Cooper's Sea Tales. Comprising, The Pilot, The Red Rover, The Waterwitch, The Sea Lions, The Two Admirals

Chapter I

A single glance at the map will make the reader acquainted with the position of the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain, as connected with the shores of the opposite continent. Together they form the boundaries of the small sea that has for ages been known to the world as the scene of maritime exploits, and as the great avenue through which commerce and war have conducted the fleets of the northern nations of Europe. Over this sea the islanders long asserted a jurisdiction, exceeding that which reason concedes to any power on the highway of nations, and which frequently led to conflicts that caused an expenditure of blood and treasure, utterly disproportioned to the advantages that can ever arise from the maintenance of a useless and abstract right. It is across the waters of this disputed ocean that we shall attempt to conduct our readers, selecting a period of our incidents that has pecuUar interests for every American, not only because it was the birthday of his nation, but because it was also the era when reason and common sense began to take the place of custom and feudal practices in the management of the affairs of nations.

Soon after the events of the Revelution had involved the kingdoms of France and Spain, and the republics of HoUand, in our quarrel, a group of labourers was collected in a field that lay exposed to the winds of the ocean, on the north-eastern coast of England. These men were lightening their toil, and cheering the gloom of a day in December, by uttering their crude opinions on the poUtical aspects of the times. The fact that England was engaged in a war with some of her dependencies on the other side of the Atlantic, had long been known to them, after the manner that fain_t rumours of distant and uninteresting events gain on the ear ; but now that nations, with whom she had been i_aed to battle, were armed against her in the quarrel, the din of war had disturbed the quiet even of these secluded and illiterate rustics.

The principal speakers on the occasion were a Scotch drover, who was waiting the leisure of the occupant of the fields, and an Irish labourer, who had found his way across the channel, and thus far over the island, in quest of employment. " The Nagurs wouldn't have been a job at all for ould England, letting alone Ireland," said the latter, "if these French and Spanishers hadn't been troubling themselves in the matter. I'm sure it's but little reason I have for thanking them, if a man is to kape as sober as a priest at mass, for fear he should find himself a souldier, and he knowing nothing about the same." ' ' Hoot, man ! ye ken but little of raising an army in Ireland, if ye mak' a drum o' a whiskey keg," said the drover, winking to the listeners. ' ' Noo, in the north, they ca' a gathering of the folk, and foUow the pipes as graciously as ye wad journey kirkward o' a Sabbath morn.

I've seen a' the names o' a Hieland raj'mant on a sma' bit paper, that ye might cover wi' a leddy's hand. They war' a' Camerons and M 'Donalds, though they paraded sax hundred men 1 But what ha'e ye gotten here I That chield has an ow'r liking to the land for a seafaring body ; an' if the bottom o' the sea be ony thing like the top o't, he's in great danger o' a shipwrack !" This unexpected change in the discourse drew all eyæ on the object towards which the staff of the observant drover was pointed. To the utter amazement of every individual present, a small vessel was seen moving slowly round a point of land that formed one of the sides of the little bay, to which the field the labourers were in composed the other. There was something veiy peculiar in the externals of this unusual visitor, which added in no smaU degree to the surprise created by her appearance in that retired place.

None but I! the smallest vessels, and those rarely, or, at long intervals, a desperate smuggler, were ever known to venture so close to the land, and the sandbars amid sunken rocks with which that immediate coast abounded. The adventurous mariners who now attempted this dangerous navigation in so wanton, and, apparently, so heedless a manner, were in a low, black schooner, whose hull seemed utterly disproportioned to the raking masts it upheld, which, in their turn, supported a lighter set of spars, that tapered away until their upper extremities appeared no larger than the lazy pendant, that in vain endea voured to displayits length in the Ught breeze. The short day of that high northern latitude was already drawing to a close, and the sun was throwing his parting rays obliquely across the waters, touching the gloomy waves here and there with streaks of pale light.

The stormy winds of the German Ocean were apparently lulled to rest ; and though the incessant rolling of the surge on the shore heightened the gloomy character of the hour and the viewr, the light ripple that ruffled the sleeping billows was produced by a gentle air, that blew directly from the land. Not withstanding this favourable circumstance, there was something threatening in the aspect of the ocean, which was speaking in hollow, but deep murmurs, like a volcano on the eve of an eruption, that gradually heightened the feelings of amazement and dread, with which the peasants beheld this extraordinary inter ruption to the quiet of their little bay. With no other sails spread to the action of the air than her heavy mainsail, and one of those light jibs that projected far beyond her bows, thc vessel glided over the water with a grace and facility that seemed magi cal to the beholders, who turned their won dering looks from the schooner to each other, in silent amazement.

At length the drover spoke in a low, solemn voice — " He's a bold chield that steers her 1 and if that bit craft has wood in her bottom, like the brigantines that ply between Lon' on and the firth at Leith, he's in mair danger than a prudent man could wish. Ay 1 he's by the big rock that shows his head when the tide runs low, but it's no mortal man who can steer long in the road he's journeying, and not speedily find land wi' water a-top o't." The little schooner, however, still held her way among the rocks and sand-pits, making such slight deviations in her course as proved her to be under the direction of one who knew his danger, until she had entered as far into the bay as prudence could at aU justify, when the canvass was gathered into folds, seemingly without the agency of hands, and the vessel, after rolUng for a few minutes on the long billows that hove in from the ocean, swung round in the currents of the tide, and was held by her anchor.

The peasants now began to make theit conjectures more freely concerning the cha racter and object of their visitor ; some inti mating that she was engaged in contraband trade, and others that her views were hostile, and her business war. A few dark hints were hazarded on the materiality of her con struction, for nothing of artificial formation, it was urged, would be ventured by men in such a dangerous place, at a time when even the most inexperienced landsman was able to foretell the certain gale. The Scotchman, who, to all the sagacity of his countrymen, added no smaU portion of their superstition, leaned greatly to the latter conclusion, and had begun to express this sentiment warily and with reverence, when the child of Erin, who appeared not to possess any very definite ideas on the subject, interrupted him, by exclaiming — "Faith 1 there's two of them ! a big and a httle ! sure the bogles of the saa likes good company the same as any other Christians !

" "Twa!" echoed the drover; "twa! ill luck bides o' some o' ye. Twa craft a-saiUng without hand to guide them, in sic a place as this, whare eyesight is no guid enough to show the dangers, bodes evil to a' that luik thereon. Hoot 1 she's na yearhng the tither I Luik man 1 luik ! she's a gaUant boat, and a great ; " he paused, raised his pack from the ground, and first giving one searching look at the objects of his suspicions, he nodded with great sagacity to the listeners, and continued, as he moved slowly towards the interior of the country, " I should na wonder if she carried King George's commission about her ; 'weel, 'weel, I will journey upward to the town, and ha'e a crack wi' the guid man, for thae craft ha's a suspicious aspect, and the sma' bit thing would nab a man quite easy, and the big ane would hold us a' and no feel we war' in her."

This sagacious warning caused a general movement in the party, for the intelligence of a hot press was among the rumours of the times. The husbandmen collected their implements of labour, and retired home wards ; and, though many a curious eye was bent on the movements of the vessels from the distant hiUs, but very few of those not im mediately interested in the mysterious visitors ventured to approach the little rocky cliffs that lined the bay. The vessel that occasioned these cautious movements was a gallant ship, whose huge hull, lofty masts, and square yards, loomed in the evening's haze, above the sea, Uke a distant mountain rising from the deep. She carried but little sail, and though she warily avoided the near approach to the land that the schooner had attempted, the similarity of their movements was sufficiently apparent to warrant the conjecture that they were em ployed on the same duty.

The frigate, for tlie ship belonged to this class of vessels. floated across the entrance of the little bay majestieally in the tide, with barely enough motion through the water to govern her movements, until she arrived opposite to the place where her consort lay, when she hove up heavily into the wind, squared the enormous yards on her mainmast, and attempted, in counteracting the power of her sails by each other, to remain stationary ; but the Ught air, that had at no time swelled her heavy canvass to the utmost, began to fail, and the long waves that rolled in from the ocean ceased to be ruffled with the breeze from the land. The currents and the biUows were fast sweeping the frigate towards one of the points of the estuary, where the black heads of the rocks could be seen running far into the sea, and, in their turn, the mariners of the ship dropped an anchor to the bottom, and drew her sails in festoons to the yards.

As the vessel swung round to the tide, a heavy ensign was raised to her peak, and a current of air opening, for a moment, its folds, the white field and red cross that distinguish the flag of England, were displayed to view. So much, even the wary drover had loitered at a distance to behold ; but when a boat was launched from either vessel, he quickened his steps, observing to his wondering and amused com panions, that " they craft were a'the gither mair bonny to luik on than to abide wi'." A numerous crew manned the barge that was lowered from the frigate, which, after receiving an officer, with an attendant youth, left the ship, and moved, with a measured stroke of its oars, directly towards the head of the bay. As it passed at a short distance from the schooner, a Ught whale-boat , pulled by four athletic men, shot from her side, and rather dancing over than cutting through the waves, crossed her course with a wonderful velocity.

As the boats approached each other, the men, in obedience to signals from their officers, suspended their efforts, and for a few minutes they floated at rest, during which time there was the following dialogue. "Is the old man mad!" exclaimed the young officer in the whale-boat, when his men ceased rowing; "does he think, that the bottom of the Ariel is made of iron, and that a rock can't knock a hole in it : or does he think she is manned with alligators, who can't be drowned !" "You are afloat!" exclaimed the other, with a vehemence that denoted an abundance of latent fire. "Afloat!" echoed his friend; "aye! the Uttle Ariel would float in air 1" As he spoke, he rose in the boat, and listing his leather sea-cap from his head, stroked back the thick clusters of black locks which shadowed his sun-burnt countenance, while he viewed his little vessel with the complacency of a seaman who was proud of her qualities.

"But it's close work, Mr. Griffith, when a man rides to a single anchor in a place like this, and at such a nightfall. What are the orders?" " I shall pull into the surf, and let go a grapnel ; you will take Mr. Merry into your whale-boat, and try to drive her through the breakers on the beach." " Beach ! " retorted Barnstaple ; "do you caU a perpendicular rock of a hundred feet in height a beach?" " We shall not dispute about terms," said Griffith, smiling ; ' ' but you must manage to get on the shore ; we have seen the signal from the land, and know that the pilot, whom we have so long expected, is ready to come off." Barnstable shook his head with a grave air, as he muttered to himself, "This is droll navigation ; first we run into an unfrequented bay that is full of rocks, and sand-pits, and shoals, and then we get off our pilot.

But how am I to know him?" " Merry will give you the pass-word, and tell you where to look for him. I would land myself, but my orders forbid it. If you meet with difficulties, show three oar-blades in a row, and I will pull in to your assistance. Three oars on end, and a pistol, will bring the fire of my muskets, and the signal re peated from the barge will draw a shot from the ship." " I thank you, I thank you," said Barn stable, carelessly; " I beUeve I can fight my own battles against aU the enemies we are Ukely to fall in with on this coast. But the old man is surely mad. I would " " You would obey his orders if he were here, and you will now please to obey mine," said Griffith, ih a tone that the friendly ex pression of his eye contradicted. " Pull in, and keep a look-out for a small man in a drab pee-jacket ; Merry will give you the word ; if he answer it, bring him off to the barge."

The young men now nodded familiarly and kindly to each other, and the boy, who was called Mr. Merry, having changed his place from the barge to the whale-boat, Barnstable threw himself into his seat, and making a signal with his hand, his men again bent to their oars. The light vessel shot away from her companion, and dashed in boldly towards the rocks ; after skirting the shore for some distance in quest of a favourable place, she A languid smile played for a moment round the handsome features of the young man, who was rather reclining than sitting in the stern-sheets of the barge, as he replied, "He knows your prudence too well, Captain Barn stable, to fear either the wreck of your vessel, or the drowning of her crew. How near the bottom does your keel lie?" " I am afraid to sound," returned Barn stable.

"I have never the heart to touch a lead line when I see the rocks coming up to breathe like so many porpoises." " Yes, on our own heads. Boy, never be so foohsh as to trust a long shot. It makes a great [smoke and some noise, but its a terrible uncertain manner of throwing old iron about. In such a business as this, I would sooner trust Tom Coffin and his harpoon to back me than the best broadside that ever rattled out of the three decks of a ninety-gun ship. Come, gather your limbs together, and try if_ you can waUc on terra firma, Master Coffin." The seaman who was addressed by this dire appellation, arose slowly from the place where he was stationed as cockswain of the boat, and seemed to ascend high in the air, by the gradual evolution of numberless folds in his body. When erect, he stood nearly six feet and as many inches in his shoes, though, when elevated in his most perpendicular attitude, there was a forward inclination about his head and shoulders, that appeared to be the consequence of habitual confinement in limited lodgings.

His whole frame was destitute of the rounded outlines of a well formed man, though hisenormous hands furnished a display of bones and sinews which gave indications of gigantic strength. On his head he wore a Uttle, low brown hat of wool, with an arched top, that threw an expression of peculiar solemnity and hardness over his harsh visage, the sharp prominent features of which were completely encircled by a set of black whiskers, that began to be grizzled a Uttle with age. One of his hands grasped, with a sort of instinct, the staff of a bright harpoon, the lower end of which he placed firmly on the rock, as, in obedience to the order of his commander, he left the place, where, considering his vast dimensions, he had been established in an incredibly small space. was suddenly turned, and dashing over the broken waves, was run upon a spot where a landing could be effected in safety.

In the mean time the barge followed these movements, at some distance, with a more measured progress, and when the whale-boat was observed to be drawn up alongside of a rock, the promised grapnel was cast into the water, and her crew deUberately proceeded to get their fire-arms in a state for immediate service. Everything appeared to be done in obedience to strict orders, that must have been previously communicated ; for the young man, who has been introduced to the reader by the name of Griffith, seldom spoke, and then only in the pithy expressions that are apt to fall from those who are sure of obedience. When the boat had brought up to her grapnel, he sunk back at his length on the cushioned seats of the barge, and drawing his hat over his eyes in a listless manner, he continued for many minutes apparently ab solved in thoughts altogether foreign to his present situation.

OccasionaUy he rose, and would first bend his looks in quest of his companions on the shore, and then, turning his expressive eyes towards the ocean, the abstracted and vacant air that so often usurped the place of animation and intelhgence in his countenance would give place to the anxious and intelligent look of a sea man gifted with an experience beyond his years. His weather-beaten and hardy crew, having fnade their dispositions for offence, sat in profound silence, with their hands thrust into the bottoms of their jackets, but with their eyes earnestly regarding every cloud lhat was gathering in the threatening atmosphere, and exchanging looks of deep care, whenever the boat rose higher than usual on one of those long, heavy ground-swells, that were heaving in from the ocean with increasing rapidity and magnitude.

As soon as Captain Barnstable received this addition to his strength, he gave a few pre cautionary orders to the men in the boat, and proceeded to the difficult task of as cending the rocks. Notwithstanding the great daring and personal agiUty of Barn stable, he would have been completely baffled in this attempt, but for the assistance he occa sionally received from his cockswain, whose prodigious strength, and great length of Umbs, enabled him to make exertions which it would have been useless for most men to attempt. When within a few feet of the summit, they availed themselves of a projecting rock, to pause for consultation and breath ; both of which seemed necessary for their further movements.

Chapter II

When the whale-boat obtained the position we have described, the young Ueutenant, who, in consequence of commanding a schooner, was usually addressed by the title of captain, stepped on the rocks, followed by the youth ful midshipman, who had quitted the barge, to aid in the hazardous duty of their ex pedition. ' ' This is, at best, but a Jacob's ladder we have to climb," said Barnstable, casting his eyes upwards at the difficult ascent, " and it's by no means certain that we shall be well received, when we get up, though we should even reach the top." "We are under the guns of the frigate," returned the boy ; " and you remember, sir, three oar blades and a pistol, repeated from the barge, will draw her fire." "This will be but a bad place for a retreat, if we should happen to fall in with enemies," said Barnstable. ' ' Where are we to look for this pilot, Mr. Merry, or how are we to know him ; and what certainty have you that he will not betray us?"

"The question you are :o put to him is written on this bit of paper," returned the boy, as he handed the other the word of re cognition ; "we made the signal on the point of the rock at yon headland, but as he must have seen our boat, he will follow us to this place. As to his betraying us, he seems to have the confidence of Captain Munson, who has kept a bright look-out for liim ever since we made the land." out to Barnstable the object of the cockswain's solicitude, which proved to be a fat ox, quietly ruminating under a hedge near them. "There's many a hungry fellow aboard of us," said the boy, merrily, "who would be glad to second Long Tom's motion, if the time and business would permit us to slay the animal." " It is but a lubber's blow, Mr. Merry," returned the cockswain, without a muscle of his hard face yielding, as he struck the end of his harpoon violently against the earth, and then made a motion towards poising the weapon ; ' ' let Captain Barnstable but say the word, and I'll drive the iron through him to the quick ; I've sent it to the seizing in many a whale, that hadn't a jacket of such blubber as that fellow wears."

"Ay," murmured the lieutenant, "and I shall have a bright look-out kept on him, now we are on the land. I like not this business of hugging the shore so closely, nor have I much faith in any traitor. What think you of it, Master Coffin?" The hardy old seaman, thus addressed, turned his grave visage on his commander, and repUed with a becoming gravity — "Give me plenty of sea-room, and good canvass, where there is no occasion for pilots at all, sir. For my part, I was bom on board of a chebacco-man, and never could see the use of more land than now and then a small island, to raise a few vegetables, and to dry your fish — I'm sure the sight of it always makes me feel uncomfortable, unless we have the wind dead offshore." "Pshaw! you are not on a whaling voyage, where everything that offers is game," said Barnstable, turning himself pettishly away from the beast, as if he distrusted his own forbearance ; ' ' but stand fast !

I see some one approaching behind the hedge. Look to your arms, Mr. Merry — the first thing wo hear may be a shot." " Not from that cruiser," cried the thought less lad ; " he is a younker like myself, and would hardly dare run down upon such a formidable force as we muster." ' ' Ah ! Tom , you are a sensible fellow, "said Barnstable, with an air half comic, half serious. " But we must be moving ; the sun is just touching those clouds to sea-ward, and God keep us from riding out this night at anchor in such a place as this." Laying his hand on a projection of the rock above him, Barnstable swung himself forward, and soUowing this movement with a desperate leap or two, he stood at once on the brow of the cliff. His cockswain very deliberately raised the midshipman after his officer, and proceeding with more caution, but less exertion, he soon placed himself by his side.

When they reached the level land that lay above the cUffs, and began to inquire, with curious and wary eyes, into the surrounding scenery, the adventurers discovered a cultivated country, divided, in the usual manner, by hedges and walls. Only one habitation for man, however, and that a smaU dilapidated cottage, stood within a mile of them, most of the dweUings being placed as far as con venience would permit from the fogs and damps of the ocean. " Here seems to be neither anything to apprehend, nor the object of our search," said Barnstable, when he had taken the whole view in his survey; "I fear we have landed to no purpose, Mr. Merry. What say you, Long Tom; see you what we want?" "I see no pilot, sir," returned the cockswain ; " but it's an ill wind that blows luck to nobody ; there is a mouthful of fresh meat stowed away under that row of bushes, that would make a double ration to all hands in tlie Arid."

The midshipman laughed, as he pointed "You say true, boy," returned Barnstable, relinquishing the grasp he held on his pistol. " He comes on with caution, as if afraid. He is small, and is in drab, though I should hardly call it a pee-jacket — and yet he may be our man. Stand you both here, while I go and hail him." As Barnstable walked rapidly towards the hedge that in part concealed the stranger, the latter stopped suddenly, and seemed to be in doubt whether to advance or to retreat. Before he had decided on either, the active sailor was within a few feet of him. " Pray, sir," said Barnstable, " what water have you in this bay ? " The slight form of the stranger started, with an extraordinary emotion, at this question, and he shrank aside involuntarily, as if to conceal his features, before he answered, in a voice that was barely audible — " I should think it would be the water of the German Ocean."

"Indeed! you must have passed no small part of your short Use in the study of geogra phy, to be so well informed," returned the lieutenant ; "perhaps, sir, your cunning is also equal to teUing me how long we shaU so journ together, if I make you a prisoner, in order to enjoy the benefit of your wit ? " To this alarming intimation, the youth who was addressed made no reply ; but, as he averted his face, and concealed it with both his hands, the offended seaman, beUeving that a salutary impression had been made upon the fears of his auditor, was about to proceed with his interrogatories. The sin gular agitation of the stranger's frame, how ever, caused the Ueutenant to continue silent a few moments longer, when, to his utter amazement, he discovered that what he had mistaken for alarm was produced by an en deavour, on the part of the youth, to suppress a violent fit of laughter.

" Now, by all the whales in the sea," cried Barnstable, " but you are merry out of season, young gentleman. It's quite bad enough to be ordered to anchor in such a bay as this with a storm brewing before my eyes, without landing to oe laughed at by a stripling wbo has not strength to carry a beard if be had one, when I ought to be getting an offing for the safety of both body and soul. But I'll know more of you and your jokes, if I take you into my own mess, and am giggled out of my sleep for the rest of the cruise." '• Of whom do you speak ? " " My poor, my devoted cousin. I heard that two vessels, answering the description of the frigate and the Ariel, were seen hovering on the coast, and I determined at once to have a communication with you. I have followed your movements for a week, in this dress, but have been unsuccessful tiU now.

To-day, I observed you to approach nearer to the shore than usual, and happily, by being adventurous, I have been successful." " Aye ! God knows we are near enough to the land ! But does Captain Munson know of your wish to get on board his ship ? " ' ' Certainly not — none know of it but your self. I thought that if Griffith and you could learn our situation, you might be tempted to hazard a Uttle to redeem us from our thral dom. In this paper I have prepared such an account as wiU, I trust, excite aU your chivalry, and by which you may govern your movements." As the commander of the schooner con cluded, he approached the stranger, with an air of offering some violence, but the other shrunk back from his extended arm, and exclaimed, with a voice in which real terror had gotten the better of mirth — " Barnstable ! dear Barnstable ! would you harm me ?