Part 13

"There's no saving his life, don't you see;" remarked Tourniquet, who had discovered that Captain Death was not quite dead, and had been examining his wounds. "Every effort would be useless here, all skill unavailing; and there are many others in imminent danger, to whom I might be of service."

"Stop, he moves!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, as he stood gazing on the changing features of the dying pirate.

Captain Death lay extended on his back on the deck where he had fallen. His sword was still firmly grasped in his hand, and both his arms were stretched out nearly at right angles with his body. The long silken cap in which he used to confine his black hair had fallen off, and the hair fell in disordered masses, clotted with blood, around his face. He had allowed his beard and moustachios to grow, and they now added to the natural ferocity of his countenance. His jacket, of the richest velvet, was cut through in several places, and stiffened with gore, which had run down and soiled the crimson shawl of embroidered silk he wore girded round his waist, and had more conspicuously stained his lower garments of linen. His face was livid, and his eyes blood-shot, and the expression which was impressed upon them kept continually changing from pain to rage, and from rage to hate. Occasionally some convulsive movement of the muscles would more strongly distort his features, and his body writhed and twisted as if in great agony. After a long fit of violent shuddering, which shook every part of his body, his face assumed a more tranquil expression, and his lips moved as if with an effort to speak.

"Virgo!" he whispered; "'tis your father. He comes to drag me to the halter. See how he glares at me! He laughs. He shows me his chains. No, no, no! 'Tis not that savage old man. 'Tis not him. There is no one. Come to me, my preserver, come to me; and let the refreshing purity of your caresses drive away the evil thoughts which have made my nature so abandoned and desperate. There is the little bed, with its clean white curtains; there are the flowers. There, there! I see you all again, reminding me of a state of innocence I was unworthy to share. Come, my preserver, come!"

"He is delirious, don't you see;" observed the doctor.

"Do you think there is any possibility of his recovering?" inquired the young merchant.

"Not the slightest; he won't live an hour;" replied Tourniquet.

"Hush!" exclaimed Oriel; "he speaks again."

"Virgo! 'tis time to rise. See how the rosy morning dawns upon the room! Let me kiss you before you leave me: there! my soul is on my lips, and I drink in a better life from yours. Draw around the curtains. My face is on the pillow; I cannot see you, but my blessings follow you wherever you go. Ah! you leave the room, and all is strife and hate and passion within me."

"He's talking of that young creature that was so fond of him, don't you see," said the doctor; "though for my part I can't comprehend what she could see in him to like."

"There's no knowing," replied Oriel Porphyry; "the love of woman is a mystery which none properly understand and few appreciate."

"She's dead!" exclaimed the pirate in a heart-broken voice; "she's dead! the innocent, the good, the gentle, the fearless, the confiding one, who would have plucked the rank weeds from my sinful nature, has perished and left me none like her in the world. She died for me--for me, a wretch unworthy to breathe in her presence. All is lost. There is no goodness now remaining on the earth. She's dead! she's dead!"

"I did not think he had so much natural feeling in him;" said the young merchant.

"There's nothing so evil but what has some good in it, don't you see;" replied the surgeon.

The expression in the features of Captain Death now underwent a complete change: it became fierce, daring, and revengeful. His body appeared violently agitated, and his arms moved with convulsive twitches.

"Pipe all hands to quarters!" shouted the dying pirate with all his remaining strength. "Make sail--clear away for fighting--run out the guns and shot them.--She's a rich merchantman, and there's enough in her to enrich us all. Pour out a broadside--there goes her main-mast:--another, and her mizenmast goes by the board. Sweep her quarter deck with our quarter deck guns, and pour down upon her a fire of musketry from the tops. Board her by the bow-sprit. Now, boys, follow me and cut down all." Here the features of the dying pirate became absolutely terrific, and he made some desperate struggles to rise from the ground, in which he at last succeeded; when, waving his sword round his head, he sung in a piercing voice--

"We stifle ev'ry cry, Ev'ry cry,--ev'ry cry-- We stifle ev'ry cry, Captain Death! And then we spread our sails that are filled with welcome gales, Singing, 'Dead men tell no tales,' Captain Death! Captain Death! Singing, 'Dead men tell no tales,' Captain Death."

"Ah!" screamed the singer, while an expression of the most intense agony distorted his features. He dropped the sword he had held; he drew both his hands suddenly to his wounded side, and staggering back, gasping frightfully for breath, he fell violently on his back.

"He's dead, don't you see;" said the doctor.

"A sail on the starboard quarter;" cried a man aloft.

"No more pirates, I hope;" exclaimed Fortyfolios, who had just ventured on deck.

"It is not quite impossible, don't you see;" was the surgeon's encouraging reply, and both almost immediately descended the hatchway, one to look after his patients, and the other to look after himself. Oriel Porphyry hastened to the captain, whom he found standing in the waist, examining the distant vessel through a glass.

"Any more fighting preparing for us?" inquired the young merchant.

"Can't exactly say yet, sir, but it's best to be prepared;" replied old Hearty, as he gave some orders to the men around him. "She looms large, and looks as if she was arter standing right across our fore-foot. Now she's alterin her course, and is comin with all sail set right down upon us. Call all hands to quarters: Climberkin, let the guns be shotted, and the dead bodies flung into the sea;--and yet I think she's a merchantman. Scrunch me, if it arn't my old ship, the Whittington!"

"What, my father's vessel?" asked Oriel Porphyry.

"The very same!" cried the old man with delight. "I knows her better nor any ship I ever sailed in. No doubt she wants to speak with us. Bring her head up to the wind, helmsman! I wonder whether my old captain is alive still? He was a right-down trump. But what a mazement he'll be in to find me in command o' the Albatross."

"I know Captain Barter well. I've met him frequently at my father's table, and a very gentlemanly, sensible man he is;" said the young merchant. "I have no doubt he's brought me some communication from Columbus."

"We shall soon see, sir, as we shall be alongside very shortly;" observed Hearty.

"Is master Oriel Porphyry on board?" was shouted from the Whittington, as the ships neared each other. Oriel caught up a speaking trumpet.

"Yes, Captain Barter, I am here;" he replied.

"I will come on board, sir, if you please, as soon as a boat is lowered;" said the captain of the Whittington.

"Have you any communication for me from my father?" inquired Oriel.

"I have, sir; and 'tis of great consequence," replied the other.

Oriel Porphyry was now all anxiety and impatience to know the intelligence he was promised. He hurried to the quarter-deck to receive his visitor, and strode backwards and forwards with hasty steps till he made his appearance. Now he thought that the news must be bad, and in a moment after he imagined that it was good. One instant he anticipated the death of his father, and in the next, hoped that he had been raised by his fellow-citizens to the highest honours in the nation. And in this way his mind continued changing its impressions for the better and for the worse, till he had worked himself into a state of considerable excitement, when Captain Barter advanced towards him.

He was an elderly man, of gentlemanly appearance; neat in his dress, and polite in his deportment. His face was pale, and slightly marked with wrinkles; and his features were mild and pleasing. His hair was gray, and his body rather thin; but he was perfectly upright in his walk, and his step was firm and manly.

"I regret I have unpleasant intelligence to communicate to you, sir," said Captain Barter, after they had exchanged the customary salutations.

"It is then as I suspected," exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, earnestly. "My father is dead."

"No, sir, it is not so bad as that," replied the captain, as if hesitating in making the communication.

"What is it then? let me know immediately. I am sure by your manner it is something dreadful," cried the young merchant.

"Your father is a prisoner," said Captain Barter, with a look of sincere commiseration.

"Have they dared?" exclaimed Oriel.

"But I am sorry to say it is worse than that, sir," added his companion.

"What! what is it? Do not keep me in suspense--I implore you to tell me," cried the other.

"He is ordered for execution," said the captain.

"The miscreants!" muttered the young merchant. "But I knew it would be so. I knew they would not rest satisfied with their privileges curtailed. I knew they would seek the first opportunity to regain their lost power. I was convinced that they would regard my father as their enemy, and sacrifice him on the earliest occasion. But tell me how it was brought about? I would know all."

"After the revolution, which effected those important changes in the government of which you have been informed," said Captain Barter, "nothing could have exceeded the appearance of good will which existed in every part of the empire. The emperor seemed desirous of nothing so much as gratifying the people; and his ministers appeared to emulate each other in endeavouring to become popular. Public fêtes were given in honour of the revolution, at which the emperor assisted in person; and measures of the most liberal character were passed through the legislature, without a division. All was harmony and social order. The citizens congratulated each other on the improved state of the country--the industrious classes found themselves provided with sufficient employment, at a fair recompense--trade again became brisk--commerce flourished; and abundance seemed to be generally diffused over the whole surface of Columbia."

"A mere trick!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry; "nothing but an artifice to lull the people into a fancied security, I'll wager my existence."

"Just so, sir," replied the captain. "The leaders of the people had now nothing to complain of. Every improvement was made before they had time to offer a suggestion on the subject; and that being rendered comparatively useless, they quickly lost their influence over their fellow-citizens. Your father, observing how well things were proceeding, withdrew himself from all participation in politics, considering that his services were no longer required, and devoted himself to his commercial pursuits, and to the realisation of those philanthropic desires that have distinguished every portion of his existence. He became again so completely the private citizen, that no person unaware of the circumstances could have imagined that he had recently played so important a part in the late changes. All the most influential of the popular leaders gradually retired into private life in the same manner."

"I see the scheme," cried Oriel, eagerly. "The vile treachery becomes manifest. How well 'twas planned. How artfully designed. Oh! these planners and plotters are a brilliant set; they are too wise for us poor citizens."

"So they proved, sir," continued the captain; "for while the things I have related were being done, the government gradually and imperceptibly concentrated a military force in the metropolis, by calling in portions of the garrisons distributed over the empire; and these were well supplied with all the necessaries of war, and liberally paid, and officered by men upon whom the government could depend. Soon after this, on the pretence that they were no longer necessary, the national guards were disbanded and deprived of their arms. Suspicion was now created among the sharp-sighted few; but the public generally did not appear to have the slightest notion of the danger which threatened them. As the object of the emperor and his party began to assume a more threatening aspect, the leaders of the people took the alarm, and endeavoured to awaken their fellow-citizens to a sense of their danger. In the course of a few hours every one of them was securely lodged in a dungeon."

"And my father amongst them," exclaimed the young merchant.

"He appears to have been the chief object at which their malice was directed," observed the captain. "At this time it was thought necessary to throw off the mask. The old ministers were restored to their forfeited privileges and possessions; and your father's implacable foe, Philadelphia, was placed at the head of the government. An imposing force of soldiery was kept continually under arms, to prevent any rising of the populace; and seizures of concealed arms were made in every direction. The people, deprived of their leaders and of their weapons, felt themselves powerless. They saw too late the trap into which they had fallen. They beheld the despotism that was approaching them, and were unable to make the slightest effort to defend themselves from its approaches. Domiciliary visits were now made, upon the most frivolous pretexts, to the houses of the principal citizens; and papers and arms were seized, and their owners, if they gave the slightest cause of offence, were hurried to prison. Any one known or suspected of entertaining hostile intentions was seized and incarcerated, and fined in heavy penalties, or sent out of the country. The citizens were confounded, and appeared utterly unable to make the slightest resistance."

"Oh, I wish I had been there!" exclaimed Oriel, eagerly, "I would have infused such a spirit into their natures as should have made them ready to rush upon their oppressors with a certainty of success; and that conviction should have insured their triumph. I would have made their hearts astir with the love of freedom, till all obstacles in their way should have been as straws in the path of the tempest. I would have made them fight like lions--I would have made them conquer like men. But what became of my father? you have not told me that. Tell me what became of him?"

"While they were placing the citizens in a degree of subjection fit for their purpose," replied Captain Barter, "with a monstrous deal of unnecessary parade, they were making preparations for the trial of the leaders of the people. The long-expected day came, and its proceedings were watched with eager interest by the citizens, although they dared not show the anxiety they felt. Master Porphyry, with his companions, were arraigned as rebels and traitors, accused of murder and treason, and reviled by the hired advocates of the crown in terms which only the more exposed the badness of the cause they defended. Philadelphia was president of the Chamber of Peers, by whom they were tried; and he took every occasion to abuse, brow-beat, and threaten your father in language the most intemperate that can be imagined; but your father replied in a manner that would have conciliated a savage. His language was mild, his bearing noble; and when he was called upon to make his defence, he made one of the most eloquent speeches that had ever been heard within those walls. He merely related what he had done, and what were his reasons for so doing; exposed the errors of the government, and the mischiefs to which they had led; recounted the share he had had in the revolution, which had reduced the power of the crown and of the aristocracy to reasonable limits, and the motives which induced him to use all his influence in the contest: and his defence so utterly annihilated the charges brought against him, that he must have been acquitted had he been treated with any thing like justice; but his judges were his accusers, and they sealed his doom before they entered upon his trial. The prisoners were all found guilty. Some were sent into exile, some imprisoned for life, some were heavily fined--and Master Porphyry was condemned to be beheaded, and to have all his property confiscated to the crown."

"The murderous and insatiate tyrants!" exclaimed the young merchant.

"When Philadelphia delivered the sentence," continued the captain, "he appeared to take a malignant joy in having such an opportunity for reviling your father--there was no name of opprobrium he did use: but your honoured parent replied to him only with a look of wonder and pity; and with a bow to his relentless judges, left the court in company with his guards."

"Noble old man!" cried Oriel, earnestly.

"As soon as the people learned the result of the trial, they were in the deepest affliction," added Captain Barter, "that the kind and excellent philanthropist--the true and disinterested patriot, the glory of their city, and the pride of the world--should perish on a scaffold, was more than they could endure. But they had no leaders, and no weapons; and, although they would have risen in a mass in his rescue, under the circumstances of the case they saw that any attempt of the kind was utterly hopeless. All eyes were then turned toward you. Your character had already acquired their admiration; your relationship to Master Porphyry excited their devotion; and, knowing that you had departed on a voyage, the most powerful friends of your father met secretly for the purpose of devising some plan by which they could make you acquainted with your father's danger, and with their desire to assist in his rescue. With this idea in view, all your father's vessels that could be sent to sea, besides a vast number of ships belonging to other merchants who had volunteered to give their assistance, sailed in quest of you. From knowing something of the plan of voyage designed by your father I imagined that about this time you would be crossing the Atlantic; so here I have been sailing about for the last two days, and there are nearly a hundred sail of merchant vessels in the same pursuit."

"A sail on the larboard bow!" shouted a man.

"That is one of them, I have no doubt, sir," observed Captain Barter.

"A sail on the starboard quarter!" shouted another.

"There is another, sir!" added the captain.

"A sail to leeward!" cried a third.

"We shall have them all about you soon, sir," said Captain Barter.

"There's a sail in every point o' the compass," cried Climberkin, as he swept the horizon with his glass.

"I told you so, sir," continued the captain.

Climberkin was right. Wherever the eye could gaze the spars of a vessel were seen rising from the wave; and, apparently, as soon as each ship discovered the Albatross, she made all sail towards her. It was a beautiful sight to see them approaching, most of them with every stitch of canvass set--some bearing right down upon the Albatross, and others making tacks; while the distant cheers of their crews, answered by the crews of the Whittington and the Albatross, increased the stirring character of the scene. As soon as they were near enough a boat was seen putting off from each vessel; and, a few minutes after, the captains of the different ships came on board the Albatross, and sat with Oriel Porphyry in his cabin for several hours, in deep and earnest conference. These had scarcely departed when others arrived. New vessels kept continually approaching. As fast as one party left the ship others made their appearance, and at last the Albatross was surrounded by an immense fleet. All their commanders having at last communicated with Oriel Porphyry, they crowded sail for Columbia.

"Captain," exclaimed the young merchant, after the last of his visitors had departed, "are you sure of the crew?"

"To a man, sir," replied old Hearty. "There's such a stir in the ship as never was afore. They are all impatient to be led against your enemies. I never saw such enthusiusiasm in all my life."

"Keep them in that humour, captain," said Oriel Porphyry. "Let every man have a good supply of ball cartridges, a musket, a pair of pistols, and a cutlass."

"Yes, sir."

"And let a party be formed who can use the hatchet and crow-bar with good effect."

"Yes, sir."

"And get the carpenter to make carriages for the larger guns, so that they can be dragged by ropes upon the land; and let them be manned by picked men."

"Yes, sir: and if we don't rescue your honourable father out o' the clutches o' them ere lubbers, I'm spiflicated if we don't diskiver the reason why."

"How far are we from port?" asked Oriel.

"About two days sail, sir," replied the captain.

"We shall be too late if the greatest despatch is not used," observed the young merchant, earnestly. "I rely upon your using every effort that your skill can suggest."

"I'll do every thing, sir, as a mortal cretur can do!" exclaimed the old man. "I arn't the fellow to stand shilly-shally at such a time as this. I'll look to every thing myself, and see about it immediately."

The captain had scarcely left the cabin, and Oriel had thrown himself back in his seat, in deep and earnest meditation, when he was disturbed by a knock at the door.

"Come in," he cried.

"May I enter, Oriel?" said Eureka, as she gently opened the door.

"Of course, dearest!" replied Oriel Porphyry, as he hastened towards her, and led her into the cabin, with her hands clasped in his.

"You are kinder to me than I deserve, Oriel," murmured his fair companion, with a look of gratitude from her lustrous eyes that he found perfectly irresistible.

"Not at all, my Eureka!" said her lover, affectionately; "am I not indebted to you for life and liberty, and all that render them valuable? Do I not know how much you have dared and endured for my sake? And do you think it possible, that with a knowledge of these things, I can regard you with any other feeling than that of the most devoted affection? No, Eureka, I must love you while I have life. But how cleverly you continued the disguise. When I first saw you, I recognised in the handsome page a resemblance to features it was impossible for me not to notice; but your scheme was so admirably managed that I never entertained the slightest suspicion of your true character."

"Nor up to the present moment has any one in the ship," replied Eureka. "They only know me as Zabra, except that worthy creature, Tourniquet, who discovered my secret when I was wounded, and I immediately made him aware of my history and object in joining you, at which he was so much delighted as to proffer his assistance in carrying on the deception; and I should have been discovered but for him on more than one occasion."

"That accounts for his confusion at the tiger-hunt," observed Oriel; "and for what I considered the mystery in your behaviour. But there is nothing strange or unaccountable in it now. I only wonder at you. I am amazed when I think of your risking so much for one who is so little worthy of such extraordinary devotion."

"You will not love me the less for it, will you?" inquired Eureka, gazing in his face with a look of thrilling tenderness.

"Love you less, Eureka!" exclaimed the young merchant; "that would be ungrateful! While I have an appreciation of truth and excellence and fidelity, and that wonderful intellectual power you have so often exhibited, the admiration with which I regard you must approach idolatry. You are a creature to be proud of."