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coast. After crossing the Windward Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing
on, with a light wind, under our square-sail, the morning of the third day
out, when we saw a large boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the
shore, evidently in chase of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz.
the owner, a Frenchman, who had been a dragoon in the service of his own
country, but who was now between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a
boy, the cook, and four men forward. We could see that there were nine men in
the boat. We had no arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in
the boat had muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some
time. I thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from
under the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the cook,
ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the captain, the old
Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the companion-way.
What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my own
occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however, before
they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the schooner. One or
two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to keep the people down.
Then they probably felt that they were masters. One chap drew a
fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering, and he cut the
halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the schooner struck me as
Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards. There is such a difference
in the height, complexion, and general appearance of the people of Spain, and
those of the two other countries, without reference to the manner of speaking,
that I do not think I could be mistaken. I saw but one man among these
pirates, whom I took for a real Spaniard. It is true their faces were all
blacked to disguise them, but one could get enough glimpses of the skin to
judge of the true colour. There was no negro among them.
The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the head,
below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least trouble to
himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed the sail; if he
wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he turned short round upon
me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me with his fearful-looking
knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck square on my breast-bone! I fell,
partly through the force of the blow, and partly from policy; for I thought it
safest to be lying on my back. I got several hearty kicks, in addition to this
fierce attack, together with sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in
English, of course; and that the man understood me was clear enough by the
expression of his countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it
bled a good deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I
had been run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction
of the knife, would certainly have killed me.
I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of the
pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my assailant by
shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I knew. I will not
mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think I was mistaken. If I
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who sailed one voyage to
Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young man I had been very
intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with any other of the crew. His
face was blackened, like those of all his companions, but this did not conceal
his air, manner, size, eyes and voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of
broken English and broken Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either
language from infancy would have used. The same was true as to all the rest I
heard speak, with the exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall
presently have occasion to mention, again.
The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a lad
when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not altered a
great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and then, when I was
in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to recognize me. So strongly
was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old acquaintance, I was about to
call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed my mind this might be dangerous.
The pirates wished clearly to be unknown, and it was wisest to let them think
they were so. My supposed shipmate, however, proved my friend, and I received
no more personal ill treatment after he had spoken to his companion. I
sometimes think he was the means, indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me
if there was any money, and, on my denying it, he told me they knew better:
the schooner was in ballast, and must have got something for her outward [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]