Part 16

It had been the first intention of Coe to throw himself, with his small force, between the contending parties, and to insist upon the pirates retiring to the brig; or, in case of their refusal to do so, to take sides against them in the fight. But, seeing that the odds against the ship's crew was now not so great, Captain Johnson and his mate having joined them, he determined, with his followers, to pursue Afton, and to prevent such mischief as he might be bent upon.

Captain Johnson, when he saw so many of the pirate crew hastening towards the cabin, was also anxious to follow them; but he was too hard pressed by his enemies to allow him to do so. He hoped, moreover, that the tenants of the cabin had had the forethought to barricade the door, in which case the pirates might be prevented from breaking in upon Mr Durocher and his family until he could overpower the force immediately before him, and then, turning upon those who had gone towards the cabin, might thus be able to overcome his enemies in detail.

The door of the cabin had been barricaded by Mr Durocher, as well as he could do so, with the aid of his daughter and the quadroon girl, but the fastenings scarcely withstood for one moment the violent assault of Afton and his men.

They passed in without further opposition--the illness of Mr Durocher preventing him from offering even a moment's resistance. An instant of silence ensued, and then, above the noise of conflict without arose the cries of distress from the cabin--the shrieks of women! That was the cry most agonising to young Coe.

"Here, my brave fellows!" he shouted, "follow me, and remember your own mothers and sisters at home!"

He dashed off down the deck, past the assailants and assailed still struggling there, and, followed by Ada and his men, sprung into the cabin to confront Afton and his men in their fiendish scheme. Afton, having penetrated to the state-rooms, had seized Miss Durocher, and was trying to drag her forth, preparatory to removing her to the brig. "Unhand that lady, villain!" shouted Coe. "Villain yourself?" roared Afton. "Who made you my master, I should like to know?"

Afton was a strong man, but young Coe was both stronger and more active, and when he was aroused and inflamed by a righteous anger the pirate was but a child in his hands. He said not another word, but releasing the lady from the grasp of the ruffian by a sudden and dexterous exertion, he seized the pirate with both hands and swung him with tremendous force through the state-room doorway into the saloon. So violently did the latter strike the floor, that he lay at once without sense or motion.

One of Afton's men, drawing a pistol, had pointed it at the head of the infuriated rescuer; but ere he could pull the trigger, Ada, who already had a pistol in her hand, fired, and broke his right arm, which fell powerless to his side. He stooped to pick up the weapon which he had dropped with the hand of his uninjured arm, but Ada drew another pistol from her belt and presented it at his head.

"If you attempt to take up that weapon again, Joe," she said, with firmness of purpose expressed in her tones, "you are a dead man."

The man yielded at once, and stood motionless and silent before the pistol which she continued to hold with the muzzle towards him.

At the same time when these scenes were occurring in the state-room, others were taking place in the saloon.

"Unhand that gentleman," said Bowsprit, to two men who held the sick Mr Durocher prisoner.

"We are acting under the orders of the second-lieutenant," replied one of the men.

"Point your pistols at those men," said Bowsprit, addressing those under his command, himself presenting at them a weapon in each hand.

His orders were at once obeyed.

"We have pistols, too," gruffly said one of the men who held Mr Durocher.

"Now," said Billy, "release your prisoner at once, or I'll warrant you'll never disobey orders again."

At this moment the body of Afton came rushing head-foremost out of the state-room.

Seeing the condition of their officer, the two men unhanded Mr Durocher, and sullenly threw their weapons upon the floor.

The fourth of the men who had accompanied Afton, and who had stood at the state-room door through all these scenes, apparently stupefied by surprise, quietly handed his pistols and cutlass to Bowsprit.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE FATE OF THE FALCON.

Sir, I thank you-- My heart is full of thanks to you. _The Dream_.

*John*. Surrender, sirs. *Isaac*. Never; we die first. _Old Play_.

Full many a fathom deep they rushed Down--down the dark abyss. _Ballad_.

Mr Durocher, with the vivacity and warm-heartedness of a Frenchman, embraced young Coe, calling him his preserver, and overwhelming him with thanks.

"Thank only God, my dear sir," replied the deliverer. "I am not doing even all my duty. How many lives may be lost on deck while I am delaying here! Mr Bowsprit," he continued, addressing that individual, "bind the hands of your prisoners at once, and then come, with your men, upon deck with me."

Through the open door of the state-room he could see Ada, still pointing her pistol at Joe, whose right arm hung loosely at his side.

"Madam," asked John, "is that man's arm broken?"

"Yes," she answered; "I broke it with a pistol-shot; but I understand a little of surgery, and can easily set it if I can get a few splinters of wood."

Mr Durocher had hastened to his daughter and was holding her in his embrace, when hearing the word madam addressed to a person in male attire, he said--

"From this gentleman calling you madam, I suppose that you are a woman, and understand those sudden sicknesses caused by excited feelings, and peculiar to women?"

"I am a woman," answered Ada, blushing; "and I understand you. I see that your daughter has fainted. I will attend to her. Have you any salts?" she continued, addressing Celeste.

The poor quadroon girl was herself near to the point of swooning; but aroused herself when thus addressed, and hastened to bring the restoratives asked for. While she was searching for these among the vials and bottles of the medicine-case, Mr Durocher laid his daughter upon the bed. He then turned to Ada, and said--

"You need not trouble yourself with that man any more. Let him come into my state-room adjoining this, and lie upon my bed. I understand something of surgery myself; I also have the materials for making splinters, and will dress his wound."

Meantime, in the saloon, the hands of the prisoners were bound, even those of Afton. Leaving one of his men to guard the prisoners, Coe and the rest hastened upon deck. Scarcely five minutes had elapsed since he had left the deck--so many incidents may occur in a brief period of time, when the struggle is one of life and death.

The man who had been placed at the helm by Captain Johnson still kept his post. Through all the excitement and confusion, through the uproar and perils of the storm and the battle, that sturdy and brave seaman had, with unflinching patience and fidelity, and by a skilful management of the helm, watched for and warded off the effect of every huge wave which had threatened the safety of this ship. When the two vessels had come together, he had, by good guidance, broken to a great extent the force of the collision. When he had seen his comrades pressed by vastly superior numbers, and knew that his own safety depended on their successful defence--when he had seen the pirates hurry into the cabin where were only the sickly old man and the two helpless females--he had firmly maintained his post, steadily and faithfully performing the duties which had been assigned to him. He knew that upon him depended the safety of all on board; that the slightest neglect on his part, the slightest failure of hand or eye, might allow the ship to broach to and be swamped in the tremendous seas which were now running.

Fidelity to duty, in instances of this kind, exhibits the purest type of heroism of character. And such instances are very common in ordinary life, among all classes, and especially among the humblest. There is seldom any genuine heroism in mere fighting; when man's passions are stirred--whether by feelings right or wrong--and his animal nature thoroughly roused, fighting is an absolute enjoyment to him; and in battle there is the additional incentive of glory to urge him to acts of valour. But, too often, in the apparent stillness of quiet life, there are duties which are discharged amid ceaseless temptations to neglect them. These nobody notes as worthy of especial honour; because they occur every day, every hour. Many persons cross the Atlantic to see Niagara, and they talk of its grandeur and sublimity--and justly do they do so; yet who speaks of, or even notes the fact, which all must acknowledge, that the sky, which by day and by night bends over the head of every man, woman, and child in every part of the world, is a thousand times grander and more sublime than even the wonderful cataract? A blessed truth it is to the humble disciples of humble duty, that, though no earthly being observes them with praise, God sees them.

There was yet a faint glimmer of daylight when John Coe came upon the deck of the ship. In that dim light the fight was still going on. It had commenced with twelve men from the _Falcon_ on the one side, and ten men belonging to the _Duchess_ on the other. So nearly were the individuals of the contending parties balanced in personal strength and prowess, that the success of the pirates had been very nearly in exact proportion to their superiority of number. The loss was of two men upon each side, and the defenders of the ship had been driven back to a position very near to the quarter-deck; but of the pirates one was wounded and one was killed, while of the defenders two only were wounded. Both of the parties were fighting with cutlasses only; the pistols had all been fired in the beginning of the engagement, and there had since been no opportunity of reloading them.

Coe, with his small force, threw himself between the contending ranks, flashing his cutlass right and left, and striking upwards the clashing weapons.

"Hold your hands," he cried, in a loud voice. "My party is a small one; but we are enough to settle this contest at once in favour of the side into whose support we may throw ourselves."

The pirates at once dropped their points and fell back; they, of course, felt convinced that a reinforcement had come to their help. Captain Johnson and his men, however, naturally looking upon the new comers as enemies, and supposing that Coe's mode of dealing with existing affairs was a _ruse_ to take them at disadvantage, were not disposed to cease fighting so readily. Still, Captain Johnson reflected that it would be well to hear what proposition was to be made. He, therefore, dropped his point and retired a step or two, and ordered his men to cease fighting and to fall back. His command was immediately obeyed.

"Mr Brown," said Coe, addressing Bowsprit, as soon as he saw that the fighting was suspended, "you and your men are supplied with two pistols apiece, I believe?"

"Yes, sir," answered Billy.

"Are they all loaded?" asked Coe.

"All loaded," was the echoed answer.

"Then draw, each of you, one in each hand," said our hero, "and have each pistol ready for instant use. But keep your cutlasses suspended by the cord from the right wrist."

Coe's order was instantly obeyed; and he himself at the moment prepared his weapons as he had commanded the others to prepare theirs.

"Gentlemen pirates," he said, sarcastically, addressing those of the boarding-party who had been engaged in the fight, "you will remember that when I accepted the high and distinguished office of captain of marines on board of the brig _Falcon_, the free rover, I did so provisionally, and on the express condition that I retained the right of resigning whenever I should think proper to do so. I exercise that reserved right now. I resign the honourable post so flatteringly offered to me; and I am, therefore, no longer a member of the gallant band composing the crew of the brig _Falcon_."

"What's the meaning of all this fine talk?" asked a gruff-looking pirate. "What have we got to do with your affairs at this time?"

"It means that I never have been, and never have intended to be, a pirate," answered the captain; "I had rather die a thousand deaths than be one of your kind. I was taken prisoner by deceit, and was then entirely in your power; yet, even in such circumstances, my first impulse was to defy your whole band and thus to bring on my own death rather than to seem to become a member of your ship's company. I was induced to act as I have done, partly by the advice of a friend whom circumstances had forced to remain among you, but mainly by the conviction that the Ruler of Events would not have allowed me to be taken prisoner by you merely for the purpose of permitting my death. I hoped not only that I might thus be able to make my escape, but that I might prevent some of the evil which you are accustomed to do in your vocation, and might also find amongst your number some whom I could induce to become again honest men. I see a good prospect of success in all these objects."

"What's the use of all this argufying?" said the sailor who had before spoken, and who was boatswain of the _Falcon_. "Tell us what do you mean? What are you going to do?"

"What I mean is this," answered Coe. "Lay down your arms at once and surrender. You have no chance of defending yourselves successfully against such odds as will now be opposed to you."

"You don't mean to say," said the boatswain, "that Leftenant Bowsprit and them others there have turned agin us?"

"We are all," answered Bowsprit, "pledged to stand by Mr Coe for life or death."

"As to them other fellows there," said the boatswain, "I never had much faith in them; but I didn't think, leftenant, that you would ever desert us."

"I am determined," replied Bowsprit, "to live hereafter, and to die, an honest man."

"And to get yourself hanged," sneered the sailor.

"I had rather things should come to that," said Bowsprit, "than ever to be a pirate again."

"Come," said Coe; "you must decide quickly. Do you surrender?"

"Never," answered the boatswain. "We can hold out until old bully Afton comes from the cabin--confound him, he's always after the gals and the rhino--we shall then be equal to you. Never say `die'--heh, boys?"

The pirates answered him by cheers, mingled with oaths, swearing that they would rather die where they stood like men, than to be hanged like dogs.

"You need not expect help from Afton or his men," said the resolute Coe, addressing the pirates; "I have them all bound in the cabin."

"Mr Coe," said Bowsprit, who did not like to take a part in consigning any of his old comrades to the gallows, "suppose we allow them to escape to the _Falcon_?" That question was never answered. The reference made by Bill Bowsprit to the brig caused most of the pirates, and the boatswain among the number, to turn their faces towards the vessel. What they saw determined them to immediate action. Most men come to a resolution very speedily when a sudden emergency leaves them but a brief time for doing so.

When the two cannon were fired by Captain Johnson and one of his mates at the very moment when the pirates boarded the _Duchess_, the effect of the rebound of the guns upon one vessel and of the striking of the shot upon the other had a violent tendency to drive the ship and the brig apart. The hold of the grappling-irons and other fastenings which kept the two vessels together was therefore, much weakened by the shock. The violent dashing against each other of the ship and the brig had not only carried away a considerable part of the upper-works, but threatened, if continued much longer, to dash in the very sides of the two vessels; of course, this ceaseless motion tended to weaken more and more the bonds which held the ship and the brig together.

At the very moment when the boatswain and others of the pirates looked towards the brig, these fastenings gave way, and the two vessels were about to part.

"Come, boys! quick!" cried the boatswain, rushing towards the guards of the ship. He was immediately followed by all of his men who were left alive, except the one who lay wounded upon the ship's deck. The next instant they sprang from the broken guards of the _Duchess_ towards the deck of the _Falcon_; in the confusion and hurry three of them missed the leap, fell into the sea and were drowned. At the same time the vessels parted.

When the boatswain gained the brig, he turned round to those whom he left on the deck of the ship, shook his fist, and exclaimed, in a voice that was heard above the sound of the wind and the sea:

"Look out for the Long Tom!"

"We should not have allowed them to escape," said John Coe to Captain Johnson.

"It is better as it is," said the captain. "We have escaped from a fate so terrible, that all minor perils are but as trifles in comparison. I know not who you are, young gentleman; but your appearance and action among us have been so wonderful that it almost seems as if you were an angel sent from heaven to rescue us."

"You do me too much honour," said the young man. "But I will explain to you everything when we have leisure. At present, there are the wounded to be attended to."

"True," replied the captain. Then turning to his men, he added, "Bring lights, some of you, and remove the wounded below."

By this time the vessels were some twenty yards apart.

"See!" exclaimed Billy Bowsprit, "they are loading the cannon on board the _Falcon_."

Only dimly through the night shadows could the deck of the brig be seen; for now the last vestige of daylight had departed.

Some of the men who belonged to the _Duchess_ were enabled to assist in loading the two cannon; for Captain Johnson had expressed his determination that, if a shot was fired from the pirate-brig, he would, as before, return them two for one.

"The two shots which I fired at the moment of their boarding us," he said to Coe, "made a good-sized hole in their hull just above the water-mark; and they must have taken in considerable water through it, during the tossing and pitching of the brig. I will make another hole in their timbers if they fire at me again."

Even while he spoke a shot came from the _Falcon_. It was fired, probably, by the skilful hand of Seacome; for it again carried away a part of the guards. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Captain Johnson quickly responded with his two guns. His object was to strike the enemy's hull, near where his last two shots had struck; and he probably did so, for, in a few moments afterwards--by the light of the lamps on board the _Falcon_--men were seen hurrying to and fro in apparently great excitement. Loud tones were also heard, seemingly giving orders.

All who were on the deck of the _Duchess_ stood still, listening and watching.

"Your shot must have done them serious damage," said Coe, at length, to Captain Johnson; "the excitement seems to increase."

"It seems to me," said Billy Bowsprit, who was watching things sharply, "the _Falcon_ is settling in the water."

Upon the background of the sky, the spectators on board the _Duchess_ could see the masts of the brig slowly bend forward; still slowly for a while they moved onward in the same direction, sinking, sinking from the horizontal line in the sky which they had formerly touched; and then their motion was gradually accelerated.

"See!" exclaimed Bowsprit, "her bows are going under, as sure as my name is William."

That instant, a wild, despairing and mingled cry arose from the deck of the _Falcon_; the next moment that gallant craft plunged head-foremost into the sea and disappeared.

"God have mercy on their souls!" exclaimed Captain Johnson. "The best among them can be but little prepared to enter the other world."

The captain of the _Duchess_ then ordered a thorough examination to be made of the damage done to his ship. For many feet along the larboard beam and larboard bow the guards were almost entirely torn away. From the fact that the ship was also leaking, it was evident that the planks had been started somewhat where the larboard side of the _Duchess_ had been beaten against by the starboard of the _Falcon_; a single pump kept regularly at work easily balanced the effects of this leak. A part of this labour was performed by some of Billy Bowsprit's men, all of whom-- at the suggestion of Coe--reported themselves to Captain Johnson for duty as a part of his crew.

Afton and three of his men who were unwounded were put in irons and removed to safe keeping in the forward part of the ship; and the man whose arm had been broken by Ada Marston's shot was placed with the rest of the wounded in the sailor's quarters, where they were all made as comfortable as circumstances would allow. After these tasks had been attended to, Captain Johnson read the "funeral service at sea" over the bodies of the dead, which, enshrouded and with weights attached to them, were launched into the ocean. The decks were then scrubbed by the light of lanterns, the watch set for the night, and all made secure.

These duties being performed, Captain Johnson, Coe, and Bowsprit went down into the cabin, to look after the condition of things there. They found Louise recovered from her swoon, but still very pale and nervous. She sat beside the sofa, on which lay her father, very ill from the shock of his recent terrible excitement. The quadroon girl was crouched upon the floor at the feet of her mistress; she also was very pale, and her eyes still had a wild and alarmed look. Ada, too, sat upon the floor, at a little distance from the others, her head against the seat of a chair, and her face hidden in her hands. She had been upon deck and had seen the brig sink in the ocean. She had learned of her husband's death; that she was weeping proved that she was a woman.

There was not much rest for Captain Johnson that night; the leaky condition of his ship, and the still strong gale and high-rolling waves kept him on the alert. Billy Bowsprit, who was a thorough seaman, insisted upon watching with the captain. Coe was assigned a berth in one of the state-rooms forward of the saloon. Knowing that he could be of no farther use, he consented to retire for the night. Being much fatigued, he soon fell asleep, in dreams to recall, in forms more or less distorted, all the incidents of the day; yet amid all the scenes which his memory presented to his imagination, bent over him the soft, appealing eyes, the pale and beautiful face of Louise Durocher.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

GATHERED ENDS.

Melting and mingling into one Two kindred souls. _Anon_.

And so his life was gently exhaled in peace. _Anon_.

Hail, wedded love! _Paradise Lost_.

That's the very moral on't. _Nym_.

The gale continued blowing all that night, all the next day, and for two or three days following. The injured condition of the ship made it unsafe for her to contend against the force of so strong a wind; and she was, therefore, kept directly before it. While the _Duchess_ was thus running before the wind, two of the wounded pirates and three of the wounded of the ship's crew died, and were committed to the deep. The man whose arm had been broken by Ada's pistol-shot, and the other two of the wounded men belonging to the ship's company, recovered before the arrival of the vessel in port.