Part 11

"You shall have what you desire, noble captain," replied Zabra; and, after a stirring prelude on the harp, sang the following verses:--

"I heard a voice upon the sea, That pierced the waters fierce and free,-- The loud winds running wild with glee Brought it to me; I heard a voice the land-breeze bore, That thrilled the mountains to the core, And shouted out, from shore to shore, 'WHO ARE THE FREE?' Reply, reply aloud, air, earth, and sea! Shout to the list'ning stars, 'WHO ARE THE FREE!'

"The cities heard, but heard in vain; It stirred the hill, the vale, the plain; The forest monarch's young again, Seemed they to be; But all beneath the conscious sky, With trembling heart and quailing eye, Looked round and raised th' accusing cry, 'WHERE ARE THE FREE?' Reply, reply aloud, air, earth, and sea! Shout to th' eternal sun, 'WHERE ARE THE FREE!'

"I saw a gallant band at last, Upon the boundless waters cast, Daring the battle and the blast, Rocks and the sea; They heard the voice that pierced the tide; And all in one proud cause allied, With tones that shook the world, replied-- 'WE ARE THE FREE!' We have no masters on the earth or sea! Our home is with the wind--'WE ARE THE FREE!'"

Loud and long were the commendations with which the captain and his lieutenant rewarded the singer. They had listened with as much gratification as it was possible for them to receive from such a source, and the bold glances that darted from their eyes, as the song proceeded, showed how much they were excited. Even the conceited spirit of the captain's clerk seemed moved. He winked his little eyes most valiantly, and put as much bravery into his smirking countenance as it could be brought to assume. Oriel Porphyry regarded the musician, for the first time, with a look of distrust. To him there seemed an evident desire of becoming on more friendly terms with the pirates than he thought could be desired by an honest nature; and the ingratitude, as well as the treachery of such conduct, made Zabra appear to him unworthy of any kindly feeling. But when their eyes met, there was such an earnest devotion in the gaze of Zabra, and so much sincerity of purpose, that he resolved to defer passing a condemnation till he had more positive proof of his unworthiness.

"After such a song as that, I feel a wonderful deal more social towards you all," observed the captain; "and to show the confidence I would place in you--as well as to pass away the time as agreeably as may be--if there's no particular objection, I'll tell you my history from first to last."

"Do, noble captain; your adventures must surely be of deep interest to all who love the inspiring actions of a bold spirit," observed Zabra. Oriel turned on him a searching look; but the lustrous eyes upon which he gazed still seemed filled with the light of truth and affection; and he knew not what to think.

"I was born a younger brother--the youngest of several," said the Captain. "There was some property in the family, but it was all carefully nursed for the heir, who was brought up in the enjoyment of every indulgence, while the rest of us picked up our education, and our existence, as we could. I was least cared for of all. From my boyhood I was allowed to go where I pleased, so that I kept out of the way of my parents and my elder brother; and I was left to do as I liked, as long as my proceedings did not inconvenience those affectionate relatives. As I soon perceived that I got nothing I required by asking for it, I ever afterwards managed to acquire what I wanted without thinking it was necessary to trouble any person upon the subject. Once I was discovered acting in this necessary and philosophical manner, and I was considered guilty of a crime, and most savagely punished. I cannot say that I was made conscious of my offence, or that I was ever brought to acknowledge the justice of its punishment; but I can most truly affirm, that the whole proceeding created in me that hatred of tyranny which led me to be what I am.

"Our house was by the sea-side, in a wild and unfrequented part of the coast of Madagascar. It was a mansion of considerable extent, ancient, but capable of being put to very good uses in the hands of a spirited proprietor; and there were no houses near it, with the exception of a few cottages on the cliff, belonging to some smugglers, with whom I had long since made myself on very good terms. I was then about twelve years of age, tall and strong, reckless and daring, perfectly uneducated, as far as school learning is considered, but wiser than many of my elders in that really useful knowledge that proceeds from observation. My intimacy with the smugglers had taught me many things which I managed to turn to advantage on several occasions--particularly notions affecting the rights of property, and the legality of resisting the law. Smarting from the effects of the treatment I had received, I hastily collected whatever I considered most valuable, and without waiting to perform the ceremonies of departure, I took the shortest way to the cliff, and was the same evening sailing in a swift cutter far from my native shores.

"My companions early initiated me into all the mysteries of their craft. I soon acquired a knowledge of landmarks--knew every creek and bay, and sheltered inlet along the shore--was familiar with every part of the vessel, its uses, and management--learned to understand the appearances of coming storms--and could always tell the best time and place for effecting a landing upon any required portion of the coast. I became an active hand, exceedingly useful, quick, and vigilant; and shared in all the dangers of my associates, their disappointments, and successes. My boldness at all times, my readiness to labour, and the ability with which I performed all I undertook, made me a general favourite; and the captain, an old stern smuggler, rough in his humour, and rather despotic in his sway, took me under his especial protection. I was chosen to assist in many hazardous exploits, in which I was often a principal figure; for my youth, disarming all suspicion in those who were on the look-out to capture the contrabandists, gave me opportunities for acquiring information as to their proceedings, which was quickly communicated to my companions; and we have sometimes managed matters so well as to be able to store our cargo in the very house in which our most vigilant enemy resided. In this way I existed till I was about seventeen, making voyages from the island to the continent, and along various parts of the coast, acquiring a very creditable knowledge of navigation, and gaining a considerable degree of information on many other subjects; and then, for my services and approved fidelity, I was promoted to be mate in the craft in which I had been sailing. I had been in several desperate conflicts with the revenue officers, but had been so fortunate as to escape with a few slight scratches; and the excitement of these affrays had created in me an inclination to share in more fierce encounters. However, on one occasion, we were unexpectedly attacked by very superior numbers, and, although we defended ourselves with an obstinacy that rendered the victory dearly bought, we were over-powered; and when I recovered consciousness after falling on the deck, as I imagined, mortally wounded, I found myself immured in a gloomy dungeon, on a charge of smuggling and murder.

"I was accused of murder! I, who had merely slayed the slayers--who had only fought in self-defence--who in a fray of three to one, had beaten down some four or five of the hireling band by whom my associates were being slaughtered, was loaded with chains, thrust into a loathsome hole, and condemned to death, as guilty of the blackest of their black catalogue of crimes! What miserable bunglers are lawyers and governments! what wretched blunderers,--what empty fools! They create the necessity for an act, punish with death a deed which could not be avoided, and then boast of their wisdom and justice. Much parade, too, they made about carrying their atrocious sentence into effect upon one so young. They affected to be wonderfully pitiful,--the jury gave their award in a tone of commiseration, and the judge pretended to be moved to tears when he passed the sentence; and then, as many exaggerated statements had been published of the determination with which I had resisted being taken, many humane persons, as the world called them, visited me in prison, and they brought me what they said were good books, and talked to me about things they styled repentance and virtue, and a few other fooleries. I listened with a patience that I have since often thought extraordinary; but I imagined at the time that this attempt at sympathy might lead to my liberation, and consequently they always found me earnestly studying their books, and admirably attentive to their discourses. But my hopes were disappointed; I was a fool not to have known the hypocrites better. They could whine and cant, but they had no mercy. However, from a quarter to which I had never looked for assistance, help came when I least expected it.

"My jailer was a cold, stern, unfeeling brute; but he was a brute by profession, and his disposition was his stock in trade. He had originally been a housebreaker, or a mean villain of some kind; and having betrayed his accomplices, he was rewarded by the miscreants whom he served, with a place of trust. For him bolts and bars seemed to have as much attraction as if he was a loadstone. His heart appeared only to throb in the shadow of the thick walls; and of no music could he be more fond than the clank of chains and the groans of the despairing prisoners. Him I cursed every time we met: but he had a daughter--a buxom, light-hearted little creature, whose eye was afloat in gladness, and whose breast was freighted with gentle and generous feelings; her olive complexion, azure eyes, and rich black curling hair, gave the most charming expression to her face. She saw me from a window when I was taking my solitary walk in the gloomy court-yard. My youthful appearance attracted her attention. She inquired my history, and as there was nothing in it of the dastard or the sneak--nothing she found ignoble or revolting, she felt an interest for me which every day grew more intense. She watched for the coming of the time when I was allowed to enjoy my daily walks with increased anxiety; and knowing that I was doomed to death, her eyes were filled with tears and her heart with tenderness whenever she saw me. I was ignorant of the feelings I had excited for several days after they had attained a power she found it impossible to resist; for as my execution approached, I strode the narrow court-yard, hemmed in by towering walls, with folded arms and eyes upon the ground, muttering imprecations upon the whole human race; and beheld not, and thought not of the kind creature that watched me so anxiously: but one dull day, the last my judges had allowed me in this world, I was engaged in making my accustomed perambulations, when I was roused from my melancholy reverie by seeing a stone fall at my feet I looked about me, but did not perceive whence it came. As I was continuing my cheerless round, another stone was thrown close to the place where I stood. I then made a more careful examination of the few windows by which I could be overlooked, and at one, about forty or fifty feet from the ground, I observed a female figure--whether she was young or handsome I could not exactly determine, because I was unable to distinguish her features, but I could have no doubt that she was an angel when I beheld the end of a strong rope slowly descend that was evidently falling from her hand. Before it was within reach, I had run to grasp it within my eager hands. Soon I clutched it firmly--I felt it was tightly fastened above; long experience in rope-climbing, and a desperate desire to escape at any hazard, in a few seconds carried me up to the open window, where I embraced my deliverer, whom I discovered to be just the sort of smart-looking little craft I have described.

"'Pull up the rope,' she said anxiously, 'or you will be discovered.'

"I lost no time in hauling it into the room, where it was strongly fastened to the bedstead;--from this it was immediately made loose and stowed away into a box, and the window closed. The chamber in which I found myself was a small bed-room, possessing all the neatness and cleanliness in its appearance which distinguish the sleeping rooms of girls in the first flush of womanhood. Against the wall was a bed with linen of a pure white, enclosed in curtains of the same colour. At one end of the room a simple toilet was arranged; utensils for washing were standing in a corner--a row of books upon a little cabinet--a small vase with a few flowers, two or three chairs, and a table, composed the furniture.

"My arms were again round her waist, and I was showing my gratitude after a fashion I thought would be most agreeable, when she raised herself from my arms, smiling, blushing, and trembling, and fixing on me a look full of sincerity, purity, and affection, said:

"'You may perhaps think me bold--over bold; but indeed I could not exist under the idea that you were about to lose your life. I was determined to make an effort to save you. I procured the rope from a manufactory attached to the prison in which those sentenced to hard labour are employed, and having well secured it here, watched my time to drop it within your reach. I knew that you were left alone for a short time, and I tried to attract your attention without exciting the suspicion of any one. Having provided every thing that was necessary, and seeing my opportunity, I endeavoured to make you look up--I coughed--I hemmed--but you did not move from your position. I then threw down a stone; you looked about you, and to my great disappointment and fear walked on without observing me. My heart seemed to sink when I thought the opportunity might be lost, and that on the morrow you would die. I again threw a stone, and felt the sweetest pleasure I have ever known when I saw that you observed me. Quickly and cautiously I let down the rope; but when I saw you ascend, and knew that the slightest slip would send you headlong against the hard stones so far beneath you, I trembled with fear. You are now safe, and I am rejoiced. But the greatest caution will be necessary, or your retreat will be discovered. By this time your escape is known, and an active search is being made for you in every direction. If you wish to retain your life you must do whatever I desire you. Ha!' she exclaimed, as footsteps were heard approaching, 'they come--get into that bed.' I hesitated about soiling the sheets with my shoes. 'In with you instantly--there's not a moment to be lost.'

"While I snugly deposited myself under the bed-clothes, I observed her rapidly put on a night-gown over the dress she wore, and a cap upon her head, throw off her shoes, and whispering, 'Lie still, if you value your life,' she jumped into the bed, placed my head in her lap as she sat nearly upright leaning against the pillows, and arranged the clothes in such a manner that no one could imagine that the bed contained any one but herself.

"This had scarcely been done, before I heard the door open and some one walk into the room.

"'Have you heard any one enter your window, Virgo?' asked a gruff voice I readily recognised.

"'My window, father!' exclaimed my angel, in a tone of the utmost astonishment. 'How is it possible any one can get near it?'

"'Don't know,' replied the old man surlily. 'But I left a prisoner a short time ago in the yard, to let him stretch his legs for the last time before we stretched his neck; I returned in a few minutes, and there was not a glimpse of him to be seen. I defy a cat to get up the wall. How he's managed to gi' me the slip I can't guess, unless he jumped out o' the keyhole, or flew in at one o' the windows. But you haven't heard no noise?'

"'Not the slightest!' said Virgo.

"'Strange--unkimmonly strange! How long ha' you been awake?' inquired her father.

"'About an hour,' replied my angel. 'I felt a little better to-day, and was thinking of getting up when you entered.'

"I heard the old man grope under the bed, and knew that he was exploring every corner, grumbling and swearing at me at a rate it did my heart good to hear.

"'Unkimmonly strange!' he exclaimed, 'and I shall get sent to the right about if I can't tell how he's bolted.'

"Then I heard him draw aside the curtains, and I lay as still as a rock.

"'What do you want, father?' cried Virgo, very angrily. 'It's ridiculous for you to imagine he can be here.'

"'Unkimmonly strange!' grumbled out the brute; and having satisfied himself that his prisoner was not in the room, he shuffled out of it, growling like a she bear deprived of her cubs. I could feel Virgo's little heart beating violently as she listened to the retreating sounds. Neither of us moved for several minutes. At last, convinced that the coast was clear, I raised my head from the clothes, and observed her face covered with blushes; but as soon as I moved she made a spring and left me in the bed alone.

"'You must remain here till you hear me leave the room,' said she, drawing the curtains round me; 'and when I lock the door, change the clothes you have on for those you will find laid out for you.' I promised obedience, and with a winning smile she left me to my own reflections in a pretty considerable puzzlement concerning the whole affair. Directly I knew she was gone, I jumped out of my snuggery, and looked for the change of rigging she had mentioned. May I be considerably spiflicated if it wasn't a woman's dress! I must say I felt but little inclined to the thing; but, thinking that it might be the only chance I had for getting out of prison, I stripped, and began putting on the first thing that came to hand. It was a sort of shirt, and yet it wasn't a shirt. It didn't look like the shirt of Jew, Turk, or Christian. However, after a deal of manouvring, I slipped it on, and the first thing I discovered was that both sleeves shortened sail considerably, and though I tried to haul up the collar to my neck, I found it wouldn't come above my shoulders any how, but hung down with an ugly flap afore and abaft. Well, the next thing I put my head through was something of a similar nature, only it came up a little higher and fell down a little lower, and was braced up more tight about the body. After that, I got hold of the strangest piece of stuff that ever I overhawled. It was shaped something like a jacket without sleeves or collar, buttons or button-holes, set round with a number of slight stiffish spars, one of which was much broader in the beam than the others, and there was a running line going through two rows of holes that kept the thing pretty smartly together. I found out that there were places for the arms to go in, and I managed to get it then over my shoulders. Then I tugged away at the running line till I had got it through all the holes, and by pulling and hauling, twisting and turning, I made all fast; but the spars pinched me most confoundedly, and the big one stood out astern of my back bone in the oddest manner possible. Then there were a few more things into which I found my way more easily, and when I was regularly rigged out, I took a look at myself at the glass; and I will say, a more ridiculous craft never ventured afloat that what I appeared to be.

"I was amusing myself with the figure I cut, when I heard a footstep--the key turned in the lock, and Virgo entered, fastening the door after her. As soon as she clapped eyes upon me, they began to twinkle famously, and, without any ceremony, she opened upon me as complete a laugh as ever I heard. And she had good reason, for I'd got a hump on my back as big as a dromedary's, owing to my having put the thing with the spars on stern foremost; and I'd managed to twist every thing out of its proper place, because I was ignorant of the right way of putting them on. Well, she made no more to do, but just took me to pieces as if I'd been a baby, and put every thing to rights, laughing all the time; yet as modest as any she creature that ever lived. Then she made me wash my face; and afterwards she combed my hair, curled it, and put a sort of turban on my head; and then, with a triumphant smile, she bade me look in the glass. I did'nt know myself. I looked as complete a girl as ever walked in petticoats. My complexion had been rather browned by the sun, and my limbs had little of the feminine about them; but notwithstanding these things I appeared more womanish than previously I thought it possible I could have been made. As yet I had no whiskers, and my beard did'nt give me any particular deal of trouble; so that, on that score, there was little that could betray that I was sailing under false colours.

"Virgo seemed to enjoy the change she had produced amazingly. She walked about me with her eyes filled with pleasure, as if delighting in the contemplation of her own work; while I, scarcely able to understand the whole drift of the proceedings, looked a little bothered and mystified.

"Now if any of our people do see you," said she, cheerfully, "I do'nt think it at all likely that they would suspect who you are."

"Well, there was I, a wild, daring, uncontrollable youth, living locked up in the bed-room of an innocent little creature some years younger than myself. She brought me every thing that she thought likely to render my confinement more endurable, and endeavoured, by a thousand affectionate ways, to make me forget that I was deprived of my liberty. To get out of the prison, she told me, was impossible at present, as every person entering and going out underwent strict examination; but I had some idea that she said this to keep me where I was; and though I loved her as well as I was able to love, for having saved my life, the sort of existence I led was not one my spirit could long endure. I can say, most solemnly, that she remained as pure in heart and mind as it was possible for the purest to be. She allowed my caresses--she returned them--but there was such a modesty in her spotless nature, that it repelled the slightest exhibition of passion. At night she would leave the room while I undressed, and, when I was in bed, she would come and lay by my side upon the bed in her clothes, and, with her arms round my neck, and her cheek upon mine, we went to sleep. When she made her toilet, she would draw the curtains round me, kiss me, and tell me not to move; and her innocence and gentleness seemed to exert upon me such a spell, that I did'nt dare move an inch, or make the slightest attempt to watch her proceedings. Extraordinary was the care with which this guileless creature endeavoured to avoid a discovery. She watched over me as if I was her treasure, and appeared as if she knew no enjoyment but in my presence. I know not what she would have made of me in time, for I was as a child in her hands; but I began to grow restless at this imprisonment, and was seeking an opportunity to bring it to a termination. This was brought about sooner than I expected, and, in a manner, too, I did not at all anticipate.

"One day, while we were enjoying ourselves in our usual quiet manner, we heard footsteps approaching the door. She had just time to throw some work, upon which she had been employed, into my lap, and tell me to sew away as well as I could, when the door opened, and her father entered.

"'Hullo, who's that young woman?' he inquired, rather surlily.