CHAPTER IX. The Perilous Enterprise of our Hero.
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The mother of George Hunnewell
continued to watch, as we have said, the
receding skiff containing her son, until it
was lost to her eyes in the gloom and
distance. She remained still gazing
eagerly in the direction of the frigate,
which she could yet see floating motionless
upon the deep, awaiting her fate.
The storm which had overtaken May and
the dwarf reached her; and still she
clung to the shot, hoping yet that the
lightning would give her a glimpse of
her boy, and assure her of his safety.
At length, unable to withstand the full
force of the wind which swept with resistless
fury over the cliffs, and dashed
the spray high above her head, she
sought the shelter of her cottage, which
stood just below that of the old man's.
Yet in the door of it she stood watching
the sea with the most painful anxiety.
Like May she felt that she could tell by
the manner of the frigate's steering
whether George were on board directing
her course and guiding her destiny.
The skiff had continued pulling on
steadily and swiftly until it had got a mile
from the landing-place, when George
proposed to Buttermilk to take his place;
seeing how the poor negro blowed at his
task.
`No, no, massa,' answered Buttermilk.
`Dis nigger nebber giv up nor say die!
Specially as you hab a lame arm!'
`My arm doesn't trouble me now,
Milk. Since I have seen Miss May I feel
as if I was as well as ever. I will at
least pull one of the oars.'
`No, no, massa Jorge. It only bout
three quarter ob a mile more. In de
East Indgy I pulled Calcutta ribber all
day, for thirty-six miles, me and de boat's
crew. Dis boy nebber tire. Gorry massa,
master Jorge! Don't it look amazin'
black and ugly up dere to windward!—
We hab to do our best to get to de ship.'
`We shall reach it in time. The wind
hasn't struck the sea yet in sight; and I
could see it begin to turn up a line of
foam ten minutes before it could reach
us. But pull away strong; if you won't,
let me. We shall have to do our best.'
The shores, as he looked back, were
fast disappearing in the increasing blackness
that gathered around him. At intervals,
by the glare of the lightning he
fancied he could see his mother's tall
form upon the rocks watching his progress,
and doubtless, as he said to Buttermilk,
sending up prayers for his safety;
for though rude and coarse in her
manners and of strong passions, and full
of hatred to her kind, she loved her son
with the sincerest affection. Nature in
her bosom asserted and maintained her
rights in spite of the grosser usurpation
of fierce and uncontrollable passions;
and George, while he loved his mother,
feared and stood in awe of her.
The skiff, as the rocky shores faded,
began to come nigher and nigher to the
frigate; and each moment it grew more
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distinct and larger to the eye of our hero.
Stately and grand in all her war-like
proportions she sat upon the breast of
the broad ocean in majestic beauty. The
heavy under-swell of the sea which
moved like a huge heart with life in it,
kept the ship swinging like a pendulum
on the glassy surface of the undulations.
As the skiff advanced, George fancied he
could see the officers unpon her quarter-deck
waving their hands. The frigate
had ceased firing for some time; and he
attributed this silence to their having discovered
him.
He was right in his conjecture. Many
an anxious eye on board had been long
and earnestly watching the inhospitable
coast off which their ship was embayed,
hoping as the report of each gun died
among its cliffs, to see a fisher's boat
emerge from the shore to their relief.—
But more than one hundred guns were
fired, and all was sllent and motionless
whither their longing eyes were turned.
The English commander had seen the
danger of his situation as soon as the
wind left him becalmed with a storm
gathering in the south and west. He
saw at a glance that unless he could tow
out of the bay before the storm reached
him, he would be in danger of losing
his ship; for although there seemed to
be good harbors on the coast within reach,
he was ignorant of their pilotage.
As soon as he had made himself fully
acquainted with his position, he ordered,
out his boats to tow off the land. But he
soon found that this method was futile on
account of the flowing tide which set him
landward faster than the boats could resist
it. He then called them on board;
and anchoring in forty-nine fathoms, began
to wait in hope that a light breeze
would spring up before the storm should
get full force and enable him to claw off
the land. But the profound stillness of
the air, the mirror-like surface of the
ocean, the hazy mist gathering about the
sun and the angry aspect of the heavens
told him too plainly that the first wind
that he should feel would be the full head
of the tempest. He now began to think
of a pilot to help him into one of the harbors
when the storm should strike him.
There was not a man on board who had
any practical knowledge of that part of
the coast, at least sufficient to risk running
a ship into shelter in a gale. He
resolved, therefore, in the imminency of
the peril in which he found his ship to
fire signals in hope of inducing some one
from the shore to board him.
Several guns were fired at intervals of
a minute; but nothing moved in shore
that he could see, though he closely scanned
it with his glass.
`These Yankees are either afraid of
us or are too patriotic to venture,' said
his first lieutenant to his commander.
`They have often supplied our ships
from the coast of Maine with fresh water
and fresh provisions. Besides, we never
interfere with fishermen. If they understood
what we want, there are some of
them who will come out to us!'
`Yes, if they thought we should pay
them well for it,' answered the first officer
with a smile.
`There is a boat rowing in shore, close
under that cliff with the old white pine
upon it,' said a midshipman who had a
spy-glass at his eye.
`I see it,' answered the captain, after
watching it for a short time with his glass.
`It seems to be coming out to us.—
Tell them forward not to fire again at
present.'
The boat, however, instead of pulling
strait out of the bay, doubled the headland
and shortly went out of sight up the
land. This disappearance was witnessed
with deep disappointment visible on every
anxious countenance. The English Captain
looked at the rising cloud and gave
orders to continue firing.
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The shores were now closely watched
by the officers; but in vain. The storm
came advancing up the sky, covering
the sea with its dark shadow, while
the thunder peals answered their artillery.
Night grew on apace, and the
signs of a fearful tempest thickened upon
them.
`This firing is likely to be powder
thrown away,' said the Captain. `They
are too much afraid of us, or do not understand
our signals. We must trust to
ourselves and the strength of our good
ship, my friends,' he said, addressing his
officers; `and with the favor of Providence,
we may yet save the ship.'
`Keep a sharp look-out till the last moment,
there aloft!' called out the first
lieutenant, hailing the fore-top.
`Aye, aye, sir! There is something
moving in the little bay abeam of us. I
can't exactly make it out as a boat, sir,
but it mout be and moutn't.'
Half a dozen glasses were now in requisition,
and brought to bear upon the
point of the main-land indicated. The
air was becoming murky, and a deep
gloom hung upon the land, so that objects
were but faintly discernible.
`I see nothing,' answered the captain
with looks of keen disappointment. `As
we are here in this bay, becalmed, with
this fierce wild storm ready to burst upon
us, we might as well, for safety, be over
a sea-volcano just ready to explode.
`I can see it, sir. It holds two persons,
and is pulling out from the land,'
said a young officer with a sparkling star
upon his breast.
`There are two boats, both in motion,
in the harbor,' said the senior lieutenaat
with animation. `Ten to one, sir, we
shall have a pilot now!'
`If it is possible for a boat to reach us
before the storm does. I see both boats
now,' answered the captain, in a lively
manner. `They have now separated
and one of them hugs the cliff, while the
other keeps on this way. God grant it
may be a fisherman who knows the coast,
that Heaven has inspired to come to our
relief.'
`Any seaman, sir,' said the young
officer, `could at once understand the
danger we are in, looking at us from the
land, becalmed as we are, with a storm
to windward, and a rocky lee-shore.—
They could see that we would want help,
without the hint our guns have given.—
The boat keeps on.'
`Yes, boldly. The other skirts the
cliff; and seems to be making westward.
But we will watch the one that seems to
be coming to our assistance. The tempest
comes on at a racing pace. Mr.
Morpeth, you will again see that the guns
are all lashed fore and aft, and that
every thing is snug alow and aloft.—
Have the storm-axes ready for use at a
moment's warning; for we may be thrown
on our beam ends at the first touch.—
This is to be no child's play affair to-night.
'
`The boat pulls steadily out this way,'
said the senior officer, watching with his
glass the approach of George in his skiff.
`Yes, and bravely too,' responded the
Captain; `but unless he pulls harder,
we shall hardly get him on board.'
`He is certainly coming directly for
us,' observed the quarter-master; `we
are not deceived in this. If the storm
keeps off twenty minutes longer, he will
be up with us!'
`God grant it!' ejaculated the captain.
`With one of these fishermen on board
at the helm, we can run before the gale
into some one of these small bays, and
so save the ship.'
`At the risk of being taken, or set on
fire from the shore by the Yankees,' said
a junior lieutenant.
`This is a thinly peopled coast; and
no forts are any where about this region,'
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responded the officer, with the star upon
his breast.
`That thunder rings again!' observed
the other, turning pale at the sound as if
the very globe had cracked. The most
vivid lightning followed, by the glimmer
of which the little boat, to which all eyes
were turned with the deepest interest,
was seen steadily approaching.
`Shall we fire again?' asked the officer,
in charge of the signal guns.
`No, sir. Lash the guns, and see that
all the powder is returned to the magagazine
at once. There is too much lightning
in the air, and we are likely to be
struck in any part of the ship.'
The ship now began to feel the first
pulsation of the storm in the heavy swell
of the ocean. She rolled and pitched
violently, though not a breath of air was
yet moving. The white wall of surge
advancing with its deafening roar, at
length was visible to them, and while
they were preparing the ship to meet the
shock, all eyes were turned in the direction
of the boat. Now it seemed to be
lost in the hollows of the smooth billows;
and now it was balanced for an instant
upon the summit to be shot forward
again, like an arrow, on her course.
Nearer and nearer the little boat came.
Buttermilk tugged laboriously at the oars,
aided by George. Nearer and nearer
advanced the black tempest, in its march
across the ocean. The excitement on
board the frigate was intense. It was a
race between the storm and the skiff.—
Involuntarily men in all parts of the frigate,
forward as well as aft, shouted for
them to hasten for their lives.
George saw his danger. He forgot
his arm and bent to the oars with 'Milk,
with the most sinewy activity. On came
the tempest, preceded by a wall of white
foam. Its roar was appalling; and the
sight of it sufficient to paralyze a stronger
heart than that of our hero. Manfully
he urged the little skiff over the billows.
It seemed to fly. The crew and officers
of the ship shouted, and waved their
hands to cheer and encourage them.—
The storm was not a quarter of a mile
off, when they were within cable's length
of the ship.
`Ropes! Fling ropes to the brave
fellows,' shouted the English Captain in
tones of joyous relief.
The next moment George sprung upon
the lowest step of the gangway, amid a
loud huzza; and as he touched the deck,
the storm burst upon the ship.
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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].
