SMALL | MEDIUM
"Ay, marry, let me have him to sit under:
He's like to be a cold soldier."
Falstaff.
nutes, until the footsteps of Dillon and the cock-
swain were no longer audible, when he ordered
his men to launch their boat once more into the
surf. While the seamen pulled leisurely towards
the place he had designated, as the point where he
would await the return of Tom, the lieutenant
first began to entertain serious apprehensions
concerning the good faith of his prisoner. Now,
that Dillon was beyond his control, his ima-
gination presented, in very vivid colours, se-
veral little circumstances in the other's con-
duct, which might readily excuse some doubts
of his good faith, and, by the time they had
reached the place of rendezvous, and had cast a
light grapnel into the sea, his fears had rendered
him excessively uncomfortable. Leaving the
lieutenant to his reflections, on this unpleasant
subject, we shall follow Dillon and his fearless
and unsuspecting companion, in their progress
towards St. Ruth.
The mists, to which Tom had alluded, in his
discussion of the state of the weather with his
commander, appeared to be settling nearer to the
earth, and assuming, more decidedly, the ap-
"Ay, ay!" said Tom, who followed his steps,
and equalled his paces, without any apparent ef-
fort, "you shore-people have an easy way to find
your course and distance, when you get into the
track. I was once left by the craft I belonged to,
in Boston, to find my way to Plymouth, which is
a matter of fifteen leagues, or thereaway; and,
so finding nothing was bound up the bay, after
lying-by for a week, I concluded to haul aboard
my land tacks. I spent the better part of ano-
ther week in a search for some hooker, on board
which I might work my passage across the coun-
try, for money was as scarce then with old Tom
Coffin as it is now, and is likely to be, unless the
fisheries get a good luff soon; but it seems that
nothing but your horse-flesh, and horned cattle,
and jack-asses, are privileged to do the pulling
and hauling in your shore-hookers; and I was
forced to pay a week's wages for a birth, besides
keeping a banyan on a mouthful of bread and
cheese, from the time we hove-up in Boston, 'till
we came-to in Plymouth town."
"It was certainly an unreasonable exaction,
on the part of the stage-owners, from a man in
your situation," said Dillon, in a friendly, sooth-
ing tone of voice, that denoted a willingness to
pursue the conversation.
"My situation was that of a cabin passenger,"
returned the cockswain; "for there was but one
hand forward, beside the cattle I mentioned -- that
was he who steered -- and an easy birth he had
of it; for there his course lay a-tween walls of
stone, and fences; and, as for his reckoning, why,
they had stuck up bits of stone on-end, with his
day's work footed up, ready to his hand, every
half league or so. Besides, the land-marks were
so plenty, that a man, with half-an-eye, might
steer her, and no fear of getting to leeward."
"You must have found yourself, as it were, in
a new world," observed Dillon.
"Why, to me, it was pretty much the same as
if I had been set afloat in a strange country,
though I may be said to be a native of those
parts, being born on the coast. I had often
heard shore-men say, that there was as much
'arth as water in the world, which I always set
down as a rank lie, for I've sailed with a flowing
sheet months an-end, without falling in with as
much land or rock as would answer a gull to lay
its eggs on; but I will own, that a-tween Boston
and Plymouth, we were out-of-sight of water for
as much as two full watches."
Dillon pursued this interesting subject with
great diligence, and, by the time they reached the
wall, which enclosed the large paddock that sur-
rounded the Abbey, the cockswain was deeply
involved in a discussion of the comparative mag-
nitude of the Atlantic Ocean and the Continent
of America.
Avoiding the principal entrance to the build-
ing, through the great gates which communicated
with the court in front, Dillon followed the wind-
ings of the wall until it led them to a wicket,
which he knew was seldom closed for the night,
until the hour for general rest had arrived. Their
"If Kit would but return," exclaimed the
veteran, whose back was to the opening door,
"bringing with him his honest brows encircled,
as they will be, or ought to be, with laurel, I
should be the happiest old fool, Borroughcliffe, in
his majesty's realm of Great Britain!"
The captain, who felt the necessity for the
unnatural restraint he had imposed on his thirst,
to be removed by the capture of his enemies, point-
ed towards the door with one hand, while he grasp-
ed the sparkling reservoir of the "south side"
with the other, and answered --
"Lo! the Cacique himself! his brow inviting
the diadem -- ha! who have we in his highness'
train? By the Lord, sir Cacique, if you travel
with a body guard of such grenadiers, old Fre-
deric of Prussia himself will have occasion to
envy you the corps! a clear six-footer in nature's
stockings! and the arms as unique as the armed!"
The colonel did not, however, attend to half of
his companion's exclamations, but turning, he be-
held the individual he had so much desired, and
received him with a delight proportioned to the
unexpectedness of the pleasure. For several
minutes, Dillon was compelled to listen to the
rapid questions of his venerable relative, to all of
which he answered with a prudent reserve, that
might, in some measure, have been governed by
the presence of the cockswain. Tom stood with
infinite composure, leaning on his harpoon, and
surveying, with a countenance where wonder was
singularly blended with contempt, the furniture
and arrangements of an apartment that was far
Dillon was spared the disagreeable duty of re-
peating the artful tale he had found it necessary
to palm on the colonel, by the ardour of the vete-
ran himself, who executed the task in a manner
that gave to the treachery of his kinsman, every
appearance of a justifiable artifice and of unshaken
zeal in the cause of his prince. In substance,
Tom was to be detained as a prisoner, and the
party of Barnstable were to be entrapped, and of
course to share a similar fate. The sunken eye
of Dillon cowered before the steady gaze which
Borroughcliffe fastened on him, as the latter lis-
tened to the plaudits the colonel lavished on his
cousin's ingenuity; but the hesitation that lingered
in the soldier's manner vanished, when he turned
to examine their unsuspecting prisoner, who was
continuing his survey of the apartment, while he
innocently imagined the consultations he witnessed
"Drill," said Borroughcliffe, aloud, "advance
and receive your orders." The cockswain turned
quickly, at this sudden mandate, and, for the first
time, perceived that he had been followed into the
gallery by the orderly, and two files of the re-
cruits, armed. "Take this man to the guard-
room, and feed him; and see that he dies not of
thirst."
There was nothing alarming in this order, and
Tom was following the soldiers, in obedience to a
gesture from the captain, when their steps were
arrested in the gallery, by the cry of "Halt."
"On recollection, Drill," said Borroughcliffe,
in a tone from which all dictatorial sounds were
banished, "show the gentleman into my own
room, and see him properly supplied."
The orderly gave such an intimation of his
comprehending the meaning of his officer, as the
latter was accustomed to receive, when Borrough-
cliffe returned to his bottle, and the cockswain
followed his guide, with an alacrity and good
will that were not a little increased by the repeat-
ed mention of the cheer that awaited him.
Luckily for the impatience of Tom, the quar-
ters of the captain were at hand, and the promised
entertainment by no means slow in making its
appearance. The former was an apartment that
opened from a lesser gallery, which communicated
with the principal one already mentioned; and
the latter was a bountiful but ungarnished supply
of that staple of the British isles, called roast
beef; of which the kitchen of Colonel Howard
was never without a due and loyal provision.
The sergeant, who certainly understood one of
the signs of his captain to imply an attack on the
citadel of the cockswain's brain, mingled, with his
As Borroughcliffe entered the apartment, he
commanded his orderly to retire, adding --
"Mr. Dillon will give you instructions, which
you are implicitly to obey."
Drill, who had sense enough remaining to
apprehend the displeasure of his officer, should
the latter discover his condition, quickened his
departure, and the cockswain soon found himself
alone with the captain. The vigour of Tom's
attacks on the remnants of the sirloin was now
much abated, leaving in its place that placid quiet
which is apt to linger about the palate, long after
the cravings of the appetite have been appeased.
He had seated himself on one of the trunks of Bor-
roughcliffe, utterly disdaining the use of a chair,
and, with the trencher in his lap, was using his own
jack-knife on the dilapidated fragment of the ox,
with something of that nicety with which the fe-
male goule, of the Arabian Tales, might be supposed
to pick her rice with the point of her bodkin.
The captain drew a seat nigh the cockswain,
and, with a familiarity and kindness infinitely coft-
"I hope you have found your entertainment to
your liking, Mr. -- I must own my ignorance of
your name."
"Tom," said the cockswain, keeping his eyes
roaming over the contents of the trencher;
"commonly called long-Tom, by my shipmates."
"You have sailed with discreet men, and able
navigators, it would seem, as they understand lon-
gitude so well," rejoined the captain; "but you
have a patronymick -- I would say, another
name?"
"Coffin," returned the cockswain; "I'm called
Tom, when there is any hurry, such as letting go
the haulyards, or a sheet; long-Tom, when they
want to get to windward of an old seaman, by
fair weather; and long-Tom Coffin, when they
wish to hail me, so that none of my cousins of
the same name, about the islands, shall answer;
for I believe the best man among them can't mea-
sure much over a fathom, taking him from his
head-works to his heel."
"You are a most deserving fellow," cried Bor-
roughcliffe, "and it is painful to think to what a
fate the treachery of Mr. Dillon has consigned
you."
The suspicions of Tom, if he ever entertained
any, were lulled to rest too effectually by the
kindness he had received, to be awakened by this
equivocal lament; he, therefore, after renewing
his intimacy with the rummer, contented himself
by saying, with a satisfied simplicity --
"I am consigned to no one, carrying no cargo
but this Mr. Dillon, who is to give me Mr. Grif-
fith in exchange, or to go back to the Ariel him-
self, as my prisoner."
"Ah! my good friend, I fear you will find,
when the time comes to make this exchange, that
he will refuse to do either."
"But I'll be d -- d if he don't do one of
them; my orders are to see it done, and back he
goes; or Mr. Griffith, who is as good a seaman,
for his years, as ever trod a deck, slips his cable
from this here anchorage."
Borroughcliffe affected to eye his companion
with great commiseration; an exhibition of com-
passion that was, however, completely lost on the
cockswain, whose nerves were strung to their
happiest tension, by his repeated libations, while
his wit was, if any thing, quickened by the
same cause, though his own want of guile rendered
him slow to comprehend its existence in others.
Perceiving it necessary to speak plainly, the cap-
tain renewed the attack in a more direct man-
ner --
"I am sorry to say that you will not be per-
mitted to return to the Ariel, and that your com-
mander, Mr. Barnstable, will be a prisoner with-
in the hour; and in fact, that your schooner will
be taken, before the morning breaks."
"Who'll take her?" asked the cockswain, with
a grim smile, on whose feelings, however, this
combination of threatened calamities was begin-
ning to make some impression.
"You must remember, that she lies immediate-
ly under the heavy guns of a battery that can
sink her in a few minutes; an express has already
been sent to acquaint the commander of the work
with the Ariel's true character; and as the wind has
already begun to blow from the ocean, her escape
is impossible."
The truth, together with its portentous conse-
quences, now began to glare across the faculties of
the cockswain. He remembered his own prognos-
For a moment, the better feelings of Bor-
roughcliffe prevailed, and he paused, as he wit-
nessed this exhibition of suffering in one whose
head was already sprinkled with the marks of
time; but his habits, and the impressions left by
many years passed in collecting victims for the
wars, soon resumed their ascendancy, and the re-
cruiting officer diligently addressed himself to an
improvement of his advantage.
"I pity, from my heart, the poor lads whom
artifice or mistaken notions of duty may have
led astray, and who will thus be taken in arms
against their sovereign; but, as they are found in
the very island of Britain, they must be made ex-
amples to deter others. I fear, that unless they
can make their peace with government, they will
all be condemned to death."
"Let them make their peace with God, then;
your government can do but little to clear the log-
account of a man whose watch is up for this
world."
"But, by making their peace with those who
have the power, their lives may be spared," said
the captain, watching, with keen eyes, the effect
his words produced on the cockswain.
"It matters but little when a man hears the
messenger pipe his hammock down for the last
time; he keeps his watch in another world, though
Borroughcliffe replied, somewhat carelessly,
"I may be mistaken, after all; and, instead of
putting any of you to death, they may place you
all on board the prison-ships, where you may
yet have a merry time of it, these ten or fifteen
years to come."
"How's that, shipmate!" cried the cockswain,
with a start; "a prison-ship, d'ye say? you may
tell them that they can save the expense of one
man's rations, by shooting him, if they please,
and that is old Tom Coffin."
"There is no answering for their caprice; to-
day, they may order a dozen of you shot for re-
bels; to-morrow they may choose to consider
you as prisoners of war, and send you to the
hulks for a dozen years."
"Tell them, brother, that I'm a rebel, will ye?
and ye'll tell 'em no lie -- one that has fout them
since Manly's time, in Boston bay, to this hour.
I hope the boy will blow her up! it would be the
death of poor Richard Barnstable, to see her in
the hands of the English!"
"I know of one way," said Borroughcliffe,
affecting to muse, "and but one, that will cer-
tainly avert the prison-ship; for, on second
thoughts, they will hardly put you to death."
"Name it, friend," cried the cockswain, rising
from his seat in evident perturbation, "and if it
lies in the power of man, it shall be done."
"Nay," said the captain, dropping his hand fa-
miliarly on the shoulder of the other, who lis-
tened with the most eager attention, "'tis easily
done, and no dreadful thing in itself; you are
used to gun-powder, and know its smell from otto
of roses?"
"Ay, ay," cried the impatient old seaman; "I
have had it flashing under my nose by the hour;
what then?"
"Why, then, what I have to propose will be
nothing to a man like you -- you found the beef
wholesome, and the grog mellow?"
"Ay, ay, all well enough; but what is that to
an old sailor?" asked the cockswain, uncon-
sciously grasping the collar of Borroughcliffe's
coat, in his agitation; "what then?"
The captain manifested no displeasure at this
unexpected familiarity, but smiled, with suavity,
as he unmasked the battery, from behind which
he had hitherto carried on his attacks.
"Why, then, you have only to serve your
King, as you have before served the Congress --
and let me be the man to show you your co-
lours."
The cockswain stared at the speaker intently,
but it was evident he did not clearly comprehend
the nature of the proposition, and the captain
pursued the subject --
"In plain English, enlist in my company, my
fine fellow," he added, "and your life and liber-
ty are both safe."
Tom did not laugh aloud, for that was a burst
of feeling in which he was seldom known to in-
dulge, but every feature of his weather-beaten
visage contracted into an expression of bitter,
ironical contempt. Borroughcliffe felt the iron
fingers, that still grasped his collar, gradually
tightening about his throat, like a vice, and, as the
"A messmate, before a shipmate; a shipmate,
before a stranger; a stranger, before a dog; but
a dog before a soldier!"
As Tom concluded, his nervous arm was sud-
denly extended to the utmost, the fingers relin-
quishing their grasp at the same time, and, when
Borroughcliffe recovered his disordered faculties,
he found himself in a distant corner of the apart-
ment, prostrate among a confused pile of chairs,
tables, and wearing apparel. In endeavouring
to rise from this humble posture, the hand of the
captain fell on the hilt of his sword, which had
been included in the confused assemblage of arti-
cles produced by his overthrow.
"How now, scoundrel!" he cried, baring the
glittering weapon, and springing on his feet;
"you must be taught your distance, I perceive."
The cockswain seized the harpoon which lean-
ed against the wall, and dropped its barbed ex-
tremity within a foot of the breast of his assail-
ant, with an expression of the eye that denoted
the danger of a nearer approach. The captain,
however, wanted not for courage, and, stung to
the quick by the insult he had received, he made
a desperate parry, and attempted to pass within
the point of the novel weapon of his adversary.
The slight shock was followed by a sweeping
whirl of the harpoon, and Borroughcliffe found
himself without arms, completely at the mercy of
his foe. The bloody intentions of Tom vanish-
ed with his success; for, laying aside his wea-
pon, he advanced upon his antagonist, and seized
him with an open palm. One more struggle, in
"For God's sake," exclaimed Borroughcliffe,
"murder me not in cold blood!"
The silver hilt entered his mouth as the words
issued from it, and the captain found, while the line
was passed and repassed, in repeated involutions
across the back of his neck, that he was in a con-
dition to which he often subjected his own men,
when unruly, and which is universally called, be-
ing `gagged.' The cockswain now appeared to
think himself entitled to all the privileges of a
conqueror; for, taking the light in his hand, he
commenced a scrutiny into the nature and quality
of the worldly effects that lay at his mercy.
Sundry articles, that belonged to the equipments
of a soldier, were examined, and cast aside, with
great contempt, and divers garments of plainer
"Harkye, friend," said the cockswain, "may
the Lord forgive you, as I do, for wishing to
make a soldier of a sea-faring man, and one who
has followed the waters since he was an hour old,
and one who hopes to die off soundings, and to
be buried in brine. I wish you no harm, friend,
but you'll have to keep a stopper on your conver-
sation 'till such time as some of your messmates
With these amicable wishes, the cockswain de-
parted, leaving Borroughcliffe the light, and the
undisturbed possession of his apartment, though
not in the most easy or the most enviable situa-
tion imaginable. The captain heard the bolt of
his lock turn, and the key rattle as the cock-
swain withdrew it from the door -- two precau-
tionary steps, that clearly indicated that the van-
quisher deemed it prudent to secure his retreat,
by insuring the detention of the vanquished, for
at least a time.
