Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 277 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

‘ 26 —_ --— out a word, clasped her in her arms, and led her off into the cabin, when Blair drew Eaton away with him to the gangway of theschooner, and said: ‘“You did well, Eaton. I did not see the lady’s face; but I congratulate you, that your love troubles are over at last, as you helped me out of mine. Now let us go to work to get the best of the Johnny Bulls, I am never so happy as when 1 am circumventing them. What do you propose to do with the brig, now we have c er, and have no chance of carrying her off ¢ Eaton considered a little, **I don’t see what we can do, captain, except to scuttle her, as soon as we have got all that is worth saving. It will be something to beat the English out of a prize, that they thought them- selves sure of. Here comes the y of the com- modore. Where shall we putit, sir? LIask for orders, as | do not like to give them, without being sure that you do not object.” ‘*There is but one place for it, and tbat is by the cabin door, with the flag over it. Do you want to take it to the land with us, and have it buried there, or do you wish it buriedat sea?” ‘* We must go to land, captain, if you have no objection. 1 took the liberty of promising the lady that I would see her father properly Sigs I do not like to ask the favor; but ‘‘Say no more, Eaton. I was, as you are aware, going to New York assoon as I could, and this is only another reason. Put, the schooner’s head there, sir, whenever you wish, and act your discretion in the matter.” So saying, the privateersman turned away to the gangway, and to hurry the men on board, to give Katon a chance to collect bis thoughts, while the transfer, from the brig, of all porta- ble property and prisoners, was going on with great rapidity. When it was over, and the En- lish lieutenant had been brought on board and stowed in the cabin, on a cot, with his wound- ed head, there only remained Connell, who bad died while they were bringing him on board. His body was bastily cast in the sea, with ashot at the feet, and then Eaton went on board the ‘brig himself, to perform the task of scuttling the once glorious little vessel, in which he had served, as a boy midshipman, detached from the Constitution on the coast of Africa. It was to him a very painful duty; and bad it not been for the fact that the Nautilus would be retaken by the British in the morning, as soon as they could see to find her with the boats of the squadron, he would have tried to bring her off. As it was, he had no alternative but to destroy the unfortunate little hooker, and with a heavy heart be took an ax down-stairs, and began to peak ahole in the planking of the side, just above the floor. Eaton was a skillful ax-man, and he soon bad a great gaping bole in the side of the brig, pnsong which the water came rushing so ra idly that he bad to run from the place to avoid getting wet through, In less than three minutes after, the Saucy Jane was moving away over the seas, with the brig settling. Something in the spectacle fascinated the _ sailors of the schooner so much that they stop- _ ped pulling; and allowed the schooner to drift with the tide as they gazed. ‘Poor little thing!’ said one sailor. ‘' She looks as if she were a callin’ to us to come back, and look at her for the last time, It’s a shame we had to do it, but the cappen he knows,” So they watched the spectacle in the fog, as the misty outlines of the ill-fated brig slowly faded from sight. At last came a pitch forward of the tall masts and a heave of the bull, as if the poor thing had been making a last struggle to keep above water. The Nautilus, as a seal taking a dive, went down into the depths of tbe Atlantic, and was seen no more, / Eaton gave a heavy sigh as he saw the last of her, for he had served in her himself; but there were too many things still banging on bim to give bim time to indulge in any. vain regrets; and he turned to his duties with a zeal that ly erased from bis mind all thought, ex- cept of what the future had in store for bim, of a sweet and consoling nature. The schooner was swept along for the next hour in the direction in which they judged the Constitution must be lying, unless a sbift of wind bad carried her thence. When they had ulled along till Eaton judged he must be about here, he determined to lie by for the night, in- asmuch as the further he went in the mist and darkness the greater became the uncertainty of everything. The sails had been sent down and lay idly on the booms, to offer the minimum of resistance to the atmosphere while the schooner was usin her sweeps, but they were hoisted again an left to swing, while the watch was set for the night and the rest of the men sent below to They were ordered not to undress, and to be ‘sey go to quarters the instant they were awakened. Then the schooner sunk to quie ain, and silence brooded over the ocean. aton himself, too anxious to sleep with the a to his | glided away from her pursuers as pany as if she had been sailing under a five-knot cr ee / ment, The Saucy J ane, Privateer. safety of all hands resting on him, paced the deck till the first streaks of dawn lighted up the clouds. Then, as if the coming of the light had caused it, a fresh breeze sprung up, CHAPTER XXV. THE HUNTING OF OLD IRONSIDES. THE sails of the Saucy Jane filled at the first puff, and she shot ahead as if she had been im- pelled from the mouth of a cannon, for the space of nearly a quarter of a mile, when the last breath failed and she lay becalmed again. But the mist bad rolled off into the north, and the whole of the English squadron was seen in a clump, as the ships had passed the night. ‘*Old Lronsides” was still about the same dis- tance she had been, when night closed in. The nearest ship, as before, was the Belvi- dera, and the Africa was the furthest away. But what showed that the English were in earnest, was the fact that they had hoisted out all their boats, and were towing the ships to- ward the Constitution. They evidently hoped to take her from the number of boats they bad out. On the side of the American, a squad of boats was also vis- ible, as if the captain had determined not to | giveup. Tbe Saucy Jane was in no immediate anger, being out of the radius of fire from all the vessels, and capable, in the light flaws of wind that came ever and anon, of holding ber own and a little more, in point of —y | speed, And now commenced a chase that bas im- mortalized the name of ‘‘ Old Ironsides” and Hull, from the steadiness and skill with which it was conducted by the enemy, and from the constancy and resource that were shown by the men and officers of the frigate. Eaton, in the privateer, was able to watch the whole game with safety, and to follow the English ships at a respectful distance, to obey Hull’s signal to ‘‘ keep as near the enemy as possible, and to cripple any of them he gota chance at.” For the whole of that day did the English squadron pursue the Constitution, and for the whole day did the Americans tow their ship, under every disadvantage. The English, having such an immense superi- ority of force, were enubled to put all the boats of the squadron on a few sbips, and to draw ahead with so much rapidity, that, at one time, the Belvidera got within gunshot of ‘ Old [ron- sides ’ and opened her fire. And the worst of the matter was, as Eaton perceived very early in the fight, the Constitu- tion was unable to return this fire as well as bis own little hooker had already done. He watcbed her through the glass, and saw that, at every shot she fired out of her stern-windows, there was trouble of some sort. What it was, be knew well enough, from having been on board of the famous old sbip as a boy, and seen her try to use her stern-chaser before, The fact was, the vessel was not built by the Awerican shipwright to run away at all, and the stern of ‘* Old Jronsides ” bad so much rake to it, in nautical pbrase—in other words, overbung the water at such a sharp angle—that, at ever shot fired she threatened to blow the whole stern-frame out, and set the cabin on fire. Presently, however, in some mysterious manner, that Eaton could not explain own satisfaction, the great frigate and to his still greater astonish- the boats, that had been towing, were called alongside, and actually towed by “Old JIronsides” herself, in return for their late services. As for the Belvidera, that ship could not reach the Americans with ber twelve- pounders, after this mysterious maneuvre had been started; and the frigate did not pause till she had gained a full mile 6n her pursuers. | Then Eaton, who was watching through the glass with all bis eyes, sew how the Jittle trick bad been executed, as * O!d Ironsides” stopped again. A boat was peng pulled from the frigate, keeping well und:r her bow, and on the other side from where the British were still tugging away at the oars, to bring the Shannon near enough to open fire. This boat pulled away rapidly, and Eaton could see she was paying out a long rope. Watching still more attentively, he saw the plunge of some body into the water from the boat, after which the sbip, in the same mys- terious manner as before, glided off, as if she |moved by witchcraft. A sudden’ thought struck the young man, and he called tc the quartermaster to bring the lead and find out /bow many fathoms the schooner was in, | They were out of sight of land at the time; but, when the lead was thrown, the depth was found to be only about twenty-two fathoms, and the trick of the Yankee frigate became easily explicable. Hull had sent away all the rope he had to spare in the ship, and had dropped a kedge into the sea, after which he | had clapped all bis men on the rope, and run he ship away, at four miles an hour, before the | English could see how the thing was done. breeze, _— or eee ee —— | When Eaton announced this to the crew \ of the Saucy Jane, there were, as usual, three cheers for the Yankee nation in general, and ‘Old Ironsides” in particular, The sharpness of the trick struck the keen Yankee intellect with a force that compelled admiration, and, from that moment, there was no more anxiety, on board the Saucy Jane, as to the fate of the Constitution. They knew that she would get out of her scrape safely, and it seemed as if the glorious future of the old ship was begin- ning to shape itself to their minds with pro- phetic force already. The Constitution now had two frigates on her lee-quarter, and a two-decker, two more frigates, and the schooner Saucy Jane, astern, The disappearance of the Nautilus must have astonished the English very much, as the whole affair had been managed so quietly in the night that the Belvidera, the nearest ship. had not been disturbed by the first yell, that Raton had been unable to repress, as the Americans boarded; andthe brig had forged so far ahead of all her consorts, that, at the time of board- ing, she had been nearly a mile away from the nearest of them. The wind had shifted during the night, and bad brought the Constitution the advantage of the weather-gage, while, through the decep- tions of the fog, Eaton found himself behind the whole English squadron, and able to look on without danger. He had no further inclination to annoy the Belvidera, although that frigate was close enough to the schooner to have made a shot or two quite safe. Since bis recapture of the girl he loved, his whole nature seemed to be trans- formed, and he was afraid to run into any un- necessary perils, for fear of exposing her to the danger tbat he had never feared for himself, He knew well enough that if the Belvidera ever got near enough to the Constitution to fire at her, it was probable that ‘‘Old Ilronsides” would give her one broadside, enough to settle her for good and all, for the Constitution car- ried twenty-two long twenty-four-pounder guns in each broadside, and could have pulverized the Belvidera at one blow if need be. The enemy seemed to be aware of this; for the Belvidera was no longer the head of the fleet, after the towing had become the only means of propanan of the ships. The Shan- non, a much heavier ship, and under the com- mand of the senior officer of the squadron, had taken the place of the Belvidera, and was draw- ing closer and closer to ‘‘ Old lronsides,” as the kedging trick, at last discovered, was being put to practice by the British, with the advantage that they had more men and more rope to spare than could be found on any one ship. It was now about nine in the morning, and Eaton saw that the Shannon was closing fast, and the A€olus already within gun-shot, both vessels being on the quarters of the Constitu- tion, and the latter drawing abeam. Beyond the A£olus, and on the same side, cculd be per- ceived the spars of another frigate, that was to become mournfully famous a few weeks later, by falling an easy prey to the very ship she was now pursuing with such persistence. This was the Guerriere, a aay: taken from the French, and proudly retaining the name under which she had been captured. This was the most anxious period of the chase, for if the enemy once succeeded in open- ing fire from the Shannon and Guerriere to- gether, both of them ships of nearly the same metal, there was no teliing what the result might be, be Zolus was near enough to do it already; but her commander, knowing that his ship was only a ‘‘twelve-pounder frigate,” like the Bel- videra, did wisely in refraining from provoking the wrath of the grand old sbip that he was hovering about. If the £Zolus bad opened fire that cay, a single broadside would bave prebably sunk that little vessel, before her cousorts could get to her heip, or even within gunshot, The calm had been absolute, from the time the first breeze of sunrise bad died away, and the only sound to be heard was the labored breathing of the crews in the boats, as they tugged at the oars. The men of the Constitution were tired, and worked with much less spirit than when the had begun to tow, in the morning. With their labor, they could not increase the gap be- tween the pursuers and pursued; and the con- viction was forcing itself on them that, if wind did not come soon, it would come too late, But, as if to show that Providence was on the side of the stanch old ship, just as the Shannon fired her first gun, the shot of which flew past the stern of Old Trossides, with ap sim tbat took it within a foot of her rudder, the dark streak of a coming breeze ruffled the water, and the crew of the American frigate took advantage of it, in a way that drew, trom even her opponents, more than one comment of praise. The vessel’s head was pulled round to catch the wind at the most favorable angle possible, and the sails were trimmed to take the wind as it came, to the best advantage. It came from the quarter that had alread given the Constitution the weather-gag rand co —~ mn | ~t. . ‘ .