Afloat and Ashore (39 page)

The process by which nature uses her materials to found islands in the
midst of oceans like the Pacific, is a curious study. The insect that
forms the coral rock, must be an industrious little creature, as there
is reason to think that some of the reefs that have become known to
navigators within the last sixty or seventy years, have since been
converted into islands bearing trees, by their labours. Should the
work go on, a part of this vast sea will yet be converted into a
continent; and, who knows but a railroad may yet run across that
portion of our globe, connecting America with the old world? I see
that Captain Beechy, in his voyage, speaks of a wreck that occurred in
1792, on a
reef
, where, in 1826, he found an island near three
leagues long, bearing tall trees. It would be a curious calculation to
ascertain, if one family of insects can make an island three leagues
long, in thirty-four years, how many families it would take to make
the grading of the railroad I have mentioned. Ten years since, I would
not have ventured a hint of this nature, for it might have set
speculation in motion, and been the instrument of robbing more widows
and orphans of their straitened means; but, Heaven be praised! we
have at length reached a period in the history of the country, when a
man may venture on a speculation in the theory of geography without
incurring the risk of giving birth to some wild—if not
unprincipled—speculation in dollars and cents.

As I drew near the outer shore of the island, opposite to the wreck, I
came unexpectedly on Marble. The poor fellow was seated on a raised
projection of coral rock, with his arms folded, and, was in so
thorough a brown study, that he did not even hear my footsteps in
approaching, though I purposely trod heavily, in order to catch his
ear. Unwilling to disturb him, I stood gazing at the wreck myself, for
some little time, the place affording a much better view of it than
any other point from which it had met my eye. The French had made far
greater inroads upon their vessel, than the elements. She had struck
to leeward of the island, and lay in a spot where, indeed, it might
take years to break her entirely up, in that placid sea. Most of her
upper works, however, were gone; and I subsequently discovered that
her own carpenters had managed to get out even a portion of her
floor-timbers, leaving the fabric bound together by those they
left. Her lower masts were standing, but even her lower yards had been
worked up, in order to make something useful for the schooner. The
beach, at no great distance, was still strewed with objects brought
from the reef, and which it had not yet been found necessary to use.

At length a movement of mine attracted Marble's attention, and he
turned his head towards me. He seemed glad I had joined him, and
expressed himself happy, also, that he saw me alone.

"I have been generalizing a little on our condition, Miles," he said,
"and look at it which end forward I may, I find it bad enough; almost
enough to overcome me. I loved that ship, Mr. Wallingford, as much as
some folks love their parents—of wife or children, I never had any—
and the thought that she has fallen into the hands of a Frenchman, is
too much for my natur'. Had it been Smudge, I could have borne up
against it; but, to haul down one's colours to a wrack, and a bloody
French wrack, too, it is superhuman!"

"You must remember all the circumstances, Captain Marble, and you will
find consolation. The ship was surprised, as we surprised the Lady of
Nantes."

"That's just it—put that on a general principle, now, and where are
you? Surprisers mustn't be surprised. Had we set a quarter-watch, sir,
it never could have happened; and nothing less than a quarter-watch
should have been set in a strange haven. What mattered it, that it was
an uninhabited island, and that the ship was land-locked and
well-moored, and the holding-ground was capital? It is all of no
account when you come to look at the affair in the way of duty. Why,
old Robbins, with his rivers in the ocean, would never have been
caught in this miserable manner."

Then Marble fairly gave in, placed his two hard hands on his face, and
I could see tears trickling from beneath them, as if water were
squeezed from a stone.

"The chances of the sea, Captain Marble," I said, greatly shocked at
such an exhibition, coming from such a quarter—"the chances of the
sea are sometimes too much for the best sailors. We should look at
this loss, as we look at the losses occasioned by a gale—then there
is some hope left, after all."

"I should like to know what—to me, there is no land ahead."

"Surprisers may not only be surprised, but they may carry on their old
trade again, and surprise once more, in their turn."

"What do you mean by that, Miles," said Marble, looking up eagerly,
and speaking as quick as lightning; "are you generalizing, or have you
any particular project in view?"

"Both, Sir. Generalizing, so far as taking the chances of war are
concerned, and particularizing, as to a certain notion that has come
into my head."

"Out with the last, Miles—out with it, boy; the Lord made you for
something uncommon."

"First, let me know, Captain Marble, whether you have had any further
conversation with Monsieur Le Compte? whether he has said any more on
the subject of our future proceedings?"

"I just left the grinning rascal—these amiable smiles of his, Miles,
are only so many grins thrown into our faces to let us feel his good
luck; but, d—n him, if I ever get home, I'll fit out a privateer and
be after him, if there's a fast-going schooner to be had in all
America for love or money. I think I'd turn pirate, to catch the
villain!"

Alas! poor Marble. Little would he, who never got higher than a mate,
unless by accident, be likely to persuade your cautious ship-owners to
intrust him with a vessel of any sort, to go tilting against
wind-mills afloat, in that fashion.

"But, why go to America for a schooner, Captain Marble, when the
French are polite enough to give us one here, exactly where we are?"

"I begin to understand you, boy. There is a little consolation in the
idee, but this Frenchman has already got my commission, and without
the document we should be no better than so many pirates."

"I doubt that, sir, even were a ship to act generally, provided she
actually sailed with a commission, and lost it by accident.
Commissions are all registered, and proof of our character could be
found at home."

"Ay, for the Crisis, but not for this 'Pretty Polly'"—for so Marble
translated Petite Pauline—"The commission is only good for the vessel
that is named in it."

"I don't know that, Captain Marble. Suppose our ship had been sunk in
an action in which we took our enemy, could we not continue our voyage
in the prize, and fight anything that came in our way, afterwards?"

"By George, that does look reasonable. Here was I just threatening to
go out as a pirate, yet hesitating about taking my own."

"Do not the crews of captured vessels often rise upon their captors,
and recapture their own vessels? and were any of them ever called
pirates? Besides, nations at war authorise almost every sort of
hostile act against their enemies."

"Miles, I have been mistaken—you
are
a good seaman, but natur'
meant you for a lawyer! Give me your hand, boy; I see a gleam of hope
ahead, and a man can live on less hope than food."

Marble then told me the substance of the conversation he had held with
Captain Le Compte. The latter had expressed a sudden and violent
impatience to be off—I understood the cause in a moment; he wished to
separate Emily from her old acquaintance, as soon as possible—intending
to put the schooner into the water for us, that very afternoon, and to
sail himself in the morning. This was a sudden resolution, and the
French were moving heaven and earth to carry it into effect. I confess
to some little regret at hearing it, for it was pleasant to meet the
Mertons in that unexpected manner, and the influence of woman in such
a solitude is unusually great. I now told Marble of my discovery, and
when he had got through with his expressions of wonder, I carried him
to the tents, and led him into the presence of his old acquaintances.
In consequence of this visit, I enjoyed another half hour's
tête à
tête
with Emily, Marble soon taking the Major to walk with him,
beneath the trees.

We were both recalled to a sense of our real situation, by the
reappearance of Monsieur Le Compte. I cannot say that our conqueror
behaved in the least unhandsomely towards us, notwithstanding his
evident jealousy. He had the tact to conceal most of his feelings, and
owing either to liberality or to art, he assumed an air of generous
confidence, that would be much more likely to touch the feelings of
the maid he sought, than any acts of severity. First asking permission
of Miss Merton, he even invited us, and himself, to dine with the
Major, and, on the whole, we had an agreeable entertainment. We had
turtle and champaigne, and both of a quality that was then out of the
reach of all the aldermen of London or New York; begging pardon of the
Sir Peters and Sir Johns of Guildhall, for putting them, in any sense,
on a level with the "gentleman from the Fourth Ward" or "the gentleman
from the Eleventh Ward;" though, if the truth must be told, the last
very often eat the best dinners, and drink, out of all comparison, the
best wines. Who pays, is a fact buried in the arcana of aldermanic
legerdemain. It was late before we left the table, though Monsieur Le
Compte quitted us early.

At five o'clock precisely we were summoned to witness the
launch. Champaigne and claret had brought Marble into good humour, nor
was I at all out of spirits, myself. Emily put on her hat, and took
her parasol, just as she would have done at home, and accepting my
arm, she walked to the ship-yard, like all the rest of us. Getting her
a good place for the sight, I accompanied Marble to take a look at the
"Pretty Poll," which had not as yet attracted as much of our attention
as she ought. I had suggested to him the probability of an occasion
offering to rise upon the Frenchman, while their attention was taken
up with the schooner; but Monsieur Le Compte warily kept quite half
his men in the ship, and this put the attempt out of the question,
since the guns of the Crisis would have swept any part of the island.

The French mechanics deserved great credit for the skill they had
manifested in the construction of
La Petite Pauline.
She was
not only a safe and commodious craft for her size, but, what was of
great importance to us, her lines promised that she would turn out to
be a fast sailer. I afterwards ascertained that Captain Le Compte had
been her draftsman, possessing not only much taste for, but a good
deal of practice in, the art. The ship in which the Merton's had taken
passage to Bombay, had the copper for a teak-built frigate and sloop
of war in her, and this had been transferred, among; other articles,
to la Pauline, before the prize was burned. Availing himself of this
circumstance, Monsieur Le Compte had actually coppered his schooner,
and otherwise he had made her as neat and commodious as possible. I
make no doubt he intended to surprise his friends at Marseilles, by
showing what clever mariners, wrecked on an island of the Pacific,
could do, on an emergency. Then, doubtless, he found it pleasant to
linger on this island, eating fresh cocoa-nuts, with delicious turtle,
and making love to Emily Merton. Some of the charms of "Pretty Poll"
were fairly to be attributed to the charms of the young lady.

The men began to wedge up, the moment we were all present, and this
portion of the labour was
soon
completed. Monsieur Le Compte
then took his station in the head of the schooner. Making a profound
bow to Emily, as if to ask her permission, the signal was given; the
spur-shores were knocked away, and the little craft slid off into the
water so easily, making so little ripple as she shot a hundred fathoms
into the bay, as to give the assurance she would prove a fast
vessel. Just as she was water-borne, Le Compte dashed a bottle against
the tiller, and shouted, at the top of his voice, "
succés à la
Belle Emelie.
"

I turned to Emily, and saw by the blush that she understood French,
while the manner in which she pouted her pretty plump lip betrayed the
humour in which the compliment had been received.

In a few minutes, Captain Le Compte landed, and, in a set speech, he
gave up the schooner to our possession. We were told not to consider
ourselves as prisoners, our captain handsomely admitting that he had
gained no laurels by his victory.

"We shall go away good friend," he concluded, "mais, suppose we shall
meet, and
nos dux republique
shall not be at peace, then each
must fight for
son pavillion!
"

This was a good concluding sentiment, for such a scene. Immediately
after the Mertons and their domestics, of whom there were a man and a
woman, embarked, I took leave of them on the beach, and, either my
observation, or my vanity, induced me to think Emily got into the boat
with reluctance. Many good wishes were exchanged, and the Major
called out to us, "we shall meet again, gentlemen—there has been a
Providence in our previous intercourse. Adieu, until
then
."

The French were now in a great bustle. Most of the articles they
intended to carry away were already on board the ship; and, by the
time it was dusk, they had closed their communication with the
land. When Captain Le Compte took his leave of us, I could not but
thank him for his many civilities. He had certainly dealt generously
by us, though I still think his sudden departure, which made us fall
heirs to many things we otherwise might not have so done, was owing to
his wish to remove Emily Merton, as quickly as possible, from my
sight.