CHAPTER XVIII. The Pilot.
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The third afternoon after the storm
found the British frigate ready for sea, at
least so far as it was possible to refit her
in the bay. Her commander had been
three or four times on shore during the
interval, and had visited the cottage of
William Northrop; but this man always
kept out of the way, carefully avoiding
being seen by him. May offered to the
English officer, with a grace and courtesy
which charmed every one, the hospitalities
of her humble home; and when the
officers spoke of George, the young pilot,
and asked about him, and praised him,
and told how he had refused money for
his services, her maidenly cheek was enriched
with the sweet blushes of pleasure.
Indeed, so apparent was her interest in
the young fisherman, that Captain Howard
Morpeth felt satisfied she was his betrothed.
On the afternoon on which the ship
prepared to go to sea, the captain was
again on shore. He went to the house
alone, and seeing May in the door, the
parrot perched upon her wrist, he lifted
his cap in homage to her beauty, and
said,
`I have called, fair maid, to bid you
good by, and to beg you will accept this
little gift, in testimony of your hospitality.'
`I thank you, sir, but I can take nothing
from you. I have done only what
my heart has prompted. You owe me
nothing, sir.'
`Very well; if you will not accept the
bracelet, Poll, your favorite, shall.'
With this he fastened upon the emerald
enamelled neck of the Parrot the
rich bracelet which he had displayed to
her eyes.
May smiled at the act and the manner
in which he did it, but said nothing either
in assent or dissent.
`There,' said the captain to the bird,
`wear that for your fair mistress, unti
she shall one day relent and rob you of
it.'
`How's the wind! Sail ho!' chattered
the Parrot, in a shrill, self-confident
tone, that made both the captain and
May laugh.
`Ah, you here, black?' said the captain,
as Buttermilk came forward.
`Where is young master?'
`Massa Jorge?'
`Yes. I want him to pilot me out.'
`He nebber do dat, massa. 'Sides
massa Jorge aint at home. He been
gone, gone away ebber since yesterday
aternoon.'
`George gone?' exclaimed May with
surprise, and turning pale. `Where?'
`Don't know, Missus. 'Spect he only
keep out ob de way till de frigate gone.'
`Then you must pilot me out, my
man,' said the captain looking dissatisfied,
for he had come on shore hoping to prevail
on his young pilot to take the frigate
to sea.
`What massa captain pay?' asked the
subtle African.
`I will give you twenty guineas to take
the frigate a league beyond the head
lands of the bay.'
`Done, massa,' responded Buttermilk.
`I take my skiff along too, to come back
in.'
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`Yes. Will you go on board now?'
`D'rectly,' answered Buttermilk, and
he went round to the rear of the cottage,
and entering a boat-shed, removed a flat
stone, beneath which he had deposited
his gold. He looked at it minutely to
see if it was all there undisturbed, and
then replaced the stone.'
`Dat ere gold safe. It a big nice nest
egg for massa Jorge some day when he
get poor man. He nebber know it now;
but it do him some good sometime.' He
had no sooner dropped the stone than he
saw Tom approaching.
`Ah, Tom dear, I hope is better?'
`I am well, Milk. The hard row that
night of the storm had like to have killed
Tom.'
`You speaks as you hab a berry heabby
cold now. I hope it aint de 'fluenza.'
`Are you going to pilot the frigate
out?'
Yes. Me niggah citizen. Me no
American. Same to Buttermilk English
or American. White men al like to Buttermilk.
Captain pay me yeller gold.'
`If I acted as pilot of that frigate I
would beach her on the Porpus.'
`Dat would be wicked. I nebber do
such ting as dat. I get her out safe, if I
say so, Tom. Dat work ony fit for de
debble heself.'
`You shall not pilot her. Father says
I may.'
`I see you hab mischief in your eye.
No, no, Tom; me pilot her safe.'
`You must wreck her if you go on
board,' said the dwarf, firmly.
`No, nebber do dat. Can't be wicked:
bad like dat. Nebber, nebber,' answered
the negro, shaking his head.
`Very well. Stay here a moment.'
Tom left him, and passing into the
house, called in a low tone to his father,
who was concealed in the surf-boat, so
that he could see and hear all that passed
beneath him, The English captains
words had not missed his ear, at any
time he had been at the house. Secure
in his covert, he watched all that transpired.
The officer had shaken hands
with May with friendly politeness, and
departed, asking her to send the negro
down to the beach.
William Northrop on seeing Tom enter,
rose and met him on the ladder which
led to the loft.
`He refuses to wreck her, father,'
said Tom.
`Then you must go on board in his
place.'
`Will you give your consent then?'
`Yes; if you do it handsomely on the
part of the reef I told you.'
`You promise, without any change of
mind, that if I wreck the frigate, father,
you will not complain against brave
George.'
`It is your only way to save him from
being strung up.'
`And you promise that he shall marry
May, too.'
`I promise both,' answered Northrop
with a resolute tone, `and I assure you
that if you fail or falter you shall die by
my hand.'
`Then I will do it. The officer has
gone down to the beach. Buttermilk is
in the boat-shed.'
`I will have him secure in a moment.
He will find it better for him to have
done as we wished. Go at once after
the captain, and tell him that you are to
take the black's place. Tell him the negro
could not be trusted; as in truth he
cannot by us.'
The dwarf hastened through the entry
to go on his mission of crime, while William
Northrop went to the shed. Here
he could find nothing of the negro; and
after searching around some time, returned
to the house; but cautiously, for
fear that he might be seen by some of
the English officers, whom he every moment
carefully kept hid from.
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`Where are you going, Tom?' asked
May, seeing him come out; for she had
been to the verge of the cliff to look for
a sail, which she had heard several voices
say was in sight. She had discovered it
in the western board close under the
island called Nettle Rock, and about
twelve miles distant.
`I am going to pilot the frigate out,'
answered Tom.
`I thought Buttermilk was going to do
this.'
`No; he wont wreck her.'
`Won't what?'
`Wont wreck her on the Porpus.'
`And do you mean to do this?'
`To be sure I do.'
`What do you mean, brother? Who
has set you up to this black deed?' she
cried with horror.
`Who? Love for you, May, and for
George, who loves you?' he answered
bluntly.
`Love for me! How can this be?'
she asked, perplexed.
`Why you know Geerge 'll be hanged
for getting her in safe!' answered Tom,
very positively.
`I do not know any such thing.'
`Well, if you don't, I do. The old
man was so mad he swore up and down
he would have him complained of, if only
to prevent his having you for his wife.'
`When did my father say this?'
`To-day, and yesterday, and day before.
Now he says that if I will pilot the
ship and wreck her on the Porpuses, he
'll let George marry you, and wont complain
to the government.'
`Did he speak so?'
`Yes; and he says it's the only way
to save George's neck for me to wreck
the frigate.'
`And you resolve to do it?'
`Yes; because I know you love
George and that George loves you. I'd
wreck fifty frigates so you might be mar
ried to him and to keep him from coming
to harm! Don't stop me. The boats
are ready to go on board.'
May was in a painful position. She
feared to detain her brother, lest she
should anger her father, whose vengeance
she feared. She trembled to let
him go on his message of death. She
knew not what to do. That George had
placed himself in a critical situation by
bringing in the frigate, she had already
began to be convinced; but the idea of
saving him from the consequences, and
of securing her father's consent to her
union with him, by permitting such a
wholesale murder as her father contemplated,
was not to be entertained for an
instant. The thought of it froze her
blood with horror.
`Tom, where is my father?'
`Here!' responded William Northrop,
coming forward from behind a group of
trees from which he had satisfied himself
that the officers and crew were all on the
beach below, and would not be likely to
ascend again. `Here, May! and I am
here to forbid you to detain your brother.
He has my orders!'
`He shall not go and do this iniquitous
thing, dear father!' she said firmly, but
with a cheek as colourless as marble.
`Then the consequences be upon you,
and if George Hunnewell swings for
what he has done, thank yourself. You
urged him to do what he did and now that
you can save him, you hesitate. Out
upon such love as your's for him!'
`Father, I am yet to learn that George
is in peril.'
`That you may be sure of. I have
this day seen an officer from Bath who
has come hither on purpose to arrest him.'
`At whose information?' she asked
with grief and indignation.
`Not at mine! The rumor went on
the winds, bearing intelligence of the
reasonable aid rendered by the young
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man to every ear. That very frigate has
for weeks shut the mouth of the Kennebec
and ruined the commerce of its towns.
That very frigate has captured no less
than twenty-seven vessels, and impressed
half their crews, making prisoners of the
residue. That very frigate, saved from
wreck and turned loose again upon the
ocean to plunder the defenceless seamen,
would have landed troops at Wiscasset
and fired and laid waste the town and
country, but for the gathering of force to
defend the place. This dangerous vessel
your lover, George Hunnewell, has
involuntarily rescued from shipwreck that
was inevitable. It is not as if he had
been taken from a fishing-boat at sea
and compelled to pilot her in. This
would have been a different affair altogether.
But he left the land and rowed
out to her of his own free will. What
more could an English fisherman have
done? What more could the foullest
traitor have done!'
`Poor George!'
`Already the land has branded him
with the appellation of traitor. Already
his name is ringing from tongue to
tongue, from Maine to the central capital
of the country. You may well cover
your face, girl, and groan `poor George!'
`Father, oh is this so?'
`Is it so? I tell you what is truth.'
`What can save him? Oh, tell me,
for I am alone to blame!'
`Silence, and never say that of yourself
again. It will do no good to him,
and only commit yourself, and perhaps
bring mischief upon you. I offered him
safety, but he refused it.'
`How? In what way?'
`That he should pilot the frigate out
again and undo what he had so foolishly
done.'
`By wilfully wrecking her?'
`Yes.'
`And he refused safety on these terms?'
`He did.'
`Noble George! Had he accepted it,
sir, I should have spurned him.'
`Very well. If heroism is better than
life, let him have his choice.'
`And you would now send Tom—my
poor brother, to do this deed?'
`Yes. See! While I talk with you
here, he is already on the beach. Stay!
You cannot prevent him. It is too late.
The boat is already off with him. If you
call and tell them not to trust him, they
will kill him for his treachery!'
`What can I do?' she cried, clasping
her hands in agony. `God protect the
ship from the evil meditated. Oh, father,
this desire to destroy the ship is not for
love of George!'
`No. It is a deadly hatred of the
English. I would have offered myself
as pilot, but that I feared my face might
be known on her deck by some one. But
Tom will do as well. He believes he
serves you and George by it; and this
notion in his head, you could get him to
blow up the globe itself.'
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Ingraham, J. H. (Joseph Holt), 1809-1860 [1847], The surf skiff, or, The heroine of Kennebec (Williams Brothers, New York) [word count] [eaf210].
