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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
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 Pau-
line. 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 ascer-
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
tained 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 pret-
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
ty 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.
At daylight next morning, Neb came to the officers’ tents
to say, the ship was getting her anchors. I was up and dressed
in a moment. The distance to the inlet was about a mile, and
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
I reached it, just as the Crisis was cast. In a few minutes she
came sweeping into the narrow pass, under her topsails, and I
saw Emily and her father, leaning over the hammock-cloths of
the quarter-deck. The beautiful girl was so near, that I could
read the expression of her soft eyes, and I fancied they were
filled with gentle concern. The Major called out, “God bless
you, dear Wallingford” – then the ship swept past, and was
soon in the outer bay. Half an hour later, or before I left the
spot, she was at sea, under everything that would draw from
her trunks down.
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CHAPTER XVII
“I better brook the loss of brittle life,
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts,
Worse than thy sword my flesh.”
Shakespeare
Half-way between this inlet and the ship-yard, I found
Marble, standing with his arms folded, gazing after the receding ship. His countenance was no longer saddened; but it was
fierce. He shook his hand menacingly at the French ensign,
which was flying at our old gaff, and said –
“Ay, d – – n you, flutter away; you quiver and shake now
like one of your coxcombs pigeon-winging; but where will you
be this day two months? Miles, no man but a bloody Frenchman would cast away a ship, there where this Mister Count
has left the bones of his vessel; though here, where we came
so nigh going, it’s a miracle any man could escape. Hadn’t we
brought the Crisis through that opening first, he never would
have dared to go out by it.”
I confess I saw little about Monsieur Le Compte’s management but skill and good seamanship; but nothing is more
painful to most men than to admit the merit of those who have
obtained an advantage over them. Marble could not forget his
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
own defeat; and the recollection jaundiced his eyes, and biassed his judgment.
“I see our people are busy, already, sir,” I remarked, by way
of drawing the captain’s attention to some other subject. “They
have hauled the schooner up to the yard, and seem to be getting along spars for shores.”
“Ay, ay – Talcott has his orders; and I expect you will bestir
yourself. I shall step the masts myself, and you will get all the
rigging ready to be put into its place, the moment it is possible.
That Frenchman calculated, he told me to my face, that we
might get to sea in a fortnight; I will let him see that a set of
Yankees can rig and stow his bloody schooner, in three days,
and then leave themselves time to play.”
Marble was not a man of idle vaunts. He soon had everybody at work, with a system, order, silence, and activity, that
proved he was master of his profession. Nor was the language
which might sound so boastful to foreign ears, altogether without its justification. Forty Americans were a formidable force;
and, well directed, I make no doubt they would accomplish far
more than the ordinary run of French seamen, as they were
governed and managed in the year 1800, and, counting them
man for man, would have accomplished in double the time.
Our crew had now long acted together, and frequently under
the most trying circumstances; and they showed their training, if men ever did, on the present occasion. Everybody was
busy; and we had the shears up, and both masts stepped, in
the course of a few hours. By the time the main-mast was in, I
had the fore-mast rigged, the jib-boom in its place, the spritsail yard crossed – everything carried a spar under its bow-
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
sprit then – and the lower yard up. It is true, the French had
got everything ready for us; and when we turned the hands
to, after dinner, we actually began to strike in cargo, water,
provisions, and such other things, as it was intended to carry
away. At dusk, when we knocked off work, the Emily looked
like a sea-going craft, and there was every prospect of our having her ready for sea, by the following evening. But, the duty
had been carried on, in silence. Napoleon said there had been
more noise made in the little schooner which carried him from
l’Orient to Basque Roads, than was made on board the line-ofbattle ship that conveyed him to St. Helena, during the whole
passage. Since that memorable day, the French have learned to
be silent on board ship, and the fruits remain to be seen.
That night, Marble and myself consulted together on the
aspect of things – or, as he expressed it, “we generalized over
our prospects.” Monsieur Le Compte had done one thing
which duty required of him. He did not leave us a kernel of
the gunpowder belonging to either ship; nor could we find a
boarding-pike, cutlass, or weapon of any sort, except the officers’ pistols. We had a canister of powder, and a sufficiency
of bullets for the last, which had been left as, out of an esprit
de corps, or the feeling of an officer, which told him we might
possibly need these means to keep our own crew in order.
Such was not the fact, however, with the particular people we
happened to have; a more orderly and reasonable set of men
never sailing together. But, Monsieur Le Compte knew it was
his duty to put it out of their power to trouble us, so far as it
lay in his; but, at the same time, while he left us the means of
safety, he provided against our doing any further injury to his
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
own countrymen. In this he had pretty effectually succeeded,
so far as armament was concerned.
The next morning I was up with the appearance of the dawn,
and, having suffered much from the heat the preceding day, I
walked to a suitable spot, threw off my clothes, and plunged
into the basin. The water was transparent almost as air; and I
happened to select a place where the coral grew within a few
yards of the surface. As I dove, my eye fell on a considerable
cluster of large oysters that were collected on the rock, and,
reaching them, I succeeded in bringing up half a dozen that
clung to each other. These dives I repeated, during the next
quarter of an hour, until I had all the oysters, sixty or eighty
in number, safe on the shore. That they were the pearl oysters,
I knew immediately; and beckoning to Neb, the fellow soon
had them snug in a basket, and put away in a place of security.
The circumstance was mentioned to Marble, who, finding no
more heavy drags to be made, ordered the Sandwich Islanders
to take a boat and pass a few hours in their regular occupation,
on account of the owners – if, indeed, the last had any further
claim on our services. These men met with tolerable success,
though, relatively, nothing equal to mine. What, just then, was
of far more importance, they made a discovery of an arm-chest
lying on the bottom of the basin, at the anchorage of the Crisis,
and which had doubtless been sunk there by the French. We
had all la Pauline’s boats but the captain’s gig. I went in one
of them with a gang of hands, and, the divers securing a rope
to the handles of the chest, we soon got it in. It turned out to
be one of the arm-chests of the Crisis, which the French had
found in their way and thrown overboard, evidently prefer-
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
ring to use weapons to which they were accustomed. They had
done better by carrying the chest out to sea, and disposing of it
in fifty or a hundred fathom water.
The prize was turned over to the gunner, who reported that
it was the chest in which we kept our cutlasses and pistols, of
both of which there was a sufficient supply to give every man
one of each. There were also several horns of powder, and a
bag of bullets; but the first was ruined by the water. As for the
arms, they were rubbed dry, oiled, and put away again in the
chest, after the last had stood a whole day, in the hot sun, open.
Thus, through the agency of men brought for a very different
purpose, we were put in possession of the means of achieving
the exploit, which might now be said to form the great object
of our lives.
That day we got everything on board the schooner that it
was thought desirable to take with us. We left much behind
that was valuable, it is true, especially the copper; but Marble
wisely determined that it was inexpedient to put the vessel
deeper than good ballast-trim, lest it should hurt her sailing.
We had got her fairly to her bearings, and this was believed to
be as low as was expedient. It is true, a great deal remained to
be stowed; the deck being littered, and the hold, the groundtier excepted, in great confusion. But our bread, water, beef,
pork, and other eatables, were all there, and in abundance;
and, though not to be had for the asking, they were still to
be had. The sails were bent, and the only anchor, la Pauline’s
stream, with her two largest kedges, was on our bows. While in
this condition, Marble gave the unexpected order for all hands
to come on board, and for the shore-fasts to be cast off.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Of course, there was no dissenting to so positive a command. We had signed new shipping-articles for the schooner,
extending the engagements made when we entered on board
the Crisis, to this new vessel, or any other she might capture.
The wind was a steady trade, and, when we showed our mainsail and jib to it, the little craft glided athwart the basin like a
duck. Shooting through the pass, Marble tacked her twice, as
soon as he had an offing; and everybody was delighted with the
quickness with which she was worked. There was barely light
enough to enable us to find our way through the opening in
the reef; and, just thirty-eight hours after the Crisis sailed, we
were on her track. We had only conjecture to guide us as to the
ship’s course, with the exception of the main fact of her having sailed for the west coast of South America; but we had not
failed to notice that she disappeared in the north-east trades
on a bow-line. We put the schooner as near as possible on the
same course, making a proper allowance for the difference in
the rig of the two vessels.
The distance run that night, satisfied us all that Mons. Le
Compte was a good draftsman. The schooner ran 106 miles in
twelve hours, against a very respectable sea, which was at least
ten or fifteen more than the Crisis could have done under the
same circumstances. It is true, that what was close-hauled for
her, was not close-hauled for us; and, in this respect, we had the
advantage of her. Marble was so well pleased with our night’s
work, that when he came on deck next morning, the first thing
he did was to order a bottle of rum to be brought him, and
then all hands to be called. As soon as the people were up, he
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