My First Cruise, and Other stories, Page 3

  STORY ONE, CHAPTER 3.

  THE SLAVER.

  It was reported that we were to touch at one or two places on the coastof Africa, and then to stand across to the Brazils. The first land wemade was that near Sierra Leone. I always thought that negroes lived inthatched huts, and wore bits of white cloth round their loins. Webrought up before Free Town, the capital of the colony, when what was mysurprise to see really a very handsome place, containing between fifteenand twenty thousand inhabitants, the greater number black or brown men,and as well-dressed and comfortable-looking as any white people couldbe. What is more, they have schools and colleges where they arecapitally taught, and all the little black children go to school; sothat the truth is, that they are far better educated than are thechildren of the working classes in many parts of England, and are alljust as good Christians as we are. Sommers told me all this, and agreat deal more. I haven't spoken about him before. He's a mate--sucha good-natured, kind fellow, and is very merry, though he can be veryserious; and do you know, when he's in the berth, none of the others,big or little, swear and talk about things they oughtn't to. I likeSommers, and so even does Snookes and My Lord; and he never lets anybodybully Polly when he's near. I think that I should have been bullied agood deal, but I took everything that was said or done in good part, orpretended to be unconscious of it, and lost no opportunity ofretorting--good-naturedly of course--it would not have done otherwise.And now, the rest only play the same tricks with me that they do witheach other. No one makes any difference with me because I am thecaptain's nephew, any more than Uncle Tom does himself. Uncle Tom isvery kind, but he makes no difference that I can see between the rest ofthe midshipmen and me. He does the best that he can for all of us, thatis the truth: he punishes all alike if we do wrong, and has us all intothe cabin and gives us good advice, and talks to us frequently. Stillwe do, somehow or other, manage to get into scrapes. I have beenmastheaded twice, and Dickey Snookes five times, since we came to sea;once for dressing up the sheep in some of the men's clothes just beforethe crew were mustered, and then letting them out on the deck; andanother time for cutting poor Polly's hammock down by the head, and verynearly cracking his skull--luckily it's rather thick. After leavingFree Town we touched at Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Have you everread about that settlement? It was established by the people of theUnited States, and colonised by men of colour, or blacks, who had beenonce slaves and had obtained their freedom. It is a republic, and thechief magistrate as well as all the officers are brown or black men. Itis not nearly so large nor so flourishing a place as Sierra Leone. Inthe latter, you see, there are a great many intelligent white men whoset the blacks an example of industry and perseverance, in whichqualities they are somewhat wanting generally. Still it is wonderful tosee what black men can do when left free with a good example beforethem. Monrovia is really a very respectable-looking city. There are anumber of stone warehouses full of goods near the water, and a good manydwelling-houses of brick, nicely furnished, and of two storeys high, butthe greater number of the habitations are of wood, on brick foundations.There are several churches, four or five at least, with black orcoloured preachers. The greater part of the principal inhabitants areengaged in trade, exchanging palm oil, ivory, cam-wood, which is avaluable dye, for European or American manufactures. They have also anumber of vessels manned by Liberian sailors, which sail along the coastto collect the produce of the country. Uncle Tom took me on shore, butwe remained only a very short time, so that I cannot give you a moreparticular account of the place. Leaving the coast of Africa, we stoodacross the Atlantic towards that of America. We had left the land somefour or five days when the wind fell, and we lay becalmed, one side andthen the other dipping provokingly into the smooth, glassy, and shiningwater, and very nearly rolling our masts out. It was so hot, too, thatthe pitch bubbled up through the seams in the deck, and Dickey Snookesdeclared we could have roasted our dinners on the capstern-head. Ibelieve, indeed, that we could. I was very glad when the sun went down,and the night came, but it was not so very much cooler even then, andmost of the watch below remained on deck to swallow some fresh air, butvery little any one of us benefited by it. The next day, at all events,I thought that we should get a breeze, but it was much the same. Hot!oh, how hot it was! We all went gasping about the decks, not knowingwhat to do with ourselves, and the sea shone so brightly that it waspositively painful to look at it. I daresay that it would have beenmuch worse on shore, for, at all events, the air we breathed was pureand clear, though it was pretty well roasted. It was curious to see thesame chips of wood and empty hampers, and all the odds and ends thrownoverboard, floating around us day after day. We had been a week thusbecalmed when I was sent aloft, as the midshipmen occasionally are, tosee what was to be seen. I did not expect to see anything, but I did,and that was a long, thin, dark blue line away to the north-east. Ireported it to the officer of the watch. He said it was all right, andthat we should have a breeze before long, and ordered the watch to trimsails. The blue line increased in width till it could be seen from thedeck, and on it came, growing broader and broader every instant. Sureenough it was a breeze stirring up the surface of the ocean. In alittle time the upper sails felt its influence, and then the topsailsbegan to bulge out, and the courses moved, and away we glided throughthe still smooth water faster than we had done for many a day. For somehours we ran on till a sail was reported right ahead still becalmed. Aswe drew near we discovered her to be a large topsail schooner, with avery rakish appearance. She was still becalmed, but as we brought thebreeze up with us her sails bulged out, and she began to glide throughthe water. There were many discussions as to what she was; some thoughther an honest trader, others a slaver; some said she was American, andothers Spanish or Portuguese. "One thing is in her favour," observedold Gregson, "she does not attempt to run away." "Good reason, Greggy,"said Dickey Snookes aside to me, "she can't--just see what she will dowhen she gets the wind!" Though I had never seen a slaver, the strangercame exactly up to my idea of what a slaver was like. We always at seacall a vessel, whose name and country we don't know, a stranger. Stillshe did not run away even when she got the breeze, but hove her topsailto the mast, and kept bobbing gracefully away at us as we came up, whilethe stars and stripes of the United States flew out at her peak. Alldoubts as to the honesty of her character were dissipated when anofficer standing at her gangway hailed and asked what frigate we were.The reply was given, and he was asked what schooner that was. "`TheWide Awake,' from New Orleans, bound in for Sierra Leone. Shall behappy to take any letters or packages you have to send for thatsettlement, captain," exclaimed the speaker through his trumpet. Thiswas all very polite. Still more so was it when the American skipperoffered to send his boat aboard us to receive our despatches. As ithappened, the captain had been wishing to send a letter back to SierraLeone, and several of the officers wished to write, and as the delaywould not be great, we told the polite American that we would troublehim. He seemed well pleased, and said that he would get his boat ready,and drop aboard us. I remained on deck watching the schooner, for thereis something very attractive to my eye in the movements of anothervessel at sea. A boat was after some time lowered from the schooner andpulled towards us, when she filled her fore-topsail, stood a little wayon, tacked, and then steered so as to get to windward of us. I saw ourfirst lieutenant watching her very narrowly when she did this, and thenlooking at her boat. Presently he went into the captain's cabin. Hewas not there long. When he came out he ordered a boat to be manned,with the crew all armed, and directed the crews of three or four guns oneither side to go quietly to their quarters. I saw, meantime, that theAmerican's boat, instead of pulling up alongside, was passing astern ofus, so as to meet the schooner, now rapidly approaching our weatherquarter. She was still within hearing when the first lieutenantshouted, "Our despatches are ready--come on board!" But the people inthe boat pretended not to hear, and pulled on towards the schooner. Onthis S
ommers was ordered to take command of the boat, and to proceed onboard the stranger. To my great delight I got leave from Uncle Tom toaccompany him. It was very kind--it was the first piece of favouritismhe had shown me. Dickey Snookes was quite jealous when he saw me jumpinto the boat. "Ah, Pringle, you'll get knocked on the head, my boy,depend on that!" was his encouraging observation. Away we pulledtowards the schooner. Her boat had reached her, and was hoisted up. Wehad before not observed more than a dozen or fifteen men at the utmost.There were now more than double that number on her deck, or about herrigging. Every stitch of canvas she could carry was set; her yards werebraced sharp up, and away she went like a shot on a bowline. "Give way,my lads, give way!" cried Sommers, and the men did give way, pullingwith all their might; but the schooner went through the water muchfaster than we did, and in spite of all our efforts soon left us farbehind. "That was the meaning of all his politeness about the letters--he expected to hoodwink us, did he? the rogue!" exclaimed Sommers. "Butthough we do not catch him, the frigate will; there is no fear of that!"We pulled on after the schooner some time longer, but Sommers at lengthsaw that the chase was perfectly hopeless. "The worst of it is, thatthe frigate will have to heave to to pick us up," he observed. He thenasked me if I should mind letting the frigate stand on after the chase,and stand the chance of being picked up when she had caught her. Icannot say that I particularly liked the notion of being left all alonein a boat in the middle of the Atlantic. Still I did not like to sayso. However, the captain settled the point by heaving the frigate to asshe came up to us, and ordering us to return on board. This we did withas little delay, as possible, when once more the frigate stood on afterthe schooner. Still the latter had gained a considerable advantage, butshe was not beyond the range of our guns, and we now began to fire awayat her to make her heave to again. Of course she had no intention ofdoing this if she could help it. Our shot went flying pretty thicklyafter her, but still, though several struck her and cut her ropes, andmade eyelet holes in her sails, her damages were repaired as quickly asthey were produced, and there seemed a considerable chance of hergetting away from us altogether.