Every Man Will Do His Duty (60 page)

After they had secured our men, a number of them jumped into the boats, pulled off, and captured the prize, without meeting with any resistance from those on board, they being only six in number. Her cable was then cut, and she was run on the beach, when they proceeded to dismantle her, by cutting the sails from the bolt-ropes and taking out what little cargo there was, consisting of Jamaica rum, sugar, &c, This being done, they led ropes on shore from the schooner, when about one hundred of them hauled her up nearly high and dry.

By this time the privateer had seen our disaster, stood boldly in, and anchored within less than gunshot of the beach; they then very foolishly opened a brisk cannonade, but every shot was spent in vain. This exasperated the Indians, and particularly the one who had taken possession of my pistols. Casting my eye around, I saw him creeping towards me with one pistol presented, and when about five yards off, he pulled the trigger. But as Providence had, no doubt, ordered it, the pistol snapped; at the same moment a shot from the privateer fell a few yards from us, when the Indian rose upon his feet, cocked the pistol, and fired it at the privateer; turning round with a most savage yell, he threw the pistol with great violence, which grazed my head, and then with a large stick beat and cut me until I was perfectly senseless. This was about 10 o’clock, and I did not recover my consciousness until, as I supposed, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I perceived there were four squaws sitting around me, one of whom, from her appearance (having on many gewgaws and trinkets), was the wife of a chief. As soon as she discovered signs of returning consciousness, she presented me with a gourd, the contents of which appeared to be Indian meal mixed with water; she first drank, and then gave it to me, and I can safely aver that I never drank any beverage, before or since, which produced such relief.

Night was now coming on; the privateer had got under way; and was standing off and on with a flag of truce flying at her mast-head. The treacherous Indian with whom I had first conversed came, and, with a malignant smile, gave me the dreadful intelligence that at 12 o’clock that night we were to be roasted and eaten.

Accordingly, at sunset I was unloosed and conducted by a band of about half a dozen savages to the spot, where I found the remainder of our
men firmly secured by having their hands tied behind them, their legs lashed together, and each man fastened to a stake that had been driven into the ground for that purpose. There was no possibility to elude the vigilance of these miscreants. As soon as night shut in, a large quantity of brushwood was piled around us, and nothing now was wanting but the fire to complete this horrible tragedy. The same malicious savage approached us once more, and with the deepest malignity taunted us with our coming fate. Having some knowledge of the Indian character, I summoned up all the fortitude of which I was capable, and in terms of defiance told him that twenty Indians would be sacrificed for each one of us sacrificed by him. I knew very well that it would not do to exhibit any signs of fear or cowardice; and, having heard much of the cupidity of the Indian character, I offered the savage a large ransom if he would use his influence to procure our release. Here the conversation was abruptly broken off by a most hideous yell from the whole tribe, occasioned by their having taken large draughts of the rum, which now began to operate very sensibly upon them; and, as it will be seen, operated very much to our advantage. This thirst for rum caused them to relax their vigilance, and we were left alone to pursue our reflections, which were not of the most enviable or pleasant character. A thousand melancholy thoughts rushed over my mind. Here I was, and, in all probability, in a few hours I should be in eternity, and my death one of the most horrible description. “O,” thought I, “how many were the entreaties and arguments used by my friends to deter me from pursuing an avocation so full of hazard and peril! If I had taken their advice and acceded to their solicitations, in all probability I should at this time have been in the enjoyment of much happiness.” I was aroused from this reverie by the most direful screams from the united voices of the whole tribe, they having drunk largely of the rum, and become so much intoxicated that a general fight ensued. Many of them lay stretched on the ground with tomahawks deeply implanted in their skulls; and many others, as the common phrase is, were “dead drunk.” This was an exceedingly fortunate circumstance for us. With their senses benumbed, of course they had forgotten their avowal to roast us, or, it may be, the Indian to whom I proposed ransom had conferred with the others, and they no doubt agreed to spare our lives until the morning. It was a night, however, of pain and terror, as well as of the most anxious suspense; and when the morning dawn broke upon my vision, I felt an indescribable emotion of gratitude, as I had fully made up in my mind, the night previous, that long before this time I should have been sleeping the sleep of death. It was a pitiable sight, when the morning light broke forth, to see twenty human beings stripped naked, with their bodies cut and lacerated
and the blood issuing from their wounds; with their hands and feet tied and their bodies fastened to stakes, with brushwood piled around them, expecting every moment to be their last. My feelings on this occasion can be better imagined than described; suffice it to say that I had given up all hopes of escape and gloomily resigned myself to death. When the fumes of the liquor had in some degree worn off from the benumbed senses of the savages, they arose and approached us, and, for the first time, the wily Indian informed me that the tribe had agreed to ransom us. They then cast off the lashings from our bodies and feet, and, with our hands still secured, drove us before them to the beach. Then another difficulty arose; the privateer was out of sight, and the Indians became furious. To satiate their hellish malice, they obliged us to run on the beach, while they let fly their poisoned arrows after us. For my own part, my limbs were so benumbed that I could scarcely walk, and I firmly resolved to stand still and take the worst of it, which was the best plan I could have adopted; for, when they perceived that I exhibited no signs of fear, not a single arrow was discharged at me. Fortunately, before they grew weary of this sport, to my great joy the privateer hove in sight. She stood boldly in, with the flag of truce flying, and the savages consented to let one man of their own choosing go off in the boat to procure the stipulated ransom. The boat returned loaded with articles of various descriptions, and two of our men were released. The boat kept plying to and from the privateer, bringing with them such articles as they demanded, until all were released except myself. Here it may be proper to observe, that the mulatto man who had been selected by the Indians performed all this duty himself, not one of the privateer’s crew daring to hazard their lives with him in the boat. I then was left alone, and for my release they required a double ransom. I began now seriously to think that they intended to detain me altogether. My mulatto friend, however, pledged himself that he would never leave me. Again, for the last time, he sculled the boat off. She quickly returned, with a larger amount of articles than previously. It was a moment of the deepest anxiety, for there had now arrived from the interior another tribe, apparently superior in point of numbers and elated with the booty which had been obtained. They demanded a share and expressed a determination to detain me for a larger ransom. These demands were refused, and a conflict ensued of the most frightful and terrific character. Tomahawks, knives, and arrows were used indiscriminately, and many an Indian fell in that bloody contest. The tomahawks were thrown with the swiftness of arrows, and were generally buried in the skull or the breast; and whenever two came in contact, with the famous “Indian hug,” the strife was soon over with either one or the other, by one plunging the deadly knife up to
the hilt in the body of his opponent; nor were the poisoned arrows of less swift execution, for, wherever they struck, the wretched victim was quickly in eternity. I shall never forget the frightful barbarity of that hour; although years have elapsed since its occurrence, still the whole scene in imagination is before me—the savage yell of the warwhoop, and the direful screams of the squaws, still ring afresh in my ears. In the height of this conflict, a tall Indian chief, who, I knew, belonged to the same tribe with the young squaw who gave me the drink, came down to the beach where I was. The boat had been discharged and was lying with her head off. At a signal given by the squaw to the chief, he caught me up in his arms with as much ease as if I had been a child, waded to the boat, threw me in, and then, with a most expressive gesture, urged us off. Fortunately, there were two oars in the boat, and, feeble as I was, I threw all the remaining strength I had to the oar. It was the last effort, as life or death hung upon the next fifteen minutes. Disappointed of a share of the booty, the savages were frantic with rage, especially when they saw I had eluded their grasp. Rushing to the beach, about a dozen threw themselves into the other boat, which had been captured, and pulled after us; but fortunately, in their hurry they had forgotten the muskets, and being unacquainted with the method of rowing, of course they made but little progress, which enabled us to increase our distance.

The privateer, having narrowly watched all these movements, and seeing our imminent danger, stood boldly on toward the beach, and in the next five minutes she lay between us and the Indians, discharging a heavy fire of musketry among them. Such was the high excitement of my feelings, that I scarcely recollected how I gained the privateer’s deck. But I was saved, nevertheless, though I was weak with the loss of blood and savage treatment—my limbs benumbed and body scorched with the piercing rays of the sun—the whole scene rushing through my mind with the celerity of electricity! It unmanned and quite overpowered me; I fainted and fell senseless on the deck.

THE USUAL
restoratives and care were administered, and I soon recovered from the effects of my capture. Some of the others were not so fortunate; two of them especially were cut in a shocking manner, and the others were so dreadfully beaten and mangled by clubs that the greatest care was necessary to save their lives. My dislike for the captain had very much increased since that unhappy, disastrous affair; it would not have occurred if he had taken my advice, as his illiberality and the hints he threw out in reference to my courage were the causes of my suffering and
the sad result of the enterprise. I determined, therefore, in conjunction with the second lieutenant, to leave the privateer as soon as we arrived in Carthagena, to which port we were now bound. We soon had a good pretext for putting this determination into execution; for, two days after the affair with the Indians, we fell in with a Spanish schooner, and, for the first time since leaving Carthagena, a commission and flag of the latter place were produced by Captain S. Under this commission and flag he captured the schooner, being deaf to every remonstrance that was made to him by us. The prize was manned and ordered to Carthagena, where she arrived two days after our entrance into that port. The second lieutenant and myself immediately demanded our discharge, and share of prize money, which were granted, when we received eighteen hundred dollars each, as our part of the captures. With these funds we purchased a fine coppered schooner, and succeeded in getting a freight and passengers for New Orleans. In about a week we sailed and bade adieu to the privateer and her unprincipled commander, who would at any time sacrifice honor and honesty and expose himself to the ignominious death of a pirate for sordid gain.

We arrived at New Orleans, after a passage of eleven days, without accident or interruption. Here all was excitement, as the news of the capture of the
Guerriere
frigate by the
Constitution
had just been received. Three large privateers were fitting out, from the commanders of which very tempting offers were thrown out to enter on board; but I had enough of privateering and considered it at that time a most unjustifiable mode of warfare; and, although I could not obtain business for our vessel, and the probability was that nothing would offer for some time, I resolved to remain on shore rather than to engage again in that nefarious calling.

New Orleans, at that period, was swayed by French and Spanish influence. The manners and customs of these people universally prevailed; consequently, presented to a mind trained under the strict regulation of moral precepts, the greatest degree of repugnance; and although, in my travels, I had frequently been among these people in South America, and, of course, had become acquainted, in some degree, with their habits, yet I could never reconcile the strongly-marked deviations from those principles of virtue and piety so prevalent in the other states and cities of North America. The consequence was that I soon became weary, and, as we could find no employment for our vessel, I embraced a most advantageous offer as first officer of a letter of marque, bound to Bourdeaux. No time was lost in settling the business of the schooner with my friend, and as he had also procured a berth, we gave a power of attorney to a merchant of high respectability, to act for us during our absence.

On the 8th October, 1812, the letter of marque being ready for sea, with the crew, &c, all on board, we cast off from the “Levee,” dropped down the river, and on the 12th went out of the “north-east pass,” and discharged our pilot. This vessel was a schooner of three hundred tons’ burden, Baltimore-built, and of the most beautiful symmetrical proportions; she mounted ten guns, with a crew consisting of thirty men. Our commander was a native of New Orleans, a good seaman, possessing at the same time great affability of manners and great decision of character. The second officer was an old American seaman, rough in his exterior, yet, at the same time, frank, open, and generous, with a frame and constitution that seemed to defy the hardships of a sea life. The crew were a fine set of able seamen, and in such a craft I promised myself as much comfort as could be expected apart from the danger of capture and the perils of the sea.