a fiery appearance. It ity, and you stall not have cause to regret it if | looked decidedly stormy, and he thought that, I can help it,” He knew that the real motive of the priva- teersman toward himself was one of pure gen- erosity. Blair knew well enough that the younger man was in love—hopelessly but madly in love—with the daughter of an old commodore of the Revo- lutionary navy, who had been retired from the service a Jong time before, but had as much en- thusiasm for the service as in the heyday of his youth, when be sailed with Paul Jones ia the mr that took the Serapis. . , _ Co mmodore Barton was a-chip of the old } the door, and waited a little time before ock, believing in desperate, bull- | tured in. Paul Jones if the little schooner were eaught in a burzi- cane, she would stand a good chance of bein knocked about a good deal too much for the new bride’s comfort, ) He ordered tke course of the Saucy Jane laid to the east, out intothe middle of the Arlantic, and then went down to ask for orders from Biair as to the ultimate cestination of the schooner, . He found the privateersman in the eabin, with his arm round Lady Jane’s waist, and be- thought bimself that he should bave kn at é ven- (E cs’ comicboo! ry