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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

THE
HART MEMORIAL LIBRARY

 

 

 

 
Date Due

 

 

IMAR 27 1957 HX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cornell Universit:

dventures of a younger son.
Adventures are to the adventurous.”
BEACONSFIELD.

 

 
THE ADVENTURE SERIES.
Illustrated. Cr. 8vo, 5s.

I.

Adventures of a Younger Son. By E. J.
TRELAWNY. With an Introduction by Edward
Garnett.

2:

Robert Drury’s Journal in Madagascar,

Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by
Captain S. P. Oliver.

3.
Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military

Career of John Shipp. Wazth an Introduction
by H. Manners Chichester.

4.

Pellow’s Narrative of His Sufferings and
Adventures undergone in A Twenty-
Three Years’ Captivity in Morocco,
With Preface and Notes, by Robert Brown,
M.A., PhD.

Be

The Lives and Adventures of some Famous

Buccaneers.

(OTHERS IN THE PRESS.)
 

J. TRELAWNY.

E,

(From a photograph, taken a few years before death.)
ADVENTURES

OF

A YOUNGER SON

BY

EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY

A New EDITION

WITH

AN INTRODUCTION

BY

EDWARD GARNETT

 

ILLUSTRATED

 

London
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
pDECeXe

Ba Bhs
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

(1) HE. J. Tretawny ey a pee taken a few
years before death) . ae : ... Frontispiece

(2) Opysszus (from a print in the British Museum), To face p. 10

(8) Mavrocorpato (from a print in the British Museum),
To face p. 28

(4) E, J. Trevawny (from a drawing by Count D’Orsay).
To face p. 100

(6) E. J. Trezawny in Greek dress (from a portrait by
Kirkup, in the possession of John Temple-Leader,
Esq.). Aa a ass ee .. To face p. 200

(6) Fortiriep Cave in Mount Parnassus, the Stronghold
of Odysseus, a.D. 1824 ... 33 .. To face p. 800

(7) Autograph Lerrer or E. J. Trenawny, To face p. 860
 

The present edition of ‘‘ The Adventures
of a Younger Son” has been reprinted
From a copy of the first edition.

A few errata, noted by Tre-
lawny in his own copy,
have been corrected

in the text.
 

INTRODUCTION.

Le

HE sources for a memoir of Trelawny are
few. That the following sketch of his
life and character—slight as it is—is the
fullest yet published is due to the pub-

| lication last year of a number of his

letters in Mrs. Julian Marshall’s “ Mary

Wollstonecraft Shelley: Her Life and Letters.” Other
material is ‘‘The Adventures of a Younger Son,’ the
‘* Recollections of Shelley and Byron,” Obituaries, a pam-
phlet or two, reviews and anecdotes, and a few allusions
to him by his contemporaries. For some particulars and
anecdotes of his latter years, the writer desires to thank
Miss Taylor of Sompting: to Mrs. Julian Marshall he is

indebted for a sight of the advance sheets of her Life of

Mary Shelley.

 

 

Edward John Trelawny was born in London on the
second or third of November, 1792. A younger son,
he was of good blood, his mother Maria Hawkins,
8 INTRODUCTION.

sister of Sir Christopher Hawkins, marrying Charles
Brereton Trelawny, of noble Cornish stock. For the first
twenty years of Trelawny’s life there is no authority but
the “Younger Son.” How far the book is “ history,”
and how far romance, must therefore be considered. It
is most likely from the internal evidence, that Trelawny
began with the intention of writing his life, that as he
progressed he found that a little fiction set off the facts
to great advantage, and that, towards the end, the book
becomes less and less of the life, and more and more
of the romance. The Younger Son is an excellent stage
hero by the finish; he meets and overcomes all odds;
it is truly a glorious Trelawny, the Trelawny of his own
imagination. But the account of his boyhood has a very
real air, and if it is accepted, we see him as a self-willed,
passionate boy, whose bad bringing-up developed his faults
and hardened his character. At the age of twelve he
went to sea on board the Superb, having the ill-fortune to
miss the battle of Trafalgar through Admiral Duckworth
delaying three days at Plymouth to get in mutton and
potatoes. From his own account Trelawny would have us
believe that he was then transferred to a sloop of war,
and that as a midshipman on board her, he visited “ the
four quarters of the world,” the voyage lasting eighteen
months. But there is a document now in the possession of
his family which shows that he never held warrant or
commission in the navy. If we take it that he joined a
merchantman, and that at length, sick of discipline, he
joined a privateer cruising in the Indian seas, we shall
perhaps be near the truth. The account of his next three
years is still more open to doubt. That he led an adven-
turous life after deserting his ship is evident from the force
and fire with which he sets forth his adventures; that he
coloured, rearranged, and intensified these adventures ig
equally self-evident. To make an exciting consecutive nar-
INTRODUCTION. 9

rative Trelawny doubtless threw together his own experiences
and the tales and descriptions of others. The result justified
him: the ‘‘ Younger Son ” is artistic from first to last, and
holds the reader throughout. That not merely the colour-
ing, but also the outline of the narrative does not follow
fact it is almost superfluous to point out. One instance
may be quoted. Trelawny, writing to Mary Shelley, says,
‘In the chapter towards the conclusion wherein I narrate
an account of a pestilence which was raging in the town of
Batavia, I wish the words ‘ Java fever’ to be erased and
‘cholera morbus’ substituted. For we alone had the former
on board the schooner, having brought it into the Batavia
roads with us. . . . It was in 1811 I am speaking of.” Now
the Younger Son is made to sail for Europe some months
before the taking of Port Bourbon by the English in Decem-
ber, 1810. It is therefore impossible to accept Trelawny’s
account of his life as described in the latter half of the
“Younger Son’’; and indeed the dates he gives us are
never reliable. Here and there indeed his experiences
after 1820 seem to have suggested incidents for the years
1809 and 1810: he would probably not have shown himself
burning Zela’s body, had he not burned Shelley’s in 1822.

In the ‘“‘ Younger Son” Trelawny states that he was
married when he was twenty-one, and as this marriage took
place in England he must have returned to Kurope in the
year, or before the year 1813. He mentions, as before
shown, that he was at Batavia in 1811, but from this date
up to 1820 he tells us nothing of himself. Perhaps, indeed,
there is little to tell. The adventurer was domesticated,
—‘‘The fatal noose was cast around my neck... my
shaggy mane trimmed, my hitherto untrammelled back bent
with a weight I could neither endure nor shake off, my light
and springy action changed into a painful amble—in short,
I was married” (‘‘ Adventures of a Younger Son,” p. 116).
It is not necessary to refer to Trelawny’s domestic life
10 INTRODUCTION.

here. It is sufficient to say that he was married thrice,
and, probably through his own fault, his marriages cannot
be called happy. Letters very likely exist showing what
became of Trelawny between 1813 and 1820; a passage in
the ‘‘ Recollections” hints that some of these seven years
saw him on his travels again; anyway, he turns up at the
latter date, according to the ‘‘ Recollections,” at Ouchy. He
‘returned to England the same year, but in January, 1822,
carried out his intention of visiting Shelley and Byron
abroad. His reception, the friendship he formed for both
poets, and his movements up to Shelley’s death in July, 1822,
are fully set forth in the “‘ Recollections.” In the latter end
of the same year he started on a wild-fowling expedition in
the Maremma, is heard of from Piombino in January,
1823, and three months later reaches Rome, where, in the
new Protestant burying-ground, he re-interred the ashes
of Shelley. Trelawny shortly afterwards joined Byron at
Albaro, and sailed with him to Greece in the Hercules,
the object of the visit being to meet Blaquiere, and, if
possible, aid the cause of Greece against the Turks. No
definite plan of action was formed, and shortly after their
arrival at Cephalonia Trelawny parted from Byron and
attached himself to Odysseus, a Greek chieftain, whom he
assisted in ambuscades, onslaughts, rock-fighting, forays,
and intrigues. Their hope of getting Byron to Salona, and
thence to Athens, and their plan of holding the Acropolis,
were frustrated by the latter’s death on April 29, 1824. After
some months of fruitless intrigue, Odysseus entrusted the
defence of his stronghold in Mount Parnassus to Trelawny
towards the close of 1824. The result of Odysseus’s
plottings is history: he was at last captured and carried
off to Athens, where he was strangled by order of Mav-
rocordato, the Director-General of Western Greece, and
Trelawny, who had married the chieftain’s youngest sister,
Tersitza, was shot in the stronghold by a Scotch spy named
_ INTRODUCTION. 11

Fenton, and his dupe, a weak-headed young Englishman,
Whitcombe. Trelawny, after much suffering from his
wounds, seized an opportunity of escaping from the
cavern, and landed at Cephalonia in September, 1825.
The letter to John Hunt, Leigh Hunt’s brother, a fac-
simile of whichis given in the present volume, describes
the taking of Missolonghi by the Turks in 1826.

In December, 1826, we find him writing to Mrs. Shelley
from Zante. ‘‘ A bountiful will and confined means are
a curse, and often have I execrated my fortunes so ill
correspond with my wishes. . . . Old age and poverty is a
frightful prospect . . . it is the climax of human ill. You
may be certain I could not write thus on what I did not
feel.” In the autumn of 1828 he paid a visit to England,
but returned to the Continent in the spring of the following
year, feeling out of his element at home, as this charac-
teristic outburst shows: ‘‘To whom am I a neighbour, and
near whom? I dwell amongst tame and civilized human
beings, with somewhat the same feelings as we may guess
the lion feels when, torn from his native wilderness, he is
tortured into domestic intercourse with what Shakespeare
calls ‘forked animals,’ the most abhorrent to his nature.”
Abroad, Trelawny seems to have mixed in as good society
as at home: in his letters he mentions Walter Savage
Landor, Kirkup the artist, the Barings, and Charles Brown,
the friend of Keats. In October, 1830, Trelawny despatched
to Mrs. Shelley the MS. of his ‘‘ history,” published a
year afterwards under the title of ‘‘ Adventures of a Younger
Son.” Several passages were omitted, as Colburn, the pub-
lisher, and Mrs. Shelley, insisted that their license, or,
as they termed it, coarseness, would give offence to readers.
The following extracts from his letters show how he
professed to regard the work: March, 1829.—“I am
actually writing my own life. Brown and Landor are
12 INTRODUCTION.

spurring me on, and are to review it sheet by sheet.”
August, 1830.— I have nearly completed the first volume
of my history. . . . At present I wish the first series to go
forth strictly anonymously, and therefore you must on no
account trust the publisher with my name.” October, 1830.—
“Surely there is matter enough in the book to make it inte-
resting, if only viewed in the light of a romance.” January,
1831.—“ It has been a painful and arduous undertaking nar-
rating mylife. I have omitted a great deal, and avoided being
a pander to the public taste for the sake of novelty or effect.
.. » My life is not a novel.”

The book was published anonymously, Trelawny, with
his usual mystery of manner, assuring his correspondent
that ‘if my name is known, and the work can be brought
home to me, the consequences will be most disastrous.”
“As Mrs. Shelley was able, three months afterwards, to
inform him that his mother was speaking openly in
society of his forthcoming memoirs, it must be supposed
that he took precautions in time to save himself from
these ‘‘ most disastrous consequences ’—the consequences
of being convicted of romancing. However much Trelawny
may have wished to put his name to his tissue of fact
and fiction, he foresaw that such a step would do no
good to it, and would give his adversaries an oppor-
tunity of attacking his character and veracity. The book
naturally rather puzzled the critics, The Literary Gazette
remarking, ‘It is just the wild and reckless journal we
could suppose kept by some bold buccaneer,’’ while to
Lhe Atheneum it appeared that ‘the author, in im-
agining a fictitious autobiography (for we now perceive
it can be nothing else) has been misled by sheer igno-
rance and lack of taste.” The same critical journal
was very naturally shocked by the “‘ extreme grossness of
the language,” considered the hero as “a kind of ruffian
from his birth,’’ whose ‘‘ errors and crimes’’ were “those
INTRODUCTION. 13

of a savage,” and, in sorrowful remonstrance, asked its
readers “ What is the utility of drawing a character in which
there is not a single redeeming point?” It is very justly
held a reviewer's duty, first, to establish his own superiority
over the author he is criticizing, and secondly, to respect
the prejudices of the readers of his review, and the extracts
quoted above show that the anonymous critic was fully
alive to what was expected of him. It is, however, only fair to
him to allow that there was no well-known name to vouch
for the book, that there was, in fact, nothing but the
text to prove that it was a work of rare brilliancy, if
not of genius. Its passages of bloodshed may offend the
squeamish, but then it was no more written for old ladies
than for The Atheneum reviewer, to whom its freshness
and vigour seemed such sad lack of taste. Its chief fault
is inaccuracy in details. Trelawny himself said that it was
principally adapted to sailors, but we imagine that seamen
could pick holes in the seamanship he displays. Its peculiar
merits were perhaps not pleasing to critics of the greatest
delicacy and refinement, as it is both unconventional and
original. Itis real, and yet a romance. How real may be
seen by comparing a book of fictitious adventures with it.
Let any be chosen, “ Treasure Island,” for example, and ad-
mirable as is Mr. Stevenson’s piece of work, its, characters,
its encounters seem pale and shadowy beside the characters
and adventures in the ‘‘ Younger Son.”” Yet how romantic
it is: the courtship of Zela, the daring of the Java prince,
-the adventures in Borneo, are narrated with a poetry and
fire that is rare in English prose. The spirit of adventure
it raises in the reader is not easily allayed: there are those
whom it has sent to sea.

To those who know their Dumas it will appear only
natural that a translation of the “‘ Younger Son,” with an
introduction by the great man, should be found in the list
of his writings under the title of ‘‘ Un Cadet de Famille.”
14 INTRODUCTION.

Five English editions of the ‘‘ Younger Son” have been
published in all, counting the present one, and the book
was reprinted in New York in 1834.

Towards the close of 1831 a Dr. Millingen, who had
attended Byron on his death-bed, published ‘‘ Memoirs
of the Affairs of Greece,” which contained a fictitious and
rather disparaging account of Trelawny. The unreliability
of Millingen’s remarks may be gauged by his statement
that the adventurous Cornishman, though of powerful
make, was rather under the middle height. A passage
quoted in a review of the book in The Literary Gazette
called forth a reply from Trelawny, then at Florence, and
he posted it to Mary Shelley, with a request to forward it
to the editor, Jerdan. The reply appeared in The Literary
Gazette of February 12, 1831, and beginning with an
account of the affairs of Greece in 1824, ends with a
scathing exposure of Millingen’s character and pretensions.
We do not know whether the latter ever replied to the fol-
lowing challenge, probably not: ‘‘ I have only to add that it
is probable I should not have thus troubled you by replying
to Dr. Millingen with my pen, had it been possible to reach
him with my hand; but the renegade Dr. Millingen is settled
at Constantinople, protected by the firman of the Porte.”’

Trelawny returned again to England in 1882, but,
although the Reform Bill had passed, he found no “ open-
ing among the demagogues.” Mrs. Shelley, who had
written to him in 1831 that her name “would never be
Trelawny,’ to which, half piqued, half relieved, he had
replied, ‘‘I was more delighted with your resolve not to
change your name than with any other portion of your
letter,” was still on the most friendly terms with him. In
1834 he set off for America, and visited both the Northern
and Southern States. It is said that he attempted to
INTRODUCTION. 15

swim the rapids above Niagara, and was picked up
insensible on the other side; and that when he was in
the South a slave-owner offered to make over his estate
to him if he would stay and settle there; but we can only
record, not authenticate, these two anecdotes. He re-
turned to England in September, 1835, at which date he
is said to have gone much into society, although two
years later, in a letter to Lady Blessington, he describes
himself asarecluse. From another letter of his in 1835, we
may judge that he became one of Mrs. Norton’s numerous
admirers. This flame may have lasted as long as his others,
for in September of the following year he writes from
Hastings to Mrs. Shelley: ‘‘So now farewell to Love and
Womankind. ‘Othello’s occupation’s gone.’”’ As he was
to marry a third time, this pathetic quotation may be taken
in a Trelawnian sense. Thenceforward his life was a quiet
one: the days of his travels and adventures were over, and
after living for a number of years at Putney Hill, he took a
farm at Usk, in Monmouthshire, and settled down to agri-
culture. He said afterwards that whereas ‘‘ every man of
forty wants to take a farm,” he “‘ made it pay.” If so, he
had good luck.

In 1858 he published the ‘“ Recollections of Shelley and
Byron.” If Trelawny’s first book showed his brilliancy,
the second proves his power. The ‘ Recollections” are
admirably clear, terse, and to the point. Trelawny draws
the characters of Byron and Shelley in sharp and faithful
outline, and it is impossible not to yield to his judgment,
and admire the vigour with which he delivers it. His
insight into Shelley’s genius is profound: if others felt
equal sympathy for Shelley, it is he who has best ex-
pressed it. A certain roughness in the style and in the
construction of the book adds to the impression the reader
receives of fidelity to fact. Trelawny has been censured for
his harsh picture of Byron, but, in our opinion, unjustly.
16 INTRODUCTION.

He drew Byron as he was, and not as his admirers wished
to think him. That Shelley’s poetry should be so uni-
versally underrated, his character misunderstood, and
his principles misrepresented, while a man, far inferior
in mind and heart, should receive greater homage
and glory than his due—this was the indignant thought
that took expression in the ‘‘ Recollections.” “By the
gods,’ wrote Trelawny to Mary Shelley in 1824, ‘the lies
that are said in his (Byron’s) praise urge one to tell the
truth.” Trelawny may, or may not, have been jealous of
Byron, but there is not a single word attributed to him
in the “ Recollections” that one feels was not spoken
by him. If we want to understand Byron’s character,
his genius and its limits, we must turn to the ‘“ Recol-
lections.”” It may be urged that Trelawny, as an old
friend of Byron’s, should either have held his tongue or
concealed the truth. To this it may be replied that Tre-
lawny was by no means led by the desire of self-glorifica-
tion or any meaner motive to publish what he knew. He
had conceived the idea of writing Shelley's life and vindi-
cating his character as early as 1829, but his intention was
frustrated by Mrs. Shelley refusing him materials. Not
till Trelawny was sixty-six did he publish the “ Recollec-
tions ’’—at an age when he could no longer delay, if the
wrong were to be set right. The current estimate of Byron
and Shelley has been much influenced by the unimpeached
“Recollections.” Love for Shelley’s memory undoubtedly
it was that led Trelawny to their publication.

In his latter years Trelawny seems to have lost much of
his vanity, and he impressed his friends more by his rug-
gedness of character and unconventionality than by his
versatility. Time had disillusionized him of his conceits,
the men of his day were dead, his pet ideas were assimi-
lated, supplanted, or exploded. The fringed garments of
Byronic romance were ousted by the tweeds of Free Trade.
INTRODUCTION. 17

Trelawny had to draw back into his shell, and tone down
his fine enthusiasm.

About 1870, Trelawny, then seventy-cight years old,
bought a house and a small piece of land at Sompting, a
village a few miles from Worthing. ‘I go into the country
to exercise my body,” he said, ‘‘ and into town to exercise
my brain,” and in “attending to his garden, chopping
faggots, and taking walks,’ he sueceeded in keeping
up his bodily strength for a long time. Some cha-
racteristic anecdotes are related of his latter years,
worth the telling. It is said that several times he was
known to come back from his walks without a coat, having
taken it from his back and given it to a beggar. It igs also
said that he was very fond of animals and birds, and would
never have them molested if he could prevent it, and that
on two men one day appearing with guns and asking leave
to shoot a bird that had taken refuge on his ground, he
answered: “What I will give you is—full permission to shoot
one another.” He always declared he “liked animals about
the house,” and was in the habit of bringing in pets he had
picked up in his walks. He retained his good looks to the
last, a description of him as an old man recording “his
deep-set, eagle eye.” His habits were simple, his diet
extremely abstemious, consisting largely of bread and fruit.
“T always live as the natives,” he was fond of saying, not
counting the inhabitants of Sompting as “‘natives.” His
powerful voice those who heard it could never forget; his
“Tremendous!” being indeed tremendous, even fifty years
after Mrs. Shelley wrote: ‘‘ Sometimes I flattered myself
that the foundations of my little habitation would have been
shaken by a ‘ Ship Shelley ahoy’ that even Jane, distant
a mile, would have heard.” In an obituary in The
Atheneum, written by somebody who was obviously ac-

quainted with Trelawny, it is stated as an instance of his
2
18 INTRODUCTION.

freshness of mind that, meeting with Blake’s poems for
the first time, a few years before death, he showed his
appreciation of them by learning several passages by heart.
It may be noted that he was always fond of poetry, and
constantly in the habit of quoting it.

In 1878 appeared the second and enlarged edition of
the “Recollections,” under the new title of ‘‘ Records of
Shelley, Byron, and the Author.” Some interesting par-
ticulars about Shelley were added, and some of the criticisms

-on Byron toned down. Trelawny has been justly con-
demned for his disparagement of Mrs. Shelley in his
Appendix. However true his revised description of her
may have appeared to him, he should not have put to
paper the failings of the woman whom he had served, and
who had served him, so well. There was not the slightest
need for it; even if her novels published after Shelley’s
death were “‘ more than ordinarily commonplace and con-
ventional,’ which is not the case, it was mere spleen to call
attention to it. This unfortunate Appendix was not, how-
ever, published till age had perhaps left Trelawny few
indeed of some of the things he believed in in 1858. His
asperity can be excused in a man of eighty-six.

Trelawny died of old age at Sompting, on August 13,
1881, at the age of eighty-eight. In accordance with his
wish expressed to Mrs. Shelley in 1828, and often repeated
in his latter days, that he should be buried by Shelley’s
side, his adopted niece, Miss Taylor, had his body embalmed
in England and cremated at Gotha; and, through her eare,
his ashes now lie in the Protestant burying-ground in
Rome, in the tomb he had bought fifty-eight years before,
when he had reinterred his friend.
INTRODUCTION. 19

I;

Tue most interesting, though the least faithful, portrait
of Trelawny is the one lately engraved in ‘“‘ Mary Wollstone-
craft Shelley ; her Life and Letters,” after a painting by
Severn. The portrait by D'Orsay is a much better likeness,
but Severn’s is a clever study of half the man, of the thea-
trical Trelawny in short : we see a proud and defiant face,
dark flashing eyes, long black locks, a man of determined
bearing, yet with a mysterious and theatrical air. The face
might have been drawn for one of Byron’s mysterious heroes;
one expects to find ‘‘ Lara” written beneath it, or the
name of some Spanish guerilla chief, but not the English,
K. J. Trelawny. “In January, 1822,” to quote Mary
Shelley’s words, ‘‘ this extravagant Trelawny—un giovane
stravagante—of Herculean form, with raven black hair,
overhanging brows, Moorish face, and high shoulders, like
an Oriental, appeared at Pisa,” and soon becomes intimate
with both Shelley aud Byron, for which purpose indeed he
had quitted England. Trelawny, continues Mrs. Shelley,
has an emphatic but unmodulated voice, uses simple and
energetic language, and tells horrific stories, with the most
frightful situations; his adventures must have happened
to him between the ages of seventeen and twenty. His
extravagance struck his hearers, as ‘‘ partly natural, and
partly put on, but it suits him well, and if his abrupt and
not unpolished manners be assumed, they are nevertheless
in unison with his Moorish face... .” Such is the im-
pression Trelawny produced at the age of twenty-nine on
Mrs. Shelley—an impression that he would have been well
content to have left on his fellows. Her description is one
of the unreal yet real Trelawny, for if it was his nature to
pose, he felt genuinely the parts he acted. The greater the
actor the more difficult is it to get a hold of his character ;
the critic who deals with Edmund Kean finds himself con-
20 INTRODUCTION.

sidering Richard IVI.; Salvini is best examined as Othello,
and this is the difficulty of judging Trelawny. His admirers
may claim that he excels even actors in vanity, but his
enemies will admit that he yields in this respect to poets. If
we identify him with the ‘‘ Younger Son ”—and Trelawny
deliberately wrote it as the history of his life, or rather
said he wrote it as such—we see him the most ro-
mantic of romantic figures, proud, daring to the utmost
degree, fiery, untameable, passionate, with an unquench-
able thirst for liberty, and a detestation of every form of
restraint. If we are to judge him by his letters to Mary
Shelley, we see him impetuous and generous it is true, but
changeable, unsteady of purpose, and an inveterate poseur,
now writing, ‘‘I am sick at heart with losing my friend
(Byron), for still I call him so, you know; with all his weak-
nesses you know I loved him. I cannot live with men for
years without feeline—it is weak, it is want of judgment, of
philosophy—but this is my weakness....No more a
nameless being, I am now a Greek chieftain, willing and
able to shelter and protect you;” and now, “ It is well for
his name, and better for Greece that Byron is dead... .
I now feel my face burn with shame that so weak and
ignoble a soul could so long have influenced me. It is
degrading reflection, and ever will be. I wish he had lived
a little longer that he might have witnessed how I would
have soared above him here, how I would have triumphed
over his mean spirit.” And if we are to judge him by his
doings as well as his words, we find this ‘‘ Greek chieftain,
who will thus continue or follow his friends to wander some
other planet—for he has nearly exhausted this ”—this hero,
who “has not been a passive instrument of arbitrary
despotism,” is detained at Zante for ten months by a
** villainous lawsuit, which may yet continue some months
longer.” And further, if we are to judge him by his second
book, the “ Recollections of Shelley and Byron,” he appears
INTRODUCTION. 21

acute, and even hard, a stern yet subtle judge of character,
and his narrative, far from bearing out what Byron is
reported to have said of him, “that he could not, even to
save his life, tell the truth,” strikes the reader as being
faithful to the smallest detail.

Trelawny, in short, was all these characters, as Kean
might be Richard and yet Othello. Of Cornish blood, he
united to natural English stubbornness and ruggedness
an imagination and versatility that were certainly not
English. It is said that from his grandmother he inherited
a Spanish strain ; and if this be so, much in his character
is explained. High-spirited, fiery, and impulsive, he threw
himself first into one part, then into another; now, “I
have laid down the sword for the pen,” now (three
months later), “‘I am deeply engaged in a wild scheme
which will lead me to the East, and it is firmly my belief
that when I again leave Europe it will be for ever,”
and now (two months later), ‘‘if I thought there was a
probability that I could get a seat in the reformed House
of Commons I would go to England, or if there was a
probability of revolution.” Of course it must be remem-
bered that in writing to so sympathetic and sentimental a
woman as Mary Shelley, Trelawny would naturally wish to
keep up his romantic character, but against this must be
set the fact that their intimacy was of so confidential and
friendly a character that he would lay bare his hopes,
plans, and fears more fully to her than to anybody
else. From this quickness of entering into projects, equal
readiness in deserting them, and acuteness, when not
moved by first enthusiasm, there seems to be two Trelawnys
in the field—the one ready to imitate and follow De
Ruyter, Byron, and Odysseus in turn, very anxious to play
a good part, devoted to women, setting his heart on being
looked on as a romantic figure, and proud of “being
22 INTRODUCTION.

ruled by impulse, and not by reason” ; the other reserved,
independent, and clear-sighted, setting men at their true
value, with a contempt for their weaknesses, and mingling
the sturdiness of an old salt with the hardheadedness of a
man of the world. It is true that the former of these
characters certainly appertains more to Trelawny’s youth,
and the latter to his old age, but throughout we find them
blended: he is always alternately alluding to “‘his wild
career through life,” and growing reticent, almost myste-
rious, about it.

The contradiction of this character, at odds with itself,
is in his blood, and accordingly shows itself in his style. The
style of the ‘‘ Younger Son,” though ungrammatical, is
simple, the sentences are energetic and abrupt as those of
a seaman, but his language is high-coloured, poetical, and
often high-flown. His sailor’s grief at the death of Zela is
expressed with the delicacy of a poet. The salt of the sea,
and the scent of flowers mingle in the book. Trelawny
has indeed a Gascon strain in him. He is brave, so he
would be thought even braver than he is; he has seen
much, so he writes, “I have nearly exhausted this
planet”; he has had some adventures, so he says he has.
passed through others ; his virtues spring much from his
vices, and his vices still more from his virtues. He is
passionate, so he stimulates his passions by art, and
prides himself on being led astray by them. He sets up
a harem in Athens, and buys a Moorish woman, as much
from the desire to be singular as for pleasure. Vanity and
ability are often the leading features in the character of
the true adventurer ; they certainly were in Trelawny’s.
Julius Millingen’s statement that Trelawny imitated
Odysseus so minutely that he ate, dressed, and even spat.
in his manner is obviously hearsay, if not malice, but it
admirably hits off the weakness in his character. And he
has other points which betray his Spanish blood. A peculiar:
 

MAVRORORDATO.

(From a print in the British Museum.)
INTRODUCTION. 23

contempt for the abilities of others, a vaunting and lofty
insolence often peeps out in his correspondence. It is not
that this contempt had no foundation, it is the peculiar
expression of it that seems foreign to the English spirit.
Thus when he writes, ‘‘ Believe nothing you hear. Gamba
will tell you everything about me—about Lord Byron, but
he knows nothing of Greece, nothing; nor does it appear
that anybody else does, from what I see published,” he is
not so far from the truth; but it is the combination of
vanity and assurance that moves one to smile when one
remembers that ‘‘ Odysseus, the man of most wonderful
mind,’ was worsted by ‘‘the poor, weak, shuffling, in-
triguing, cowardly fellow,” and it was this same “ shuffling
soldier’? Mavrocordato, that caused Trelawny, who was so
“certain of the good cause triumphing,” who had wished
Byron was alive ‘to show him how he would have soared
above him,” to fly the country eighteen months later.
It is, however, only as an amusing sequel to Trelawny’s
boasts, and no reflection on his ability, that he was
eventually outwitted in Greece, where swarmed ‘“ three
thousand adventurers”; for his ability is sufficiently at-
tested by his enterprise, readiness of resource, and quick-
ness of action.

Trelawny was born fifty years too late to become an
adventurer proper, but his adventurous spirit saw its
affinity in, and turned towards, the romantic move-
ment in literature. It is characteristic of his genius,
and a tribute to hig intellectual power, that he so
quickly caught and reflected the spirit of his age.
He was as far in advance of the average man in the
acceptation and assimilation of liberal ideas as Shelley
and Byron were in the creation of them. And his prompt
recognition of the spirit of the age did not only consist in
“‘deranging his hair.” * He deranged his hair, but he
also helped to derange the collection of petrified codes and
24 INTRODUCTION.

fossil theories of the day. To his credit be it said, he,
almost alone of men, sought out Shelley, and saw his
true value. There is undoubtedly a certain amount of
hollow declamation in his diatribes on Liberty, but it is
not for this generation to criticise the speeches of any
of the men who vigorously attacked and demolished the
bigotry in religious and social matters so strong in the
early part of this century. Trelawny is consistent where
consistency is most valuable—he remained true to his
principles—he was a staunch Liberal of the 1820 school,
believed firmly in liberty both for nations and the indi-
vidual, and always spoke out against oppression. Born
before the Reign of Terror, he lived to see the deadweight
of Toryism, the backwater, so to speak, created by the
French Revolution, drain slowly off England, he saw Italy
expel the Austrian, and Greece the Turk. It was not
without cause that he wrote in 1831: ‘‘ We shall no longer
be hooted at: it is our turn to triumph now. Would those
glorious spirits to whose genius the present age owes so
much could witness the triumphant success of these
opinions! I think I see Shelley’s fine eyes glisten, and
faded cheek glow with fire unearthly.” Trelawny’s appeal
to France (at the end of the ‘‘ Younger Son”) to show
herself in her true glory, must have read a little ironically
in the days of Louis Philippe and Louis Napoleon ; but his
prophecy that “the theories of tyrants all over the world
are shaken as by an earthquake: they may be propped
up for a time, but their fall is inevitable,” was redeemed
by the events of 1848.

“It is a bustling world at present, and likely so to
continue. I must play a part.” These words of Trelawny
may serve to sum up his character. His failings are
apparent, perhaps more so than his virtues, such is the
uncertainty attendant on ‘playing a part.” We may,
without error, echo the words of Mrs. Shelley in 1823: “I
INTRODUCTION, 25

have a perfect faith in the unalterable goodness of his
heart.” She had reason to say this, for after Shelley’s
death, at a time when she was much pressed for money,
Trelawny, “with quiet generosity,’ shared with her the
little he had. Very convincing of the truth of the ‘ Recol-
lections ”’ is the little picture she paints us of the two men
sailing away together to Greece, Trelawny with only fifty
pounds left him, Byron with his £10,000, and some of
the dead Shelley’s money still in his pockets. “I can
never remember without the liveliest sense of gratitude
all you said that night of agony when you returned to
Lerici,” she writes to Trelawny; three months after
Shelley’s death—at too recent a date to be construed as
a mere sentimentality, a piece with her entry in her
Journal six months later, ‘‘ Albé, the dear, capricious,
fascinating Albé is dead... . Can I forget his attentions
and consolations to me during my deepest misery ?—
Never,” forgetting that the dear, capricious Albé had
behaved with such meanness that she had been forced to
refuse to touch a penny of his money. From all accounts
Trelawny behaved with great generosity throughout his
life. ‘‘In the midst of his agony,” says the historian
Gordon, ‘he had the magnanimity to dismiss unharmed
the unhappy youth who fired at him.” Probably there are
those still living who have cause to be thankful for his
liberality.

In the long run individuals come to be judged by their
acts, and not by what they have said of themselves. Thus
should it be with Trelawny. His favourite maxim, ‘‘ Believe
nothing you hear, and only half what you see,” may be ap-
plied with advantage to himself. If, to quote Mrs. Shelley
again, he was ‘‘one who wished to be thought eccentric,”
he was “noble and generous at bottom.” And with all his
affectation he was thorough fearless.

EDWARD GARNETT
January, 1890.
 

ADVENTURES

OF

A YOUNGER SON.

 

CHAPTER I.

Love or lust makes man sick, and wine much sicker,
Ambition rends, and gaming gains a loss;
But making money, slowly first, then quicker,
And adding still a little through each cross
(Which will come over things) beats love and liquor.
Brron.

1Y birth was unpropitious. I came into the
y world, branded and denounced as a vagrant;
for I was a younger son of a family, so
proud of their antiquity, that even gout
and mortgaged estates were traced, many
generations back, on the genealogical tree,
as ancient heir-looms of aristocratic origin, and therefore
reverenced. In such a house a younger son was like the
cub of a felon-wolf in good King Edgar’s days, when a price
was set upon his head. There have been laws compel-
ling parents to destroy their puny offspring; and a Spartan

 

 
28 ADVENTURES OF

mother might have exclaimed with Othello, while extinguishing
the life of her yet unconscious infant,

“T that am cruel, am yet merciful,
“IT would not have thee linger in thy pain ;”’

which was just and merciful, in comparison with the atrocious
law of primogeniture. My grandfather was a general, and
had little to give my father, his only son, but patronage in
his profession. Nature, in some sort, made him amends by
bestowing that which leads to fortune oftener than genius,
virtue, or such discarded claimants—a handsome exterior set
off by courtly manners. His youth was not distinguished by
any marked peculiarity, running the course of the gallants of
the day. Women, wine, the court, the camp, formed the
theatre of his ambition, and there he was accounted to play
his part well. In his twenty-fourth year he became enamoured
of a lovely and gentle girl. His thoughts took a new turn.
He discovered (for in that he was learned) that the passion
was mutual; and the only barrier to the completion of their
wishes was fortune. Their families, but not their expectations,
were equal. Youth and love are generally proof against the
admonitions of parents and guardians. As to money, settle-
ments, and deeds, first love is of too sincere and passionate
a character to be controlled by worldly calculating selfishness,
which, in after life, is mingled up more or less in all our
dealings with women, and theirs with us. The noble and
generous passions, animated by first love, often impress on the
unsettled and fluctuating character of youth a fixedness, which
time cannot wholly destroy. Would to Heaven my father
had united his fate with her’s, for her worth has stood proof
against time and change! While he was labouring to over-
come the impediments to his marriage, he was ordered with a
party to recruit in the west. Thinking their separation
temporary, they parted, as all those, under such circumstances,
have parted, with protestations of eternal fidelity; but, what
is not so general, considering his being a gay soldier, he con-
tinued true to his oaths for three months.

At a ball, given by the county sheriff on his nomination, his
daughter, an heiress, when desired by her father to give her
A YOUNGER SON. 29

hand, for the first dance, to the man of highest rank in the
room, who happened to be the oldest, declared she would
give it to the handsomest. She selected my father, and with
him she danced. This preference flattered him, and its being
a subject of conversation gave birth to idéas which, otherwise,
might not have entered his head. She was a dark, masculine
woman of three-and-twenty ; but she was the richest, and that
was enough to make her seem at least the most interesting.
My father was naturally, or by the example of the world, of a
selfish turn of mind. Rich and beautiful soon became synony-
mous terms with him. He received marked encouragement
from the heiress. He saw those he had envied, envying him,
Gold was his god, for he had daily experienced those mortifica-
tions to which the want of it subjected him; he determined to
offer up his heart to the temple of Fortune alone, and waited
but an opportunity of displaying his apostacy to love. The
strugele with his better feelings was of short duration. He
called his conduct prudence and filial obedience—and those
are virtues—thus concealing its naked atrocity by a seemly
covering. Tis letters grew briefer, and their interval greater
to the lady of his love—his visits became frequent to the
lady of wealth. But why dwell on an occurrence so common
in the world, the casting away of virtue and beauty for
riches, though the devil gives them? He married; found
the lady’s fortune a great deal less, and the lady a great deal
worse than he had anticipated: went to town irritated and
disappointed, with the consciousness of having merited his
fate; sunk part of his fortune in idle parade to satisfy his
wife; and, his affairs being embarrassed by the lady’s extrava-
gance, he was, at length, compelled to sell out of the army,
and retire to economize in the country.

Malthus had not yet enlightened the world. Every suc-
ceeding year he reluctantly registered in the family bible the
birth of a living burthen. He cursed my mother’s fertility,
and the butcher’s ana baker’s bills. He grew gloomy and
desponding.

A bequest fell to him, and he seriously set about amassing
money, which was henceforth the leading passion of his life.
He became what is called a prudent man. If a poor relation
30 ADVENTURES OF

applied to him, he talked of his duty to his wife and children ;
and when richest, complained most of his poverty, of extortion,
and of the unconscionable price of every thing. He contended
that he could not afford to send his children to school ; learning
was too dear; it was unneccessary, for his education at West-
minster had proved of no benefit, as he had never since looked
into the Greek, Latin, and the books he had read there by
compulsion; yet he was not more ignorant than his neighbours.
He knew the importance of money, and the necessity of accu-
mulating it, and could calculate the value of learning. Perhaps
he believed exclusively in the doctrine of innate talent. Know-
ledge, in his opinion, would come when called for. It would
be time enough when our professions were determined on, to
learn what was indispensable; and as my brother’s and mine
would be that of arms, very little was necessary. He hated
superfluity in any thing; besides, he had observed that those
in his regiment who were addicted to books were the most
troublesome, and their learning was no step to their advance-
ment,

CHAPTER II.

And oft
In wantonness of spirit, plunging down
Into their green and glassy gulphs, and making
My way to shells and sea-weed, all unseen
By those above, till they wax’d fearful ; then
Returning with my grasp full of such tokens
As shewed that I had searched the deep, exulting
With a far-dashing stroke, and drawing deep
The long suspended breath, again I spurn’d
The foam which broke around me, and pursued
My track like a sea-bird.

Byron.

Y brother was tractable, mild, and uncomplaining. I
was in continual scrapes. I insisted on following the
bent of my inclinations; and opposition only sharpened my
desires. We were not allowed, among the many petty re-
strictions of our unkind governor, to stray off the gravelled
A YOUNGER SON. 31

paths in the garden. My brother submitted to this; while I
sought for compensation in our neighbour’s gardens, returning
from them with fruits and flowers in abundance. My brother
was contented with his daily walk upon the common or the
road; I, with my pockets well filled with bread and apples,
climbed the hills, or descended them to learn swimming in the
rivers. I hated all that thwarted me, parsons, pastors, and
masters. Every thing I was directed cautiously to shun, as
dangerous or wrong, I sought with avidity, as giving the most
pleasure. Had I been treated with affection, or even with the
shew of it, I believe that I also should have been tractable,
mild, and uncomplaining. Punishment and severity of all
kinds were the only marks of paternal love that fell to my
share, from my earliest remembrance.

My father had a fancy for a raven, that, with ragged wings,
and a grave antique aspect, used to wander solitarily about
the garden. He abhorred children; and whenever he saw
any of us, he used to chase us out of his walks. I was then
five years old. Had the raven pitched on any other spot than
the one he selected, the fruit-garden, I certainly should never
have disputed his right of possession. As it was, we had all,
from the time we could walk, considered him and my father
the two most powerful, awful, and tyrannical persons on earth,
The raven was getting into years; he had a grey and grisly
look; he halted on one leg; his joints were stiff, his legs
rough as the bark of a cork-tree, and he was covered with
large warts: his eyes had a bleared and sinister expression ;
and he passed most of his time idling in the sun under a south
wall, against which grew the delicious plums of the garden.
Many were the stratagems we used to lure him from this spot ;
the garbage, on which he gloated, was offered in vain. His
moroseness and ferocity, and our difficulty in getting fruit,
were insupportable. We tried to intimidate him with sticks,
but were too weak to make the least impression on his weather-
hardened carcase; and we got the worst of it. I used, when
I could do so slily, to throw stones at him, but this had no
effect. Thus things continued. I had in vain sought for
redress from the gardener and servants: they laughed at us,
and jeered us.
382 ADVENTURES OF

One day I had a little girl for my companion, whom I had
enticed from the nursery to go with me to get some fruit
clandestinely. We slunk out, and entered the garden unob-
served. Just as we were congratulating ourselves under a
cherry-tree, up comes the accursed monster of a raven. It
was no longer to be endured. He seized hold of the little
girl’s frock; she was too frightened to scream; I did not
hesitate an instant. I told her not to be afraid, and threw
myself upon him. He let her go, and attacked me with bill
and talon. I got hold of him by the neck, and, heavily lifting
him up, struck his body against the tree and the ground; but
nothing seemed to hurt him. He was hard asarock. Thus
we struggled, I evidently the weaker party. The little girl,
who was my favourite, said, ‘Tl go and call the gardener!”

I said, “No; he will tell my father; I will hang the old
fellow’ (meaning the raven, not my father); “give me your
sash!”

She did so, and with great exertion I succeeded, though I
was dreadfully mauled, in fastening one end round the old
tyrant’s neck; I then climbed the cherry tree, and, holding
one end of the sash, I put it round a horizontal branch, when,
jumping on the ground, I fairly succeeded in suspending my
foe.

At this moment my brother came running towards me.
When he saw the plight I was in, he was alarmed ; but, on
beholding our old enemy swinging in the air, he shouted for
joy. Fastening the end of the sash, we commenced stoning
him to death. After we were tired of that sport, and as he
was, to all appearance, dead, we let him down. He fell on his
side, when I seized hold of a raspberry-stake, to make sure of
him by belabouring his head. To our utter amazement and
consternation, he sprung up with a hoarse scream, and caught
hold of me. Our first impulse was to run; but he withheld
me, so I again fell on him, calling to my brother for assistance,
and bidding him lay fast hold of the ribbon, and to climb the
tree. I attempted to prevent his escape. His look was now
most terrifying: one eye was hanging out of his head, the
blood coming from his mouth, his wings flapping the earth in
disorder, and with a ragged tail, which I had half plucked by
«lL YOUNGER SON. 33

pulling at him during his first execution. He made a horrible
struggle for existence, and I was bleeding all over. Now, with
the aid of my brother, and as the raven was exhausted by
exertion and wounds, we succeeded in gibbeting him again ;
and then with sticks we cudgelled him to death, beating his
head to pieces. Afterwards we tied a stone to him, and sunk
him in a duck-pond.

This was the first and most fearful duel I ever had. I
mention it, childish though it be, not only because it lives
vividly in my memory, but as it was an event that, in reviewing
my after-life, seems evidently the first ring on which the links
of a long chain have been formed. It shews how long I could
endure annoyance and oppression, and that when at last ex-
cited, I never tried half measures, but proceeded to extremities,
without stop or pause. This was my grievous fault, and
grievously have I repented it ; for I have destroyed, where, in
justice, I was justified, but where, in mercy, I ought only to
have corrected ; and thus the standers-by have considered that,
which I only thought a fair retaliation, revenge.

CHAPTER III.

There arose
From the near school-room voices that, alas!
Were but one echo from a world of woes,
The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.
SHELLEY.

Phrenzied with new woes,
Unus’d to bend, by hard compulsion bent.
Kezarts.

N compliance with my father’s notions respecting the in-

utility of early education, I was not sent to school till I
was between nine and ten years old. Iwas then an unusually
great, bony, awkward boy. Whilst my parents were in their
daily discussion of the question as to the period at which the
schooling of their sons was to commence, a trivial occurrence
decided the question. I was perched on an apple tree, throwing
the fruit down to my brother, when our father came on us

3
34 ADVENTURES OF

suddenly. Every trifle put him in a passion. Commanding
us to follow him, he walked rapidly on through the grounds,
into the road, without entering the house. He led us towards
the town and through the streets, without uttering a syllable,
a distance of two miles. I followed with dogged indifference,
yet at times inquired of my brother what he thought would be
the probable result, but he made no reply. Arriving at the
further extremity of the town, my father stopped, asked some
questions inaudible to us, and stalked forward to a walled and
dreary building. We followed our dignified father up a long
passage ; he rung at a prison-looking entrance-gate; we were’
admitted into a court; then crossing a spacious dark hall, we
were conducted into a small parlour, when the door was shut,
and the servant left us. In ten minutes, which seemed an
eternity, entered a dapper little man, carrying his head high in
the air, with large bright silver buckles in his shoes, a stock
buckled tightly round his neck, spectacled, and powdered.
There was a formal precision about him, most fearful to a boy.
A hasty glance from his hawk’s eye, first at our father, and
then at us, gave him an insight into the affair. With repeated
bows to our father, he requested him to take a chair, and
pointed with his finger for us to do the same. There was an
impatience and rapidity in every thing he said ; which indicated
that he liked doing and not talking.

“Sir,” said our parent, ‘‘I believe you are Mr. Sayers?”

Yes, Sir.”

“ Have you any vacancies in your school ?”’

«Yes, Sir.”

“Well, Sir, will you undertake the charge of these un-
governable vagabonds? I can do nothing with them. Why,
Sir, this fellow” (meaning me) “does more mischief in my
house than your sixty boys can possibly commit in yours.”

At this the pedagogue, moving his spectacles towards the
sharpened tip of his nose, peered over them, measuring me
from head to foot; and clenching his hand, as if, in imagina-
tion, it already grasped the birch, gaye an oblique nod, to
intimate that he would subdue me. My inauguration pro-
ceeded—

‘He is savage, incorrigible ! Sir, he will come to the gallows,
A YOUNGER SON. 35

if you do not scourge the devil out of him. I have this
morning detected him in an act of felony, for which he de-
serves a halter. My elder son, Sir, was instigated by him to
be an accomplice ; for naturally he is of a better disposition.”
With this, my father, after arranging what was indispensable,
bowed to Mr. Sayers, and without noticing us, withdrew.

Consider the outrage to my feelings. Torn from my home,
without notice or preparation, delivered, in bitter words, an
outcast, into the power of a stranger, and, a minute afterwards,
to find myself in a slip of ground, dedicated to play, but, by
its high walls and fastnesses, looking more like a prison-yard.
Thirty or forty boys, from five to fifteen years of age, stood
around us, making comments, and asking questions. I wished
the earth to open and bury me, and hide the torturing emotions
with which my bosom swelled. Now that I look back, I
repeat that wish with my whole soul; and could I have known
the future, or but have dreamed of the destiny that awaited
me, boy as I was, I would have dashed my brains out against
the wall, where I leaned in sullenness and silence. My
brother’s disposition enabled him to bear his fate in compara-
tive calmness; but the red spots on his cheeks, the heavy
eye-lid, the suppressed voice, shewed our feelings, though
differing in acuteness, to be the same.

Miserable as I was during my school-days, the first was the
bitterest. At supper, I remember, I was so choaked with my
feelings, that I could not swallow my dog-like food, arranged
in scanty portions; and my first relief was when, in my
beggarly pallet, the rush-lights extinguished, and surrounded
by the snoring of the wearied boys, to me a sound of comfort,
I could give vent to my overcharged heart in tears. I sobbed
aloud ; but on any one’s moving, as if awake, I held my breath
till re-assured. Thus I sobbed on, and was not heard; till the
night was far advanced, and my pillow bathed in tears, when,
outworn, I fell into a sleep, from which I was rudely shaken,
unrefreshed, at seven in the morning. I then descended to
the school-room.

Boys, acting under the oppression of their absolute masters,
are cruel, and delight in cruelty. All that is evil in them is
called forth ; all that is good repressed. They remember what
36 ADVENTURES OF

they endured when consigned as bond-slaves; the tricks, all
brutish, that were played on them; the gibes at their simpli-
city ; their being pilfered by the cunning, and beaten by the
strong; and they will not allow a new comer to escape from
the ordeal. Boys at school are taught cruelty, cunning, and
selfishness ; and he is their victim and fool who retains a touch
of kindliness.

The master entered. He was one of those pedagogues of,
what is called, the old school. He had implicit faith in his
divining rod, which he kept in continual exercise, applying it
on all doubtful occasions. It seemed more like a house of
correction than an academy of learning; and when I thought
on my father’s injunction not to spare the rod, my heart
sickened.

As my school-life was one scene of suffering, I am impelled
to hasten it over as briefly as possible; more particularly as
the abuses, of which I complain, are, if not altogether remedied,
at least mitigated. I was flogged seldom more than once &
day, or caned more than once an hour. After I had become
inured to it, I was callous; and was considered by the master
the most obdurate, violent, and incorrigible rascal that had
ever fallen under his hands. Every variation of punishment
was inflicted on me, without effect. As to kindness, it never
entered into his speculations to essay it, since he, possibly,
had not heard of such a thing.

In a short while I grew indifferent to shame and fear. Every
kind and gentle feeling of my naturally affectionate disposition
seemed subdued by the harsh and savage treatment of my
master; and I was sullen, vindictive, or insensible. Vain
efforts, for they were ever vain, to avoid the disgrace of punish-
ment, occupied the minds of others. I began by venting my
rage on the boys, aud soon gained that respect by fear, which
I would not obtain by application to my book. I thus had my
first lesson as to the necessity of depending on myself; and
the spirit in me was gathering strength, in despite of every
endeavour to destroy it, like a young pine flourishing in the
cleft of a bed of granite. ;
A YOUNGER SON. 37

CHAPTER IV,

The relationship of father and son
Is no more valid than a silken leash
Where lions tug adverse ; if love grow not
From interchanged love through many years.
Keats’ MS,

He has cast nature off, which was his shield,
And nature casts him off, who is her shame.
SHELLEY,

8S my bodily strength increased, I became, out of school,
the leader in all sports and mischief; but, in school, I
was in the lowest class. I was determined not to apply to
learning, and to defy punishment. Indeed I do not recollect
that any of the boys acquired useful knowledge there. When
satisfied with the ascendancy I had gained over my school-
fellows, I turned my whole thoughts to the possibility of re-
venging myself on the master. I first tried my hand on his
under-strapper. Having formed a party of the most daring of
my myrmidons, I planned and executed a castigation for our
tutor. Once a week we were refreshed by long country-walks ;
in the course of one of these the tutor sat down to rest himself;
the boys, not acquainted with the plot, were busy gathering
nuts; my chosen band loitered near, preparing rods; when I,
backed by three of the strongest, fell suddenly upon our enemy.
I got my hand round his dirty cravat, which I continued
twisting; the others seized his arms and legs, and threw him
on his back. A halloo brought six or seven more. He several
times nearly succeeded in shaking us off; but I never resigned
my hold, and when his struggles had driven away one boy,
another took his place ; till, completely overcome, he entreated
us, as well as he could articulate, to have mercy, and not to
strangle him. I griped him the tighter, till the sweat dropped
from his brow like rain from the eaves of a pig’s-sty. We
then gave him a sample of flogging he could never forget.
The upshot of this is told in a few words. On my return to
school, our pastor and master, (for he was clerical,) began to
haye an inkling of what I and his pupils were capable. The
38 ADVENTURES OF

dreadful narrative which the usher gave of my violence
awakened a dread that the sacredness of his vocation, and
sacerdotal robes, had been alone respected by our despair of
successful opposition ; that having once tasted of the sweets
of victory, we might be presumptuous enough flatly to refuse
obedience to his commands: that my influence and example
encouraged others, and that he would daily lose ground in
his authority. This castigation of the usher astonished him.
He opened his eyes to the necessity of using more decisive
steps, and of making an example of me, before I was so
hardened in my audacity, as perhaps to attempt or execute
some plot against him. His caution came too late. He called
me to him, standing three steps above me on a raised platform.
The boys, like young horses, when they learn their power,
were unruly. I stood not as I had done, drooping before his
angry glances, but upright, and full of confidence, looking him
in the face without quailing. He accused me—I pleaded my
justification—he grew angry—my blood mounted to my fore-
head—he struck me—and I, with one sudden exertion, seized
him by the legs, when he fell heavily on the back of his head.
The usher, writing-master, and others, came to his aid; but all
the boys sat silent and exulting, awaiting the result in wonder.
I, unwilling to be seized by the usher, who, between fear of the
boys and duty to his employer, stood irresolute, rushed out of
the school-room into the garden, and there was I in triumph.
I resolved that nothing should or could compel me to continue
in the school, which determination I should long before have
made, but from awe of my father’s dreadful severity. I had
borne two years of such suffering as few could have sustained ;
nature could endure no more. I was now desperate, and
therefore without hope or fear. I received a message, by one
of the servants, to go into the house. After some hesitation
I went. I was confined in a bed-room by myself, and at
supper-time bread and water was brought—spare diet certainly,
but not much worse than the usual fare. I saw no one but the
servant. Next day the same solitude—the same spare diet.
At night a bit of candle was left to light me to bed; I know
not what impelled me, I suppose the hope of release, not
revenge—I set fire to the bed-curtains. The bed was in a
A YOUNGER SON. 39

bright flame, the smoke arose in clouds: without a thought of
escape I viewed their progress with boyish delight; the wain-
scot and wood-work were beginning to burn, the fire crackling
up the walls, while I could hardly breathe for smoke. The
servant returned for the candle, and as the door opened the
draught augmented the flame. I cried out, ‘ Look here,
George, I have lighted a fire myself, you said I should have
none, though it was so cold.” The man’s shrieks gave the
alarm. There was little furniture in this condemned hold, and
the fire was extinguished. I was removed ,to another room,
where a man sat up all night with me in custody; and I re-
member I exulted in the dread they all had of me. They
called it arson, treason, and blasphemy—these accusations made
some impression, because I was ignorant of their meaning, I
did not see my reverend preceptor—perhaps his head ached ;
nor was I permitted to see any of my comrades,—the latter
pained me; nay, I was not permitted to see my brother, lest I
should infect him.

The next morning I was despatched home under a guard.
My father was—O happy chance !—absent. An unexpected
and considerable fortune had been bequeathed to him. He
returned, and, either softened by his good luck, or from good
policy, he never opened his lips to me on the subject. But he
said to my mother, ‘‘ You seem to have influence over your
son, I give him up. If you can induce him to act rationally,
be it so; if not, he must find another home.” I was then
about eleven years old.

To give an idea of the progress I made at this birchen
school, my father, one day after dinner, conversing with my
mother on the monstrous price of learning, and hinting that a
parish-school in the village, to which he was compelled to con-
tribute, would have done as well, said, turning to me, ‘‘ Come,
Sir, what have you learnt?”

‘“Tearnt!” I ejaculated, speaking in a hesitating voice, for
my mind misgave me as to what was to follow.

“Ts that the way to address me? Speak out, you dunce !
and say, Sir! Do you take me for a foot-boy?” raising his
voice to a roar, which utterly drove out of my head what little
the school-master had, with incredible toil and punishment,
40 ADVENTURES OF

driven into it. ‘‘What have you learnt, you raggamuffin?
What do you know ?”’

“ Not much, Sir!”

“ What do you know in Latin?”

“Latin, Sir? I don’t know Latin, Sir!”

“Not Latin, you idiot! Why, I thought they taught
nothing but Latin.”

“ Yes, Sir ;—cyphering.”

“Well, how far did you proceed in arithmetic?”

“No, Sir!—they taught me cyphering and writing.

My father looked grave. ‘Can you work the rule of three,
you dunce?”

“Rule of three, Sir!”

«Do you know subtraction? Come, you blockhead, answer
me! Can you tell me, if five are taken from fifteen, how many
remain ?”’

“Five and fifteen, Sir, are—’’ counting on my fingers, but
missing my thumb, ‘‘ are—are—nineteen, Sir!”

“What! you incorrigible fool !—Can you repeat your multi-
plication table ?”

« What table, Sir?”

Then turning to my mother, he said : ‘‘ Your son is a down-
right idiot, Madam,—perhaps knows not his own name. Write
your name, you dolt!”

« Write, Sir! I can’t write with that pen, Sir; it is not my
pen.”

«Then spell your name, you ignorant savage!”

“Spell, Sir?” I was so confounded that I misplaced the
vowels. He arose in wrath, overturned the table, and bruised
his shins in attempting to kick me, as I dodged him, and
rushed out of the room.

”
A YOUNGER SON. 41

CHAPTER V.

Oh, gold! why call we misers miserable ?
Theirs is the pleasure that can never pall;
Theirs is the best bower-anchor, the chain cable
Which holds fast other pleasures, great and small.
Ye who but see the saving man at table,
And scorn his temperate board, as none at all,
And wonder how the wealthy can be sparing,
Know not what visions spring from each cheese-paring.
Byron.

Y father, notwithstanding his increased fortune, did not
increase his expenditure; nay, he established, if possible

a stricter system of economy. He had experienced greater
enjoyment in the accumulation of wealth than in the pleasures
of social life. The only symptom he ever shewed of imagina-
tion, was in castle-building ; but his fabrications were founded
on a more solid basis than is usually to be met with among the
visions of day-dreamers. No unreal mockery of fairy scenes of
bliss found a resting-place in his bosom. Ingots, money, lands,
houses and tenements, constituted his dreams. He became a
mighty arithmetician, by the aid of a ready reckoner, his
pocket companion ; he set down to a fraction, the sterling value
of all his, and his wife’s relations, the heirs at law, their nearest
of kin, their ages, and the state of their constitutions. The
insurance-table was examined to calculate the value of their
lives; to this he added the probable chances arising from
diseases, hereditary and acquired, always forgetting his own
gout. He then determined to regulate his conduct accordingly ;
to maintain the most friendly intercourse with his wealthy con-
nections, and to keep aloof from poor ones. Having no occasion
to borrow, his aversion to lending amounted to antipathy. All
his discourses, with those whom he suspected to be needy, were
interlarded with the wise sayings of the prudent and niggardly ;
and the distrust and horror he expressed at the slightest allu-
sion to loans, unbacked by security and interest, had the effect
of making the most impudent and adventurous desist from
essaying him, and continue in their necessities, or beg, or rob,
42 ADVENTURES OF

or starve, in preference to urging their wants to him. Till he
was rich, he had not been so obdurate on this point.

We never sat down to table without a lecture on economy.
It was a natural consequence that I, thwarted on all sides
till I had acquired a spirit of contradiction, should be incor-
rigibly free and generous. I was stirred up to evade, by
cunning, his parsimony towards myself and others. I was
detected in many delinquencies, having little respect for per-
sonal property, which is generally the vice of those who have
none. Hatables diminished in the pantry, and from the
cupboard ; wine, sweetmeats, and fruit, as I had a particular
relish for them, owing to their being almost interdicted,
strangely vanished. But at last I was convicted of a heinous
sin, which appeared of so monstrous and unprecedented a
character, that it was never forgiven or forgotten. My father
cursed his fate at having such a degenerate son; and that I
might not infect others with my example, and utterly ruin him,
he resolved forthwith to get rid of me.

The sin I had committed was extracting from its sanctuary,
and giving to a beggar-woman, an entire pigeon-pie, dish and
all. Perhaps the offence would never have been discovered, if
the officiously conscientious old woman had not returned with
the empty pie-dish. I hated her honesty, and never afterwards
could endure old women. The poor creature was summoned by
my father; she heard his threats of the stocks, and the house
of correction, of a charge of felony, and transportation, without
betraying me; nor do I think he could have elicited the truth,
had I not stepped forward and confessed the fact. I shall never
forget my father’s wrath. He said, I was not only a thief, but
a hardened one; and vented some portion of his rage in cuffs
and kicks. I stood firmly, as I had done to my school-master,
for I had learnt to endure, and my hide had grown thick and
horny from blows. I neither wept nor asked for mercy. When
his hands and feet were weary, he said,

“ Get out of my sight, you scoundrel!” I moved not a foot,
but looked at him scowlingly and undauntedly.

Lest it should be imagined there was something particularly
evil in me, requiring the utmost severity, I must add that my
father ruled my brother and sisters with the same iron-rod ; the
A YOUNGER SON. 48

only difference was, it could not rule me, and therefore I was
not to be endured. Let one instance of his ferocity suffice—
one which happened several years after this, when he was
residing in London.

It was his custom to appropriate a room in the house to the
conservation of those things he loved,—choice wines, foreign
preserves, cordials. This sanctum sanctorum was a room on
the ground floor, under a sky-light. Our next door-neighbours’
pastime happened to be a game of balls, when one of them
lodged on the leaded roof of this consecrated room. Two of
my sisters of the ages of fourteen and sixteen, though, in
appearance, they were women, ran from the drawing-room
back window to seek for the ball; and slipping on the leads, the
younger fell through the sky-light, on the bottles and jars upon
the table below. She was dreadfully bruised, and her hands,
legs, and face were cut; so much so, that she still retains the
scars. Her sister gave the alarm. My mother was called; she
went to the door of the store-room; her child screamed out,
for God’s sake to open the door, she was bleeding to death.
She continued to scream, while my mother endeavoured to
comfort her, but dared not break the lock, as my father had
prohibited any one from entering this, his blue chamber; and,
what was worse, he had the key. Other keys were tried, but
none could open the door. Had I been there, my foot should
have picked the lock. Will it be believed that, in that state,
my sister was compelled to await my father’s return from the
House of Commons, of which he was a member? Whatan
admirable legislator! At last, when he returned, my mother
informed him of the accident, and tried to allay the wrath
which she saw gathering on his brow. He took no notice of
her, but paced forward to the closet, where the delinquent,
awed by his dreadful voice, hushed her sobs. He opened the
door and found her there, scarcely able to stand, trembling
and weeping. Without speaking a word, he kicked and cuffed
her out of the room, and then gloomily decanted what wine
remained in the broken bottles.
44 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER VI.

And now I’m in the world alone,
Upon the wide, wide sea ;
But why should I for others groan,
When none will sigh for me?
Byzon.

HERE was some talk of my going to Oxford, as one of my
uncles had livings in his gift, which my father could not,
without pain, contemplate as property out of the family. I was
consulted; but the decided manner in which I declined priest-
hood, left no hopes of my ever being guided by self-interest.

Soon after this I was taken to Portsmouth, and shipped on
board a line of battle ship, the Superb, as passenger to join
one of Nelson’s squadron. She was commanded by Captain
Keates ; and thence we sailed to Plymouth to take on board
Admiral Duekworth, who hoisted his flag, and detained the
ship three days to get mutton and potatoes from Cornwall. By
this delay we unfortunately fell in with the Nelson fleet off
Trafalgar, two days after his deathless victory.

Young as I was, I shall never forget our falling in with the
Pickle schooner off Trafalgar, carrying the first despatches of
the battle and death of its hero. We had chased her many
hours out of our course, and but that our ship sailed well, and
the wind was fresh, we should not have brought her to. Her
commander, burning with impatience to be the first to convey
the news to England, was compelled to heave to, and come on
board us. Captain Keates received him on the deck, and when
he heard the news, I was by his side. Silence reigned through-
out the ship; some great event was anticipated ; the officers
stood in groups, watching, with intense anxiety, the two com-
manders, who walked apart: battle,—Nelson,—ships,—were
the only audible words which could be gathered from this conver-
sation. I saw the blood rush into Keates’s face ; he stamped the
deck, walked hurriedly, and spoke as ina passion. I marvelled,
for I had never before seen him much moved; he had appeared
cool, firm, and collected on all occasions, and it struck me that
some awful event had taken place, or was at hand.
A YOUNGER SON. 45

The admiral was still in his cabin, eager for news from the
Nelson fleet. He was an irritable and violent man; and had
been muchincensed at the schooner’s having disobeyed his signal,
until she was compelled. After a few minutes, swelling with
wrath, he sent an order to Keates; who, possibly heard it not,
but staggered along the deck, struck to the heart by the news,
and, for the first time in his life, forgot his respect to his
superior in rank; muttering, as it seemed, curses on his fate
that, by the admiral’s delay, he had not participated in the
most glorious battle in naval history. Another messenger
enforced him, such is discipline, to descend in haste to the
admiral, who was high in rage and impatience.

Keates, for I followed him, on entering the admiral’s cabin,
said, in a subdued voice, as if he were choking : “A great battle
has been fought, two days ago, off Trafalear. The combined
fleets of France and Spain are annihilated, and Nelson is
no more!” Hethen murmured,—“ Had we not been detained,
we should have been there. The captain of the schooner
entreats you, Sir, not to detain him, and destroy his hopes, as
you have destroyed ours.”

Duckworth answered not, conscience-struck, but stalked on
deck. He seemed ever to avoid the look of his captain, and
turned to converse with the commander of the schooner, who
replied, in sulky brevity, ‘‘yes,” or ‘‘no.” Then dismissing him,
he ordered all sail to be set, and walked the quarter-deck alone.
A death-like stillness pervaded the ship, broken at intervals by
the low murmurs of the crew and officers, when “ battle’”’ and
“Nelson,” could alone be distinguished. Sorrow and discon-
tent were painted on every face; and I sympathised in the
feeling without a clear knowledge of the cause.

On the following morning we fell in with a portion of the
victorious fleet. It was blowing a gale, and they lay wrecks on
the sea. Our admiral communicated with them, and then join-
ing Collingwood, had six sail of the line put under his command,
with orders to pursue that part of the enemy's fleet which had
escaped: and I joined the ship to which I was appointed. It
is unnecessary to dwell on the miseries of a cockpit life; I
found it more tolerable than my school, and little worse than
my home. Besides, I was treated with exceeding kindness,
46 ADVENTURES OF

and I began to be delighted with the profession. We returned
to Portsmouth. The captain wrote to my father to know what
he should do with me, as his ship was about to be paid off. My
father, in his reply, determined not to have me at home, ordered
that I should instantly be sent to Dr. Burney’s navigation
school. I was horror-stricken at this news, thinking I had
done with schools; and, supposing they were all like my former
one, I anticipated a state of suffering.

We had had a rough passage, being five or six sail of the line
in company, some totally, and others partially dismasted. Our
ship, having been not only dismasted, but razed by the enemy’s
shots (that is, the upper deck almost cut away,) our passage
home was boisterous. The gallant ship, whose lofty canvass, a
few days before, had fluttered almost amidst the clouds, as she
bore down on the combined fleets, vauntingly called the In-
vincible, now, though her torn banner still waved aloft victorious,
was crippled, jury-mast, and shattered, a wreck labouring in
the trough of the sea, and driven about at the mercy of the wild
waves and winds. With infinite toil and peril, amidst the
shouts and reverberated hurrahs from successive ships, we passed
on, towed into safe moorings at Spithead.

What a scene of joy then took place. From the ship to the
shore one might have walked on a bridge of boats, struggling to
get alongside. Some, breathless with anxiety, eagerly demanded
the fate of brothers, sons, or fathers, which was followed by
joyous clasping and wringing of hands, and some returned to the
shore, pale, haggard, and heart-stricken. Then came the-extor-
tionary Jew, chuckling with ecstacy at the usury he was about to
realize from anticipated prize-money, proffering his gold with a
niggard’s hand, and demanding monstrous security and interest
for his monies. Huge bomboats, filled with fresh provisions,
and a circle of boats hung round us, crammed with sailor's
wives, children, and doxies, thick as locusts. These last poured ip
so fast, that of the eight thousand said to belong at that period
to Portsmouth and Gosport, I hardly think they could have left
eight on shore. In a short period they seemed to have achieved
what the combined enemies’ fleets had vauntingly threatened—
to have taken entire possession of the Trafalgar squadron. I
remember, the following day, while the ship was dismantling,
a YOUNGER SON. 47

these scarlet sinners hove out the three first thirty-two pound
guns ; I think there were not less than three or four hundred of
them heaving at the capstan.

Our captain, suffering from a severe wound, went on shore,
and gave me, with two youngsters like myself, in very particular
charge to one of the master’s mates, who shortly after crossed
over with us to Gosport. He had orders to convey us to Dr.
Burney’s.

CHAPTER VII.

If any person should presume to assert
This story is not moral, first, I pray,
That they will not cry out before they’re hurt.
Bynoy.

LD NOAH and his heterogenous family felt not greater
pleasure in setting their feet on terra firma than we did.
The mate’s face, which had been, by long habit of obedience
and command, settled into a wooden sort of gravity, now relaxed,
and became animated as a merry andrew’s. Looking about as
if he had taken entire possession of the island, and as if he
considered it treason and blasphemy in any of his subjects to
appear malecontent, he turned sharply to me, and said, ‘‘ Holla!
my lad, what’s the matter? Why, you are as chop-fallen as
if it was Sunday, and the prayer-bell was ringing. You don’t
take me for that lubberly school-mastering parson on board, do
you?”

He had nearly hit it. The accursed school had crossed my
mind, and I guessed he was taking us there. However, I said
nothing, and he continued, ‘‘ Never go to church on shore or in
soundings, At sea can’t help it sometimes. Besides, then
there is something to pray for—fair weather and prize-money—
don’t want to pray for any thing on shore. Come, my lads,
keep a sharp look out for the Crown and Anchor. It should be
somewhere in these latitudes if it has not driven or slipped its
moorings.”

‘A reprieve |’ thought I; ‘ he has forgotten the school, and
we are bound to the tavern!” I stepped out lke an unbitted
48 ADVENTURES OF

colt as I descried the glittering crown swinging over a tavern-
door. I pointed it out, and he was just taking us in, when he
suddenly stopped, and rubbing his brow, said, ‘‘ Hold fast, my
lads! Let me see—let me see—didn’t the captain tell me to
—to—take these lads—to—where the devil is it? I say, lads,
where are you to go?”’

“Go!” we repeated.

“ Ay, I was ordered to take you somewhere. Damned odd
you don’t know, and I can’t remember. O, ay, I have it !—to
Dr.—somebody at Gosport. Ay, ay, I’ve heard of the fellow.
Remember they would have sent me there once—too sharp for
‘em—keep too good a look out—not such a lubber as that comes
to. But must obey orders—humph !—but I’ve liberty now—-
not under the pennant—do as I like. Well, lads, what do you
say? Will you go to the school, or—come, you’re looking
round the offing, as if you were thinking of cutting and run-
ning !’’—(which was indeed true.) ‘Well, my lads, we can
talk over this with a glass of grog. Lots of time—I’ve three
days’ liberty! So, if you obey orders, why I sha’n’t disobey
mine, if I see your names entered on the doctor’s books before
I report myself on board. So heave a-head, my lads!”

On the waiter’s shewing us into a room bustling about and
waiting for orders, our commodore asked us what we would
have, and, turning to the waiter, who was stirring the fire,
vociferated, ‘‘ What a dust you are kicking up! If you don’t
bring some grog to clear our coppers, I'll see if a kick astern
won't freshen your way. Hold fast!” stoppinghim. ‘Come,
my lads, don’t you feel the land wind getting into your orlop
deck? Has it struck seven bells?”

“No, Sir,” said the waiter; ‘it’s only ten o’clock.”

“No matter; let’s have some grub.”

“What would you like, Sir ?—very nice cold round of beef
and ham in the house.”

“No, no! What, do you want to give us the scurvy, you
lubberly scoundrel?”

“ Would you like a cutlet, Sir, or beef steak ?”

“Ay, ay, that will do. Come, why don’t you move your
stumps, you landsman.—Hold fast! Can't you grill some
fowls?”
A YOUNGER SON. 49

‘Yes, Sir, there’s a nice chicken in the larder.”

“D—n your chicken! Grill a hen-coop full of fowls, I say,
and be quick. And mind, if they ar’n’t here in five minutes,
tell Mother—what d’ye call her ?—the landlady, I'll come and
grill her. Well, why don’t you move? Hold fast !—why,
where the devil is the grog ?—ordered it an hourago.’’ He then
shyed his gold-laced cocked hat, and drove the waiter out of the
room,

After a monstrous meal, diluted with an unsparing hand,
ships and schools clear out of our memory, we all sallied out,
our pilot taking us into a variety of shops, in every one of which
he ordered something, or made some purchase, and told us to
take any thing we wanted, for he would pay for it, observing
that these fellows knew him, and would not humbug him as
they would us. He madea point of penetrating into their little
back-parlours, to see their wives and daughters, and get a
glass of grog.

During this cruise, as he called it, he invited every mess-
mate, as well as every person he had seen before, to dine with
him at two o’clock at the tavern; and he made appointments
with all the young women of his acquaintance, which were not
a few, ordering them to go home, like good girls, sweep the
decks, put their cabins in order, clean themselves, meet him at
the theatre, and tell their mothers to see their case-bottles
properly filled,—no marines among them,—with plenty of grog
in their lockers. He then, for he was very provident and
systematic in his arrangements, went to the theatre, engaged
two or three boxes, and returned to the Crown and Anchor,
complaining of his ‘“‘ dry duty.”

His straggling acquaintances were soon dropping in. Wild,
rough, and unruly were their greetings. The dinner came, and
the viands miraculously vanished. The bottles flew about, the
empty dishes were cleared away, and dried fruit, and wines of
all kinds, with sundry cut glass bottles of brandy, hollands,
shrub, and rum, garnished the board. Toasts, songs, and un-
clerical jests wended away the time, till our methodical master’s
mate, who was president, said,

“Ye sea-whelps, stopper your jaw, or I’ll hand ye, youugsters,
over to the doctor ;—you understand me! Now, my hearties,

4
50 ADVENTURES OF

what say you to a turn out? It’s time for the play; and you
know to church and play-houses we must go sober—in respect
to parsons and ladies. It’s unofficer-like to get drunk before
sunset ; it’s not correct, and I sha’n’t allow it. So, come, I’ve
only one more toast to give,—then I hoist the blue Peter, and
you must consider yourselves under sailing orders.” Here he
was interrupted by the noise in the room. ‘Silence! I say;
now, gentlemen, fill your glasses! No heel-taps, for I am going
to give a solemn toast. Iam very sorry to observe that, from
the neglect of duty of these lubberly landsmen, there’s nothing
but marines and bottoms on the table. Therefore, I command
that you all gripe a marine by the stock, and prepare to break
their necks.” The waiter remonstrated, and begged the presi-
dent to spare the bottles. ‘“ Lads!” he yociferated, ‘a mutiny !
Stand by your commanding officer! Waiter, go below,—leave
the quarter-deck. Oh, you won’t? Now, lads, one—two—and
when I say—three, remember that is your target,’’—pointing
to the waiter, ‘‘and break his neck!”

The scared serving-man withdrew at the critical instant, and
every empty bottle was smashed against the door. The memory
of Nelson was then pledged, and we all sallied into the High-
street. I thought the air was impregnated with alcohol, for,
when I got out, I felt the first symptoms of drunkenness.

I remember nothing more of the theatre than that the
audience was exclusively composed of sailors and their female
companions. Had the great bell of St. Paul’s been sounding,
instead of the tinkling music between the acts, it would not
have been heard. About midnight we supped in the same manner
we had dined, and again turned out. Watchmen, dockyard-
men, and red coats were assaulted wherever we fell in with
them. The master’s mate, notwithstanding the enormous
quantity of liquors of all sorts contained in his body, had a
head no more affected by them than the wooden bung of a rum-
puncheon. But this being my first drunken bout, I cannot say
I saw very clearly ; for the houses appeared to roll and pitch
like ships. Neither could I walk very well, for in the broadest
street I broke my shins against the curb-stones on each side
of the way. As I grounded on every tack I made, beating it
up, I thought the street had neither beginning nor end. But
A YOUNGER SON. 51

the master’s mate kept stragglers together, till we arrived at,
what he called, head-quarters. He there entrusted me and the
two others into the custody of a fiery-faced, flaming, old
harridan, with strict injunctions regarding her treatment of us;
to which she replied she would take as much care of us as of
her own children. In the mean while he went out to survey
the coast, promising to return, and ordering a bed, a warming-
pan, a red herring, and a bowl of punch, to be all in readiness
by his return. :

Our careful, obedient, and moral hostess, with more than a
mother’s care, ordered a bed to be prepared for each of us
striplings, mixed each of us a glass of strong waters, and then
sagely observing that late hours were bad for young blood, led
me to bed first. She put one of her own caps on my head, tied
it under my chin with a blue riband, closed the curtains, called
me a sweet creature, tucked me up, slobbered my cheek, and
parted from me with—‘‘ Be a good boy, now; and mind you
say your prayers before you go to sleep!”

About daylight I woke from unquiet and suffocating dreams.
Had I been previously acquainted with that phantom, the night-
mare, I might have imagined myself under its influence ; but
my astonishment was great to find myself in my small couch.
While endeavouring to distinctly recollect how I got there, the
maid of the tenement appeared, and the mystery was solved.

After some delay in procuring the necessaries for a morning
ablution, I dressed; and, directed by the mate’s well-known
voice, entered the parlour, ashamed, foolish, and dreading his
rebukes, not knowing, or not then considering him as the
cause.

Though he was very methodical, he was no methodist, at
least in preaching. His and their practice may be near akin.
There he sat, like an emperor, or Abyssinian prince, (according
to Bruce,) his august person occupying the old hostess’s
honoured’ arm-chair, and in exclusive possession of the fire.
Cups, saucerless and chipped, a handless tea-pot, a piece of salt
butter wrapped in brown paper, sugar on a broken plate, and
soddened buttered toast, half eaten, and tooth-marked, were
scattered about, with fat of ham and sausage.

These my first sins ought to find a place in my last will and
52 ADVENTURES OF

testament; but to whom am I to bequeath them? to my
father? the captain? or the master’s mate? Surely the most
malicious enemy can never cast in my teeth what I committed
at about twelve years old.

A day or two after this, our master’s mate conducted us to
Dr. Burney, and delivered us over in precise terms, behaving
with greater gravity than the doctor himself; who was so
pleased with his modest carriage and address, as to ask him to
dinner. He excused himself, under the plea of ship-duty, and
returned, I suppose, to ‘‘ head-quarters ; ’’ not, however, before
he had slipped a couple of guineas into each of our hands,
which he wrung heartily, telling us to apply to him for anything
we wanted, and to say nothing to the old hunkses about the
past. Thus we lost sight of him for ever.

CHAPTER VIII.

A barren soil, where nature’s germs, confined,

To stern sterility can stint the mind ;

Whose thistle well betrays the niggard earth,

Emblem of all to whom the land gives birth.

Each genial influence nurtured to resist,

Aland of meanness, sophistry, and mist.
Byron.

ANY of the boys in the school, like myself, had been to

sea. There were considerably more than a hundred, the

discipline very lax, the boys very independent, and therefore

little was taught. I was never corrected. Indeed it was

understood that I was only to remain there until appointed to
a ship.

One circumstance alone connected with this school lives
freshly in my memory. Captain Morris had given me a letter
to forward to my father ; and, on my way to the post-office, I
was accompanied by a school-fellow, a lad of about sixteen,
who had been two years at sea. He asked to look at the letter,
handled it, felt something, peeped into it, and exclaimed, “A
prize, by Jove!” He inquired who had given it to me, and
upon hearing that it came from the captain, instantly guessed
A YOUNGER SON. 53

at its contents. ‘O! then,” said he, “it ig a balance
of the money your father gave him for you. Why, you won’t
be such a greenhorn as to send it, will you?”

Tanswered, ‘ Certainly !”

“Lord! what nonsense!” he continued, ‘it is your own!
And with this you can get everything you want.”

Then he jeered me for being pennyless; and went on till I
began to reflect on my father’s niggardliness, and that I might
never meet with such another opportunity. I listened to his
argument that, at any rate I had aright to a portion of the
money, because a boy ought to have money in his pocket.
While talking, he broke the seal, and cried out; ‘ See, it is
open by accident, quite by accident ; and here is the money!”
A sight of the enclosure, as he foresaw, was more effective than
his oratory. The sum was indeed a very small one, though I
thought it inexhaustible. By my comrade’s kind assistance it
was quickly expended, my share being swallowed up in the
purchase of a gun, powder, and shot; he had the larger por-
tion.

The ensuing morning we went out a-birding. My companion
let me have the first shot, and then, as we had agreed to fire
alternately, I gave him the gun. Here I was foiled, for he
insisted on retaining the gun. I entreated him to let me have
my turn, but in vain; I taxed him with his breach of word, and
murmured that it was my gun; upon which the muzzle of the
gun was pointed at me, and I was kicked. Thus we went on,
till weary of finding nothing to kill, or, which is the same, being
unable to kill anything, towards noon we were both hungry
when he ordered me to part with my last crown to buy refresh-
ment from a farm-house. There was no choice; he, with the
gun, was my master. After this, growing insolent, his com-
mands were, that I should put up my hat for him to have a shot
atit. I atfirst refused ; but he swore that he would permit me to
have the second fire at my own hat, and then, if I did not put
as many shot in it as he did, I was to lose the crown. To this
I agreed; he fired, and gave me the gun loaded. The instant
it was in my hand I pointed it, not at my hat, but at the hat
on his head, exclaiming, ‘“‘ Hat for hat!”’ and pulled the trigger.
He looked aghast, and screamed out, ‘‘ You will shoot me!”
54 ADVENTURES OF

I told him I intended as much, and snapped again. It was not
primed. Luckily his cunning for once saved his life. He ran
off ; I primed the gun and followed him ; he had got forty or fifty
yards a-head; when, as he was jumping a hedge, I stopped and
fired, He fell; and my rage instantly turned into sorrow. He
lay on his face, shrieking out he was killed; I put the gun
down, which was now offensive to his sight, and went up to
him. He was dreadfully frightened, and a little hurt, begging
me not to do him further harm, and declaring he should die.
Good-luck had directed the shot exactly to the part where he
merited the birch. On repeated assurances that he was
not much hurt, I persuaded him to let me lead him home.
Before he arrived at the school he was much better. He then
complained to the master, contrary to the terms I had bound
him to by oath. The master without appealing to me,
laid a deodand on the gun, and placed me under confine-
ment.

At the expiration of two days I was sent for, lectured, and
informed that a letter from my father directed my being sent
on board a frigate then fitting for sea. On the following morn-
ing I went on board. We went to sea in a few days, and
cruised off Havre-de-Grace. The captain was intimately ac-
quainted with my family. He was a red-gilled, sycophantic
Scotchman, the son of an attorney, and had bowed and smirked
himself into the notice of royalty. His first lieutenant was a
Guernsey-man, a low-bred, mean-spirited, malicious scoundrel,
who disliked all who were better than himself, and that was
everyone. However, there was a fine set of boys for my mess-
mates, so that the time passed on tolerably well at first. Yet
I now saw the navy was not suited tome. The captain being
intrusted with unlimited power, it depended on his humours to
make a heaven or hell of his ship. I was no studier of men’s
humours, no truckler to those in power, consequently I was
hated. I was soon dissatisfied, and longed for freedom. Then,

‘in the navy, I had looked forward to active service and fighting ;
here was none, nor the probability of any, while many told me
they had been all their lives at sea, without seeing a shot fired.
In short, the battle of Trafalgar seemed the last act of naval
warfare, and old Duckworth’s passion for Cornish mutton and
A YOUNGER SON. 55

potatoes had prevented my initiation into the profession with
glory, which might have urged me to persevere.

Nothing is so slavish and abject as the deportment of junior
officers on board a man of war. You must not even look at
your superior with discontent. Your hat must be ever in your
hand, bowing in token of submission to all above you. Then
if the captain, or any of the lieutenants happen to dislike you,
so utterly are you in their power, that existence becomes
scarcely endurable. How much soever you may be in the right,
it matters not; for your superiors, like majesty, can do no
wrong, and opposition is fruitless.

This may be necessary to the effective discipline of the navy,
or not. No one can deny it is an evil; and thisis certain, that
all, whilst in subordinate situations, complain of it as an evil,
and resolve, when they possess the power, to remedy it. But,
good intentions, when the period arrives for executing them,
are forgotten, or no longer considered good. To make altera-
tions is then called a dangerous innovation, a bad precedent, an
impossibility. They expound their new creed in specious
common-places: “we must do as others do; things go on well
as they are; it is presumption to attempt change ;” thus gloss-
ing over their own natural desire to tyrannize in their turn,
often strongest in those who have been most severely treated.
They continue following the beaten track, and perpetuating a
system, no matter how corrupt; and if they live only for them-
selves, they act, as the world calls it, prudently, if not wisely.
As Bacon says of the ant, “It is a wise creature for itself, but
a shrewd thing in an orchard or garden.”” For every one
opposes with hate every one that purposes an alteration, because
it implies that every one has hitherto been in error, and, what
is equally humiliating, has not been consulted. Reformers, in
all ages, whatever has been their object, have been unpitied
martyrs; and the multitude have evinced a savage exultation
in their sacrifice. ‘Let in the light upon a nest of young
owls, and they cry out against the injury you have done them.”
Men of mediocrity are young owls: when you present them
with strong and brilliant ideas, they exclaim against them as
false, dangerous, and deserving of punishment: ‘“ Every abuse
attempted to be reformed is the patrimony of those who have
more influence than the reformers.”
56 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER IX.

And from that hour did I, with earnest thought,
Heap knowledge from forbidden mines of lore,
Yet nothing that my tyrants knew or taught
I cared to learn, but from that secret store
Wrought linked armour for my soul, before
It might walk forth to war among mankind.
SHELLEY.

AD it been optional, I would now have left the navy ; not-
withstanding, my passion for the sea was undiminished.
I felt it was not in my nature to submit toa long apprenticeship
of servitude. Before I could possibly be a master, fourteen or
more years might elapse; and fourteen years then seemed to
me a long life. From that time forward, I brooded exclusively
ou the possibility of breaking my indentures, and seeking my
own fortunes, as tales and histories tell us people did in the
olden times. But then my friendless situation, and ignorance
of the world, appeared an effectual bar; and still my heart
yearned at the recollection of my mother, whom I then almost
worshipped, and of my sisters. A thousand tender remem-
brances of early life clung to my heart; while the continued
persecution of my fate, long absence, neglect, and the memory
of my stern and unforgiving father, made me of a desponding
and unhappy disposition. But to continue my narrative.

At this period of my life an involuntary passion was awakened
in my bosom for reading ; so that I seized on every occasion
for borrowing and collecting books, and every leisure moment
for reading them. Old plays, voyages and travels were my
principal study ; and I almost learned by heart Captain Bligh’s
narrative of his voyage to the south-sea islands, and of the
mutiny of his crew: his partial account did not deceiveme. I
detested him for his tyranny, and Christian was my hero. I
wished his fate had been mine, and longed to emulatehim. It left
an impression on my mind which has had a marked influence
on my life.

Our captain’s clerk, seeing I had a good store of books, with
no place to put them in, thought they would be an ornament to
his cabin, for he never read. He proposed to take care of them
A YOUNGER SON. 57

for me, offering me the use of his cabin, where I might read
them. I gladly acquiesced in what I, simple fool that I then
was, thought a most kind offer; and, for a few days, we got on
very well together. One day I went for a book; he was angry
about something or nothing, and had the impudence to say,
‘You may read here if you like; but I will not permit any
books to be taken out of my cabin.”

“ Are they not mine?” I asked.

‘Not now; ”’ he replied.

“What!” I then asked, ‘do you intend to keep possession
of my books?”

To this I received no other answer than,—‘‘ Come, —none of
your insolence |”

Upon this, I said, “Give me my books; I will leave them
here no longer, now I see your object.” He dared me to
touch them; I snatched one from the shelf; he struck me;
I returned the blow. It was then harmless as the unweaned
colt’s.

My opponent was two or three and twenty, strong and thick
set; I a tall slim boy of fourteen. The presumption of my
returning his blow so astonished his cowardly nature, that,
for a moment, he hesitated what to do. But some of the
youngsters had collected round the door, and cried out, ‘‘ Well
done, my boy!” which incensed the paltry, dirty scrawler. He
seized hold of me, and vociferating, ‘‘ You young rascal, I will
tame you!” gave me a blow with a ruler, which he broke over
my head; then jammed me up against the bulk-head, so that I
could not escape, and belaboured me without mercy. As long
as my strength lasted, I opposed him. The lookers-on were
encouraging me, and exclaiming shame on him. My head grew
dizzy from blows ; my mouth and nose were bleeding profusely ;
my body was subdued, but not my spirit. I asked not for
mercy, but defied him; and on his attempting to kick me out
of the cabin, I increased his fury, by declaring I would not
leave it, till he had given me my books. We were thus con-
tending, he to force me out, and I to remain in, when he kicked
me in the stomach, and I lay motionless ; while he roared and
sputtered,—‘ Get out, you rascal! or I’ll knock the life out of
you!”
58 ADVENTURES OF

I felt I could no longer resist. I wasin despair. The being
beaten like a hound by a dastardly brute, and the insulting and
triumphant language the fellow used, made me mad. My eye
caught, by chance, something glittering close to me. The table
was capsised, and a penknife within my grasp. The prospect
of revenge renewed my strength. I seized it, and, repeating
his words of knocking the life out of me, I added, as I held up
the weapon, ‘ Coward! look out for your own!”

I was then on one knee, struggling to getup. On seeing the
knife, and my wild look haggard with passion, the mender of
pens shrunk back. After this, all I remember is, that I stabbed
him in several places, and that he shut his eyes, held his hands
up to his face, and screamed out in terror for mercy. Some one
then called to me, with ‘‘ Halloa ! what are you at ?’’—I turned
round, and replied, ‘‘ This cowardly ruffian was beating me to
death, and I have killed him! ’’—I then threw down the knife,
took up my book, and walked out of the cabin.

Presently a serjeant of marines was sent down, with an order
to bring me on deck. The captain was there surrounded by
his officers. He inquired of the first lieutenant what was the
matter; and the answer was,

“This youngster went into your clerk’s cabin, Sir, with a
carving knife, and has killed him.”

The captain looked at me with horror, and, without asking a
question, said, “ Kill my clerk! put the murderer in irons, and
handeuff him. Kill my clerk!’—I attempted to speak; but
was stopped with, ‘“‘ Gag him! Take him down below instantly.
Not a word, Sir! Kill my clerk!”

As the serjeant attempted to collar me, I said, ‘“‘ Hands off!”
looked fiercely, for I now thought myself a man, and walked
slowly down the hatchway. A sentinel was put over me, and
the master-at-arms brought the irons. But, I suppose, the
captain, by that time, had heard a different version of the story ;
for a midshipman, named Murray, came down, and counters
manded the manacling part of the sentence ; and then, address-
ing himself to me, said, “‘ Don’t mind, they can’t hurt you. We
will tell the truth. You have acted like a man. Keep up your
spirits.”

“ Never fear me!” I replied.
A YOUNGER SON. 59

Some hours after, the captain came to me, and said: ‘“ Are
you not ashamed of your conduct, Sir?”

I answered, ‘“‘ No!”

“What, Sir! is that the way to answer me? Get up, Sir,
and take off your hat.” I told him I was waiting for the irons.
I, however, stood up.

“ You will be hanged, Sir, for murder!”

I replied, “I had rather be hanged, than kicked by your
servants.”

“Why, are you mad, Sir?”

“Yes ! your ill-treatment has made me so. You, and your
French lieutenant, are always punishing and abusing me with-
out cause, and I will not submit to it. I came into the navy,
an officer and a gentleman, and I am treated like a dog. Put
me on shore! I will do no more duty ; and I will allow neither
you nor your domestics to abuse and beat me.

With that I advanced a step towards him, from what motive
I know not. He seized me by the collar, and bade me sit down
on the gun-carriage. ‘No! I contended, ‘you told me never
to sit down in your presence, and I will not!”

“Will not!” said he, holding me tightly, and nearly
strangling me with his grasp. JI could not speak, but put my
hand up to release myself; upon which, repeating the words,
“you will not!’’ he gave me a violent blow in the face, and I,
with another ‘‘no!”’ had the audacity to spit in his.

His flushed brow turned from deep scarlet to almost black in
an instant. He could not articulate a word; but, dashing me
from him with all his might, turned into his cabin, choking
with rage. Many of the officers, particularly the midshipmen,
had gathered round—I got up from the gun-carriage on which
I had fallen. Two of my messmates came up to me and said,
“Well done, my lad, don’t be afraid.”

“ DoI look so?” was my reply.

At sunset I was told I might go below; but I was never to
shew myself on deck. I never saw the gorbellied Scotch cap-
tain afterwards.

All the rest of the cruise was holiday to me. I got my books,
and endeavoured, by reading, to make up for my want of edu-
cation. The clerk recovered, and, though he took care to give
60 ADVENTURES OF

me a wide-berth, when obliged to pass near me, I was malicious
enough to say, pointing to a large scar on his cheek, “ Though
you are a clerk, don’t cabbage books, or kick a gentleman.”
He was the son of our noble captain’s tailor, and his preferment
was a Scotch device to pay his father’s bill.

CHAPTER X.

The ocean, with its vastness, its blue green,
Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,
Its voice mysterious, which whoso hears
Must think on what will be, or what has been.
Keats.

N our return to an English port, I was drafted on board

a guard-ship at Spithead ; and, without hearing a word

from my father, was shortly re-drafted on board a sloop of war.

Though young, I had pride enough to forbear useless remon-

strances or whining complaints, and philosophy enough to

endure. From my childhood I had been inured to commands

forced upon me, so I tried to look with indifference, and knitted
my brows to stifle my emotions.

Hitherto I had at least been consigned into the hands of men
who knew my family; but now I was suddenly drafted into a
ship where all were utter strangers, without money, and ill
provided with necessaries. For I was not a ‘‘carefu’ prudent
bairn,” as a Scotch midshipman was, whose parents had sent
him to sea, with a very small supply of clothes for his back, but
with a head crammed with Scotch maxims, such as “‘ a bawbee
saved is a bawbee got,” and ‘“ mony a little makes a mickle.”
This haggis-fed, sandy-haired sharper had extracted most of my
traps out of my chest on board the guard-ship, in which I was
incarcerated till appointed to a ship. Some one detecting him
with a bundle of stray articles, old tooth-brushes, bits of soap,
foul linen, &c., in the act of depositing them in his bag, asked
him what he was at; and he replied, “‘ anly picking up the wee
things about the deck.’’ This Caledonian lurcher had the
effrontery to confess he had three or four dozen of shirts, with

»
a YOUNGER SON. 61

every one a different mark; the scoundrel having pilfered thirty
or forty boys. He had too much prudence, I too little. No
one troubled himself to inquire into my wants, and to sea I
went again in a sloop of war,

We proceeded to Cadiz, Lisbon, South America, and the
coast of Africa. We were eighteen months absent, and had
visited the four quarters of the world; so that I picked up
a little practical geography whilst going over thirty thousand
miles.

Our commander was a surveying captain, a little, pert,
pragmatical fellow; and, like most little fellows, thought him-
self a very great man. The only thing I can remember of this
small commander is, that he used to twist and screw his head
aside to look up at me, and snarl; and then, with words too big
to find utterance from his diminutive mouth, shrilly say, ‘You
overgrown monster, you logger-headed fellow, without nerve or
feeling, what are you idling here for, instead of attending to
my commands ?”

He hated me because I was framed like a man, and I
despised him because he so little resembled one. Sometimes
he would jump on a carronade-slide to box the men’s heads.

As, in after-life, I revisited most of the world in detail, with
expanded faculties and awakened feelings, I shall not narrate
my puerile detail of events. I loathe the prattle of talkative
gawky boys, and mothers’ talented darlings ; it is as irksome
as a dedication in the “Spectator,” or as Addison’s drunkenly-
inspired, mawkish, moral papers.

On returning to England, our circumnavigating commander
communicated with my father; who, nothing softened by time,
therefore harder than stone or iron, re-issued his high and
abhorred behest that I should be re-drafted into another ship,
fitting out for the Hast Indies.

We were soon ready for sea. Who can paint in words what
I felt. Imagine me torn from my native country, destined to
cross the wide ocean, to a wild region, cut off from every tie,
or possibility of communication, transported like a felon as it
were, for life, for, at that period, few ships returned under
seven or more years. I was torn away, not seeing my mother,
or brother, or sisters, or one familiar face ; no voice to speak
62 ADVENTURES OF

a word of comfort, or to inspire me with the smallest hope
that any thing human took an interest in me. Had a servant
of our house, nay, had the old mastiff, the companion of my
childhood, come to me for one hour, I could have hugged him
for joy, and my breast would have been softened to parental
love instead of hardening indifference. From that period, my
affections, imperceptibly, were alienated from my family and
kindred, and sought the love of strangers in the wide world.
Again, to be separated from my messmates, whom I had
learnt to love—these are things which some may feel, but
none can delineate. The invisible spirit which bore me up,
under such a weight of sorrows, is still a mystery, even now
that my passions are subdued by reason, time, or exhaustion.
The intense fire which burned in my brain is extinguished,
leaving no trace but the deep lines prematurely stamped on
my brow. Yet even now the mere memory of what I suffered
rekindles the flame, and I burn with indignation.

I could no longer conceal from myself the painful conviction
that I was an utter outcast; that my parent had thrust me
from his threshold, in the hope that I should not again cross
it. My mother’s intercessions (if indeed she made any) were
unavailing : I was left to shift for myself. The only indication
of my father’s considering he had still a duty to perform
towards me, was in an annual allowance, to which either his
conscience or his pride impelled him. Perhaps, having done
this, he said, with other good and prudent men,—‘“I have
provided for my son. If he distinguishes himself, and returns,
as a man, high in rank and honour, I can say,—he is my son,
and I made him what he is! His daring and fearless
character may succeed in the navy.” He left me to my
fate, with as little remorse as he would have ordered a litter
of blind puppies to be drowned.

Forced from England in this friendless state, I was sick and
sad ; every thing in prospect being gloomy, even in imagina-
tion. Notwithstanding my extreme youth, my buoyant spirit,
my naturally sanguine disposition, I could see no bright spot
to lure me on to the smallest hope of brighter days.

We had been at sea two or three days, when the captain,
who was angry with one of the lieutenants, turned round to
A YOUNGER SON. 63

me, being in the same watch, and said, ‘ You had better take
care of yourself here; and remember, I have heard from
Captain A—— of the atrocity you were guilty of in his ship.”
I replied, ‘‘I was guilty of none.”

“What!” he continued, for he wanted to expend the
remnant of his passion on some one more helpless than a
commissioned officer, ‘what, Sir! do you think stabbing
people is nothing? I will convince you to the contrary ;
and the very first complaint I hear of you, I’ll turn you out
of the ship.” This threat of vengeance, as to get on shore
was the height of my most ardent longings, made me smile.
He perhaps considered it contempt, and turned away with
anger.

But I soon found out he was not a bad man—merely a
weak and tholeric one. He had been many years on half-
pay, and, brought up in the country, he had imbibed a
farmer’s taste for dirt and dung, which his naval profession
had interrupted, but not erased. During the long interval
which had elapsed from his promotion to the command of
a ship, he resumed the natural bent of his inclinations, by
setting to, in right good earnest, as a cultivator of his paternal
soil; and felt more pride in viewing his fat hogs and sheep, and
ploughing ground for his Swedish turnips, than ploughing the
Indian sea in a dashing frigate. His appointment to her was
an honour unsought ; for an honourable member of his family,
in the Admiralty, scandalized at his degenerate occupations,
officiously thrust greatness upon him, by ordering him on
service.

He reluctantly left what he could not take with him,—his
house and lands; he wept over his child and its mother; and
his heart almost burst with emotion on contemplating the
glorious and magnificent mountain of the richest compost, he
was compelled to leave behind. As for the live stock, pigs,
sheep, and poultry, it was too painful to be separated from
them, after having expended more time, money, and patience
on their nurture and education, than most parents do on their
children; so he brought them on board with him, and the
ship’s resemblance to a farm-yard was to him a source of
delight. Most of his time was occupied with these his
64 ADVENTURES OF

adopted children ; and the first lieutenant was left in charge
of the ship, with only one little check to his pleasure, that
of receiving a portion of the ill-humour, which vented itself on
the quarter-deck, in abuse of the officers, whenever our farmer-
captain was irritated by some mishap to his live stock, such as
must arise in blowing weather, from sickness, death, and
broken limbs. On the whole, we, the midshipmen, used to
annoy him more than he annoyed us. One of our tricks,
I remember, was, to run a fine needle into the brain of a fowl
or two every night, when, their bodies being ordered to be
thrown overboard, on the supposition that they had died of
disease, we used to be on the look-out to save them, and a
grill was our reward. He was, in the usual sense of the
phrase, a good sort of man; that is, neither good enough, nor
bad enough for any thing; and it was equally impossible to
love him, respect him, hate him, or despise him.

CHAPTER XI.

Rock’d in his cradle by the roaring wind,

The tempest-born in body and in mind,

His young eyes opening on the ocean foam,

Had from that moment deem’d the deep his home.
Byron.

H AVING fully made up my mind to quit the navy, I paid

some attention to my duty. I began to study drawing
and navigation, read every thing I could lay my hand on, and
collected from the officers and sailors every information re-
garding India, and her countless islands. We went in the old
track: touched at St. Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope,
and, without any thing remarkable, anchored in the harbour of
Bombay.

The only circumstance connected with my after-history,.
which I have occasion to relate here, is, that I formed, during
my passage, a lasting friendship with the junior lieutenant,
Aston. I had been in his watch, and, through the tedious
nights, he had dived into my real character, so as to discover
A YOUNGER SON. 65

that I was not what I seemed to be. His kindness had drawn
me out from the shell in which I shrunk, when strangers, who
appeared as enemies to me, drew near. He awakened those
feelings which had become torpid, and called others forth that
I never felt. He became my champion with those above me.

One circumstance had, he told me, often impressed him
with admiration, considering my youth. On our passage, a
second-lieutenant, a keen, sharp, cunning, and villainous
Scotchman, whose sole delight was in torturing those he com-
manded, when questioning me one day on a point of duty,
said : ‘‘ When you address me, Sir, tak off your hat!”

I replied, “I have saluted you as I do the captain, in
putting my hand to my hat.”

He then came up to me, with—‘‘ Tak your hat off, Sir,
_ whilst you address your superior !”’

‘‘T have none.”

«What, Sir! am I not your superior officer?”

‘Yes, Sir,-—you are that.”

“ Well, then, why don’t you tak your hat off?”

“‘T never do, Sir.”

“ Off wi’ your hat, Sir!” exalting his voice.

“No, I will not.”

« What ! will not?”

“No,—to no one but God !’’—and then recollecting I had
done so to the king, I added,—‘‘ and the king!”

This parasite considered (at least one would think so, by the
use he made of it) that the only utility of a hat was to be
pointed, as an index of his base grovelling nature, to the
ground, not as a covering for the head. Though he had
bowed and fawned himself into the good graces of the captain,
his complaint could not be comprehended, when he accused
me of mutinous disobedience of orders. His rage, in this
instance, being rendered impotent, he revenged himself by
heaping on me a greater portion of petty spites, which I
treasured in my memory, to be summed up and paid. I did
so, and with interest.

Another occurrence, admired by Aston, happened while
coasting between Madras and Bombay on the pirate coast of
Goa. A suspicious-looking vessel, having tried all day to
66 ADVENTURES OF

avoid us, got becalmed, and three boats were ordered to board
her. I was sent in the one commanded by the Scotch lieu-
tenant. She was the fastest pulling boat, and the best
manned and armed. Aston was in the next best boat, and
kept in our wake. The supposed pirate craft kept sweeping
towards the land ; and, as it appeared, from the ship, we could
not come up to her till she run on shore, and a light breeze
springing up, besides the general orders of the navy in India to
destroy, but not to board the Malay pirates, the frigate fired a
gun and hoisted the recal-pennant. We were then within two
gun-shots of the craft; she had got inside the reefs, and the
armed natives were crowding down to the beach. On the
signal-gun’s being heard by our boat, the lieutenant declared
we must return, and ordered the men to lay on their oars till
Aston’s cutter came alongside, whom he hailed, and said:
“Aston, you see the recal-signal—we maun return to the
ship.”

Aston answered, ‘‘ What signal !—I don’t see it.”

“Tf you look, you will,” said the lieutenant.

“T don’t intend to look,” was the next reply. ‘‘ We were
ordered to see what craft that is; and I shall do so. Give
way, my lads!”

I requested Aston to lay on his oars a moment, and then,
turning to the Scotchman, I asked, respectfully, if he were
going on, as I was steering the barge. He said “No!” and
ordered me to return to the ship. On this I let go the tiller
and jumped overboard, and, calling to Aston to pick me up,
swam to his boat. The lieutenant, with the snarl of a hyena,
said, ‘‘ I shall report your conduct, Sir!”

Aston ordered his men to pull in shore; and in ten minutes
we were on board the Malay. I was in the bow of the boat,
on fire to realise my ardent love of fighting; and, the instant
our boat touched the bow of the Malay, I swung myself on
board, by seizing a rope with one hand, when, before my foot
was on the deck, I cut a fellow across the head; and then,
followed by two or three sailors, we cut and slashed away
without mercy. The Malays jumped overboard. I was so
heated as not to observe whether they resisted or not; but,
excited by my own violence, and furious at any of them
A YOUNGER SON. 67

escaping, I thought of our fire-arms, seized a musket, and was
about to fire at a fellow in the water, when Aston laid hold of
me, and exclaimed: “Don’t you hear? I have been roaring
to you till I’m hoarse. Why, what are you at? Are you
mad ?—your example has made all my men so. Put down the
musquet. You have no right to touch these people.”

I inquired, in surprise, if she was not a Malay. ‘‘ How can
I tell,’ he replied, “what she is? You should have waited
for my orders. Perhaps she is a harmless country-vessel.”

I then began to imagine I had been too precipitate, too
rash; and my ardour was cooled in thinking I might have
compromised Aston. It was therefore with inexpressible
delight that I beheld the savages on the beach open a fire from
match-locks on us, and saw them launching their canoes full
of armed people. However, while they were delayed in
picking up their countrymen, we scuttled the craft, leaped
into our boats, and the frigate, having stood in, picked us up.
Two of the wounded Malays Aston took with him.

After the skirmish I tried to appease Aston’s anger by my
coolness and activity; so that, having lectured me, he repre-
sented my conduct in such favourable terms to the first
lieutenant, that the Scotchman’s account obtained nothing
worse for me than a simple reprimand. He now detested me;
but, under the protection of Aston’s wing, I was safe.
Besides, his pusillanimity was a source of ridicule; and the
sailors, who all look on courage as the highest attribute,
applauded me.

 

CHAPTER XII.

Long in misery
I wasted, ere in one extremest fit
I plunged for life or death.
Kauarts.

EFORE this, I had gained respect in the ship by a reck-
less daring. My indifference and neglect of all the
ordinary duties were in some degree tolerated, owing to my
unwearied diligence and anxiety in every case of difficulty,
68 ADVENTURES OF

danger, or sudden squalls. In the Indian seas a squall is not
to be trifled with; when the masts are bending like fishing-
rods, the light sails fluttering in ribbons, the sailors swinging
to and fro on the bow; bent yards, the ship thrown on her
beam-ends, the wild roar of the sea and wind, and no other
light than the red and rapid lightning. Then I used to rouse
myself from dozing on the carronade-slide, springing aloft ere
my eyes were half open, when the only reply to Aston’s
trumpet was my voice. I felt at home amidst the conflict of
the elements. It was a kind of war; and harmonised with my
feelings. The more furious the storm, the greater my delight.
My contempt of the danger insured my safety; while the
solemn and methodical disciplinarians, who prided themselves
on the exact performance of their separate duties at their
respective stations, beheld with astonishiment the youngster,
whom they were always abusing for neglect of duty, volun-
tarily thrusting himself into every arduous and perilous under-
taking, ere they could decide on the possibility or prudence of
its being attempted. The sailors liked me for this, and prog-
nosticated I should yet turn out a thorough sailor. Even the
officers, who had hitherto looked on me as a useless idler,
viewed my conduct with gaping wonder, and entertained
better hopes of me.

But these hopes died away with the bustling scenes in
which they were begotten; and, during the fine and calm
weather, I lost the reputation I had acquired in storms and
battles. Among my messmates I was decidedly a favourite.
What I principally prided myself in was protecting the weak
from the strong. I permitted none to tyrannise. I had grown
prematurely very tall and strong; and was of so unyielding
a disposition, that in my struggles with those, who were not
much more than my equals in strength, though above me in
years, I wore them out with pertinacity. My rashness and
impetuosity bore down all before them. None liked to
contend with me; for I never acknowledged myself beaten,
but renewed the quarrel, without respect to time or place.
Yet what my messmates chiefly lauded and respected, was

the fearless independence with which I treated those above
me.
A YOUNGER SON. 69

The utmost of their power had been wreaked against me ;
yet, had the rack been added, they could not have intimidated
me. Indeed, from very wantonness, I went beyond their
inflictions. For instance, the common punishment was send-
ing us to the mast-head for four or five hours. Immediately
I was ordered thither, I used to lie along the cross-trees, as if
perfectly at my ease, and either feign to sleep, or, if it was
hot, really go to sleep. They were alarmed at the chance
of my falling from so hazardous a perch; and to prevent, as
it was thought, the possibility of my sleeping, the Scotchman
one day, during a heavy sea with little wind, ordered me, in
his anger, go to the extreme end of the top-sail yard-arm,
and remain there for four hours. I murmured, but, obliged to
comply, up I went; and walking along the yard on the dizzy
height, got hold of the top-sail lift, laid myself down between
the yard and studding-sail-boom, and pretended to sleep as
usual. The lieutenant frequently hailed me, bidding me to
keep awake, or I should fall overboard. This repeated caution
suggested to me the means of putting an end to this sort of
annoyance, by antedating his fears, and falling overboard ;—
not, however, with the idea of drowning, as few in the ship
could swim so well as myself. J had seen a man jump from
the lower yard in sport, and had determined to try the
experiment. Besides, the roll of the ship was in my favour;
so, watching my opportunity, when the officers and crew were
at their quarters at sunset, I took advantage of a heavy roll of
the ship, and dropped on the crest of a monstrous wave. I
sunk deep into its bosom, and the agony of suppressed respira-
tion, after the fall, was horrible. Had I not taken the pre-
caution to maintain my poise, by keeping my hands over my
head, preserving an erect posture in my descent, and moving
my limbs in the air, I should inevitably have lost my life. As
it was I was insensible to every thing but a swelling sensation
in my chest, to bursting ; and the frightful conviction of going
downwards, with the rapidity of a thunder-bolt, notwith-
standing my convulsive struggles to rise, was torture such as it
is vain to describe. A death-like torpidness came over me;
then I heard a din of voices, and a noise on the sea, and
within it, like a hurricane; my head and breast seemed to be
70 ADVENTURES OF

splitting. After which I thought I saw a confused crowd of
faces bent over me; and I felt a loathsome sickness. A cold
shivering shook my limbs, and I gnashed my teeth, imagining
myself still struggling as in the last efforts at escape from
drowning. This impression must have continued for a long
time. The first circumstance I can distinctly remember was
Aston’s voice, saying, ‘‘How are you now?” I tried to speak,
but in vain; my lips moved without a word. He told me,
T was now safe on board. I looked round; but a sensation of
water rushing in my mouth, ears, and nostvrils, still made me
think I was amidst the waves. For eight and forty hours
I suffered inexpressible pain; a thousand times greater, in my
restoration to life, than before I lost my recollection.

But what signifies what I endured ?—I gained my point.
The Scotch lieutenant was severely reprimanded for his un-
justifiable conduct in sending me to so dangerous a place for
punishment. The captain’s heart was moved to order a fowl
to be killed for soup; and he sent me a bottle of wine. I had
the one grilled, and the other mulled, holding an antipathy to
everything insipid. I was never sent to the mast-head again ;
nor could any one stispect even me of such a mad freak as to
run a hazard of drowning, to rid myself of a trifling annoyance,
which others bore unrepiningly.

In taxing the Scotch lieutenant with pusillanimity, in the
adventure of the Malay craft off the pirate coast, it is necessary
to explain, that an officer, ordered on such an adventure, must
be vested with discretionary power, implied by the nature of
the service, though not expressly set down. The recal-signal
was made under the impression that the Malay vessel would
get on shore; and that, by the support of the natives, for such
is their character, she might make a desperate resistance.
Commanding officers are very properly instructed to be
economical in expending the material of the ship,—that is,
the men,—in quixotic adventures ; not from womanish feelings
of humanity, but on more solid grounds,—the sterling value,
in pounds, shillings, and pence, of every able seaman, taken to
a foreign country and inured to its climate, besides the diffi-
culty of replacing him. Thus the captain, seeing a probability
of losing some of his crew, for the trifling object of destroying
A YOUNGER SON. 71

a few savages, and no prospect of prize-money, hoisted the
recal-signal; by doing which, he washed his hands of the
consequences, if they were unsuccessful, leaving the officer
commanding the boats to act on his own responsibility. This,
of course, is an understood thing. If the ship, making such
a signal, happens to be rather distant, and the boats are in the
vicinity of their object, they can better calculate on the
attempt ; then if the probability of success, backed by the
sailor’s ardent love of fighting, and hopes of promotion, out-
weighs the risk, they keep their backs to the signal, and push
on to the fight. But, on the other hand, if no recal-signal is
made, however hazardous the service, they must attempt its
accomplishment. Therefore the general impression through-
out the ship was against our Scotch lieutenant.

CHAPTER XIII.

I, alas!
Have lived but on this earth a few sad years,
And so my lot was ordered, that a father
First turned the moments of awakening life
To drops, each poisoning youth’s sweet hope.
SHELLEY.

ESIDES Aston, there were several of my messmates

I particularly liked. One of them, about my own age,
whose name was Walter, was my ordinary associate ; not that
there was much resemblance in our tastes and characters, but
his father had treated him with even a worse brutality than
I had endured from mine. Perhaps indeed he had, in con-
scientious minds, merited his father’s hatred, from having
made his appearance on the stage of life in an unlawful and
unorthodox manner. Relations and guardians had not been
duly consulted; the church had been invaded in its rights,
insulted in its discipline, its ministers defrauded of their fees ;
no merry peal of village-bells, or circle of feasting friends, had
united their harmonious voices in giving the unbidden stranger
a welcome into the world. Instead of these joyful omens, he
72 ADVENTURES OF

and his mother were smuggled into the obscure environs of
a great city; and as much artifice and precaution used, and as

many bribes given, to conceal his birth, as if a murder had |

been committed. This was the only mark of his father’s care,
—at least he had never heard of any other. His mother was
one of the million of simple girls, who, seduced under a
promise of marriage, believe in the protestations and oaths of
lords ;—as if a lord could love any thing so dearly as his own
coronet ! or that he would hesitate to sacrifice a world of
ignoble inferiors, rather than be guilty, like base plebeians, of
keeping his vows, and acknowledging his offspring, with a
blot on his escutcheon !

Walter was educated at a charity-school, the blue-coat
school, a royal foundation for the maintenance and education
of poor and fatherless children; and who so poor and father-
less as this son of a man whose rental was forty thousand
pounds? This institution, and many others, are admirable
nurseries for the bastards of aristocrats; and the commonalty
must be proud of its high and distinguished privilege in ex-
pending hard-earned wealth for the support and instruction of
the offsets of our high-mettled lords and masters. It would be
sacrilege if one drop of their noble blood should be spilt on the
ground.

His mother exerted herself to the utmost, and, by some
means, placed him in the navy. Poor and unprotected, save
by her, he led but a sorry life, and underwent a series of
vexatious persecutions, which seemed perpetuated under the
Scotch lieutenant. These made him gloomy; he shunned our
mirth and sports; and, while we were carousing, he generally
was reading. I felt much for him; and several times took on
myself the punishment for his neglect of duty. This won his
heart.

To turn the recreant Scotchman into ridicule, I made a
caricature, representing his obedience to the recal-signal, while
the two other boats were hastening to the Malay. Walter had
a better talent for drawing, and I persuaded him to execute an
improved copy of it; then watching my opportunity, when all
the officers were assembled at their mess, I dropped it down
the hatchway on the table. There was a burst of laughter,
A YOUNGER SON. 73

and it was some time before the person, who figured as the
principal character, discovered it; but when he did, his long
colourless face turned to a bright lemon-hue, and, festering
with suppressed bile, he had an attack of jaundice. He spared
no pains in finding out the author of this satire. I should
have added, that we had annexed, by way of explanation, a
doggrel poem, which, perhaps from the vanity of authorship,
or from the example of ancient bards and a modern poet, I
was particularly fond of singing, with little attention to time
and place, so that very soon it became as common with the
sailors, as ‘“‘ Cease, rude Boreas,” ‘Tom Bowling,” &c., and,
to my critical taste, it was much superior. I was not then
aware that the celebrated author of the latter of these national
songs had obtained a pension, or I certainly should have put
in my claim. All I got was abuse for the noise I made,
together with increased persecution from the hero I was s0
indefatigable in immortalizing. His ingratitude, like Brutus’s
dagger, was the unkindest cut of all.

Some time afterwards he discovered that the drawing was
by Walter. ‘TI thought that fellow” (meaning me) “had done
it,” said he, ‘and he is a cheald of the deil, capable of any
atrocity ; besides, he cares for no one, and is protected in his
insolence by Aston and the first lieutenant. But as for that
pale-faced, sickly boy, Walter, whom every body kicks about,
‘by God, I'll make him drown himsel before he is a week
older!”

Well, he strove to keep his word. By cunning, lying, and
treachery, he persecuted the captain and first lieutenant with
such unceasing complaints against him, that poor Walter was
punished and abused till he became desperate from oppression ;
and then, replying in hasty words and anger, he was degraded
from the situation of an officer, turned before the mast, and
.stationed in the mizen-top. In spite of orders to the contrary,
I was always talking to him, and cheering him. His gentle
heart was bruised, he sunk into gloom, and I feared would
have verified the lieutenant’s prediction. He paid little atten-
tion to what I said, till I confided to him my determination of
leaving the ship and navy the first port we entered, counselled
him to do the same, and pointed out the exquisite treat we
74 ADVENTURES OF

should have in buffeting his enemy to death. The hope of
this wild justice did what no other hope could do—it made
him calm. He even feigned to do his duty with alacrity.

His persecutor harassed him with unrelenting brutality.
He was compelled to do duty with the mizen-top boys; his
former messmates were interdicted from speaking to him; he
was obliged to put on the dress of the sailors and mess with
them; and the Scotchman had exerted his utmost influence to
blast his name by the abhorrent infliction of corporeal punish-
ment; but the captain, though hitherto cajoled, would not
consent,

CHAPTER XIV.

Young hearts which languished for some sunny isle,
Where summer years and summer women smile ;
Men without country, who, too long estranged,
Had found no native home, or found it changed,
And, half-uncivilized, preferr’d the cave
Of some soft savage to the uncertain wave.

Byron.

HEN on duty, particularly in the night-watches, I used
to accompany him into the top, where I allayed his
piteous moanings at his fate by prospects of ample vengeance.
I pointed out to him the facility with which the thing was to
be achieved; I told him we were now men; that we had the
power of shaking off the fetters which bound us; that our ship
was not the world, nor were we galley-slaves chained to the
oar for life; that if the English conspired against our liberty,
they were little more than tyrants of the sea-shore, and India,
with her thousand kings, was open to us; that there was hope
in our very despair of the present; that lower in the scale of
misery we could not sink, and that any change must, to us, be
good.

“Yes! let us go,” said he, “where no Europeans have yet
been, and where they dare not follow! Let us cast off a
country, where we have no patrimony, no parents, no ties.
Let us change our country and caste, and find a home amids
A YOUNGER SON. 75

the children of Nature. I have read of such things; I have
heard they are true. And who so fit to make the trial as
oppressed outcasts like ourselves? The leprous and despised
pariah, loathed by all, to my mind, lives in bliss, compared to
what I have endured and still endure.”

‘‘ As for leprosy,” I answered, “it’s owt of the question, as I
intend that my limbs shall do me good service. They are the
only friends I have, and the true philosophers in the East set
a juster value on the gifts of nature than the English; among
whom unfinished abortions, with resemblance of form, and in-
tellect enough to class themselves with human beings, are raised
by lying, pimping, and hypocrisy, to such a height, that we,
who could crush them like fleas between a thumb and finger,
are compelled to stand bareheaded before them! Now, with
the natives here, there is no such infamous degradation.
Strength is power; and the scales of justice are biassed by
the sword.”

Walter would kindle up his spell-bound spirit, burst forth in
ardent and passionate words, transporting himself, in imagina-
tion, to one of the countless isles of the Indian archipelago,
and exult in his bow and arrow, his fishing-rod, and canoe.
‘No, no canoe!” he then exclaimed; “for never will I look
on salt-water—my blood would curdle at it. No, I will find
out some sheltered ravine, some river’s bank, shadowed by
trees, and there will I live in brotherhood with the natives.”

“ By taking their sisters,” I observed.

He went on; “I'll marry, and have children, and build a
hut.”

“And be tattooed and naked ?”’ I asked.

“Yes,” said he; ‘‘no matter; what they do, that will I.”

Thus we would wile away the time, building castles in the
air, almost possessing them, and forgetting all things else, until
our pastoral, innocent, romantic fabric was suddenly annihi-
lated by the accursed, croaking, querulous, sycophantic, broad,
vulgar accents of the Scotch lieutenant, bawling out, ‘ Haud
your tongues, ye wearisome rascals in the mizen-top, there ;
or I wull ha’ ye all down to the rope’s end of the boatswain’s
mate, I wull, ye ragamuffins!”

We then, such is the force of habit, slunk down the rigging,
76 ADVENTURES OF

crept into our hammocks, and awoke to a repetition of our
abject slavery during the day, and a continuation of our
romance at night; till, I believe, we both looked forward to
the night-watches with equal anxiety. As to Aston, he never
ceased to treat Walter otherwise than as a gentleman; and
the men, observing his conduct, with the ready cunning of
slaves, followed his example.

T have narrated events on board this frigate, as they chanced
to recur to my memory, not as they happened in order of time.
After staying a short time at Bombay, we sailed to Madras,
and then returned to the former place, with secret instructions
from the admiral.

On our passage from Bombay to Madras, on a fine day, as I
was sleeping in one of the quarter-boats, there was a wild
halloo throughout the ship. ‘he first burst of Bligh’s mutiny
came across my mind. Such a commotion I never witnessed
on board a man of war: the men came rushing over each other
on deck, up every hatchway; discipline was at an end; the
lieutenant commanding the deck stood astounded and aghast ;
the captain and most of the officers were struggling through
the dense mass of sailors, questioning and commanding ; but
all control was lost, and they were huddled and wedged to-
gether without distinction. I soon observed it was despair,
and not ferocity, that was painted on the rough and weather-
beaten brows of the men. At last the secret burst forth in
every voice at once, of ‘Fire! fire! Fire in the fore-magazine!”

That awful sound effected what nothing else mortal could
have done; it made the stout, the hardy, the valiant sailor
break through the well-organised drilling of an entire life; and
he was seized with an irresistible dread of the only element he
could shrink from contending with—fire, and in the powder
magazine! An instant, and bodies would be mangled and
mingled in the air, without distinction of rank or station.
Habit or instinct roused the officers, who, at the first cry,
seemed to participate in the one unanimous feeling. None
moved but with a flushed brow; and their eyes were glaringly
bent on the fore hatchway, awaiting a fate they could not
avoid. We were out of sight of land; not a gail in view, nor
a speck on the horizon; the only cloud was the black, dense
A YOUNGER SON. 77

smoke, which burst from the hatchway; and there being no
wind, it ascended in an unbroken mass aloft, we anticipating
soon to follow it.

A dead silence reigned throughout the gallant frigate; then
a confused murmur; and presently the men, without combina-
tion, yet simultaneously, rushed aft to the quarter-boats; others
crowded to the sides of the ship, straining their eyes in the
vain hope of espying some means of escape; some tremblingly
crept up the rigging; while a small band of iron-nerved vete-
rans alone stood undauntedly—men grown grisled from storms,
battles, and hardships, not from years. During this movement
I started at the loud, clear, trumpet-like voice of Aston, com-
manding the firemen to get their buckets, the marines to come
aft with their arms, and the officers to follow his example.
With that he drew a cutlass from the stand, and now the first
lieutenant and other officers, as if awakened to their duty,
drove the men from the boats, and out of the chains.

The moment I heard Aston’s voice I went up to him, and
said, ‘I will go down to the magazine, if you will send the
gunners there and hand down water.”

T rushed forward down the main hatchway, hurried along the
abandoned lower deck, seized a rope, and descended through
the smoke directly into the magazine. In the fore-part, which
was darker than the blackest night, it was impossible to dis-
tinguish whence the fire came. I groped about, and found my
hands and head burning, and a difficulty of respiration from
the smoke. Then I stumbled over a man, either dead, or
dead drunk, I knew not which; and tore down bundles of
matches, which were on fire. In doing this, the blue-lights,
used for signals, were ignited, upon which I heard some men,
who were coming down to assist me, ery out, “She is going!”
and they hurried back to the deck, where there arose another
hopeless cry of ‘‘ She is going!” and then all was hushed.

One glance, as the blue-lights flamed, cleared up the mystery.
The gunner’s mate lay prostrate at my feet, with a broken pipe
stuck in his mouth, and the only sign he gave of life was puffing.
The ready-primed matches for the guns, had caught fire from
his carelessness. The slow smouldering fire from hundreds of
these, had alone caused the smoke, and the danger was in their
78 ADVENTURES OF

proximity to the powder. I- grasped hold of the blue-lights,
fire-proof in my ardour, which the probability of saving the
ship gave me.

While endeavouring to hand them up, I called out for more
men. At this instant Aston was jumping down. ‘‘ Don’t come
down,” I said; “but hand these damned things up, and then
—a dozen buckets of water—and all is right. Aston called to
one of the men who followed him, bidding him go on deck, tell
the gaptain there was no danger, and that all we wanted was
water.

The first bucket which was handed down, Aston threw over
me, saying, ‘“‘You are on fire!” My hair and shirt were
burning. This, and the smoke, I suppose, were the cause of
my falling down insensible. Aston took my place. The fresh
air soon restored me. In a few seconds the magazine was
inundated by the buckets and all was safe.

I was sent for on deck, and went there, my features be-
grimed with wet powder—nothing on but my trowsers—my
hair and eye-brows burnt, my hands and face scorched, and
my whole appearance, I imagine, exhibiting a lively picture of
a fire-demon fresh from hell. All the officers smiled; but they
seemed, at the same time, to highly laud my presence of mind;
I say seemed, for it is against the general custom of the navy
to express more. Thanking me would have been reprimanding
themselves. However, I was content; the impression could
not be erased; they could not call me a useless idler, though I
took care to be a complete idler for a long time after, on the
plea of my burning and bruising, and they said, ‘‘ Well! poor
fellow, he deserves a little indulgence!”
A YOUNGER SON. 79

CHAPTER XV.

Placed in the Arab's clime, he would have been
As bold a rover as the sands have scen ;
And braved their thirst with as enduring lip
As Ishmael wafted on his desert ship ;
Placed upon Chili’s shore, a proud casique,
On Hella’s mountains, a rebellious Greek.
Byron.

N the ship’s mooring in any harbour, I watched the first
opportunity of getting on shore, and till the Blue Peter

was hoisted, and the fore-top-sail loose, there was little chance
of seeing me on board. Theinstant we entered, for the second
time, the harbour of Bombay, I was, as usual, under some plea
or other, in a shore-boat ; and presently had established my
favourite head-quarters in the town—to wit, in a tavern, where
I plunged headlong into extravagant pleasures. What time I
could spare from women and wine I devoted to galloping about
the country, rioting in the bazars, and playing at the billiard-
table. As in the ship, so it was on shore, every commotion
and disturbance was generally traced to me. In India Euro-
peans lord it over the conquered natives with a high hand.
Every outrage may be committed almost with impunity, and
their ready flexibility of temperament has acquired a servile
subordination. Resistance, or even complaint, they scarcely
urge; and the greatest kindness from Europeans, for long and
faithful services, never exceeds what is shewn to dogs—they
are patted when their masters are in good humour, and beaten
when they are vexed—at least it was so when I was there.
As long as you refrained from political interference, and pre-
sumed not to question the omnipotency of the Holy of Holies,
the East India Company, and their servants, as they are pleased
to designate the governor and all in office, you could do no
wrong. If you treated the decrees of these merchant-sultans
with due deference, and expressed your servility by arrogance
and cruelty to their slaves, the only consideration was, that
the heat of the climate made it a porter’s task, and you were
80 ADVENTURES OF

considered by the old stagers as a greenhorn, horse-whipping
the wretches during the sultry hours of the day.

I kept up a communication with Walter by notes and mes-
sages, and had arranged that he should not desert the ship, till
she was on the point of sailing. I was then to engage a canoe
to lie near the ship at night, and he was to drop himself over
the bow-port, and swim to her. As for the lieutenant I was
to deal with him, for I had now grown tall and strong, and
there were few men with whom I would have hesitated to
cope.

At the tavern where I took up my abode, I commenced an
intimacy with a merchant. In youth we form friendship in
days, which, at a more advanced age, require years. So with
this man; from a game or two at billiards, eating together,
and walking together, we had become boon companions. Many
of the naval officers used to come in parties to the tavern to
see me, when we often sallied about the town, and played a
thousand mad pranks. My friend, the stranger, as he was
called, seemed to seek the society of naval officers, and take
great interest in the different accounts of their cruises, the
ships they belonged to, their rate of sailing, and the pecu-
liarities which distinguished their respective commanders. His
conversation was principally confined to questions, and, as
people, for the most part, prefer talking to listening, he was
liked the better. He frequently, in company with me, visited
the men-of-war in the harbour; the only one I objected to
introduce him to was my own frigate, but to make him amends,
I gave every information he wished regarding her.

Though he then called himself De Witt, I shall speak of
him at once under his real name, De Ruyter. He mentioned
to me that he was waiting for a passage to Batavia; he seemed
perfectly acquainted with India and its seas. He spoke most
of the European languages, nor had he the slightest foreign
accent in his pronunciation of the English. In walking about
the bazars, commonly at night, he sometimes met me, and
took me with him. He was familiar with all the out-of-the-
way corners of the most irregular of towns, and entered into
many dark abodes without ceremony. He conversed, on these
occasions, with the natives, in their varied tongues with equal
A YOUNGER SON. 81

ease, whether in the guttural, brute-like grunting of the Malay,
the more humanized Hindostanee, or the softer and harmonious
Persian. What struck me most at the time, was, the great
deference these people paid him; even the proud, fat, swelling,
and pompous Armenian merchants stopped their palanquins,
and got out to converse with him, apparently delighted at their
meeting. These and other circumstances made me wonder,
but nothing more; at seventeen we do not expect every man
to be a rogue as we do at thirty. There was a self-possession
and decision about De Ruyter’s ordinary acts, with a general
information, that made me feel what, I suppose, I should not
have thanked any one for remarking, as, at that age, we are
loth to allow any to be our superior. Perhaps I might not
have felt this so strongly, had he not been as much my
superior in physical as in mental endowments. In stature he
was majestic, the length and fine proportion of his limbs, and
the shortness and roundness of his body, gave to his appearance
a lightness and elasticity seldom seen but in the natives of the
east. It was only on close examination you discovered, that
under the slim form of the date-tree was disguised the solid
strength of the oak. His face wanted breadth to please an
artist’s eye, but it added to the effect of his high, clear, bold,
unwrinkled forehead, as smooth, though not as white, as sculp-
tured marble. His hair was dark and abundant, his features
well defined. The greatest peculiarity was his eye; it was
ever so varying that it was impossible to distinguish its colour;
like the hue of the cameleon it had no fixed tint, but shewed,
as in a mirror, the reflection of his mind. In a state of rest it
was overcast with a hazy film, like a grey cloud; but when he
was excited by the vehemence of his feelings, the mist evapo-
rated, and it gradually brightened, till its rays, like the sun,
became so intense, that your own were dazzled beholding it.
His eye-lashes were jet-black; he had thick, straight, and
prominent eye-brows, with a habit of knitting them together,
contracted from exposure to the intense heat of an eastern
sun, leaving an infinity of minuter lines, traced at the corners
of the eyes, but unlike the deep furrows of age or debauchery
in northern climates. The lines of his mouth were boldly and
clearly cut; it was muscular, full of expression, and the upper
6
82 ADVENTURES OF

lip, which was prominent, had a convulsive action when he
spoke, independent of its companion; his jaw was full, and
gave him the air of invincible determination. Though natu-
rally not of so dark a complexion as myself, those parts of his
person exposed were not merely sun-burnt, but appeared to
be seared to the very bone. He was approaching his thirtieth
year.

I am thus minute in describing De Ruyter, to account in
part for the extraordinary influence he gained, on so short an
acquaintance, over my mind and imagination. He became my
model. The height of my ambition was to imitate him, even
in his defects. My emulation was awakened. For the first
time I was impressed with the superiority of a human being.
To keep on an equality with him was unattainable. In every
trifling action he evinced a manner so off-hand, free, and noble,
that it looked as if it sprung new and fresh from his own indi-
viduality ; and every thing else shrunk into an apish imitation.

The enervating influence of a long residence in a tropical
climate had not affected him; his strength and energies seemed
insurmountable; the maddening fever of the jungles tainted
not his blood; the sun-stroke fell innocuous on his bare head;
and he alone went the round of his ordinary occupations,
regardless of time or temperature. But then I observed he
drank little, slept little, and ate sparingly. While we were
carousing, and keeping midnight orgies, he often joined us,
drank his coffee, and smoked his hooka. He exceeded the
youngest of us in the enjoyment of the present hour; even
with the sedative aid of the mocha-berry, he could scarcely
reduce his high spirits to a level with our’s, when fired by the
juice of the grape, or maddened by arrack-punch. Without
effort he caught the tone of mind among his associates; thus
marking the tolerations of his own, as he had the power of
bending the most stubborn and thoughtless to his will, of
directing them, and of moulding them into any form which
pleased his fancy. But he chose rather to draw out others’
characters, to view them in their natural hues, and to relieve
the tension of his own high-wrought imagination by resuming
the thoughts and feelings of boyhood. By putting himself on
a par with us, he gained that influence, which Solomon,
A YOUNGER SON. 83

in all his wisdom and wise sayings, could not have accom-
plished.

CHAPTER XVI.

Do ye forget the blow, the buffets vile ?
Are ye not smitten by a youngling arm ?
Kzats,

REATED as an equal by a being of such superior intelli-

gence and years, I felt a pride, an importance I had
never before known. By this conduct he gained my unlimited
confidence, and imperceptibly drew from me my most secret
thoughts. I told him I was resolute to leave a profession, in
which I failed to realize those ardent and ambitious prospects
of glory it had portrayed in my imagination. Instead of
encouraging me in this, he ever urged me to do nothing
prematurely, or in passion. I spoke of the neglect and con-
tumely I had suffered, of the despondency of my views in life,
in consequence of my hopeless situation with my family; and
concluded with a firm determination to shake off the fetters
which galled my spirit, and bound down my aspirations ;
declaring that, if I could do nothing better, I would go into
the jungles, and herd with wild buffaloes and tigers, where I
should at least be a free agent, however short my life, rather
than longer submit to the iron despotism, which held my very
thoughts in bondage. ‘Is it not written,’ I exclaimed vehe-
mently, ‘‘in the code of our naval law, that you shall not,
in look or gesture, signify that you are dissatisfied with those
who govern you by holding the lash of correction over your
head? If gods were to rule us by brutal intimidation, who
would not rebel? And if we must have a master, why not
enter the service of demons and devils, on fair terms, and with
fair words ?”

“Nay,” said De Ruyter, “‘ you are running yourself a-ground
now. Restrain your passion; view things in their real colours,
not as disfigured by the sickly yellow of your jaundiced con-
ceptions. We cannot all be masters; nor can the best com-
mander content every one beneath him, Your mind has
84 . ADVENTURES OF

received a warp from the neglect and folly of weak, but not
evil men. You, who have endured so much from the narrow-
minded views of others, should learn to reason justly and
tolerantly ; and distinguish between ignorance and malice in
those who have sinned against you. Now, the only case you
have made out of malice amounts to little; and the object is
too insignificant to waste a thought upon ;—I mean the Scotch

lieutenant you told me about.”

“Tittle!” replied I; “do you call that little ?9—the utter
ruin and degradation he has heaped on my friend Walter?
And asI am the cause, so am I bound amply to revenge his
injuries. May every evil in life be concentrated exclusively on
my head—may the pariah scoff and spit at me, and the wild
dogs hunt me through the jungles, if I forgive that malignant—”

As his hated name was trembling on my lips, the scoundrel
himself, and alone, entered the billiard-room where we were
talking. He looked at my flushed and heated brow, and
hesitated what he should do, slink back, or advance. He
chose to advance, assuming his most cajoling look, with smirks
and smiles, and that little enginery, by which he had wormed
his way through the world, wrecking the hopes of true and
honest men. I should mention that he had often visited this
tavern whilst I was there ; and that on shore he was affable as
he was overbearing on board. As Iwas under his command,
perhaps he considered me still in his power; so stepping
towards me, he said, ‘‘ Well! when are you going on board?
The ship is ordered to sail to-morrow, and all the officers are
to be on board. by daylight.”

“Is it so?” said I, in a slow and suppressed voice, to hide
the fierceness of my purpose, while every fibre of my frame
swelled in action, and my blood seemed ignited, and then
congealed to ice; ‘then the time is come to settle my
accounts; and most providentially my principal creditor is
here.”

«* What do you mean?” he asked.

“Once,” I answered, ‘‘ you told me never to stand in your
presence with my hat on. I now, for the last time, obey you!”
and, with the word, I dashed my hat in his face.

As he stood gazing in amaze, I stripped off the only remain-
A YOUNGER SON. ‘ 85
ing badge of servitude upon me, and, trampling on it, exclaimed,
“Now, Mr. Lieutenant, I am free! You are no longer my
superior officer! If I must acknowledge you my superior as a
man, prove it with your sword!”’ Then placing myself between
him and the door, I added, ‘Draw! This gentleman and the
billiard marker shall see fair play.”

He attempted to pass, muttering, ‘What do you mean ?—
are you in your senses?”’ Seizing him by the collar, I swung
him into the middle of the room, and said: ‘‘ There is no
escape! Defend your life!”

He then went towards De Ruyter, and appealed to him for
protection, swearing he was ignorant of what I meant, or what
Iwanted. De Ruyter continued calmly smoking, and answered:
«“ Why, it seems pretty clear what he wants. I have nothing
to do with your quarrel. You had better draw and fight it
out; he is but a boy, and you should be a man by your
beard.”

The lieutenant, whose fears then took entire possession of
his mind, humbled himself to me; he protested he had never
intended me any wrong; that if I thought so, he was sorry,
and asked my pardon ; he entreated I would put up my sword,
and go on board with him, promising, with an oath, that he
would never take advantage of what had passed. Disgusted at
his meanness, I struck him from me, and, spitting at him,
vociferated, ‘‘ Remember Walter !- cowardly, malignant ruffian!
What ! you white-livered scoundrel, can no words move you ?—
then blows shall!’ and I struck him with the hilt of my sword
in his mouth, and kicked him, and trampled on him. I tore
his coat off, I rent it to fragments, saying, ‘‘ This is the first
time such a poltroon has disgraced this true colour!” His
screams and protestations, while they increased my contempt,
added fuel to my anger, for I was furious that such a pitiful
wretch should have lorded it over me so long. I roared out,
“For the wrongs you have done me, I am satisfied. Yet
nothing but your currish blood can atone for your atrocities to
Walter!”

Having broken my own sword at the onset, I drew his from
beneath his prostrate carcass, and should inevitably have
despatched him on the spot, had not a stronger hand griped
86 , ADVENTURES OF

hold of my arm. It was De Ruyter’s; and he said, in a low,
quiet voice, ‘Come, no killing. Here!” (giving me a broken
billiard cue,) ‘a stick is a fitter weapon to chastise a coward
with. Don’t rust good steel.”

It was useless to gainsay him, for he had taken the sword
out of my hand. I therefore belaboured the rascal: his yells
were dreadful; he was wild with terror, and looked like a
maniac. I never ceased till I had broken the butt-end of the
cue over him, and till he was motionless.

De Ruyter, though I was not aware of it at the time, had
stood sentinel at the door to bar intrusion. He now left it,
and a shoal of blacks and whites rushed in.

CHAPTER XVII.

Bring forth the horse !—the horse was brought,

In truth he was a noble steed,

A Tartar of the Ukrain breed,
Who look’d as though the speed of thought
Were in his limbs.

* * x * * *

And snorting with erected mane,
And struggling fiercely, but in vain,
In the full foam of wrath and dread,

To me the desert-born was led. .
Byron.

T the head of these intruders, to my astonishment, appeared
Walter. His wonder was as great at the scene before him,
—the man he most loathed lying, as dead, at his feet. He gazed
on him with a sort of triumph; his lips quivered, and his face
became at first scarlet, and then pallid. He raised his eyes to
mine, and, seeing me panting and speechless with rage, together
with the broken sword on the floor, the truth flashed on his
mind. His inquiring gaze then caught De Ruyter, who not
only understood him, but seemed to know who he was, for he
asked him if his name was not Walter. Upon being informed
it was,— Well, then,” said he, “ there lies your enemy, whose
breath, I think, your friend has stopped. I wish he would
keep some measure in his passion.”
A YOUNGER SON. 87

‘“‘T hope,” replied Walter, ‘he has not killed him.”

De Ruyter, being in doubt, got up and felt the lieutenant’s
pulse. He then said: ‘No; he is not quite dead. Here !—
take him out.”

The servants lifted him up; he opened his eyes; the blood
was running out of his mouth; and some of his teeth were
jammed in, He was a most pitiable object, and blubbered like
aboy. As soon as he regained his senses, he saw Walter,
which increased his panic; and Walter, with a flushed brow,
restrained himself with difficulty; for, on hearing from De
Ruyter that I had not broken the sword in his body, but on it,
he imagined he was more frightened than hurt. But De
Ruyter assured him to the contrary, and observed, ‘‘ Why, he
is as difficult to be killed as the tiger-cat. I have never seen a
fellow endure such a mauling in my life. Come, youngsters,
he has had enough; and too much, if you are got hold of to
answer for it. Your way of discharging yourself from the
service may not be considered as an unexceptional precedent ;
and therefore, before the alarm is given, and the town-gate
closed, by the affair being made known, had you not better cut
and run? As to you, Walter,—have you followed your friend’s
example in doffing the blue? What means this red sign?
Have you shifted your colours in good earnest, or is it a mere
frolic ?”

I had observed, with surprise, that Walter was in a military
uniform. ‘Thank God, and my mother!” he exclaimed, “I
have a commission in the company’s service, and was dis-
charged this morning from the ship. So eager was I to pay
that fellow the debt I owe him, (fortunately one of the officers
going to England has made over his traps to me,) that, as the
frigate sails to-morrow, I came here to surprise you, and consult
how we were to get hold of the infernal villain. I heard you
in wrath as I entered the house, little imagining you had fore-
stalled me in my revenge ; but good fortune never comes single-
handed.”

De Ruyter interrupted him with—‘ Come, be off, like the
wind! You'll have time to discuss these matters on a fitter
occasion. Time presses on. Go,’—(he continued, sinking his
voice into a whisper,) ‘“‘ go to the bungalo I told you of the
88 ADVENTURES OF

other day, near the village of Punee. You know the road.
Walter or I will be with you as soon as the frigate has sailed,
and this affair has blown over. Now, no more words. Off!
I say.”

My horse was brought. He was a vicious-looking brute,
with an ambiguity in his eye, that gave him an uncommon
sinister expression. He had been brought in from the country,
and having succeeded in throwing several of the naval officers,
no one would mount him; so that, when first offered to me, he
was enjoying a sort of sinecure. Never having met with any
one or any thing as obstinate as myself, I liked him. I hada
fellow feeling for his independent spirit, took him under my
especial protection, and found the excitement of contention a
delight. A restive and violent horse, in the sweltering climate
of the tropic, is considered any thing but the means of recrea-
tion; but I loved to stem the stream, and never followed the
footsteps of the prudent, who keep the high-beaten track of the
world. My horse and I became a shew-lion to the sober
natives; and an interest was created to see which would
conquer. Every day I was in the habit of galloping about the
narrow streets, to the imminent peril of men, women, and
brats. Countless were the complaints made of stalls up-set,
bruises, and fractures; and I believe there was one unanimous
wish throughout the entire district, notwithstanding its hun-
dred conflicting castes, joined to a hearty curse, against me.
If curses could have unhorsed me, and directed the brute’s
hoofs to my head, not one among them, heathen or christian,
would have stirred an inch to arrest the visitation of so just a
judgment. Thanks to a Turkish bit and saddle, which I had
substituted for the mockery of English ones, I, drunk or sober,
kept my seat, and diminished, though I could not subdue, the
spirit of the horse, till we began to understand each other ; and,
when wearied of contention in private, jogged on together in
public, like decent married people. On this animal I mounted,
ina white jacket of De Ruyter’s, speeding towards the gate,
under the excitation of drubbing the lieutenant, not at all
allayed by drinking two bottles of claret with Walter. The
guard of sepoys was drawn up, beneath the arch of the town-
gate, on some point of duty. My antipathy to the hired badge
A YOUNGER SON. 89

of servitude extended to all who wore it. In altitude and
strength I thought myself augmented; and to shew off my
newly-acquired freedom, in which feeling my mischievous horse,
as if instigated by the same impulse, most willingly conincided,
I dashed through the guard with the rapidity of thought, and,
with a wild triumphal hurrah, scampered on to the plain of
sand, which lies immediately on the outside of the town.

Here I gave vent to my joy, and played as many antics as a
madman broke loose from his chains. I spurred my willing
horse on to the centre of the sandy waste, hallooing and
screaming myself hoarse with rapture. I drew the sabre De
Ruyter had given me, and flourished it about, regardless of my
horse’s head and ears. As I lost sight of the town gate, I
pulled in my foaming steed; then looking around, and seeing
nothing human, I dismounted, when patting the horse’s reek-
ing neck, I exclaimed: ‘‘ Here we are, thou only honest
creature, free at last! The spell of my bondage is broken!
Who shall command me now? I will obey no one: I will
have no other guide than my instinct; no one’s will shall be
mine; I am for my own free impulses! Who dare attempt
to replace the yoke around my neck? Let them come here!
Pll not move from this spot, though pursued by all the men in
the fleet and garrison!”

 

CHAPTER XVIII.

The sun was sinking—still I lay
Chain’d to the still and stiffening steed,
I thought to mingle there our clay ;
And my dim eyes of death had need—
No hope arose of being freed.
Byron.

HUS I continued my idle vaunting to the winds; my
bosom swelled with the free beatings of my heart; to
roam at liberty, unchecked by churlish superiors, was exstacy.
I had thrown off my cap, though the sky looked like molten
gold or brass; and was proceeding to tear off my clothes,
though the white sand sparkled fiercely, and pierced the soles
90 ADVENTURES OF

of my feet like fire, so abhorrent to me was every vestige or
sign of slavery,—or, which was the same thing at that moment,
of civilization. During the paroxysm, I should have unsaddled
and unbridled my horse, to give him also freedom ; but, at
this period, I beheld some commotion at a distance.

My first impression of its being some one in pursuit subsided,
on discovering that I was between it and the tower. I
endeavoured to distinguish what it was, but all I could see
was a silvery cloud of sand rising in a bright circle, and a dark
object, at intervals, discernible. I mounted, and galloped
towards it. As I advanced, I saw it was a horse, running
incessantly in a round. I went on, and, amidst the clouds of
sand, I saw that the lunging and plunging of the horse was
every instant more violent. My own threw up his crest,
replied to his loud neighings, and pressed on; but, on approach-
ing the object, my astonishment was raised to the highest
pitch at a voice hailing me, and at beholding a man, in a
cavalry uniform, half covered with sand, while the sweat and
blood were trickling down from his close-cropped poll to his
forehead and face. I shouted out,—‘‘ What is the matter?”
when the horse came towards me. His large eye and expanded
nostrils were of deep crimson, and the blood from several
gashes on his head, neck, and flanks, mingled with the white
foam on his bright black skin. With erect mane and tail, and
open mouth, he came to within a few yards of me. I pulled
up, and drew my sabre. He then wheeled round, and, making
several circles within each other in rapid motion, he flung out
his hind legs at the prostrate soldier, whose sword defended
him with difficulty. The horse endeavoured to avoid being
cut, by alertness and rapidity. The saddle and housings,
lying by the man, in some measure protected him. On being
foiled in striking with his hind feet, the horse turned round
short on his haunches, and, with startling ferocity, plunged in
head foremost, like a tiger, striking with his fore feet right out,
and even trying to get hold of the man with his teeth.

Here was a revolution,—the horse attempting to kill his
rider, and using his armed hoofs against his head! In com-
pliance with my spirit of freedom, I should have aided the
horse, or remained neuter; but instinct impelled me to side
A YOUNGER SON. 91

with the biped. Pushing in to the rescue, I endeavoured to
-get between the two, but it was no easy matter; for the horse
made no attack on me; on the contrary, he used every effort
to avoid my interference. I hallooed, and tried to drive him
off. He retreated a hundred yards, when as, once or twice, I
was dismounting to succour the apparently exhausted man, he
returned to the charge. However, from exertion and loss of
blood, he waxed weak and less wary; so that, after many
abortive attempts, I succeeded in ham-stringing him. He now
gave one loud bellow, and strove, with a staggering gait, to
gallop off, frequently falling. I followed, and had several cuts
at him, till, faint from loss of blood, he fell, unable to rise.

I left him there, and went back to the man, who seemed in
little better condition than the horse. All I could distinguish,
in answer to my speaking to him, was—‘‘ Water !—water !|—
water !”—but IJ had none, nor was there any near us. The
man’s mouth was clotted, almost cemented with blood and
sand; I wiped it and his nostrils with my jacket. Partly by
signs, and partly by words, he directed me to open the holsters
on his saddle. I did so, and found old Falstaff’s substitute for
a pistol, a bottle—not indeed of sack, but—of arrack. I gave
him some, and rubbed his face and head with the remainder.
This restored him, when I asked him to get up and ride my
horse, till we should arrive at some hut. He waved his hand,
and said,

“No! I have had enough of horses to-day.”

«Well, will you walk?”

“How can I?” he replied, ‘‘my leg and my left arm are
cracked ; or you would not have found me beaten by that brute.
If you had not come up, he would have finished me. I was
nearly done. I never heard of such a thing before, though I
have been a rough rider to the regiment for sixteen years, and
crossed all sorts and breeds of cross-grained cattle. Never,
till now, could one throw me from his back, without rearing,
ou a clean field. Then to come in upon me, like a wild beast,
with hoof and tooth!—he must be mad. I hope you have
killed him.”

Dungaree was the nearest village. I mounted, rode thither,
pressed a palanquin into service, and returned to the soldier.
92 ADVENTURES OF

He was in great pain, but calmer. He told me, the horse
belonged to the colonel of the regiment. He had been: pur-
chased, at a great price, of an Arab; was quiet at first, but
afterwards became so vicious and violent, that none could
mount him. ‘I,’ he continued, ‘undertook to tame him, or
kill him. I have done my best. I tried in vain to work down
his mettle ; he was not to be beaten. Deprived of his food, he
was only the more furious, and watched, with wonderful
cunning, every occasion of kicking and biting me. Once he
got hold of me by the back, and lifted me into his manger ; and
if [had not been tolerably strong, and assisted by others, he
would have killed me. Whenever I rode him, he used every
artifice to throw me; which he had never been able to achieve
till to-day, when, by violent lungings and lashings-out, he
worked the saddle down to his loins, and, in that situation, set
off at full speed, and succeeded in shaking me off. As I was
lying doubled up, he broke my arm, and, I believe, my leg.
Then, after going a short distance, he stopped, and wheeled
round to renew the blow. I had, with great difficulty, drawn
my sword; and till you, Sir, came up, which was but a few
minutes, he was attacking me in the way you found him.
Though I had wounded him with my sabre in many places, the
devil only grew more savage. Iwas frightened more at his
looks than at any thing else; and I do verily believe, Sir, he
was the devil.”

“Do you?” said I, ‘then it is some consolation, my man,
to see he is dead.”’

With that I sent him into Bombay, directing the men to the
hospital, giving them money, and promising more, provided
they made haste.
A YOUNGER SON. 93

CHAPTER XIX.

Whether she was a ‘‘ mother,’’ I know not,
Or whether they were ‘‘ maids ’’ who called her mother,
But this is her seraglio’s title, got
I know not how, but good as any other ;
So Cantemir can tell you, or De Tott:
Her office was to keep aloof or smother
All bad propensities in fifteen hundred
Young women, and correct them when they blundered.
Bynon.

T sunset I returned to the village, determined to conclude

a busy day by a noisy night. This village is set apart by

the government to provide for the exclusive residence of a
separate caste. Here was formed a little Utopia.

I put my horse up, and made a round to examine the motley
group in the different mud-built and bamboo huts. The well-
greased and black beauties of Madagascar first presented them-
selves. At the next hut there was but a small assemblage. A
ferret-eyed, amber-hued, thick-set Japanese looked out from
the door, shining like a sun-flower.

The abode of an ancient friend of mine, who occasionally
sold liquor to her visitors, received me. She was the female
Schaich of the tribe. Her dwelling was pre-eminent, being
distinguished by a second story, with verandahs. This was the
chief resort of the Europeans, in compliment to whom she had
mounted a sort of English head-dress above her mahogany visage.
She united in her person the characteristics of the buffalo of
the jungles, its ball-proof hide of dingy hue, decorated with
bristly straggling hair, sunken eye, and horny face, with the
splay feet and hump of the dromedary. She was a monstrous
hag, that looked coeval with Sin.

The inmates of her house were heard approaching. I dis-
tinguished the little patterings of their baby feet, and presently
the jingling of their bangles and rings. Arms, wrists, ancles,
toes, and fingers, glittered with brass, silver, and glass, making
most harmonious music, as from aloft they descended a faery-
looking bamboo ladder, like a continuous stream of ants down
an old wall. With flowing trowsers, and scanty cotton vest,
94 ADVENTURES OF

each female was starred on the forehead with yellow or red
ochre. There was every gradation of colour and caste, muddy,
olive, leaden, copper, and all the family of browns, from the
dusky-red scaly cock-roach of India, till it became lost in the
shining jet black beetle of my own country. There were all
ages, and every degree of stature: from nine to (what the old
Hecate appeared to be) ninety; and from the height of my
pipe-stick to that of the palm-tree. There was the light and
pliant-limbed Kubshee coupled with the swollen and blubbered
Hottentot, moving like a porpoise; the Hindoo girl, with eyes
like the stag, and form like the antelope; the fair, oily, moon.
faced, fleshy Armenian, fashioned like a turtle; and the soft
and fondling Parsee, like a turtle-dove. Among these were the
Cheechees, a race of the mingled blood of Europe and India—
a compound of fire and frost—with the tallowy whiteness of
the English joined to the dark hair of the east; and, though
wanting the roseate tints of their western sires, yet were they
amply compensated by the bright and glowing brilliancy of
their mother’s eyes, unalloyed by the dead and fish-like colour
of the north.

On entering the hut I had ordered an ample supply of the
ingredients for composing what doctors designate by the name
of liquid fire, but which the unlearned call punch. Of this I
poured so much down my throat as nearly to deprive me of my
senses, and I made an effort to ascend to the upper part of the’
hut.

As I staggered toward the ladder, the old Schaich stood
before me to prevent my going up, when I sent her reeling into
the room, snatched up a piece of blazing pine-wood and
ascended into a sort of loft. Half a score of the occupants of
the house started up to mar my further progress. This would
have impelled me on, had I been sober; but, with the pertinacity
of drunkenness, I was about to do more, for I cried out,—
“Keep off! or Ill see if you are true-bred salamanders, or
not!’’ and was applying the fire to the cane-work of the hut’

My opponents fell back with a discordant croak, and I rolled
into an inner room, wrenching away the matting which enclosed
it, when a rough voice bawled out, “Hold fast there, you
young dog!”
A YOUNGER SON. 95

“ Holla, old Hoofs!” I exclaimed, recognising the voice of
my late Captain, and saluting him with his nickname among
us, from the preposterous dimensions of his feet; ‘ Holla! old
clod-hopper ; you here, and getting drunk!”

“Get out, Sir! What do you mean by this audacity ?
Why are you not aboard, Sir? Don’t you know the orders?”

“Get out? No, I won’t; and I don’t intend going on board
again. Iam discharged, most potent Signor !”’

“What do you mean, you scoundrel?”

“Mean! why, that before we part, we'll have a glorious
bowl of punch together, in spite of your grave looks.”

Seeing I was not to be balked in my humour, he gave
way to me, and indeed, not being a very austere character, he
entered into the frolic ; besides, though not drunk, he was not
sober.

We sat over our punch, while I sung, or rather roared, the
song of the ‘“‘ Old Commodore,”

“The bullets and the gout
Have so knocked his hull about,
He’ll no longer be fit for sea.”’

Then in return for his kindness in playing the parson out of
soundings, I treated him with a sermon, expatiating on his
manifold sins and iniquities, especially in getting intoxicated.
Yet, notwithstanding the orthodoxy of my doctrine, and the
courtesy with which maiden speeches and sermons are attended
to, the old Commodore was as impatient to be off, as if he had
been seated on lunar caustic,

He nevertheless plied me with grog, till the last glimmerings
of my reasoning faculties were flickering in the socket. Some
Nach girls dancing in the room, and shaking their bangles,
looked like imps; while the volcanic fire within my body,
together with the oven-like closeness of the room, impressed
me with a notion that I was in the infernal regions. The
Captain stole away during the time I was dragging down a
bamboo rafter, with which I demolished the cudgeree-pots,
and all within its swing. The hag grew furious at the destruc-
tion of her household gods and goods, and called out for the
Burkandazers (police-officers of the village). Thus backed,
96 ADVENTURES OF

she made a furious attack upon me, exclaiming ‘‘ You more
like tiger, not than man. You no go my house. I make
sepoys come kill you. I never see such obstroperousness when
I live,”

CHAPTER XX.

The last of human sounds which rose,
As I was darted from my foes,

Was the wild shout of savage laughter,
Which on the wind came roaring after

A moment from the rabble rout ;

With sudden wrath I wrenched my head,
And writhing half my form about,
Howl’d back my curse.

* * * * *
Away !—away !—my breath was gone—
I saw not where he hurried on:

’Twas scarcely yet the break of day,
And on he foamed—away !—away !
Byron.

HE hubbub within soon brought up some sepoys from
without. On seeing a fellow’s pike peering above the
ladder, my blood began to rise, and my passion ,to sober me.
Hecate and her witches were hanging on me like a pack of
terriers on a badger. I shook off, with a sudden effort, the
lethargic effect of drink, as well as the old and young who
clung to me, as the tiger does his parasite providers, the
jackalls, when he himself is hunted. Regaining the bamboo,
I drove them down the ladder; in their confusion, their weight,
with the addition of the flabby governante, broke the ladder,
when they fell, and formed a cone-like hill below, of which
she was the apex; she plumped down like a Dutch dogger
out of the slips, sepoy and all vanishing beneath her amplé
beam. Great was the uproar which succeeded. A dense crowd
had collected outside, with a sprinkling of peons, sepoys, and
police.
I now thought it time to remove myself. One witk of the
shattered lamp was still burning; with that I lighted some
cotton dipped in oil, and fired the house in several places. Its
A YOUNGER SON, 97

dry and combustible materials rapidly brightened up into a
fierce flame. A wild shout from without-side proclaimed the
event. I had no time to lose. Amidst the burning and
crackling, I precipitated myself from the window, and luckily
alighted on the sepoy-halbadier. I was not hurt, but he was.
Springing up, I seized his pike, which had fallen from his
hand, used it as a quarter-staff and cleared my way, till I
gained the shed in which my horse was tethered. I clapped
the bit in his mouth; but in the darkness and hurry not
finding my saddle, I mounted without it, and took the field.

Determined on seeing the fire, I turned round on the sepoys
and others, who were close at my heels; and putting my spear
in the rest, like a knight of old, I dashed full tilt down the
narrow lane, broke through them, and spitted one against a
small mud temple, well nigh immolating him as an offering to
the god Bramah; while my vicious and sacrilegious horse
thrust his impious hoofs into the very penetralia of the
piscina, a little nich, with a pipkin-bellied idol, and a cudgeree-
pot of perfumed rice, which were dashed to atoms. They
yelled curses at us,—‘‘ Yaoar! Dog!” but, under the dark
wing of night, we escaped the missiles which were hurled after
us, and we heeded not words. We now sprang into the middle
of the crowd gathered before the conflagration, and created
much havoc. I came upon them in great wrath, for I had but
a little time to stay. The mob fled before me like wild ducks.
As old Muckery was busying herself, with a long bamboo, in
fishing out her traps, I applied the sharp end of my pike to
her, and goaded her into the embers. She grasped a number
of flaming bamboos, and, missing me, burnt the horse; upon
which he rushed forward, kicking and rearing with ungovern-
able fury. I could neither stop, nor check him. We cleared
the village.

Away we went as free and fast as the wind. My head
became dizzy; and rushing through the fresh air, after a
heated room, made me death-like sick. With difficulty I clung
to my seat, unassisted by saddle. All around me was dark-
ness and gloom. I crossed a wide jeel, where my sagacious
Bucephalus plumped into a ford, and waded and swam to the
opposite bank. With my head laid down on his neck, I held

7
98 ADVENTURES OF

on by his long, shaggy mane. As I knew I was receding from
the fort, I cared not whither he bore me. Fain would I have
pulled up, for I was overcome by a drunken drowsiness, but
one of the reins had given way, and my mettled courser speeded
on, reeling, and floundering, and blowing like a grampus, I
know not how long, for I was hardly sensible. He made
towards a glimmering light: it belonged to a chokey, and
striking there against something, the shock was like that of a
ship against a rock. He gave two or three heavy rolls and
fell on me, as I had fallen on the sepoy. I became insensible ;
and long I must have continued so.

On opening my eyes, I gazed around with astonishment,
and felt as after a trance. A group of people, squatted on
their haunches, encircled me. A thin and wizard-visaged
old man, with the peeta of a Bramin, seemed mumbling
incantations; all I could distinguish was,—‘ Topee Sahib!”
—* Ram, ram, ram !”—and “ Dum, dum, dwn!” A better
looking, and better garmented man, with a grisly at said
nothing but—“ Il’ Allah !”

I tried to sit up, and signed to give me water; they atiook
their heads. My mouth was glued, I could not speak, and was
faint with thirst. I found I was lying on a mat, under the
shade of a Bunyan’s shop, with verandahs. He came out on
hearing I was alive, and spoke to me in English ;—no music
was ever so harmonious. He brought me a cudgeree-pot of
toddy, which revived me; no drink was ever so delicious.
Close to me stood a bheestie, gazing and gaping with wonder ;
a bamboo was poised across his shoulder, supporting two
buckets of palmetta-leaf, full of water. He had been entreated
by my gestures to let me have some, but he grinned refusal.
I now grasped hold of the rim of the bucket, and tilted it
over my head. The water smoked on my burning temples;
instantly I felt a thrilling sensation of pleasure; and I sat up.

Then I discovered I was at a village near the road to Callian.
It was long ere I could recollect the events of the passed day.
My bones ached as if I had been beaten to a mummy; and
my face, head, and hands were cut. The horse was first
recalled to my mind by a lock from his long mane, which was
entwined in ny fingers, still clenched. I went into the shop,
A YOUNGER SON. 99

and, laying down again, fell into a profound sleep. I awoke,
when the sun was sinking in the west, drenched with perspira-
tion. After eating some fruit, I went to a tank, bathed, and
felt as man new made.

Ruminating on my situation, and remembering I was to
meet De Ruyter at the bungalo, I inquired for my horse.
They knew nothing of him. I had been carried by some
cooleys from the chokey, and laid in the bazaar. By the
advice of the shop-keepers, I hired a buffaloe-hackerie, and
proceeded towards the rendezvous.

CHAPTER XXI.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where nonce intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less but nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and fecl
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot well conceal.
Byron.

N author, justly celebrated for his knowledge of human

nature, observes: ‘‘ Let a man be ever so honest, the
account of his own conduct will, in spite of himself, be so
very favourable, that his vices will come purified through his
lips; for though the facts themselves may appear, yet so diffe-
rent will be the motives, circumstances, and consequences,
when a man tells his own story, and when his enemy tells it,
that we can scarce recognize the facts to be one and the same
thing.”

In twenty hours I arrived at a small village, on the frontiers
of the Deccan; and there, having discharged my hackerie,
I picked up a couple of cooleys, passed through some paddy
and Indian corn-fields, crossed a ford, and reached De Ruyter's
bungalo, which I knew by land-marks he had given me, and
by the compass. It was prettily situated on a rising ground
100 ADVENTURES OF

at the foot of a mountain, in a retired nook, hid in a grove of
cocoa-trees, which love a light and shingly soil, and sheltered
by hills to the north, east, and west. There was a wild
garden, overgrown with guava, mange, and pomegranate trees,
and surrounded by a high and impervious fence of prickly pear.
The inside of the house was painted in blue and white stripes
to look like a tent, the roof of the centre room being supported
by upright bamboos, on which were suspended arms, guns,
and spears for the chace. Two sleeping apartments adjoining
to this were divided by split bamboos and matting. It was
furnished with a tent-table, beds, and other conveniences; a
few books and drawing-materials ; with rough but spirited
sketches of ships, and of lion and tiger-hunts, hanging on the
wall. A small open space before the door, studded with benana
and lemon-trees, drooping with fruit, sloped down to a large
tank, used as a bath, encircled with rose, jessamine, and
geranium. An old peasant, in charge of the place, said,
“You see, master, it is wngreg?,—Hnglish fashion.” On the
east side of the bungalo, canopied by a magnificent sago-palm,
was a long, low shed, which served for kitchen; and under the
same roof dwelt the peasant, with his wife and family, and a
yak, or little cow, which was squabbling with the children
about some fruit.

This yak was remarkably small and wiry haired. The man
told me she was good, strong to ride, and that his malek
(master) had brought her out from the sea.

«A sea-monster!” I said with a laugh, “ come, then, we'll
have a swim together!” and was going to turn her into the
tank.

“No, no, she like go up mountain; no like go down
water,”

Tinquired if he had seen his malek lately. ‘‘ No,” he
replied, ‘“‘but he had sent, two days back, much things for
huzoor,” another name for master.

‘Did he not write?” Upon which he took a scanty rag of
turban from his pate, and extracted from its folds, where it
was carefully enveloped, a plantain leaf, doubled up and
secured with a piece of coir twine. I cast off the leaf, and
found a note from De Ruyter.
 

en

TRELAWNY.

J

E

(Zr0m a drawing by Count D’ Orsay.)
A YOUNGER SON. 101

“Why the devil,” I asked, “did you not give me this
before? ”’

“You not tell me to.”

‘““ No, for how could I know you had it?”

“Yes, malek know everything; poor gaowalaman know
nothing at all.”

This made me comprehend why no eatables had been offered
to me, while I was ravenous as a wolf in winter, notwith-
standing I had kept my jaws in perpetual motion with all
sorts of fruit. I therefore ordered tiffin, and returned to the
house to read the letter ; by which I learned that the frigate
had sailed, after some little inquiry for me at my usual
quarters. This was a great relief, and my heart leaped with
joy.

De Ruyter concluded his letter by saying he had been
detained by Walter, who was placed under arrest while the
affair of the Scotch lieutenant was investigated ; and notwith-
standing every lie had been invented to implicate Walter, De
Ruyter’s evidence acquitted him. The ship was delayed one
day, to inquire into the affair, and to remove the Scotchman
on board; for he was very ill, spitting blood, with two of his
ribs stove in; so that, together with the dislocation of his jaw,
and loss of ivory, I considered my debt to him handsomely
cancelled, and sponged the rascal from my memory, I thought
for ever. Walter had offered him satisfaction, but he was
surfeited with what he had already received. I afterwards
learned that he never ventured on shore at Bombay, saying
that malaria, musquitoes, and scorpions, made it worse than
hell; but what he dreaded more than the cobra-di-capella
itself, was the sight of Walter there.

I sent a cooley to bring me a hooka, bathed in the tank,
and, with a book, the ‘ Life of Paul Jones,” lay under the
trees, eating my dessert after an abundant Indian lunch. A
lightness, elasticity, and exuberance of joy, never felt before,
thrilled through me. It was the first day I could number of
entire happiness; nor did I then, as in more mature years we
do, dash the present hour with thinking on the ensuing one.
The only happy life appeared to be a peasant’s; and his
limited wants the cause of his being happy. Forthwith I
102 ADVENTURES OF

essayed it, threw my torn and soiled garments from me,
twisted a piece of striped cotton, as cummerbund, round my
waist, and put a turban on my head. Thus, barefooted, with
a cocoa-knife in my hand, and well greased with cocoa-nut
oil, I sallied into the grove, and, with the peasant’s family
ascended the trees, learnt how to tap them, and how to hang
the toddy-pots. This and gardening made my time pass on
so smoothly, that, on the third day, when I received notice of
De Ruyter’s being on the road, I felt it as an interruption on
my quiet and my solitude.

However I mounted the yak, a bamboo in one hand and my
knife in the other, and went forth, preceded by two coolies,
to meet him. Suddenly turning a tope of neem trees, he was
before me, occupied in narrating a history of lion-hunting to
Walter, and so complete was my metamorphosis, that he was
passing on without recognition, until his quick eye rested on
his own yak. I hailed him with—‘ Holloa! De Ruyter,—
what cheer, ho!” They pulled up in astonishment; and,
after surveying me an instant, they set up such a wild roar of
laughter that I thought them out of their senses. De Ruyter
rolled off his horse, and held his sides, exclaiming, ‘‘ By Heaven,
you'll kill me, you madcap !”

Looking very serious, I observed, ‘‘I am not aware of any
thing sufficiently ludicrous to excite your merriment. I am
rigged in the fashion of the country ; and it is best adapted to
the climate,—is it not? If you like to have some fresh toddy,
here are these fellows with my cudgeree-pots full of the freshest,
and of my own tapping.”

We sat down on the bank, talked, and, when they were
weary of their mirth, I remounted my yak, preceding them to
the bungalo.

We passed two days of unalloyed happiness. We climbed
the hills, we chased the jackalls, regardless of heat or toil;
we sung and danced, not as in the days of slavery from the
excitement of drink, for we were drunk with joy.

De Ruyter and I were both, from choice, of plain and simple
habits. He never committed any excesses, and those I was
guilty of arose from my voleanic materials, which were fired
like powder, from any accidental spark, though struck by an
A YOUNGER SON. 108

ass’s hoof. In everything I undertook, no matter how ridicu-
lous, I must out-herod Herod, brooking no compeer. My brow
now burns with shame in remembering how many follies (to
give them the mildest term) I then, and afterwards committed.
Severity and constant thwarting had accumulated within me
so much of the subtle spirit of opposition and obstinacy, that
it has mingled itself with every action of my life; while my
judgment and better feelings have in vain struggled to stem
the stream that bore me on. False lights have distorted the
fairest and brightest scenes of my existence ; converting that
which was really good and beautiful to blackness, and leading
me to act the characters I most despised. Thus I have played
the drunkard, the glutton, the braggart, and the bully. My
wrong view of things must have been the effect of education
and example, for by nature I was the reverse of all this, and
when acting on sudden impulses, I have seldom erred.

CHAPTER XXII.

The kings of Inde their jewel-sceptres veil,
And from their treasures scatter pearled hail ;
Great Bramah from his mystic heaven groans,
And all his priesthood moans.

KaEats.

He felt assured

Of happy times, when all he had endured
Would seem a feather to the mighty prize.

I.

FTER the second day Walter was compelled to return

to his regiment. As he was delighted with his new
profession, so was he determined to be exemplary in the
fulfilment of his duty. Though we had talked day and night
with little intermission, we could not afford time to say a word
either of the past, or of our plans for the future. We there-
fore agreed to have a speedy meeting to discuss these points.
On the morning of his departure he said, ‘‘ You are now a
free agent and an idler. We are encamped on the artillery-
ground. Come to my tent. What I have, you may command.
104 ADVENTURES OF

I wish to Heaven you would procure a commission in our
regiment—you could do so.”

“No, no, Walter; the badge of servitude, blue or red, I
have shaken off for ever. King nor company shall bribe me
with their gold, their honours, or their frippery, to give up my
birthright of free agency. And for what ?—bread ?—I can find
its substitute on every bush.”

“ Ay,” he replied; “but you love glory, and cannot live
without broils and fighting.”

“Tf so I can find enough of it in the world, and choose my
own ground and cause, not fight like a butcher’s dog, on com-
pulsion, because I am fed on my master’s offal, and feed with
sixpence a day. You, Walter, will be slipped like a dog from
his collar against these subdued and trampled-on slaves. Your
masters foment disunion and enmity among them, and then
despatch their myrmidons to seize upon their wealth and
country, to make them helots, or exterminate them as rebels
and traitors. Is this glory? Now, if I want fighting, I shall
most assuredly change my colours, and battle against tyrants
and oppressors wherever they are to be found—and where are
they not?”

To this he said, ‘‘Do not let us disturb these few last
minutes at parting with discussion. Perhaps I think with
you—perhaps you know that such are my sentiments; but I
am not made of the same tough stuff as you are. Alas! my
poor mother has known nothing but sorrow and disappoint-
ment! Her existence has been cheerless. In my helpless
years no hand but her’s caressed me—I knew no resting-place
but on her bosom—and when I could distinguish one from
another, I never left her dear presence. When I was ill she
lulled me to sleep by singing and by her harp, and sealed my
eye-lids with kisses and tears. Once, in the wild spirit of
healthy boyhood, I asked her—heaven knows how innocently !
—for my father. She laid her head on the table, and the
room shook with her convulsive sobs.”

Walter turned away his head, struggling in vain to speak.
At length, with an effort, he continued, ‘You may think me
a boy still to talk thus, for you do not know the pure and
intense love which two hearts united, and indifferent to all
A YOUNGER SON. 105

others, can feel—a friendless mother and her orphan child !
How can I, knowing that the dear angel has stinted herself,
perhaps of the necessaries of life, in order to remove me from
a situation in which she thought I suffered—for I forbore to
tell her so directly—how can I, now that her exertions and
prayers have been heard, destroy her fondest hopes? At least
Iam removed to a comparative state of happiness, and after
two years, I shall be allowed leave of absence to go to England,
and then—but tell me, can I—would you—deny such a parent
anything?”

I had followed his example in turning away my face, for I
could not reply. So it is in civilized life !—we were ashamed
of our feelings when natural, and glory, if not in atrocity, in
assumed apathy.

He then added, ‘‘ Come to me, and that speedily. We will
talk over your plans, and remember, whatever you do, or I do,
we are always brothers. Here, take this book—it has almost
unfitted me for my new profession—it is written for you, and
for men with souls like yours. I must try to forget it, but who
can estrange his mind from truth ?”

He wrung my hand, and was out of sight. When I looked
towards De Ruyter, who had been calmly smoking his hooka
under a tree, I perceived he was rubbing his eyes with his
rough and red hand. ‘That Walter,” said he, ‘will make
women of us all. Now, I loved my mother too—but cannot
talk of her. And like him, I had no father—at least I never
knew him!” He then, as was his custom when moved, bent
his head to the ground, and smoked with redoubled violence.
After a pause, he went on with, ‘That is a good-hearted
fellow, but he has sucked too much of his mother’s milk—it
has almost made him a girl. What book is that he has given
you ?—his mother’s bible ?—or a drawling psalter?—or a
cookery book?—or an army list?” He took it out of my
hand. ‘‘Ha!” he cried out, ‘ Volney’s Ruins of Empires, and
Laws of Nature! By the God of Nature the fellow has some
soul! Had I known this sooner, I would have worked him
to a better purpose!” But, after a moment’s reflection, he
said, ““No! a crooked stick, though straightened, is ever
struggling to resume its natural bend. I confide in men like
106 ADVENTURES OF

yourself, men naturally upright and resolved. They may be
warped too by their humours, or by force ; but, in the a they
will resume their uprightness, or be broken. Come, * * * *,
I must return to town to-morrow; and in ten days I am going
to sea. What do you intend to do?”

“Why, I have not yet,” I answered, ‘given it a thought.
T like this sort of quiet life.”

At this he smiled, and said: ‘‘ Well, my dear fellow, don’t
balk your wishes. The bungalo is yours, if you like it. Let
me see,—there are sixteen cocoa-nut trees,—the devil’s in it
if they and the garden won’t keep you and your yak in your
natural state; for old Saboo there keeps himself, and frow,
and half a score of young ones, with half their number.
Think of their value: from their sap you have toddy; toddy
fermented becomes arrack: the fruit, with rice, is an excellent
curry ; and compressed, you have abundance of oil to brighten
your skin, and lighten your darkness ; then of every shell you
can make a cup; the husks will furnish you with bedding,
twine, cordage, ropes, and cables: and the tree itself, when
old, may be formed into a canoe. Some of these commodities
you can barter for rice and ghee.”

“So I will; besides, I can live on fruit, and hunt, and
shoot.”

“Do so, my lad. Only, as the most exquisite luxuries do
pall, and become nauseous from possession, so may these, all
exquisite as they are. Remember I have a lovely little craft,
well armed and formed for peace or war, as occasion serves,
merely lacking an enterprising officer; such a one as I once
thought you would prove,—but I was mistaken.”

‘‘ Where, De Ruyter, is she? You never told me of this.
Come, where is she?”

“You forget your toddy, your cudgeree-pots, and pastoral
life.”

“Oh, no, I don’t! But, let us just have a look at the craft.
How is she rigged? Where does she lie? How many tons?
How many men? What is she to be employed in?”

‘“By no means. You appear so admirably adapted for a
baboo life, you had better go on with old Saboo. Perhaps next
year you may like to take a tour among the islands, and pick
A YOUNGER SON. 107

up a few Persian and Hindoo girls, for the propagation of
peasantry ;—is that in your law of nature?”

Thus he went on, bantering and laughing, but would give no
reply to my questions regarding the vessel. As he was in the
habit of journeying in the night, as soon as the great bear
shone on the verge of the Heavens, he shook my hand, threw a
bag of pagodas on the table, bade me deny myself nothing
money could procure, promised to be with me in a few days,
and returned to Bombay.

CHAPTER XXIII.

I could not choose but gaze; a fascination
Dwelt in that moon, and sky, and clouds, which drew
My fancy thither, and, in expectation
Of what I knew not, I remained.
SHELLEY.

HE night was such as is often seen in the east. Every
near object, fruit and flower, illumined by the bright,
deep, and liquid light of the moon and stars, was, in shape and
colour, as distinguishable and clear as by day. The pale and
softened tints, the bland and gentle air, fanning the drooping
trees, formed a delightful contrast to the flaming and red-hot
glare of the day, when the eyes are dazzled, and we gasp, as if
under suffocation, in the hot atmosphere. I sat down on the
green slope, listened to the hooting of the owls and watched
the flitting of the large vampire bats round the tank, until I
fell asleep. My dreams were of De Ruyter, of the Indian
islands, of Walter; but at last I started up at the abhorred
voice of the Scotch lieutenant, saying,—‘ How now, Sir !—
asleep on your watch!—gae to the mast-head and waken your-
sel!’ Looking up, I beheld not that snarling cur, but honest
old Saboo, who was waking me with this warning,—‘‘ No good
sleep in sun ; make sick ; house good to sleep.” I was cold and
cramped. The sun was up. Ordering some toddy, I went down
to the tank, plunged in, and was myself again.
The quiet and happy time I passed here was uncontaminated
108 ADVENTURES OF

by disgust. However, I had resumed a jacket and trowsers,
my skin not being musquito proof; and, having inadvertently
trampled on a nest of young centipedes, I was glad to replace
my shoes.

From my earliest remembrance, I was subject to occasional
melancholy ; but not of the gloomy kind; rather a pleasing and
soothing sensation than otherwise. This solitude was well-
adapted to awaken the shadowy phantoms that are created in
the imagination. Mingled with these, realities forced themselves
upon me, and at last I began to ponder on my singular position.
There was a strangeness and mystery in the actions and pur-
suits of De Ruyter, which I could not develope, and which
fascinated and spell-bound my spirit. The rapidity with which
he had gained an influence over me was marvellous. His frank-
ness, courage, and generosity—the nobleness of his nature—
his liberal and enlightened sentiments, so unlike the merchants
and money-traders I had seen, convinced me he was none of
them. After reflecting on his words, and what I had witnessed
of his conduct, I concluded he was commander of a private ship
of war. But then neither the English nor the Americans had
any in India ; the French indeed had something of the sort ;
but, if under their flag, what did he in an English port, and
apparently on friendly terms there ? My next conclusion was
that he was an agent of some of the Rajahs, who still were
independent sovereigns, although the Company were drawing
their circles within circles around them, tillthey became driven
from their fastnesses to the plain, to fall on any prey. These
princes, whether at peace or war, were known to have secret
agents in the presidencies, to transmit to them early intelli-
gence of the movements and policy of the Company’s residents.
De Ruyter seemed admirably fitted for this service ; though he
could not, or did not care always to disguise his indignation at
what, he thought, the barbarous policy, intolerance, and arro-
gance of the Anglo-Indian dictation in India. His brow used
to darken, his lip to quiver, and his eye to dilate, as he
narrated, with thundering voice, instances of its cruelty, extor-
tion, and presumption. Yet he liked England, and individuals
of that nation, though he preferred those of America, his
adopted country. He observed: “It is curious that all nations
A YOUNGER SON. 109

who are blessed with the greatest portion of liberty at home,
govern their colonies with the most remorseless and un-
measured despotism.” Then he would add: “ Fortunately
for mankind it is so; it forms the only hope of freedom’s being
ever universal. When goaded past endurance, the most patient
animal will turn, armed with the invincibility which despair
gives ;—the wild cat will do so against the tiger,—I have seen
him do it.”

This, and much more, which I now remembered of De
Ruyter, convinced me he was not what he seemed, but left me
still in doubt as to what he really was. If my surmises were
well grounded, I felt I should like him the better; and I enter-
tained not the slightest hesitation in placing myself under his
pilotage, from every thing I had seen of him. He was after my
own heart.

He sent me frequent notes and messages ; and as his depar-
ture was protracted, I could no longer refuse Walter’s pressing
invitation ; so that one evening I mounted a horse he had pro-
vided for me, and on the following night I was canopied under
his comfortable tent. He took a boyish delight in pointing out
and particularising all his comforts and advantages, contrasting
them with his early privations and sufferings. As not a particle
of envy was in my disposition, I participated in his feelings.
He had already become a favourite with the officers; and
having told them part of my story, we were hail-fellows the
first night I passed in the camp. Lscorted by a party of
them, I returned in a palanquin to my old quarters in Bom-
bay.

My time passed agreeably, either in the camp, or at the
bungalo, where I made parties, or at the tavern in Bombay ;
De Ruyter joining us when not employed about his affairs,—
or business, as he called it.
110 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXIV.

Man, who man would be,
Must rule the empire of himself ; in it
Must be supreme, establishing his throne
On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy
Of hopes and fears, being himself alone.
SHELLEY.

E RUYTER now took me on board of an Arab grab brig,
remarkable for its lean, wedge-like, and elongated bow.
She was rigged as a hermaphrodite ; and, as is the custom with
the Arabs, she had disproportionate square yards. Her crew
were partly Arabs ; and the remainder, by their colour and
dress, shewed they were of various castes. She was unloading
a cargo of cotton and spices, purchased, I was told, by the
Company. De Ruyter very seldom went on board of her ; but
her captain, called the Rais, was daily with him. They generally
met on board a small and very singular craft, called a dow.
She was chiefly manned with Arabs; but to my surprise the
sprinkling among them was of European seamen, Danes and
Swedes, with two or three Americans. These were secreted on
board, for what purpose I did not then know; but I was
especially cautioned not to mention the circumstance on shore.
This dow had a large mast forward, and gigger-mast aft. She
was the clumsiest and most unsightly craft I had ever seen in
India. Her head and stern, raised and raking, were of light
bamboo work. She seemed crank, and to have little hold of
the water. On De Ruyter’s asking me if I should like to have
the command of her, I answered, “‘ Yes; when I cannot get a
catamaran, or masuli boat, I may possibly hazard my carcase
on board her.”

“T see you are particular,” said he. ‘Now though I have
my choice, I shall, from preference, go to sea in her. Perhaps
you, being fastidious, may prefer the grab?”

“Why,” I replied, “ knock the shark’s head off her, and ship
a bowsprit in its place, with a lick of tar and paint, I should
be well content to take a eruise in her. Besides, I like the
look of those Arabs, and of those savage, lean, wild-eyed
«al YOUNGER SON. 11i

fellows, with their red caps, jackets and turbans. I never saw
cleaner or lighter made fellows to fly aloft in a squall, or board
an enemy in battle.’

«Yes, they are our best men, and come from Dacca; and
they'll fight a bit, I can tell you.”

“But then I should like to have something to fight with.”

“OQ, she has guns!”

“T hate those pea-shooter-looking things on her gunnels. A
few twelves, or short twenty-fours, would not be too much for
her. She has a beautiful water line, and a run aft like a
schooner. Her bow is of the leanest, and her beam being so
far aft, I doubt she pitches damnably in a swell. Nevertheless
there is a varment and knowing look about her which I like.”

« Well, will you run her down the coast to Goa. T’ll follow
in the old dow. When the sun sets, get on board, and weigh
with the land wind. You sce she is already removed into the
roadstead, and ready for sea. At daylight I shall get under
weigh. I have told the Rais that you are going in the grab,
and to obey you. Ill give you a few notes, in case of an
accident separating us, though it is not probable. Come along.
Remember you are a passenger to Goa. Not a word more to
Walter! When we get into blue water, you shall know every
thing. Are you satisfied?”

“Tam. I should not have held on so long without question-
ing, had I not entire confidence in you, De Ruyter. Where you
go, never doubt but I'll follow. I have not a very squeamish
stomach, and am no changeling.”

“Very well! But have one thing uppermost in your mind.
Before you can govern others, you must be perfect master of
yourself. That you may be so, do not, like a girl, let words or
gestures betray your purpose. A loose word spoken in passion,
or an embarrassed look, may mar your designs, however ably
planned. Above all things do not indulge in wine; for that,
they say, opens the heart, and who but a fool would betray
himself, perhaps to those on the watch to entrap him?”

“You know I drink but little.”

“True; but now I wish you not to drink at all.”

On my staring at him, he smiled, and said: ‘‘ That is, for the
present. If you do indulge, clo so with tried friends only. But
112 ADVENTURES OF

you had better not drink; for I know you can more easily
abstain altogether, than follow a middle course. Is it not so?”

“‘T believe you are in the right.”

After our return on shore, stopping near the tavern, he said :
“ Give your orders to these boatmen as to the things you want.
You'll find almost every thing you can have occasion for on
board; and that is lucky for you, as you are a most heedless
person.”

Just before the sun had sunk to rest, I received De Ruyter’s
parting instructions, shook hands with him, and leapt into the
boat. The Rais, who spoke English very well, received me ov
board, and shewed me into the cabin. I gave him a letter from
De Ruyter; he put it to his forehead, read it, and asked me at
what time I wished to get under weigh, as he was referred to
me. I answered, at twelve; such were my instructions. I
bade him hoist the boats in, stow them, and have every thing
prepared for sea.

While he executed these orders, I looked over De Ruyter’s
pencilled memorandums. Though I certainly understood I was
to have the command of the vessel, if I wished it, I could not
account for the strange way in which it was enforced upon me.
The Rais would do nothing without my orders. ‘ Well,”
thought I, “ with all my heart! To-morrow we shall meet the
dow, and then De Ruyter will enlighten me.”

Mine had been such a dog’s life in those situations in which
my guardians had placed me, that I could not possibly, seeking
my fortunes blindfold, stumble on any thing more miserable ;
so that not only without hesitation, but with a joyful alacrity,
my mind was instantly made up to execute any thing De
Ruyter, the only person who seemed interested in my fate,
thought fit to employ me in. I took a hasty turn or two on the
deck, with a firm step and proud glance, which command gives ;
and spoke with kindness to the Serang and others, as a man
does in the fresh bloom of office.

Though the vessel was in a disorderly trade-like trim, she
was not deficient in the essentials of defensive, if not offensive
warfare. Her masts and sails, with the coir running rigging,
had a slovenly look to a man of war-man’s eye ; and, from the
want of tar and paint, she had a bronze hue. Notwithstanding,
A YOUNGER SON. 113

on a close inspection, you could sce she had been fitted up with
great care in all essential points, and with many of the modern
European improvements. In measurement she was about three
hundred tons, but could stow little more than half. She had a
deep waist, pierced with portholes for guns, but battened in,
except the two forward and four after ones, which had six long
nine pounders. Her gunnels were armed with swivels. Her
forecastle was raised; and abaft she had a low poop, or half
deck, under which was the principal cabin. As the last stroke
on the gong sounded eight o'clock, the sailors’ supper time, I
instinctively returned to this after-cabin ; the grave, which time
had dug in my stomach since mid-day, yawning to be filled up.
Swarms of men, with the same intention, hastened from below,
squatted on their heels in small circles, divided by caste, and
turned to with their messala (messes) of rice, ghee, dried bum-
balo, curry, fresh fruit, and dried chillies.

Having filled up the aforesaid vacuum, I laid down on the
couch, smoked De Ruyter’s hooka, and took an inventory of
the cabin. It was low, but roomy ; and well lighted and cooled
from the stern ports. There were two sleeping berths on the
opposite sides ; and in the spaces between them and the upper
deck were two stars of pistols ; that is, fourteen or sixteen pistols
in each, with their muzzles together, their butts forming the
radii. The fore bulk-head was closely ribbed with bamboo spars ;
the outer portion was ranged with musquets; and there was a
garnish of bayonets, and jagged Malayan creeses, arrayed in
most fanciful forms. This was the ‘fitting for war,” as De
Ruyter called it. Then the after part was certainly dedicated to
peace, its shelves being crammed with books, writing materials,
and nautical instruments; and the ceiling, low as it was, had
a number of rolled charts suspended between the beams ; while
in the middle of the centre-beam swung the transversed com-
pass. In other nooks and corners were telescopes ; and, though
less picturesque, yet equally indispensible, such articles as I
had called in requisition for my supper.

Not being forbidden to sleep, nor having the fear of punish-
ment over my head for neglect of duty, I was wakeful and alert.
My mind was occupied by the responsibility with which my
friend had intrusted me. I walked the deck, gazing at the dog-

8
114 ADVENTURES OF

vane, to see it wooed by the land wind; but, as De Ruyter
said, it was near twelve before this took place. Then I ordered
the Rais to get under weigh, and, if possible, without noise.
The first, he said, was easy work ; but the last impossible. We
weighed our anchor, and went to sea.

CHAPTER XXY.

With thee, my bark, I’ll swiftly go
Athwart the foaming brine ;

Nor care what land thou bear’st me to,
So not again to mine.

Welcome, welcome, ye dark blue waves !
And, when you fail my sight,
Welcome ye deserts and ye caves !
My native land, good night !
Byron.

Li whose physical and mental powers, no matter of what

metal they are composed, when forced into premature
development by artificial means, or by the communication of
cities, attain the rapid and wire-drawn growth of plants and
herbs in the dense shelter of a forest. Harly they put forth
their leaves and buds, but seldom if ever more; or if they do
produce fruit, it is unwholesome and nauseous. When trans-
planted from their shelter into the open spaces of the world,
the first frost or storm destroys them. So it is with animals:
the power of the high-bred racer, forced by exciting food and
clothing, does indeed give an early promise of strength, but
never realized. He is cut off in the dawn of his prime, with all
the symptoms of age and decay.

There are in the north some few men, and women too, who,
without this care and culture, spring up into their full growth
with the marvellous rapidity of the east; and the germs of life
and hardiness within them are not to be subdued, perceptibly,
by time or toil; so that, at the age when ordinary beings
become extinguished, these iron ones yet hold their ground,
sturdy and upright. Such were the patriarchs of the olden time ;
and now that the world is more ripe with war, disease and ad-
A YOUNGER SON. 115

venture, diminishing their numbers, yet such beings are to be
found, who outlive all kin and kind, who cease to count time
by years, but refer to the page of history and past events, and
wonder of what malady a brother dicd at fourscore.

Though not one of these granite pillars, I gave token, not
artificially, of belonging to their hardy breed, for, at this period
of my life, I had attained the attributes of perfect manhood. I
was six feet in stature, robust, and bony, almost to gauntness ;
and, with the strength of maturity, I had the flexibility of limb
which youth alone can give. Naturally of a dark hue, my com-
plexion readily taking a darker from the sun, I was now com-
pletely bronzed. My hair was black, and my features perfectly
Arab. At seventeen I looked to be seven and twenty. Then,
having in extreme youth, been left to jostle my way through
the crowd, I had made a proportionate advance in, what is
called, worldly knowledge, which experience alone, not years,
can teach.

In the way I have related the course of my first acquaintance
and subsequent friendship with De Ruyter, I am fearful that
some may be impressed with an erroneous idea that he was
selfishly working on the malleability of my youth. I can speak
now with proof of his having been assayed on the touchstone
of time, and found true gold. De Ruyter himself was in reality
a friendless wanderer ; a man self-exiled, from out the pale of
civilization and its ties; and with a highly wrought imagina-
tion and cultivated mind, it was natural he should seek objects
to lavish his affections on, and who could sympathize with him.
Such were not easy to be found where he was, and in his
unsettled way of life. With the semi-barbarians of the Kast it
was out of the question; and the European adventurers were
scattered about, busy in the accumulation of wealth, or
exclusively engaged in their own separate views of ambition.
The few renegado sailors he could pick up from time to time
were either deserters, or deserted for their worthlessness.
A few associates he had liked were removed by death, or,
what is the same thing, distance. He was not formed
for an Asiatic: his free and buoyant nature impelled him
to seek companionship; and having perhaps no predilection
at that period, as accident cast me in his way, his feelings
116 ADVENTURES OF

were interested in my behalf. He had perfectly seen through
me during that period, though short yet full of matter;
and nothing doubted but that, with a little time and guidance,
I should become what he wished me to be. He perceived that
added to the fresh and warm feelings of youth, I possessed
honesty, sincerity, and courage, not yet soiled and way-worn
by journeying through the sloughs of the world, which few can
pass without defilement. The step he took therefore was not so
preposterous as superficial lookers-on might conclude. From
the hour in which I had consummated my revenge on the
lieutenant, in a manner which cut off the possibility of my re-
turn to the navy, De Ruyter, seeing I was utterly friendless,
became my friend in its true sense, and ever after treated me
as such, so that if fathers followed his example, we should have
less of that eternal and mawkish cant about filial disobedience,
dull as it is false, spawned on society by dry and drawling
priests, and incubated by the barren sect of mouldy, soddened
blues. His disposition, or restlessness, caused his to be a life
of adventure, and consequently of peril. I was a scion of the
same stock; my inclinations homogenial; and whether I had
met with him or not, I should have run my destined course,
though not on the same ground.

As I am writing more for my own gratification, and to
beguile the now weary hours, than for strangers, they must be
content to give me cable and range enough, while narrating
this part of my history, which, however dry and tedious to
them, is to me the most interesting. And who that lives, and
has a heart not grown sabre-proof, does not glow with pleasure
at the remembrance of what he did and felt from seventeen to
twenty ? With some, both earlier and later remembrances may
be equally delightful. Not so with me; for at twenty-one I
was like a young steer taken from the pasture to the shambles;
or like the wild horse, selected from the herd, and lagoed by
the South American gauchoes in the midst of my career. The
fatal noose was cast around my neck, my proud crest humbled
to the dust, the bloody bit thrust into my mouth, my shaggy
mane trimmed, my hitherto untrammelled back bent with a
weight I could neither endure nor shake off, my light and
springy action changed into a painful amble,—in short, I was
A YOUNGER SON. 117

married; and married to—but I must not antedate my Huro-
pean adventures. For the present I must endeavour to forget
it, that I may relate my actions in India with the open and
fiery spirit which freedom gives; not in the subdued tone of a
shackled, care-worn, and spirit-broken married man of the
civilized west.

We gently glided out of the port, with just enough of air, as
sailors express it, to lull the sails to sleep. At daylight, the
port and harbour still in sight on our lea-beam, we discerned
the sluggardly old dow under weigh, creeping along the land
like a tortoise. At noon a breeze sprung up from the 8.W. ;
and at sunset, relieved by distance from all apprehension of our
movements being watched by the port, I bore up, ran some
leagues in shore, shortened sail, and hove to. As I had antici-
pated, with the earliest dawn, when the grey mists evaporated
and left a clear line of horizon, it was first broken, as I swept
it round with a telescope, by the old dow, like a black spot on
the light blue sea, on the bow. I ordered the helmsman to
bear up; and with a press of sail we came down on her at
eight o’clock. I hailed her, and De Ruyter came on board.
We again hauled our wind, and continued our course along the
land.

De Ruyter then retired with me to breakfast in the cabin,
inquiring of me what I thought of the grab. ‘She seems to
move,” I said, ‘independently of the wind. We passed a
man-of-war brig yesterday, as if she were a rock.”

«Yes, in such a light air as this, nothing will come near
her. In a heavy head-sea, she does indeed pitch heavily.
But if not over-pressed, she is light, buoyant, and holds a
good wind. Therefore, don’t press sail on her, or she will be
buried.”
118 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXVI.

Half ignorant they turned an easy wheel,
That set sharp racks at work, to pinch and peel.

Why were they proud? Because their marble founts
Gush’d with more pride than do a wretch’s tears?
Why were they proud? Because fair orange mounts

Were of more soft ascent than lazar stairs ?
Why were they proud? Because red-lined accounts
Were richer than the songs of Grecian years ¢
Why were they proud? again we ask aloud,
Why in the name of Glory were they proud ?
Knars.

E RUYTER, after some other nautical talk, veered round

to the point of the compass I desired, commencing with,

—‘* What I told you at Bombay was true ;—I was a merchant

there. Now, having concluded my mercantile task, I am

ready for freighting or fighting: but I am generally compelled

to begin with the latter. I pursue no invariable line of action ;
both I and the grab are transmutable.”

‘“‘ How are we to shape our course now ?”

“‘ Why, in this wide sea, and amidst the conflicting broils and
wars of European adventurers, and native princes, and rajahs,
—besotted barbarians, worrying and flying at each other's
throats in contention about the pasture, while English wolves
steal in and walk off with the cattle,—there can be no lack of
employment, though it requires consideration to decide. First,
we must run down the coast to Goa, where, having settled
some business, and laid up the dow, we shall afterwards be to-
gether ; and then it will be time enough to decide on our after-
movements. How old are you?”

“‘T have turned seventeen.”

“That's odd!—I took you for twenty. Well,—no matter
your age. A green trunk often produces the ripest and richest
fruit. A little more experience, which you will soon pick up
in our bustling life, and a great deal more of command over
your passions, and you will lack little of the essential qualifi-
cations to fit you for any thing on sea oron shore. The choice
is entirely yours. If you like land-work, I have some friends
A YOUNGER SON. 119

scattered about, who, for your own sake, as well as mine, will
be glad to employ you. If you stay with me, I need not say
that you are most welcome. But mine is a rough life; and if
you are to judge of my actions by the G@ommon canting sophistry
of public opinion, you may pronounce their legality as some-
thing more than questionable, and had better not hazard your
reputation.”

“Hang that!” I replied; ‘with your permission I shall
stay where Iam. I told you before I wished to stay with
you, and I repeat it. I don’t want to know your plans till
I have experience enough to aid you with my counsel.”

“No; you are a man in intellect, and have more firmness
than most men I have had to deal with. For some things I
have done, those devouring locusts of Europe have denounced
me a bucanier. These sordid fellows, who would squeeze their
fathers’ eyes out without compunction, if they were nutmegs,
will let no man warm his blood with spice, or cool it with tea,
unless they have their profit, or, as it is called, thoir dustoory.
They would monopolise every thing, and wherever there is
gain, let them but once hit on the scent, they'll hunt it out
through blood and mire, and admit no sharers in the spoil.
Now I like spice and tea too; and their system of exclusive
right not suiting with my ideas of things, I began to open a
trade for myself. They denounced me, seized my vessel, and
left me bankrupt. Well! I did not rot in a jail, nor sit down
in abject despair, nor waste my breath in beggarly petitions.
I am not one of those spiritless cravens. I went forth again,
alone like the lion, no longer circumscribed within the narrow
limits of a paltry burgher, but determined on making reprisals,
and returning blow for blow, no matter whence it came. In
the interval, however, between my ruin and return to the sea,
I gratified my longing to see the interior of India, and traversed
the greatest part of 1t. I sojourned some time with Tippoo
Sahib. He alone had the ingredients of greatness in his com-
position. I accompanied him to some of his principal battles,
—but you know his fate. I was, at that time, one of those
visionary enthusiasts, impelled, by an ardent love of liberty, to
try to breast the stream which heaves the weak onward un-
resistingly. Like a petty mountain-torrent contending with a
120 ADVENTURES OF

mighty river, I foamed and struggled to maintain my purpose;
but in vain.—I was borne on like the rest, till mingled with
them I became lost in the wide ocean. Foolishly I thought
that men might be induced to lay aside their paltry interests
for a season, and let their passions sleep, like scorpions in the
winter, till the sun of freedom dawned, and gave them leisure,
undisturbed by foreign invasion, to resume their civil and
religious discord. I conjured princes and priests (the world’s
attorneys,) to relax their gripe on each other's throat, till the
general enemy were driven from the shore to the sea from
whence they came. But truth is a sword in a child’s hand,
dangerous to himself alone. My doctrine was thought damn-
able. I narrowly escaped adding my name to the list of
martyrs. Every where throughout the east I saw the necessity
of a great moral revolution. The old system is there in all the
grey and hoary frightfulness of desolation and decay ; and will
remain dreary and hideous, till an entirely new one shall
spring up. Time alone can effect this; and the efforts of hands
like mine to hasten his tortoise-steps are puerile.”

“Tt seems to me,” I observed, ‘that we have not much to
brag of in Europe. There is room for alteration; and men’s
minds, and hands too, are already at the work of regenera-
tion.”

“Ay, but for themselves alone, as among the natives here.
Europe is an old man’s child, an unnaturally begotten and
wrinkled abortion, created out of the shattered fragments of
the wreck of the east, pieced and joined igeniously together,
but without solidity. It is an antique bronze, patched and
smeared with white wash, a plaster miniature copy from a
granite statue. The finger of destruction is already upon it,
like a Spartan mother’s on her puny offspring. Thus thinking,
I was aroused from my dreams of reformation ; and having ex-
pended my gold, and wanting bread, I turned round, resolved
henceforth to go with the stream, and say, with the wise
philosopher, ancient Pistol,—‘ The world’s mine oyster, which
I with sword will open.’ I returned to the sea, went to the
Mauritius, fitted out an armed vessel on credit, and quadrupled
my former capital ;—it was but fair I should have interest for
my money. My person is not much known; however, I seldom
A YOUNGER SON. 121

trust myself in any of the residencies. My visit to Bombay
was to achieve an important object,—not to dispose of the
paltry cargo of the grab. Yet,” laughing, he continued, “ if
they had grabbed me there! Why, what do you think ? That
very cargo they have paid for—once at least, as I have
vouchers for that—and perhaps twice, if the original venders
have not been defrauded of it. Six months ago, cruising in
this grab, under French colours, I cut off a lazy Company’s ship
from Amboyna, lagging astern of her convoy,—that was her
cargo! I have intelligence of some more of them loading at
Banda, and perhaps we may fall in with them. When they
are swollen up like leeches, I know where to put my thumb
on them, and squeeze them till they disgorge. What say
you ?”’

“With all my heart!’’ I answered. ‘But, till I came here,
I always heard that our colonies were for the protection of the
poor devils, they not being able to take care of themselves, and
for their conversion to christianity ;—then, when baptized and
civilized, emancipation will follow.”

“Truly, so it will,—when they are converted. It is curious,
though now so few stomachs are gross enough to retain cant or
castor oil, that every quack thinks he has a method of insinua-
ting either of them down the throat without nausea. We are
drenched whether we will or no, with oil of cant, as a panacea
for all complaints. This is certainly the age of gold, for who
values any thing else? Women, saints, and philosophers
squabble now for nothing but loaves and fishes. Who specu-
lates on any other subject than how to fill his purse? And
what is not to be attained by gold, from kingdoms to mitres
and maidens? This merchant-company say they have an ex-
clusive right (which is a general wrong) to the entire produce
of this great empire. On what a grand scale is robbery now
carried on! Petty plundering is out of fashion, and put to
shame. The mighty thieves have now enclosed that beauti-
ful island,—I wonder we are allowed to inhale its fragrant
odours!”

“What! Ceylon!”

“Yes; they have there a ring-fence of posts, in which the
King of Candy is enmeshed. He calls the English beach-
122 ADVENTURES OF

masters, but soon will they be his masters. Jungle, reptiles,
nor fever can hold back those led on by insatiable avarice, till
glutted with entire possession. The other spice-islands will
follow. Then no rock so bare but they will covet, and con-
vert to their own purposes. Yet their reign will be but as
a day; the time of just retribution will come, and that
speedily.”

‘You are too sweeping in your strictures, De Ruyter. At
least, they make a shew of doing some good. They have
established schools, built churches, started newspapers,—which
are the banners of freedom.”

“Tt is but shewing false colours! The schools are for their
own offsets; the churches to provide for knaves; and their
printing, being entirely under their own censorship, is one
canto of premeditated lies for exportation. As for priests,—
better the plague had crossed the equator! They are a well-
sifted compound of bigots and fools, of knaves, jesuits, presby-
terians, moravians, and the bilious tribe of croaking, beetle-
browed, ravenous, obscure dissenters. We had venomous
reptiles enough before they were let loose on us.”

“You are now growing scurrilous, if not blasphemous.
Remember they have made converts, even of some of your own
men.”

“They have converted honest men into hypocrites, lke
themselves; but if I catch any more on board, I'll keelhaul
them. As long as there are beggars and outcasts, and they
give rice and arrack, a sprinkling of water on the forehead
won't stand in the way of a meal and a glass of grog down
their throats.”

“A few honest men there must be among them.”

“Perhaps so; but their being here is no proof of their
wisdom. And what can they do? Before they have become
seasoned to the climate, and have learnt the language, most
of them drop off. The rest devote themselves, not to saving
souls from being damned, but to preaching damnation on each
other. If their sacerdotal cloaks cover aught but hypocrisy,
the Company know how to slake their holy zeal by letting
them plainly see their labour is in vain. The vagabonds they
do baptize are left on their hands, unsaleable as rotton sheep ;
A YOUNGER SON. 128

for none of the Company’s servants are permitted to employ
them; nay, if before employed, they lose their bread with
their caste, lest they should taint the flock. Merchants know
that the many-faced and many-handed Bramah is a fit god for
slaves; they know also that they may keep their ground while
the multitudinous conflicting castes of superstitious idolatry
shall endure; and that their tenure would be of little worth,
if the natives were united in one religion.—But the sun is
sinking in the wave; and by its bloody mantle, and by the
mares’ tails streaming in the sky, we shall surely have
a breeze. I have only this to add: I am no hungry dog,
to stand patiently by, in the hope of picking a bone, which
these lordly merchants, in general, pretty successfully blanch
before they leave it. Let them gorge themselves undisturbed
till, like the vulture, their weight is too heavy for their wings ;
then we, like hawks, after hovering in watchfulness, will
pounce upon them. No harm in despoiling robbers! A convoy
of Company’s country craft, protected by their own cruisers,—
whom I hold as trash for aping ships of war,—has sailed for
the spice islands. By the by, you must transform your body,
with an abbah, into an Arab’s,—when they can’t detect you.
I have written full instructions. Continue your course to Goa,
where I will follow. On no account go on shore till my
arrival. The Parsee merchant, for whom I have prepared a
letter, will do all you want. See, the breeze is springing up!
Haul the boat alongside !”

He shook my hand, jumped into the boat, and returned to
the old dow.

CHAPTER XXVII.

We can escape even now,

So we take fleet occasion by the hair.
SHELLEY.

OTHING particular occurred till our arrival at Goa. I

had rigged myself in loose dark trowsers, and purple

vest, with a high black cap of Astracan lamb’s skin, a cashmere
shawl round my waist, and a small creese stuck in it. My long
124 ADVENTURES OF

dark elf-locks were shaven off, with the exception of one, on the
crown, by which the black-eyed houris were to haul me into
paradise. A roll of beetle nut, properly chinammed, stuck in,
or was rather sticking out of my cheek. My teeth were dyed
in the bright red colour of chess-men; and my bare neck,
arms and ancles were well greased and highly polished. The
men gathered around in congratulation, declared unanimously
that I must be, that I was decidedly Arab, and even went so
far as to demand who was my father, and of what tribe.

I lay to, off the point of Cape Ramas, all night awaiting the
dow, passed under the fort of Aguada, and anchored in the
harbour of Goa. The sun rose magnificently, glittering on the
marble monasteries, and on the ruined arches and colleges of
the old town, spread dver an extent which shewed it had once
been a flourishing city. The bunder, or pier, was breached
by the sea, and in the harbour was nothing but a motley as-
semblage of country small craft. I sent the Rais on shore
with the ship’s papers and the letter to the merchant. In
the evening the dow came to an anchor under our stern; and
at night-fall De Ruyter was again with me.

On the following day he went up the country to meet some
agents of the Rajah of Mysore and a Mahrattah prince; leaving
me at Goa to discharge the remaining part of the cargo, cou-
sisting of coffee and rice, and to take in ballast, and to com-
plete our water. When he returned to Goa, I saw with him a
Greek and a Portuguese, whom I believed to be spies in his
employment. They used to meet in the ruins of a monastery
or college in the old town, close to the sea, always at night.
On these occasions De Ruyter came on board for one of the
grab’s boats, which landed him there. Their conferences were
from twelve to two, a.m. The crew of the boat was even
selected by De Ruyter.

Having got everything ready for sea, we removed all the
men, and what else was useful, from the old dow, which was
here given up to her owners. I warped outside the harbour,
and every night at sunset, I hoisted the boats in, and hove
short, lying in readiness to move on the instant. On the tenth
day after our arrival, one hour after midnight, I observed, by
the phosphoric light sparkling on the black surface of the
A YOUNGER SON. 125

water, something approaching us with unusual rapidity. The
hallooing and distant turmoil in the harbour was hushed ; the
moving lights on the shore had been some time extinguished,
but just then I thought I descried some commotion on the
pier. As the sound was borne off by the light air from the
land, I distinctly heard some one hailing a boat in the port.
This was repeated louder and louder. Lights then re-appeared
along the beach, and I heard the noise of oars, and spars, and
boats, as if moving from amongst others to the shore. The
noise growing higher, I turned towards the first object which
had caught my attention in the other quarter; and, though
all was silent there, I still distinguished the sparkling ripple in
the waters, and the long arrowy line of light, such as a shoot-
ing star leaves in the heavens, or the wake of a boat darting on
a calm sea in this climate. By the muffled sound of oars, and
by the long and heavy strokes which De Ruyter had taught
the men in his favourite boat, I knew her, and marvelled at
her returning before the wonted hour, and at the rapidity with
which she approached. The noise in the harbour augmented.
My mind misgave me that all was not right. I felt my heart
flutter with anxiety of I knew not what. I called the Serang,
who was asleep, (the Rais being with the boat,) told him to
rouse the men, and, in my impatience, kicked them up my-
self.

Ordering them to man the capstan, loose the jib and fore-
top-sail, and cast off the lashings of the fore and aft main-sail,
I returned to the gangway, where, now seeing our boat, I
hailed her. Instead of the usual reply of ‘‘ Achar,” a voice
answered in a low and suppressed tone, “Yup! Yup!”
(silence! silence !) I had been instructed regarding this signal,
and rushing to the bow, I seized the axe lying by its side in
readiness, then, ordering the jib to be hoisted to pay her round,
cut the cable, together with a chip from an Arab’s leg, who was
standing by it.

De Ruyter then came forward, and said: ‘ That was right,
my boy, in cutting the cable ; but be cool,—you have wounded
this poor fellow,—send him into the cabin. Clap all the
canvass on her instantly. I’ll go aft. The blood-hounds have
hit on a scent; they think to find us like jungle-fowls at
126 ADVENTURES OF

roost; but they shall find a panther, and he is never caught
sleeping !”’

He sprang alt. We wore slowly round, and as I was cursing
the length of her kelstow, and the lightness of the breeze, which
made her so tardy in paying round, De Ruyter put his hand
on my shoulder, and said, ‘Arm the men, * * * *!—but only
with their spears. Let no boat come alongside of us, or attempt
it. Speak them fair, but if a man puts his hand on the ladder,
spear him as you would a wild boar. There is no occasion for
saltpetre, in makes a noise, and has a bad smell. Harpoon
them! but not till I tell you. I must keep back, and not be
seen. If they question you about De Witt, the merchant, say
you know him not.”

Two boats were approaching, and the foremost hailed us
with—“ Grab, ahoy!’’ I answered. They commanded me to
heave to, as they wished to see the captain. I ordered the
Serang to let the mainsail fall, and loose the top-gallant-sails,
and replied—‘ We are going to sea. I have got my port
clearances, and ship’s papers, all regularly signed at the proper
offices. I can’t lose this breeze. What do you want?”

“ Heave to, Sir, instantly, or we shall fire!”

“You had better not,’ I said.

We had not yet got weigh enough on her to distance the first
boat, which belonged to the captain of the port. De Ruyter
ordered the men to lie down on deck. He stood at the helm.
He was just calling to me to keep under cover, when, with a
flash of light from the boat, a ball whizzed by my head, and
went into the mast. In obedience to De Ruyter’s orders, I did
not return it, much against my inclination. Soon after, as the
boat was shooting up to board us on the gangway, De Ruyter,
bearing away, brought them under the lee quarter. Not being
able to board us there, they lost some time, by falling astern,
before they could re-use their oars. In this way (the breeze
now freshening a little) we kept them off some time, during
which not a word was spoken. De Ruyter remained at the
helm, and I, with a party of men, stood ready, all armed with
spears, to prevent their boarding us. The other boat was
nearing us, and both had fired many musquets; but we,
sheltered by the bulk-heads of the deep waist, were untouched.
A YOUNGER SON. 127

The foremost boat now got hold of the lee chains, and they
were very coolly coming on board. De Ruyter said, ‘“ Cheelo,
chae!” (Advance boys!) when we thrust our spears through
the port-holes, and three or four, with their leader, fell back,
spitted, into the boat, yelling with pain. Notwithstanding an
officer’s commanding them to hold on, they would not; but as
the other boat was coming up under the stern, I cast off one of
the after guns, ran it out of the stern port, and hailing both
the boats, I said, ‘‘ If you pull another stroke in our wake, or
play your fire-works off under our stern, you shall hear the
roar of this brazen serpent. Command where you have power
to enforce obedience ; you have none here.”

I blew the cotton match ; they saw the bright brass muzzle
of the gun depressed to a line with the boat, when I could have
blown them to pieces. They lay on their oars; and their
oaths and threats, mingled with the rippling of the waves, died
away, while we, crowded with sail, majestically receded from
the port, and beheld them returning from their bootless
expedition to the shore.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The slim canoe
Of feather’d Indian darts about, as through

The delicatest air.
Keats.

FTER taking the bearings of the land, De Ruyter patted

me on the back, and said, ‘‘ Those who fight under the
banner of silence are victorious, whilst noise and threats end in
defeat. The force of air or fire, when concentrated and con-
fined, is irresistible. Women, and weak people, and boys
before they have learnt to bite, bluster and threaten. A silent
man, with a drawn weapon, is to be dreaded, because he is
determined. When a man vaunts or menaces, he is either
afraid, or he wavers in his purpose ;—I have ever found it so.
Come, you have made a proper beginning!—why, your
wariness exceeds that of the oldest and most experienced.
What induced you to keep so much on the alert, that you were
128 ADVENTURES OF

prepared to be under weigh before I even hailed you? T
thought the night-owls on shore had anticipated me, and were
alongside of you.”

I told him the reasons which had impressed me with an
idea that all was not right. ‘‘ Well!” he added, “IT had great
confidence in you, and anticipated much when your judgment
should be perfected by experience. But, in some natures,
quickness of perception is in tuition, like instinct,—it is strange.
But go, my lads, you have worked hard, and when overwrought
we must have rest. Go to sleep; I will keep the watch to-
night.”

He shook me as I lay half dozing, with my head on the
hatchway, saying, ‘“‘The night dew, with a land wind, is here
as venomous as the serpeut’s bite; it is heavy with the vapours
from the jungles. Good night!” Notwithstanding my ob-
jections to leave the deck, complaining of the heat, and urging
that we might still be pursued, he: was peremptory that I
should go below. ‘No fear,” said he; “before daylight the
eye of the eagle will not descry us, though perched on the
highest rock. Good night!”

The change of atmosphere, which takes place an hour before
the night is seen to break into day, awoke me. I stumbled up
the ladder on deck, and was only thoroughly roused by break-
ing my shins against a gun-bolt. De Ruyter was standing on
a gun-carriage, looking over the stern with a night-glass; the
moon was reflected on his face ; he looked haggard with watch-
ing, and his hair and moustachios were dank with dew. Sa-
luting him, I requested he would go to rest, and apologized for
my long sleep. ‘‘I only wonder,’ was his answer, “‘ you are
up so early; but the young and happy rest when the sun
withdraws his light, and awaken when he unfolds his curtains.
At my age you will keep company with the moon, and prefer
the shadowy silence of night to the glaring day, which is the
prelude of never ending, and never useful toil.”

We were standing to the southward and westward, under a
press of canvass. The watch were sleeping in groups under
cover of the half-decks. As the day broke, De Ruyter looked
carefully around the horizon, and ordered the watch to be
awakened to their diurnal duties, never ending on board a
a YOUNGER SON. 129

ship, and he ascertained the only sails in sight to be country
vessels. Our distance from the harbour and land was such as
to blend all minute points into an undefined mass, its dark
outline broken by the fleecy clouds of morning, and enveloped
in transparent vapours. We took our departure from the land,
and De Ruyter retired to the cabin, pricked her run of the
night on the chart, gave me directions how to steer, and when
to call him, covered himself in his capote, and slept. Hauling
up as he directed, I kept a §.E. course, to make the southern
most of the Lacadive Islands.

In getting into the latitude of these islands, we were many
days becalmed. My mind was then too elastic to be oppressed
with weariness. I loved the sea in all its moods. During the
day the duties of the ship occupied me, and, notwithstanding
the grab remained as stationary as if she had taken root, time
seemed to keep pace with the swallow. My inclinations and
duty were, for the first time, blended together, and, from a
drowsy boy, I all at once, as if by magic, became transformed
into a most active and energetic man.

De Ruyter wished to give his vessel a more warlike trim.
We hoisted up four verdigrised brass nine-pounders, secreted
under the ballast on the kelston, and mounted them. We
fitted and filled shot-lockers on deck, made cartridges, and
prepared two furnaces for heating shot red-hot. We put the
magazine in order, made rockets and blue-lights, cleaned and
whitewashed between decks, mustered and quartered the men,
exercised them, and practised the guns and small arms, and I
learnt to use the spear and creese, under the tuition of the
Rais.

We had fourteen Europeans, chiefly from the dow; they
were Swedes, Dutch, Portuguese and French. We had also a
few Americans, together with samples of almost all the sea-
faring natives of India; Arabs, Mussulmans, Daccamen,
Cooleys, and Lascars. Our steward and purser was a mongrel
Frenchman, the cabin-boy, English, the surgeon, Dutch, and
the armourer and master-of-arms, Germans. De Ruyter was
indifferent as to where his men were born, or of what caste
they were: he distinguished them by their worth alone. 1 was
astonished at such dissimilar and incongruous ingredients

9
180 ADVENTURES OF

being mingled together with so little contention; but it was
the consummate art of the master-hand, his cool and collected
manner which regulated all: before a murmur was heard, he
forestalled every complaint by a timely remedy. He himself
was the most active and unwearied in toil, the first in every
danger, and every thing he did was done quicker and better
than it could have been by any other person. In short, he
would have been, amidst an undistinguished throng of adven-
turers, in any situation of peril or enterprise, by a unanimous
voice, their chosen leader. The most unforeseen calamity,
which struck the hardiest aghast, when all looked in hopeless
despair, he was prepared to meet, not by submitting to it, but
by an opposition equal to the emergency. This, however, must
be shewn in his actions, and J proceed with our voyage.

On the fourth day, the sameness of the scene, the blue sky
and blue sea, underwent a change. Masses of clouds began to
move and meet until the horizon was overcast with gloom.
We took in our light canvass, and double-reefed the top-sails,
Cat’s paws, or light airs, came scudding along the waters from
all points of the compass, amidst pale streaks of lightning and
low thunder. Then the rain fell in torrents, and the rippling
of the sea, borne by the eddy-winds into puny waves con-
tending for sway, subsided, and now, bending all one way, was
accompanied by a steady breeze, instead of a violent gale,
which we had expected. The clouds evaporated in rain; and,
borne by a steady wind from the N.E., at daylight we came in
sight of the Lacadive islands.

The canoes of the natives here astonished me. They are
called by Europeans, owing to the wonderful rapidity with
which they sail, flying prows. One of them hull down on our
lee beam, we going under a staggering top-gallant breeze eleven
knots an hour, came up to windward of us, standing two points
nearer the wind, and passed us as if we had been stationary.
There was a short breaking sea; two or three of her men,
standing on her outriggers, looked as if they flew on the
waters. She dashed not over, but through the sea, and at
times was quite enveloped in the spray, resembling the reaction
of a water-spout after its breaking,

De Ruyter drew a sketch, and gave me a description of the
A YOUNGER SON. 181

boat. ‘These untaught people,” he said, “ have achieved, in
the construction of that vessel, the triumph and perfection of
naval architecture, in which we, with all our learning, study,
and encouragement, have not gone beyond our A B C, as far
as concerns swiftness, dexterity in change of direction, the
making no lee-way, and, above all, simplicity of working.
They have done all this; consequently the construction of their
proa is, in every part, in contradistinction to our ideas of naval
architecture. We build the head and stern of a vessel as
dissimilar as possible; they construct them precisely of the
same form and proportions. The sides of our vessels, on the
other hand, are precisely the same; but in the proa you see
the sides altogether different. The proa never tacks, sailing
indifferently with either end foremost, as occasion serves ; but
the same side is constantly the weather one. The left, or lee-
side is flat as a plumb line can make it; consequently she
would capsise, the weather-side being rounded, and from her
great length and narrow beam ; but, to prevent this, on the
lee-side, an outrigger, made of bamboos, projects considerably
into the sea, and supports a heavy log of cocoa wood, shaped
like a solid canoe. This gives her an immense artificial beam,
without opposing much resistance to the water. Between this
outrigger and the flat side of the proa the water passes without
obstruction, and is the cause both of her celerity, and that no
lee-way is made. The proa itself, or body of the boat, is
merely a few planks sewed together, and wadded between the
seams with coir-oakum. Not a nail, nor a bit of metal is
about her. The sail is matting, the mast and yards are of
bamboo. When they want to go about, they bear away and
bring what is then the stern to the wind, move the heel of the
triangular sail till they fix it on the opposite end, and at the
same time shift the boom into the opposite direction ; so that
what was the stern is then the head, and a man to steer always
remains at each of the extremities. It may be said of them
that they keep pace with the wind. No European vessel, in
any weather, ever had a chance with them. They are admir-
ably adapted for the navigation of islands situated in the
latitude of the trade-winds, being enabled to cross on a wind
from one to the other, with as unerring a flight as a crane ;
122 ADVENTURES OF

while, in our vessels, if we miss the object steered for, by
making lee-way, we have great difficulty, and lose time in
beating up. True it is they are of small capacity, adapted
solely to the simple commerce of bartering superfluous pro-
ductions for absolute necessaries. The ordinary Indian canoe
would not serve their purpose ; it either foundered in sudden
squalls, or was driven to leeward of its destined port. By
their ingenuity they invented this simple alteration and
addition, and attained the important results I have pointed
out.”

CHAPTER XXIX.

And first one universal shriek there rush’d,
Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash

Of echoing thunder ; and then all was hush’d
Save the wild wind, and the remorseless dash

Of billows; but at intervals there gush’d,
Accompanied with a convulsive splash,

A solitary shriek,—the bubbling cry

Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

Byron.

N nearing one of these islands, I went on shore to see

the natives, and obtain fruit. In the night the breeze
again died away. At daylight we saw two or three square-
rigged vessels, about two leagues to the westward of us, lying
becalmed. I boarded one of them, in a boat with ten men
well armed; and her Rais, who was in great apprehension,
told me he had been boarded off the Persian Gulf, by a large
Malay brig, full of men. They had not only plundered him
and two other vessels in his company, but killed several of his
men, using them with great cruelty. He added, that this
Malay had been cruizing at the entrance of the gulf, and had
rifled a vast number of vessels.

I brought the captain and some of his crew on board the
grab. After De Ruyter had satisfied himself that the man’s
story, with all the particulars was true, he instantly determined
to look after the Malay. The Persians told him she was full
 

ODYSSEUS.

(From a print in the British Museum.)
A YOUNGER SON. 133

of gold, and that her cargo was so rich, she had cast rich bales
of Persian silk into the sea, not having room to stow them.

In the evening a light breeze sprung up, and we made a long
stretch to the northward and westward, anticipating to fall in
with her before she entered the straights of Malacca. We
made a capital run in the ensuing days, kept a good look-out,
and daily boarded many country boats and vessels, hoping to
learn intelligence of the pirate. Day and night we were most
vigilant, and hourly our hopes were excited by some passing
stranger, whom we all swore was the Malay, whom we chased,
and then were as often chagrined at finding our hopes deceived,
or rather at their deceiving us.

De Ruyter’s patience was now exhausted. He had im-
portant despatches for the Isle of France, and would brook no
longer detention. We therefore reluctantly altered our course
again to the southward, and after running twenty or thirty
leagues in that direction, at daylight, when the horizon was
particularly clear, before the sun arose with his misty mantle,
the man at the mast-head called out, “A large sail on the lee-
bow!”

Fearing she might be a man of war, I took a glass up to the
mast-head; where, after straining my eyes to make her out,
De Ruyter hailed me with, ‘‘ Well, what is she?”

I replied with confidence, ‘‘ The Malay!”

«Which way is she standing?”

“She has not yet seen us, and her course is to the north-
ward.” .

Then I described her, and De Ruyter said, ‘‘ Very possibly
you are right.”

I came on the deck. The horizon became misty, and as
they had neglected to keep a look-out, we trusted we should
get much nearer, ere she discovered us. We bore down on her
under every stitch of sail we could spread. The studding-sails
we wetted with an engine for that purpose, to make them hold
the light breeze better ; and at eight o’clock she saw us, and
bore away. We had gained considerably on her; the head of
her lower yards were then visible from our deck; and De
Ruyter said, ‘If the breeze holds till mid-day, she cannot

escape us.”
134 ADVENTURES OF

There was an alacrity and a buzz of joy throughout our
crew, intent for plunder. We pumped the water out, lightened
her by throwing some tons of ballast overboard, winged and
shifted the iron shot, cleared the decks for action, got the arms
and boats ready for service and for hoisting out, and watched
and antedated all the motions of the enemy, as the hawk does
the curlew.

At noon the breeze freshened, and we gained rapidly on her ;
nevertheless it was six p.m. before we came within long shot.
We then kept up a fire from the bow-chasers. For some time
she disregarded this. We had hoisted a French tri-coloured
flag, De Ruyter indeed having a French letter of marque’s
commission, which he now produced for me to read, as the only
person among the officers ignorant of that fact. The shots
now falling over and on board of the Malay, her top-gallant
sails were lowered; and we ran up under her lee-quarter,
shortened sail, and backed the top-sail.

A Malay on board of us was desired to hail her. Her deck
swarmed with men. We ordered her to send a boat with her
papers on board of us, and seeing they paid no attention to
this order, De Ruyter again fired a shot over her. She returned
this with a volley from four cannonades, divers small swivels
on her gunwales, and twenty or thirty match-lock musquets,
when the pieces of old iron, glass, and nails, with which they
were loaded, rattled against our rigging, and three of our men
were wounded. ‘Damn their impudence!” exclaimed De
Ruyter, ‘‘they shall have enough of it!”

We opened and kept up such a heavy, low, and well-directed
fire, manceuvring with our broad-side on her stern and quarters,
that, in ten minutes, De Ruyter called out to cease firing, as
we had not only silenced her fire, but entirely cleared her deck,
cut her rigging to pieces, and shot away her rudder. Our
boats were then ordered to be hoisted out, and, with thirty
men in three boats, I shoved off to board her; De Ruyter
cautioning me to be particularly careful against their cunning
and treachery. ‘They must have been,” said he, laughing,
‘‘a colony founded by the ancient Greeks, for they have all the
characteristics of my modern friend at Goa.”

We approached her warily. Not the smallest impediment
A YOUNGER SON. 135

was opposed to us. Indeed nothing gave token that there was
a being on board of her. I ordered the Rais, who commanded
one boat, to board her on the bow with his Arabs; whilst I,
with a party, chiefly Europeans, and a gallant set of fellows
they were, climbed up her ornamented quarters and bamboo
stern. On getting on board, we saw many dead and wounded
on her deck, but nothing else. She was only about two-thirds
decked, having an open waist, latticed with bamboo, and
covered with mats. Her sails and yards were hanging about
in confusion. We were now all on deck, and a party of men
was preparing to descend between decks ; when, while replying
to De Ruyter’s questions, I was suddenly startled at hearing a
wild and tumultuous war-whoop, and springing forwards, I saw
a grove of spears thrust up from below, which, passing through
the matting, wounded many of our men. I was certainly as
much astonished at this novel mode of warfare as Macbeth at
the walking wood of Dunsinane. Running round the solid
portion of the deck, several spears were thrust at me, which I
with difficulty escaped. Some of my men had retreated; I
ordered them to fire down below, through the open work.
Most of the men belonging to the Rais, who were not wounded,
had jumped overboard to regain their boat.

Hailing De Ruyter, I informed him how the affair stood.
He desired me to make fast a halser, which he would send me,
to the ring-bolts of her bob-stays, secure it to her bowsprit,
and that then we should all return to the grab; he being very
careful of the lives of his men, and knowing that these pirates,
when once they have made up their minds not to be taken,
will abide by their resolution. I told him that if he had any
hand-grenades, or fire balls, I would rout them out. Though
we had already made considerable havoc among them, I was
very anxious, as were all the Europeans, to go below at every
hazard, but our native crew were opposed to this; and seven
or eight of us could have had little chance, unable, in the dark,
to see our enemies, who would spear us from their lurking
places, without endangering themselves.

The crew were busy in handing our wounded men down into
the boat. A Swedish lad, whom I valued for being an excel-
lent sailor, had been wounded by a spear, driven through his
1386 ADVENTURES OF

foot, and was suffering great pain. Hastening forward to see
him handed into the boat, I stepped over a dying Malay, shot
through the body before we boarded her. I had previously, in
passing him, caught a glance at his peculiarly ferocious look,
and the malignant expression of his broad and brutish face.
His coarse, black, straight hair was clotted with blood from a
wound in his head, apparently by a splinter. As I now stepped
over him, I was arrested by his eye, surrounded by a rigid lid,
and deeply imbedded above his high cheek-bone, the sunken
pupil still glaring like a glow-worm in a dark vault. My foot
slipped in the gore, and I fell on him; when, as I was re-
covering myself, he griped me with his bony hand, and made a
horrible effort to rise, but his extremities were stiff. He drew
a small creese from his bosom, and with a last effort tried to
bury it in my breast. The passion of revenge had outlived his
physical powers; its sharp point: slightly grazed me, and he
fell dead from the exertion, dragging me down, his hand still
clenching like a vice. I could only extricate myself by slipping
my arm out of my vest, and leaving it in his ghastly hand.
“Such men as these,” I cried out, ‘are not to be conquered
even by death! Their very spirits fight and stab at us!”

De Ruyter became peremptory for our instant return, as the
night was now coming on, and the Malays below had again
opened a fire on us with their match-locks. With rage and
disappointment I returned.

We had now altogether eight wounded. On reaching the
grab, De Ruyter observed, ‘‘ There is no help for it! We must
try to tow her towards the land; when near the shore, they
will perhaps escape by swimming. But I fear we shall not
succeed in capturing her.”

As we filled our sails and towed her, a gang of men stood at
our stern to fire at any object they could see moving on board
of her. We found it difficult to tow her: not being steered,
she yawed about, and in less than an hour they had contrived
to cut the tow-rope. Under a cover of musquetry we again
made fast another, and kept up a continual fire on her bows.
Nothing living was seen on her decks, yet again the halser was

cut. We hailed her, as we often had done, but no answer was
given.
A YOUNGER SON. 187

At daylight, De Ruyter came to the determination of sinking
her; which we reluctantly did, by opening a fire with our
largest guns, and red-hot shot, which had been prepared during
the night. Symptoms of fire from below soon made their
appearance ; smoke slowly arose ; several explosions of powder
took place; the smoke arose darker, and in masses; at last we
saw the savages themselves crawling wp on all-fours upon deck.
Their guns having been thrown overboard by us, they could
make no defence. Streams of fire now burst out of her
hatchways and port-holes. On the balls going through her,
our Arabs swore they saw the gold-dust, and pearls, and rubies,
fly out of her on the opposite side. I cannot say I did; nor
could I smell the otto of roses, which they affirmed was run-
ning out of her scuppers like a fountain. I saw nothing but
the dense flames and smoke, and the poor devils swarming up
and jumping into the waves, preferring death by water to fire
and balls,—for they had no other choice. Though we lowered
our boats to pick them up, not one approached them; and the
boats did not near the vessel, fearing her blowing up. She
appeared to have an immense number of men; not less than
two hundred and fifty to three hundred.

Having given over firing, we lay at some distance, intently
gazing at her. After an explosion, louder than the loudest
thunder, which vibrated through the air, we could see nothing
but a black cloud on the waters, enveloping all around, like a
pall, and darkening the heavens; and where the pirate had
been was only to be distinguished by the bubbling commotion
and dashing ripple of the sea, like the meeting of the tides, or
where a whale has been harpooned, and sunk. Huge frag-
ments of the ship, masts, tackling, and men, all shattered and
rent, lay mingled around in a wide circle. Some dark heads,
still above the surface, awaiting, as it were, the utmost of our
malice, faintly yelled their last war-cry in defiance; then a
few bubbles shewed where they had been. Her hull was
driven down stern-foremost, and her grave filled up on the
instant.

Even the wind became hushed from the concussion of the
explosion; and I started as our sails flapped heavily against
the mast, and the grab’s hull shook as in terror. The black
188 ADVENTURES OF

cloud cleared away, and slowly swept along the surface of the
sea; then ascended and hung aloft in the air, concentrated in
a dense mass. As I gazed on it, methought the pirate ship
was changed, but not destroyed, and that her demon crew had
resumed their vocation in the clouds. De Ruyter said: “It
has been an awful and painful sight !—but they deserved their
fate. Come, set our gaping crew to work! Hoist the boats
in, and make all sail on our proper course.”

CHAPTER XXX.

This is the way physicians mend or end us,
Secundum artem ; but although we sneer
In health, —when ill, we call them to attend us,
Without the least propensity to jeer.
BYRON.

WO days after, one of our wounded Arabs died, and his
companions committed him to the deep with their usual
mystic ceremonies. His body was washed with great attention ;
his head was carefully shaved and cleaned ; his mouth, nostvils,
ears, and eyes were stuffed with cotton saturated in camphor,-
with which his body was also anointed ; the joints of his legs
and arms were broken, and then tightly bandaged in the
mummy form; and, with a twelve-pound shot fixed to his
lower extremities, the mutilated carcase was launched into
the ocean. Upon inquiring why they broke his joints, I was
answered that it was to prevent his following the ship;
because, had they neglected to fulfil this sacred duty, his body
would float ou the waters, and his spirit pursue them for ever.
It did not appear that the Malays had, in this instance,
poisoned their spears; for the men rapidly recovered from
their wounds, except the Swedish boy, whose wound was of
such a nature that, had not De Ruyter added to his other
chieftain’s qualifications surgical knowledge, superior to many
of the diploma’d butchers, we should have lost him. De
Ruyter gave up his own state-cabin to him, where we both
attended to his wants, without a thought of saving ourselves
A YOUNGER SON. 139

trouble by permitting the doctor, for the sake of practice, to
lop off the limb, which most of the faculty would have done,
and of which he strongly urged the necessity.

Van Scolpvelt, ow surgeon, had been engaged out of a Dutch
East Indiaman, where he was surgeon’s-assistant, and grown
old, hoping to see service, and be a surgeon. But the muddy
mettle of those burghers could be stirred by nothing but the
prospect of gain; and their antipathy to powder was as great
as that of Quakers, so that he became weary for want of
practice, and the instruments of his trade grew dull and rusty.
All the practice he had on board of her was in administering
an emetocatharticus, an enema, or simple dejectors, to the
swag-bellied Hollanders, after gormandising had disarranged
the gastric functions. His dignity—and moreover the dignity
of his profession—which he alone revered, he thought compro-
mised by this degrading application of science. He therefore
gladly closed with De Ruyter’s proposition, and had now
accompanied him in several voyages.

He said, ‘‘ De Ruyter is a considerate creature, and generally
keeps me tolerably employed. He has only one great blemish
in his character, unaccountable in a man so liberally-minded
and humane, and that is, in siding with the heathenish pre-
jucices of his barbarous crew, and opposing, in all cases,
amputation. On this point,” addressing himself to me, ‘“ you
Englishmen are the most enlightened people on earth. Your
government, too, with providential care, fearing that surgeons,
like others, untinctured by the love of science, may not like
gratuitous work, give (I have been told) a premium for every
limb or shoot pruned off from the parent trunk; thus, from
the multitude of the maimed, their knives don’t rust, and it
must make a very pretty addition to their salaries. Then not
only the operator, but the operatee, is bountifully compensated,
getting more by his limb off than he ever earned by it on.
Why I,” he exclaimed with unusual energy, ‘I, Van Scolpvelt,
assisted in taking off a man’s leg in an Mnglish frigate, and it
was the pleasantest operation I ever attended. It was a com-
pound fracture: the man had fallen from the mast, so that the
knee-bone was forced through the integuments into the deck.
The next day the man recovered his faculties, and we com-
140 ADVENTURES OF

menced upon him. It would have done your heart-good to see
him,—I wish you had,—he was a glorious subject! No one
could have witnessed the operation without astonished delight !
He never squeaked, or made a wry face, or spoke a word till it
was over; and then, turning his quid, he only asked for a glass
of grog;—if there had been but one bottle in the world, he
should have had it !—I loved him! They are good people, and
feel no more than the log of wood that carpenter is now
adzing ;—no patient ought! Now this boy in the cabin,—they
would not speak one word to him, but take off his leg, and
then ask him how he feels. Afterwards he would be sent to
the hospital for life,—or he dies,—no more !—while I shall be
three or four months in curing him, and he, all the time, eating
and drinking, and doing no work. De Ruyter does not think
of this! You are an Englishman; go and persuade him, that’s
a good lad !—-go and tell him I do it with very little pain.”

I stopped his cajoling whine with—‘ If my leg was hanging
by a remnant of skin, and any doctor clipped it, I would stab
him with one of his own probes!”

He stared at me with unutterable wonder, and, putting the
case of instruments, on which he had been descanting, in his
pocket, he shuffled away, making a noise like a shark’s fin
flapping on the deck, which his flat feet resembled.

As De Ruyter called him to answer some questions, I could
not refrain from running my eye over his extraordinary figure.
He had a small, dry, sapless body, then stripped for operating,
which I could compare to nothing but a gigantic russet-haired
caterpillar. His wizzened face was puckered up like a withered
shaddock, or Chinese mandarin. His pate was bald, hedged
round with long, wiry, reddish grey hair. The hair, that
should have been on his eye-brows, eye-lids, and beard, having
entirely deserted its several posts, was dotted about on his lank
cheeks, chin, and neck, the latter of which was long as a
heron’s, and seemed covered with scorched parchment. Four
or five irregular, yellow-crusted tusks boomed from his jaw,
like the wild hog’s; and his capacious mouth, and thin, fishy
lips, were like a John Dory’s. His eyes were small and sunken,
with a mixture of light red, green, and yellow.

Yet, notwithstanding his immoderate love of practice, and
A YOUNGER SON. 141

this preposterous exterior, he was not deficient in a certain sort
of ability, and was an enthusiast in his mystery. When not
actively engaged, his recreation consisted in poring over old
Dutch surgical works, chiefly manuscripts, or, if not, closely
interlined and annotated, throughout the margins, by his own
hand, and illuminated with disgusting representations of ap-
palling operations in their horrible preternatural colours. His
dress, on ordinary occasions, was composed of such stray
articles as he picked up in the sick-ward, or plucked from the
corpse of a savage. As to his age, it was impossible to form a
euess at it, for he looked like the resurrection of an Egyptian
mummy, yet he was active, always awake, (as far as we knew),
and his faculties were unimpaired.

He was in animated discussion with De Ruyter as they
returned to where I stood, with his hand extended, of which
he was somewhat vain. It was long and narrow, like the claw
of a bird of prey, so utterly devoid of flesh, that on meeting
him at night with a candle shaded between his palms, the light
shone so clearly through them that I asked him to let me have
the loan of the signal lanthorn he was carrying. But he
valued his hand from its useful properties. ‘‘ For,” as he said,
‘“« where a ball goes there I can follow it,” stretching out a long
ghastly finger, adorned with the only ornament he wore, a huge
silver-mounted, antique, carbuncle ring, embossed with caba-
listic characters.

I went below with the doctor to see the wounded, where he
proceeded to business without delay, using his probe with the
same sort of indifference as a man does a pipe-stopper. When
he had probed, and cut, and fingered those who had mere flesh
wounds, De Ruyter insisted on his looking at the scratch on
my breast. He did so, and pointed out to the standers-by the
physiology of the part, descanting on the action and effect of
Indian poison, and on the subtlety with which it infuses itself
by absorption into the whole animal economy, through the
circulation of the blood and nervous system. ‘That is, to be
plain,” said he, ‘‘ having taken the outposts, having poisoned,
paralyzed, and wormed its way through the husk and shell, it
eats into the kernel. Then, beginning with the extremities,
which it destroys, it gathers and concentrates its power, till, the
142 ADVENTURES OF

venom touching the heart, the patient is seized with convul-
sions, and dies.”

Such was the tune the Dutch doctor sung in my ears, as he
was preparing a red-hot iron, which, with the gloating look of
a sensualist, he applied to my breast. Whether this prevented
the agreeable voyage of the poison through my system, I know
not; but it certainly converted a slight scratch into a spreading
and ulcerating sore, which troubled me for a long time.

When he came to examine, for the second time, the really
bad wound of the boy, he revelled in his description of the
muscles and tendons torn and wounded in the instep. Gan-
erene and mortification were the least that must ensue: he
declared that unless amputation above the ancle took place, in
four-and-twenty hours he might be compelled to remove the
entire quarter up to the hip, and yet with little probability of
saving his life, as a patient generally expired under the
operation.

The poor boy cried, and petitioned first the doctor and then
me. I called De Ruyter, who absolutely forbad the question.
To compensate in some measure for this, the surgeon, after
having:the boy held, set to work on him with as much in-
genuity as an Indian when flaying a staked enemy; and when
the boy happily became insensible from the excruciating tor-
ture, the doctor looked at him, then round in astonishment,
and said; ‘‘ Why does he groan and faint like a little girl?
Why you see I merely scrape the bone!”

De Ruyter then came down into the cabin, and told him to
bind up the wound and poultice it. ‘ Doctor,” said he, ‘ you
are like the old cook, who put live eels into a pasty, and
knocked them over the pate with the rolling-pin, exclaiming,
‘lie down, ye wantons!’ ”

‘When the boy came to his senses, De Ruyter gave him a
glass of brandy, which restored him; and afterwards would
never allow the wound to be dressed unless he or I was present;
when, in spite of the doctor’s predictions, he did recover, though
slowly. This boy is mentioned particularly, ag I shall have to
narrate his melancholy fate.
: A YOUNGER SON. 143

CHAPTER XXXI.

The sky became
Stagnate with heat, so that each cloud and blast
Languish’d and died ; the thirsting air did claim
All moisture.
SIELLEY.

UR progress was slow; frequent calms—but, not to be

tedious, my time was fully occupied, and we practised a
thousand amusements. The abstemiousness and temperance
of the natives rendered it a less arduous task to govern them,
than a crew, however small, of Huropeans. Those of the
latter which we had, were picked up with great caution, all
holding responsible situations in the ship, and were also fully
occupied. De Ruyter was not only a high-spirited and excellent
commander, but an admirable companion; so that I had no-
thing to complain of.

After leaving the Lacadive islands, we put into one called
Diego Rayes, for wood and water. We then passed a long
cluster called the Brothers; and, keeping more to the south,
took a fresh departure from Ropuepez island. Some days
after, between the great bank of Garagos and the St. Brandon
islands, the man at the mast-head called out—‘ A strange sail
to the westward !”’—and then—‘ Another !”

They were in our course; we stood on. A heavy squall of
mist and rain coming on, we lost sight of them for some time.
On this clearing away, the strangers were visible from the
deck; and the instant I saw them, I called De Ruyter from
the cabin, being then one o’clock, p.m., telling him they were
certainly two frigates—perhaps French ones, from Port St.
Louis, in the Isle of France.

“They may be so,” said he, ‘but I doubt it. Give me the
glass.” He looked at them attentively, and muttered—‘ Too
high out of the water ;—canvass too dark ;—hull too short ;—
and the yards not square enough for Frenchmen. No, they
are not French. Haul down the studding sails, and bring her
up on the larboard tack, close to the wind.”

On doing this, the headmost stranger hauled his wind, and
144 ADVENTURES OF

shortly after tacked too; the sternmost held the same course.
The wind was light, and we all kept turning to windward.
The headmost frigate sailed remarkably well, and left her com-
panion hull-down to leeward ; but yet she was no match for us.
All we feared was the wind changing, or losing it altogether,
which we did at sunset.

During the night we were on the alert; no light was
allowed, fearing they might see us ; our decks were cleared for
action; the guns, double shotted, and the small arms were got
up in readiness; not in the vain hope of contending with the
frigate, but as a measure of precaution against any possible
attempt at boarding us with boats. After the middie watch, a
light air came out of the channel of Garagos, and we made a long
stretch to the eastward. The wind then varied, with intervals
of calm; the night was dark; the frigates shewed no lights,
nor did we see any thing to form a guess of how they were
standing. Our object was to get among the group of islands,
the Brothers ; by which means we might elude their seeing us
again, as we thought they would, in all probability, retain
their position between us and the port, which, by the course we
were steering when they first discovered us, we were evidently
bound to. But the breeze had been so scanty during the night,
that we had made but little way. The night, too, had been
cloudy, so that our night-glasses were of no use; and we began
to feel anxious for the dawn of day.

At last the sombre clouds broke in the east, changing their
colour to purple, which speedily became fringed with an orange
hue, and the circle of the horizon was enlarged. Still the
frigates were not to be seen, and every face was brightening
up with the appearance of day. De Ruyter stood on a gun,
watching a hazy bank of misty clouds on our lee quarter, which
were slowly evaporating, and he suddenly exclaimed—‘ There
she is!”

I looked, and saw one of the frigates looming in the vapour,
in which she was enveloped, like an island. She must soon
after this have seen us, for she tacked in our wake, and
crowded on all the light canvass she had. She was not more
than nine or ten miles astern, and four to leeward of us. Her
consort we saw at a great distance, hull down. ‘We turned all
A YOUNGER SON. 145

our attention now to trimming the grab, and we clapped every
inch of canvass on her; then all the deck-lumber was turned
overboard. After watching the frigate for some time, De
Ruyter said, ‘By Heaven! she is a crack sailer! I think she
almost holds her way with us; and that is what no other
vessel can do in these seas. She must be some new frigate,
fresh from Europe. Besides, in this trim and rig, the grab is
not herself. I don’t like the look of the weather; when the
sun gets up, the breeze will die away. Get all the sweeps in
readiness.”

Two hours after this, the water became of a glassy smooth-
ness. The sun rose like a globe of fire, and looked terrible ;
its piercing rays hardly could be endured; they seared to the
very brain; and I was obliged occasionally to close my eyes in
relief from the dazzling glitter, which I thought would have
deprived me of sight. Yet in this heat the frigate ventured
to hoist out her boats, at about ten, A.M., and gave us chase.
De Ruyter admired their hardiness.

For the last hour we had been sweeping; yet, from our size,
and the disadvantage of labouring with the thermometer at a
hundred and eight in the cabin window, we made little pro-
gress. We therefore made every preparation to meet the
worst; but De Ruyter observed—‘ Those fellows toil in vain!
At mid-day we shall have a sea-breeze; then they may hoist in
their boats, by which they will lose time.”

As he predicted, a little after noon, flaws of wind began
lightly to ripple the glassy surface to seaward; and then a
faint current of air raised the feathered dog-vane. We held
up the palms of our hands towards it, as in supplication. The
light cotton sails aloft first caught it; when, instead of sticking,
as if glued, to the spars, they swelled out to their arched form.

On my telling De Ruyter that one would imagine he held
communion with the elements, he interpreted them so truly—
«And so I do,” was his reply; ‘all my life have I studied
them; but life is too short to comprehend their mystery !
They are a book a sailor should ever keep his eye on; and it
is ever unfolded before him. Those who do not, are unfit
to command, and have charge of the lives and properties of
others.”

10
146 ADVENTURES OF

We saw the frigate hoist the recal signal to her boats, and
telegraph to her companion, to stand off and on, to intercept
us if we should attempt to bear up during the night for the
Isle of France. De Ruyter had copies both of the Admiralty
and private signals of ships of war, as well as their tele-
graphic signals; which did him good service on many oc-
casions.

We continued beating up to the weathermost island, and
then the breeze gradually freshened, till we were compelled to
take in our light canvas. The headmost frigate, as she con-
tinued to carry hers, rather gained on us. De Ruyter grew im-
patient at finding that the grab did not distance her pursuers,
as she had been wont todo. He said she was cramped in her
movements ; and, to ease her, the stays and backstays were
slackened; we cut away the stern-boat; got the anchors
pressing on her lean-bow further aft; and lightened her for-
wards. We then shifted ballast in her wings, and, to try her
in different trims, he ordered all the men, with eighteen-pound
shot in each hand, to come aft; then he removed them from
place to place; but still we could hardly hold her on. He
remarked that her copper was foul with the accursed slime of
Bombay. ‘ Ay,” I added, ‘and the frigate is a clipper.”

The sun sank to rest, cloudless, red, and fiery, as it had
risen. The breeze still freshened, and having neared the land
by eleven o’clock p.u., De Ruyter determined on bearing away,
getting to leeward of the island, and anchoring; which we did,
trusting that the frigate would stand on to windward, and so
lose us. Still, however, we were on the alert during the night ;
or those sleeping had their arms in readiness : our cannonades
were loaded with bags of musquet balls.
A YOUNGER SON, 147

CHAPTER XXNII.

The morning watch was come ; the vessel lay

Her course, and gently made her liquid way ;

The cloven billow flash’d from off her prow

In furrows form’d by that majestic plough.
Byron.

HE doctor, who had as keen a scent for blood as the

carrion-kite, after having made a platform of gratings in
the hold for the anticipated wounded, thrust his head up the
hatchway from time to time, to ask when the slaughter was
likely to commence, and to solicit two of the boys as his
assistants. At night, when we had anchored, he ventured up,
trailing a bandage as long as the log-line, which he was
adroitly rolling up. ‘Now, my dear fellow,” said he to me,
‘it’s time I should instruct you. Just sit down on this
gun-slide for one moment, while I show you how to apply a
tourniquet.” With these words he lugged one out from his
waistband.

“ Nonsense, doctor, I have other things to attend to than to
do your duty.”

“Oh! you are young and wilful! Every man should know
how to apply that, for if not done at the critical moment,
I lose my patient, and the wounded man his life.”

As I was called off to attend to something aft, he went to
De Ruyter, whom he was beseeching to be instructed how to
apply cross and double-cross bandages. He was answered
somewhat harshly, and went below, muttering, ‘‘ Want of
sleep creates fever, fever delirium, and then madness!”

He soon after made his appearance with a small bottle and
glass, and insisted that De Ruyter and I, and the whole crew
should take a glass of his water. He said it was a natural,
cooling draught, would allay the heat of the body, and be as
refreshing as sleep. De Ruyter, who was sorry for having
spoken unkindly to him, took the glass, and saying it was
nothing but nitric acid and soda, drank it.

Van Scolpvelt, finding him so pliant, again lugged out
148 ADVENTURES OF

some fathoms of bandage ; but De Ruyter laughed, and walked
away.

Then I was attacked, and, in succession, most of the crew;
but he could not, with all his eloquence, dispose of another
drop of his cooling draught on deck; so that in despair, and
that it might not be lost, he took a bumper himself, and only
refrained from emptying the bottle by remembering his. actual
patients below, whom he accordingly drenched.

Wearied and jaded as I was, I looked for daylight with great
anxiety. Older seamen, habituated to such scenes, lay down
at their posts, and soundly slept. De Ruyter paced the deck
with a night-glass in his hand. I bathed in the chains, by
having buckets of water thrown over me, to keep my eyelids
from ,closing, till De Ruyter entreated me to lie down for an
hour.

At the first glimpse of daylight we were all astonished, as
the object which caught our sight was the frigate at anchor,
and not three miles from us. Her lying close under the high
land, and her hull being hid from us by some high rocks, pro-
jecting into the sea, together with the shadow of the mountain,
had prevented us from seeing her during the night. The quick
and piercing eye of De Ruyter was aware of her, before she
had espied us; and our cable was cut, and we were again under
a crowd of sail, with the rapidity of thought.

She soon followed us; but she had to work round the dark
coral reef, which lay like a huge alligator ; so that we got a
good start of her, considering there was but a very light air
stirring. We again lightened her by throwing lumber and
ballast overboard; but De Ruyter fearing we should be becalmed,
set himself to work in seriously preparing for battle. The
sweeps were got out under the hot sun; the breeze again died
away ; and, at ten, the frigate being about four miles astern,
began to prepare her boats. With what little air there was,
and with sweeping, we continued to drop the frigate; which
she observing, hoisted her boats out, and we counted seven
which shoved off in pursuit of us.

De Ruyter saw there were no hopes of wind till the evening;
and in despite of our utmost exertions at the sweeps, we could
not prevent the frigate’s boats coming up with us in three or
A YOUNGER SON, 149

four hours. His clear brow became overcast with thought, and
his look anxious, but without fear.

He called me to him, and said : “ You see that precipitous
rock, jutting out boldly into the sea, bleached by the sun and
storms to a grayish white, and sapped and undermined into
caverns. There is not a symptom of vegetation on it, or in its
neighbourhood. It stands like a watch-tower, overlooking the
island. You observe, by the colour and stillness of the water
at its base, that it is profoundly deep on this side ; and you see
a long dotted line, like the floats of a fishing sean, stretching
round in the form of a half crescent ;—that is a low ridge of
white coral, with which the sea, near this island abounds.
Now I want the grab to be swept round that rock; but you
must keep her well out, to clear the outermost point; therefore
place men on the extremity of our bow, and on the fore-yard,
to look out for breakers. There we shall find a little sandy
nook, sheltered from the trade wind that blows at this time of
the year, which can be entered only in very smooth water, and
by no vessel with much greater beam than ours. All around
is so thickly studded with reefs and rocks, eddies and currents,
that no one, imperfectly acquainted with its intricacies, would
venture to approach it, even in a calm like this. But with the
slightest wind stirring, or from the swell left after a breeze, all
about is in commotion, and hazardous even for a life-boat, for
coral cents like steel. In a moderate gale of wind, such as I
once witnessed in that very place, the most fool-hardy in sea-
daring would not venture within leagues of the shore. The
heavy swell, which gets up between this island and the great
bank of Baragos, is tremendous; the mountain waves rolling
in here are opposed and broken (as regular armies are some-
times by guerillas), by those countless rocks, whose heads you
just see peering above the water. Then, though impeded and
broken, yet not stopped, the sea is white with rage, and covers
half the island with spray and foam. On this side, there being
no impediment, the roar and dash of the surge drowns the
loudest thunder. In the gap leading to that,—it looks no bigger
than an albatros’ nest,—we will place the grab athwart, to give
these fellows (who fight for love with more ferocity than others
do in hate), a meeting. With our men I might indeed meet
150 ADVENTURES OF

them on fairer ground, without dreading the result; but the days
of chivalry are past; craft and cunning are now called the art
of war, and a commander is stigmatized who gives a chance,
when he can avoid it. Besides, I now wish to spare the
effusion of blood ; still I must defend, and will defend the grab
against all odds, even if the frigate herself came alongside of us.
The savage Malays have taught us that death is preferable to
dungeons ;—if all men thought so, there would be none. What
think you, my boy?”

“T love fighting, and hate foul air.”

“ But they are your—— ”’

“JT am sorry for it. But bull-dogs, you know, will fight
against their own kind and kin; and I am no mongrel. I'll
shew my breed.”

He smiled, and I went to cheer the men at the sweeps, and
place the look-outs, whilst he directed the helmsman.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Death doing in a turban’d masquerade.
Keats’ MS.
A victory !
* + * * * it will pluck out all grey hairs;
It is the best physician for the spleen ;
The courtliest inviter to a feast ;
The subtelest excuser of small faults;

And a nice judge in the age and smack of wine. i
id.

T two P.M. we were sweeping round the reef, in accord-
ance with De Ruyter’s plan. The frigate lay becalmed
under the northern extremity of the island. Her boats were
gaining on us fast. When we were embayed amongst the
shoals, and closed in by the shore to the south, we lost sight of
them all, hidden by a massy abutment of rock, stretching out
in lonely grandeur. We furled all our sails, took up our
position at the inner entrance leading to the little cove, got
halsers from our bow and stern, and made them fast with some
difficulty to the rocks. We mustered our men; there were
A YOUNGER SON. 151

only fifty-four fit to bear arms, and many untried men amongst
them.

All being in readiness, an awful pause took place while
awaiting the boats’ weathering the point. Even I, fond of
fighting and reckless as I then was, felt a queer sensation in
this sudden transition of circumstances, finding myself leagued
with dusky moors in opposition to my fair-haired countrymen.
Then, when one of the boats reappeared, and we heard their
cheering hurrah repeated from boat to boat, till it died away in
echoes on the hollow shore, I felt my heart beating impetu-
ously against my bosom, and the cold drops trickling down my
burning brow. There was a stillness in the grab I had never
witnessed before; unpleasant thoughts were gathering in my
brain ; but they instantly took flight at the full and clear tones,
unembarrassed look, and firm step, with which De Ruyter
advanced, saying to his men: ‘Come, return them the Arab
war-cry! You were not wont to be so silent. And try if that
headmost boat is in range of the guns.”

I fired accordingly. ‘‘That gun,” said he, ‘is too much
elevated. I'll try this;—here, bring a match. Ay, that will
do.”’

The ball went in a right line, struck the water, bounding
like a cricket ball, or, as it is technically termed, ricochetting,
and passed clean over the headmost boat. She lay on her
oars till it passed, cheering the other boats to advance. I
omitted to mention that, with the first shot, our French
colours were hoisted ; each of their boats had the Union Jack
flying.

On their uniting, we observed them in consultation; and
then separating in two divisions, they advanced along the in-
side of the reef. We kept up a steady fire upon them; but
nothing daunted they replied to every gun with a cheer, and
quickened their advance upon us. ‘Look, De Ruyter!”
said I, perhaps with some degree of exultation at their heroic
courage,—‘‘ one of their boats was struck with that last shot,
and she is sinking; and see they have only left a boat to pick
the men up, drowning every mischance with a jovial hurrah,
as if they were rejoicing at a feast!”

His answer was, “Prize money, promotion, and habit will
152 ADVENTURES OF

do much. Now let’s give them a volley of cannister. We
must cripple their leaders.”

From this period I continued at my station forward; most
of the Europeans were under my command; and De Ruyter
having given me his last injunctions, went and remained aft,
surrounded by his Arabs, over whom he had great influence.
Another boat, which took the lead, was swamped; and, whilst
they were picking up the men, though they opened a cross
fire from swivels and musquets, their loss in men was obviously
so appalling, that we heard them hailing each other. Rash
as they certainly were, théy were brought to a stand-still, and
paused as if hesitating in what way to advance; for as to
retreat,—the word had fallen into disuse among men grown
presumptuous with success. The heaviest boat, their launch,
with an eighteen-pound carronade, and crowded with marines,
now came up with their barge. We heard the order—‘ Give
way, my lads!’’—and, under a steady quick fire, which did
some small damage on board of us, they dashed on with
redoubled cheers, suffering severely from our commanding
fire, though they were partly sheltered by some points of rock.
They had undergone immense toil; the little air stirring
scorched as that from the mouth of a blast-furnace; and it
was evident they had not anticipated so warm a reception
and unequal a combat. Desperation and their characteristic
gallantry seemed to urge them on. Five of their little squadron
laid us alongside, while the groans of the dying were mingled
with their comrades’ loud cheers and sharp fire.

We now took to our spears and small arms. Some of the
most active, however, soon got up into our chains; and,
though frequently repulsed, renewed their endeavours to get
on board. While we were all intent on repelling them on our
exposed side, the barge got across the bow; when a breeze
and slight swell swinging the grab’s bow in shore, many threw
themselves on our deck from the land side. This calling us
off, small parties boarded us in other directions.

I saw a Lascar, whom I had before reproved for skulking
behind the mast, attempting to shirk down the hatchway.
All the hatches were battened down, except the main one,
under which the doctor was to operate. De Ruyter, fearing
A YOUNGER SON. 153

some of his Bombay sailors might run below, had ordered Van
Scolpvelt to allow none but the wounded and powder-boys
to go down or up; adding, with a smile, ‘ Clip the limbs off,
doctor, from any cravens who desert their quarters!” to which
Van Scolpvelt grinned a pleased assent, and answered, ‘‘ Never
fear, Captain!’ Aware of the evil example of cowardice, and
how rapidly a panic takes place, I instantly shot the Lascar,
who fell down the hatchway on the doctor, who was lugging
at his leg.

At this moment I received a wound from a cutlass, and a
pistol was thrust into my mouth with such force as to cut my
lips, though, perhaps from the lock being wet, it did not take
fire. De Ruyter swept the deck with his Arabs, and called
out to me to look out on the starboard bow. Our opponents
never had a shadow of chance in their favour, though they
fought with the most fool-hardy valour. Many of them,
severely wounded, still held on by the rigging, and fought man-
fully ; and when we had driven them headlong into the boats
or the sea, they struggled to climb up again. Our loss was
great in wounded; my veins seemed to run with burning lava;
T felt a thrilling excitement that almost made me mad; though
slashed and maimed in several parts of my body, I was totally
insensible to pain; and my men fought, generally, if not with
the same impetuosity, with equal courage.

Two more of the boats were lost by being stove and swamped
alongside. Those of the enemy, who yet remained on board,
were sullenly submitting, or rather had discontinued their
hopeless resistance ; one of them observing, “‘ Damn me, if I
strike to a Negur, howsomever they sarve us!”

To quiet these fellows’ scrupulous delicacy on that score,
I addressed them with,—‘‘ Come, my lads, give up your arms;
and ‘you shall have what is more use to you now,—a piece
of salt junk, and a glass of stiff grog.”

“Why,” said one to the other, ‘‘it’s all over, Tom! And
though he ben’t rigged, yet he speaks like a christian.”

Those who remained forward, many of them wounded, came
to me, and gave up their arms.

De Ruyter told me, after the action, that as soon as Van
Scolpvelt had learnt it was I who had inflicted summary
154 ADVENTURES OF

justice on the Lascar, he came on deck, in the thick of the
fight, to complain of my having, in disregard of orders, unjusti-
fiably robbed him of an excellent patient, on whom he ardently
wished to try some new instrument he had himself invented,
which he held in his hand, and called a hexagonal, transverse,
treble-toothed saw, rapidly revolving on its own axis, and
cutting without pain or splinters. In vain he was reminded
of the necessity of continuing at his station ; he went on com-
plaining, that, either in contempt of science, or from a plot,
there seemed to be a general combination on board, a male-
volent and wicked design to blast, destroy, and render abortive
all the fondly cherished hopes of his philanthropic life. De
Ruyter insisting on not being further interrupted, he stood
in mournful and abstracted contemplation of his horrid instru-
ment, when a sailor, struck by a ball in the heart, was spinning
his death-round near him. Van whipt hold of him, ere he fell,
by the arms, doubled up his body in the form of a Z, and with
miraculous strength trotted off with him, saying, ‘ If I cannot
have a living patient, I will essay my saw on a dead subject,
and that forthwith !”

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Pick’d like a red stag from the fallow herd
Of prisoners.
Keats’ MS.

The fight was o’er; the flashing through the gloom
Which robes the cannon as he wings a tomb,
Had ceased.

SHELLEY.

E had ordered parties to take possession of their boat and
barge alongside, while a cutter and gig were shoving off

with some of the officers and men, whom we had driven over-
board. At the same time a handful of men, led on by an officer,
seeing his boat seized, cut his way aft to get at De Ruyter, with
whom he seemed determined to try his hand, or, if compelled,
to surrender himself only to the commander, not to his dusky
crew. De Ruyter saw his purpose, and called out to his men,
A YOUNGER SON. 155

who were struggling to oppose him, but who could hardly use
their Weapons on account of the dense crowd, “ Stand back,
Arabs! Let him pass; but alone!”

My attention thus arrested, I looked aft, but instead, as I
expected, of seeing him surrender his sword, he attacked De
Ruyter with great impetuosity. In bulk and stature I thought
him the most powerful man I had ever seen. De Ruyter
seemed to think he had found his match, and to be glad of it;
for his form dilated, and his piercing and full eye became
fixed and contracted. He had a pistol in his left hand, and
a short, slightly curved sword in his right. He several times
ordered his men, who were pressing on, to hold back, or
advance at their peril. The stranger’s common ship’s cutlass,
made of the worst of metal, bent like a hoop as it struck the
sword-guard of De Ruyter, who stood alone on the defensive.
At this critical juncture, the cook, a Madagascar black, was
in the act of plunging his long knife into the stranger’s side.
De Ruyter shifted his position, and pistolled the fellow; and
said to the stranger,—‘‘ Come, lieutenant, you have done every
thing the bravest could, and it is too hot to be thrusting carte
and tierce. You forget you are amongst old friends here.
The game of fighting has been long up; chance has decided
for us. Come, cast away that worthless weapon.”

I then went aft, and said, ‘‘ What! Aston!”

He threw his sword on the deck, and gazed on me with
wonder. As soon as he could recognize me through my
coating of blood, powder, and sweat, ‘‘ Ha!” said he, “I see
it all! The well known De Ruyter, that was De Witt, the
plodding merchant at Bombay,—and—” (looking at me)
“and—you !””

He looked half reproachfully as he continued, ‘‘ Well, it is
strange! And with two such fellows, and a crew composed
of the same stuff, what chance had we? Then, to attempt
to take you in such a position as this, to sacrifice the finest
fellows in our ship in such a wild-goose venture, it was folly
or madness, I know not which to call it!”

Some of the frigate’s men were still endeavouring to escape ;
and two of the boats which had, in the confusion, shoved off,
were now attempting to retake a third boat from some of our
156 ADVENTURES OF

men, who had possession of her, when a desultory fire was
kept up. De Ruyter was waxing wrathful, and came up to
Aston with a hurried step, saying, “Sir, I entreat you—
speak to your men! If they are to expect the usages of war,
let them desist from useless efforts at further opposition. It
is mere wantonness, and I can no longer control my people,
if yours are permitted, after they have struck their flag, to
attempt to regain their boats. My only wish is to spare a
greater effusion of blood.”

Aston sprung forward, commanded the men, struggling in
the barge, to desist, and come on board, and those on board
to go below. ‘As for those boats already shoved off,” he
said, ‘they must take their chance.”

“Let them!” replied De Ruyter, ‘I shall not impede their
flight. I do not want boats or prisoners. Nevertheless I
must do my duty in keeping those I have got, though I am
sorry to have them. It is the most unprofitable victory I ever
gained. I have lost some of my best men, and the services
of others that are wounded.”

‘‘ Continued success,” observed Aston, ‘‘ makes us perhaps
too confident, and this is the result.”

* No,” said De Ruyter, ‘it is that confidence which insures
your success in almost all you undertake. All nations have
had their turn; while they thought themselves invulnerable,
they were so; when they began to doubt it, no longer were
they victorious. People become what they believe they are.
The flags of Hurope are faded, old, and rent, successively
decaying. Those stars and stripes” (pointing to an American
flag covering the hatchway) ‘“‘ must,—it is their station,—soar
aloft! But,” (turning to me) ‘shew your friend below, and
make him welcome. There is much to be done. Yet
what? holla! what is the matter? Why, you denied being
wounded !”

From toil, exhaustion, and logs of blood, I dropped go sud-
denly on the deck, as if shot, that De Ruyter could not catch
me, though he contrived to break my fall.

Van Scolpvelt had been some time on deck, looking over
and summing up, with satisfaction, his rich harvest of patients.
He viewed, with a malignant glance, an assistant surgeon,
A YOUNGER SON. 157

who had accompanied Aston in his boat, and was bandaging
a wound on the lieutenant’s leg, having obtained De Ruyter’s
sanction to attend exclusively on his own wounded, which
were by far the more numerous. These were by no means
prepossessed in favour of Van Scolpvelt; on the contrary, as
he was busily scanning amongst them fora case of amputation,
in order to make a trial of his newly-invented instrument, its
horrid appearance, in such hands, made the stout hearts of
these hardy sailors quail. I heard one of them say, ‘‘ Tom,
here’s an Indian devil of a cannibal going to cast off our
head-matting,” (that is, scalp us,) ‘cut us up into junk,
and sarve us out, like so much salt pork, to the ship’s
messes!”

“T’ll be damned,” replied the other, ‘if old Nick brings his
fork here to ship me into the harness cask, I'll sarve him out
with a long spoon!’ At the same time he picked up one of
the shot-ladles.

The offended amputator complained of this mutinous conduct
to De Ruyter, just before I fainted; and then said, leaning
over me, “I thought how it would be! He laughed when
I offered to dregs the contusion on his face; but he won’t
laugh now!” (taking out his case of instruments). ‘Yes!
he knows better than the doctor! I would sooner smoke my
meershaum in the powder-magazine than have him to cure;
for he is self-willed and obstinate as the she-kind are. He
killed my patient, too! Could he not have left the man to
me? So fond of shooting people, this is a judgment on him !
But for him, I should have had the best case !”’

During this soliloquy, which Aston repeated to me, they
carried me into the cabin, where Scolpvelt loosened my shavwvl-
sash, and, on taking off my stained shirt, found two other
wounds, one from a ball through the small part of my arm,
the other a contusion on my side, from the butt end of a
musquet. ‘A judgment,” he continued, “for the most
atrocious of crimes—deceiving his surgeon! He would not
learn how to put on a tourniquet either; what foolish and
irrational people the English are! I don’t doubt but that
he would rather lose his life than his obstinacy. To cheat and
rob his doctor of a pa-ti-e-n-t!” (here he was scooping about,
158 ADVENTURES OF

and shoving tow into the wound,) ‘Oh, ho! he don’t like
that! I thought he had no feeling.”

Aston told me I was roused into motion by his applications;
then, being called on by a dozen different messengers, he
hastily dressed and bound up my wounds, and went to attend
ou his numerous patients.

CHAPTHR XXXYV.

In stern reproach demanded where
Was now his grateful sense of former care?
Where all his hopes to see his name aspire
And blazon Briton’s thousand glories higher ?
His feverish lips thus broke the gloomy spell.
ByYRon.

N recovering my senses, I found Aston stooping over

me, sponging my face and breast with vinegar and

water. It was some time before I understood where I was;

for Aston’s face reminded me of my drowning frolic. ‘I have
been dreaming,” I said; ‘is that Aston? where am I?”

«Where I am sorry to find you. Under any flag but this,
I could have forgiven you!”

This recalled my flitting remembrances together, and I said,
“ You will allow I had cause to be disgusted with the former.
Now I fight under De Ruyter. Shew me a braver man, and
I'll leave him; but there is none braver or nobler.”

«« Ay, he is well known for a gallant fellow, and I have found
him so; but that is not to the purpose.”

“Well, Aston, you know how I was situated; what better
could Ido? What, in my case, would you have done?”

He thought a moment, and taking my hand, said kindly,
‘‘ By heaven, I believe the same!” But then added, ‘“‘ when
I was at your age.”

“Ah! if you knew him as well as I do, you might go
farther, and say at any age. I know I would; so let’s say
no more about it. I want to know how things are going on
upon deck. It seems a dark night, and we’re in a devilish
queer place. What! is that the surf breaking against us?”
A YOUNGER SON. 159

‘No, against the rocks. Who would have ventured in such
an anchorage as this but De Ruyter? I see his object, to
prevent our ship’s getting alongside of him. It is wonderful !
I should as soon have thought of anchoring on the sand-heads
in a tiffoon.”

‘Rest satisfied; he knows what he is at. "Tis not the first
time he has lain here; he told me so. But come, boy, hand
out the grub and grog. I must supply the loss of this red
liquor ; Iam dry as a sponge. What the devil has old Scolp-
velt been at with my side? I feel the print of his cursed
talons festering in my flesh. That fellow is ready made for
chief torturer in hell. I wish, Aston, you would let your
doctor overhaul me, for Van has spoiled my appetite.”

Aston sent for him, and said: “That doctor of yours has
certainly an extraordinary look. I can’t say I like the cut
of his jib.”

“Not half so bad as the feel of his paws; they burn like
blue stone.”

Aston’s surgeon now came down. As doctors never openly
censure individuals of their tribe, except by direct implication
—that is, by always undoing what another has done—so did
he. Some soothing liniment was applied, and the accursed
tow plugs were removed; which gave me as much relief as
drawing a splinter out of a wound, in which it had been long
rankling. Thus eased, I resumed my talk with Aston, shook
hands with him, asked him about our old ship, and why he
had quitted her ;“for I knew she was not the one which had
chased us.

He told me a friend of his had just come out in command
of the present frigate, and had got him appointed as first
lieutenant. Having received intelligence of two French frigates,
they had gone in all haste to report the same to the admiral
at Madras; and he had ordered them, and another frigate,
to go and look after, and by no means lose sight of the French-
men. They had discovered them lying in Port Louis, which
they had been some days blockading. ‘‘ Besides that,” said
he, “we had intelligence that De Ruyter was out in his
corvette; with orders to endeavour to cut him off in his
return to port. Not the smallest idea had we of finding him
160 ADVENTURES OF

here in the grab, We all mistook him for an Arab. I thought
I had seen her somewhere, forgetting it was at Bombay. But
then, I had not the slightest reason to suppose De Ruyter had
any concern with her, or even De Witt; much less that they
were one and the same person. He has done more harm
to the Company’s trade than all the French men of war
together; and his head is worth a frigate’s ransom. It is
wonderful how long he has kept clear of the traps set for
him, clever as he is.”

De Ruyter having made his arrangements on deck, came
down, shook Aston by the hand, and said: ‘“ This mischance
of your falling into our hands will be no great evil. You can
better afford it than I. What mercy should I have if the
merchant inquisitors had me in their gripe? I would rather
feel the elephant’s knee, when in wrath, on my breast.”

He then added: ‘‘to put you as much at ease as circum-
stances will allow, I have only to say that I leave the disposi-
tion of your men to your judgment, satisfied with your word
of honour. How many men had you in the boats?”

« With officers and marines, sixty or more.”

“Well, while your ship is in the neighbourhood, your men
may be impatient and troublesome. She will be off here in
the morning, and you may send the doctor on board with the
badly wounded; they will be better attended to there, for
we are lumbered up here, and altogether unprepared for such
unexpected guests. I had no idea of any of your cruisers
being off here. If you have any letters to write, get them
ready.”

He returned on deck, Aston wrote, and I slept till the
ensuing morning. I was then well enough, with a stick, to
scramble on deck. A look-out, whom we had placed on a
point of rock on shore, gave us notice of the frigate’s motions.
Soon after day-break she stood in as far as she could with
safety, to where we lay, with a top-gallant breeze. We sent
our long boat on board her with a flag of truce, the wounded,
under the care of the surgeon, and with letters from Aston.

The Captain of the frigate returned his thanks, but pro-
mised, notwithstanding De Ruyter’s gentlemanly and humane
conduct, to rout him out of his lurking-place.
A YOUNGER SON. 161

To this effect every expedient was used. But De Ruyter
knew, by the signal made to the other frigate, that she was
on no account to quit the blockade of Port Louis. She having
lost her boats, could do nothing, it being impossible for her
to get within gun-shot of the grab. Her only chance was
in blockading him; but on account of the frequent storms
prevalent at that time of year, she could not do that effec-
tually ; so that De Ruyter felt little uneasiness. ‘As to the
rest,’ said he, ‘‘I shall sleep better, and eat better with a
slight excitement to help my digestion, and keep that portion
of my blood, which is Dutch, from stagnating.”

To avoid tediousness, should I have been hitherto fortunate
enough to shun that rock on which so many have wrecked
themselves, I shall borrow an extract from De Ruyter’s
abrupt and succinct journal:

“Ten p.m. dark and cloudy; lightning; heavy showers of
rain; got under weigh; warped out from our anchorage ;
wind fresh from the land; aided by the lightning, kept clear
of the breakers; at one A.M. made sail; turned to windward
of the island, which had been our refuge.”’

This was on the third day after our action with the boats.
We stretched over to Diego Garcia, and got out of the track
of the frigates, having my friend Aston, and twenty-six of his
men on board.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

There’s nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms,
As rum and true religion.
Byron.

E RUYTER was willing to emancipate Aston, but
the latter would not hear of it. He said he dis-
dained to evade the natural and merited consequences of
failure in his attempt. Had he been successful, he hoped
he should have wished to be generous as De Ruyter; but his
power would have been limited. Consequently, now that the
reverse had happened, he readily submitted to the usages
11
162 ADVENTURES OF

of war; entreating De Ruyter not to hazard his own reputa-
tion, and the allegiance he owed to the sovereign under whose
flag he was fighting, by stretching his power to save him from,
he trusted, a short incarceration, however severe ;—short,
because, as there were so many French prisoners in India,
an exchange would readily be effected.

“Tt shall be as you think best,” said De Ruyter. ‘“ Only
be sure of this: I have power enough at least to promise you
that, if the name of prisoner does not gall your patience, you
shall not feel any of its indignities. If I thought otherwise,
you should be none, where I command. My allegiance is of
ink, not of blood ;—I owe the Frenchman none. Our compact
is (as all should be, if intended to endure) one of mutual
interest ; which ceasing, either party would break it without
an instant’s hesitation. The scum that the French revolution
has boiled up, domineers at the Isle of France, a Botany Bay
to which France transports her lawless felons. There they
are frivolous, fickle, and violent as the monsoon gales in Port
Louis, where the wind blows from every quarter of the compass
between sunrise and sunset. But they dare not trifle with
me. I say, dare not; for, with all their trumpet-tongued
vaunting, they are neither brave nor noble at heart. Their
courage is but lip-deep, their rage but as a hurricane in petti-
coats. They will hate you, because you are brave, and have
so often plucked their borrowed plumes, exhibiting them in
their naked gull-like form; or they will hate you, because you
are taller, have a better coat, or beard, or button. They are
envious, malicious, cruel, and dastardly, as is the mowing and
chattering tribe of Madagascar monkeys; noisy and filthy
as the draggletailed dysenteric cockatoo; vain, conceited,
libidinous, and bestial as the ourang-outang of Borneo.”

Aston looked in amaze, and I laughed at this tirade.

He continued: “TI tell you this, because I wish you to
understand I am serving not them but myself. I despise
them as a nation, though there are a few redeeming characters
among them. With all their vaunted civilization they would
treat you with indignity. So seldom have they an opportunity
of heaving up their accumulated bile on an English prisoner,
they would play all sorts of fantastic tricks on you. But they
A YOUNGER SON. 168

shall not. Let them choke with their own venom, ere I
permit an Englishman and my prisoner, to be even looked
at with coutempt. So now we understand each other.
Come, my lads, let us see what shot remains in the locker.
Iam afraid our cookery and crockery have suffered since these
rude visitors have boarded us. But this cool and cloudy
weather does not need the aid of shaddock-bitters to sharpen
the edge of appetite. Go down ;—I’'ll just give a look round,
and follow you.”

As we went down I called out for our steward, Louis, telling
him we were hungry as hyenas. ‘‘ Yet who the devil,” said I,
“can masticate the dry junk and rotten salt fish on the table?
Come, old boy, fork out something better than this; or I
shall be obliged to make a devil of Van Scolp, and grill
him.”

Louis replied, ‘‘ He once in, you never eat more. I rather
eat a horse’s hoof.”

Scolpvelt himself then came down the ladder to look at my
wounds. ‘No, no, old Van,” I said, ‘no caustic plugs for
me! Sit down, and fill out some of the loose skin hanging
about you, like a shrivelled tarpaulin.”

«“ What!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ you must not eat! I have ordered
the boy to make you some congee.”’

“Curse your rice water! Go, Louis, go up to the cook, and
tell him to grill us a couple of fowls, with a piece of pork.
I want something solid.”

Van would have countermanded this, had I not clapped my
hand as a stopper on his jaw-tackle. Then pouring a bottle of
Madeira into a slop-basin, I was about to empty it down my
throat, but he struggled hard against me, declaring I should
not, while his patient, commit suicide, and stigmatise his
system. He called his boy, and told him to bring a bottle of
his concentrated lemon juice. ‘Unless you drink congee
gruel,” said he, feeling my pulse, ‘the lemon, with your
febrile symptoms, is your only fluid. It is the fruit of the
citrus, of the class polyadelphia, order, icosandria. It is the
chief ingredient in citric acid, valuable for pharmaceutic uses
on shore, and would be a thousand times of more use on ship-
board, where it is never to be had. But I,—I, Van Scolpvelt,
164 ADVENTURES OF

have long been labouring to make it applicable by condensation.
Hitherto, among the chymists, it has shewn symptoms of
decomposition. But by the aid of a valuable old manuscript of
mine, written by the learned Winschotan, the preceptor of the
immortal Boerhaave, bearing date 1673, together with some
small additions of my own, I have at last succeeded in preserv-
ing it in the concrete form. It is now sixteen months old; and
you shall see it better and fresher than when plucked from the
tree. Here, boy, give it me!”

As he turned to the boy, he forgot the Madeira, which I
swallowed at a draught. He gave me one look, put the
concrete essence in his pocket, hastened on deck, and told
De Ruyter he washed his hands of me, that he had not been
accustomed to attend mad people, and recommended a strait-
waistcoat.

After supper Louis handed out a dusty-looking stone bottle
of the right bamboo-coloured skedam. We satisfied ourselves
it had the true zest, or, according to Louis’s dainty observation,
it had the taste and colour of flame, mellowed with smoke
of the juniper-tree.
~ “Come, Louis, devil us a biscuit. You are the ouly useful
man on board—no one can equal your curried devil. It
will bring out the oily and delicious odour of the juniper-
smoke.”

As Louis toddled on deck, Aston inquired, ‘‘ What is Louis?
He seems every thing here—purser, steward, clerk—and now
you are adding cook to his other vocations.”’

‘He is, in fact,” I answered, ‘‘a double inan—Dutch stock
crossed by a Frenchman—a nondescript fellow, born at the
Mauritius. He unites the characteristics of the two nations—
the portentous belly and square beam of the Hollander, with
the wiry arms and legs of the Frenchman, like a hogshead
of skedam on stilts. His face is a ludicrous compound of both
parents; full aud round as the pumpkin, and rubicund withal,
with a Gallic nose, like a ripe red fig, the stalk uppermost, a
inouth from ear to ear like the bat’s, and heavy, flabby, moist
lips, which, when gathered up in talk, display a long double
row of ebonies, similar to the piles at the entrance of a Dutch
dike or canal, and, like that, ever ready to receive whatever is
A YOUNGER SON. 165

offered. His natural chin is ridiculously short, but, like his
stomach, of a prolific nature, for it has shaken three reefs out
—a mass of fat stuck on a thorough-bred French neck, long,
bony, and arched out in the dromedary fashion. His head
seems formed for nothing but a golden crown, as no covering
with less ballast can stay on it in a breeze of wind, and,
indeed, he goes by the name of Louis le Grand. Here he
comes—look at him, and say if I have exaggerated.”

When the devil and grilled fowls were placed on the
table, I bade Louis come to an anchor on the locker, and
explain to Aston how he came to be promoted to the office
of purser.

“Vy, Sir, de last purser die.”

“ Come, I know that; but how did he die?”

He then commenced a history in his broken English, shew-
ing how the late purser, in his too great love of economy, was
about to put on the cabin-table the leather-like rind of a dry,
over-salted, Dutch cheese ; how he, Louis, objected to it as un-
eatable; how the other abused him for growing dainty and
wasteful, affirming that the cheese was a good cheese; how to
convict Louis, whom he called an obstinate half-bred Dutch
hog, he splintered off a ragged fragment, and attempted to bolt
it; how it stuck in his throat like the horns of a goat when
swallowed whole by a boa; how Scolpvelt was on shore; and
how Louis, as a kind friend, smacked the poor purser on his
back till he died, and then stepped into his shoes.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Few things surpass old wine, and they may preach
Who please, the more because they preach in vain ;
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,

Sermons and soda-water the day after.
BYRON.

: E all laughed at Louis, though there was no one on
board that did not feel indebted to him for his good

services. He was indefatigably industrious, and having a
stomach himself, like a chronometer, he never missed the hour
166 ADVENTURES OF

of serving out the rations; besides, he was scrupulously honest
in weight and measure. Under the abundant and well-
organized system of this conscientious purser we rarely had
cause to complain; and he used to pride himself on the crew’s
increase of power and weight since his appointment ; the only
exception, which gave him infinite pain, was Van Scolpvelt.
He said, ‘I believe he de devil! He live on physic and smoke
—he smoke all day and night—eat noting—sleep noting !—he
must be de devil or noting! Is he not?”

While conversing on the admirable purveyorship of Louis,
De Ruyter joined us, and spoke highly in his favour. ‘ No-
thing,” said he, ‘‘is of such importance in a commander as
feeding his men well. Sailors are really very little eaters; but
if they are stinted, they are ungovernable and savage as beasts
of prey, which, even lions, when surfeited, are innoxious.
Your fleet,” turning to Aston, ‘‘once mutinied;—men that
never rebelled before took your wooden walls from you, because
you stinted them in provisions, when the united riches of the
world could not have seduced them from their duty. Your
soldiers too break through all discipline, and cease to be
soldiers, when deprived of their rations. With us, who only
hold our command by the suffrages of those under us, nothing
puts our rule in such jeopardy as when surrounded by half-
starved men. Hunger is deaf to reason, to fear, and to the
iron curb of habit. The only thing requisite on board a ship
is to prevent waste and drunkenness,—which last is, in its
effects, akin to hunger. Come, old Louis, let us have another
flash of the liquid lightning, for good cheer is as necessary as a
good compass on board a ship; and then, as our fellows have
had hard work, go on deck, and splice the main brace. You
have corrupted our men’s orthodoxy ; your eloquence has over-
come their scruples regarding gin ;—so easy is it to make con-
verts on a point of faith tallying with our desires! This Louis
has persuaded my Mussulman crew that gin was not, and is
not forbidden by Mahomet; on the contrary, he interdicted
wine, in order that nothing but gin might be drunk in the
world, in compliance to a miraculous vision, wherein an angel
presented him with a stone-bottle full, brought as a sample
from Heaven,—or Holland!”
A YOUNGER SON. 167

Louis went on deck, and presently returned to tell us there
was a blue shark in our wake, reminding us at the same time
that our fresh provisions were exhausted. Then, as he hauled
a shark-hook out of the locker, he said: ‘I go catch him.
He very good to eat, in de vay I cook him.”

At this we all turned up, and having baited the hook with a
fowl’s entrails, the greedy monster hardly let it touch the
water, ere he darted on, turned quickly round, and without
benizon or grace, gulped the garbage, regardless of the barbed
iron. We soon succeeded in hauling him on deck; he was a
gigantic one; and notwithstanding the remains of a sailor’s
jacket was found within him, Louis instantly employed his
knife, and a plentiful dish of cutlets was carved out of his
sirloin.

This wiled away the evening. The watch was set. De
Ruyter went to pore over his volume of Shakspeare ; and I
leant over the hammock nettings, ruminating on the past, the
present, and marvelling at what was to come.

Henceforth everything went on pleasantly and merrily ; or if
interruped by untoward occurrences, such as are inseparable
from a sea-life, where men are huddled up like herrings in a
barrel, and will sometimes ferment, still they passed over as
the summer clouds, leaving the sky yet clearer than before.
Time lagged not on board the grab. I was associated with the
two men I most admired and loved. I wanted but Walter ;—
and then if a deluge had swallowed up all the world, and
the grab had been our ark, I should have lost nothing to weep
for, so narrow and selfish were my views in this my dawn of life.
Those I loved were all the world to me; to all else I was
totally indifferent. My affections were germinating, yet un-
expanded. My passions and feelings were in embryo, except
those awakened into being by Aston and De Ruyter. They
were in fact alike; though, from education and country, habits
had so grown on them, and encrusted them, that, to a casual
observer, no two men could seem more dissimilar. But at
the core they were the same, they had the same stability of
character, heroic courage, gentle and affectionate manners, and
open manly bearing. They soon grew fast friends.

Sailors consider the sea as their country, and all true bred
168 ADVENTURES OF

sons of Neptune as their foster-brothers. National prejudices
are washed and rubbed off by the elements. In a ship
intimacies are formed in an hour, which would require years
on shore ; and what is never done on land is freely done at sea,
when shipmates share purses, and give more frankly than the
nearest of kin lend,—a word not in the vocabulary of a sailor.
Sea-air ripens friendship quicker than the hot-bed of a city.
Good fellowship, sincerity, and generosity seem to have flown
for refuge to the ocean.

After a few days, we descried a strange sail to the west-
ward. She bore down on us, and we, finding we outran her,
shortened sail, till she came near enough for us to make her
out. De Ruyter then knew her to be a French corvette. We
hoisted a private signal, which they answered. We hove to.
At sunset she came under our quarters; and after some
conversation with the captain, De Ruyter went on board,
where he had a long conference. On his return we altered our
course for the island of Madagascar.

Several of our wounded died. Not having sufficient room
for our prisoners, De Ruyter, first consulting Aston, and
being well acquainted with the French commander, who was a
humane and honourable man, removed them under the
direction of one of their own midshipmen, and a marine
lieutenant, to the corvette, with the exception of Aston,
and four of the men, who intreated permission to remain with
their officer. This permission, through my intercession, was
easily obtained.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Afric is all the sun’s, and, as her earth,
Her human clay is kindled ; full of power
For good or evil; burning from its birth,
The Moorish blood partakes the planet’s hour,
And like the soil beneath it will bring forth.
ByRon.

E then understood from De Ruyter that the corvette had
been sent to examine into an act of piracy, committed,
it was supposed, by the Maratti, a formidable nest of brigands,
A YOUNGER SON. 169

on the north point of the island of Madagascar. The Portu-
guese and French had several times attempted to settle
there, but had always been compelled to abandon the place
with great loss, the natives having harassed them unceasingly,
day and night; till at last they declared the climate to be
pernicious, and the settlement of no use, and they decamped
(that is, those who could), with such precipitation, that they
left the buildings they had erected, and some temporary
fortifications, to be occupied by the Maratti, together with
other lawless bands.

These Maratti, an ancient horde of pirates, formerly dwelt
on the east side of Madagascar, where they became a terror to
the early settlers in the neighbouring islands; especially by
their junction with the pirates of Nossi Ibrahim, afterwards
called St. Mary’s. They cut off the supplies of cattle and
provisions furnished by Madagascar; and even landed, burned,
and slaughtered the inhabitants of the Mauritius and the
island of Bourbon. The Dutch, then in possession of the
Mauritius, were so straitened for provisions, and tormented by
these hornets, that eventually they were compelled to abandon
the island. Like the Portuguese, they too had their ready
excuse, and pleaded locusts and rats as the cause of their
abandonment ; but there are, as old Shylock says, ‘ land-rats
and water-rats,” and these last were the rats who drove out
the Dutch. They retired to the Cape of Good Hope, where
they found the brute-like Hottentot a far less noxious animal
than the water-rats—Pirates, I mean.

The French settled in the island of Bourbon, close at hand,
instantly took advantage of this; and, like the cuckoo, took
possession of the Dutchman’s nest ere it grew cool. Port
Louis was then a miserable hamlet; for the Dutch love
mud and wood, of which, as elsewhere, their dwellings were
exclusively composed.

Soon after, the French, Portuguese, and Dutch companies
formed an armament to exterminate the Maratti, who com-
mitted great havock on their trade. They attacked the pirates
in their strongholds of Nossi Ibrahim and other posts, and,
with immense loss on their part, destroyed a great portion
of their war-canoes, and drove the pirates for refuge to
170 ADVENTURES OF

the hills of Nossi Ibrahim, and the mountains of Mada-
gascar.

Now the Maratti, after driving off, or rather doing as they had
been done by,—exterminating a French settlement which the
company had planted in the bay of Antongil, had re-established
themselves on the coast of Madagascar, near Cape St. Sebastian,
where they grew formidable in numbers. They were encouraged
by the natives, who found them a less nuisance than the
Europeans, who plundered their coast, and massacred them,
whenever they wanted a salad or a fresh egg. Here the
Maratti, hardy and desperate, became adventurous from
success, having defeated several attempts to suppress them;
and they were widely spreading the circle of devastation. By
their robberies on the Indian seas, they had already de-
populated the Comoro, Mayotta, Mohilla, and other islands in
their vicinity, by seizing the inhabitants, and selling them
to the European slave-merchants; though prior to their ex-
pulsion from Nossi Ibrahim, they never could be induced to
enter into the slave trade. So abhorrent was it to them at
that period, that they invariably massacred the crew of every
vessel they found carrying on this loathsome traffic, to which
their own, as pirates, was comparatively just and honourable.
This was the principal cause of the combination among the
European merchant companies, to annihilate them, as un-
christian barbarians, without light enough to see their own
interest. At St. Sebastian (I suppose the patron saint of
slaves), they speedily gave indications of being less heathenishly
inclined; for there they entered, with true christian zeal, into
all the ramifications of slave-dealing, and monopolised that
trade in the east, with the same system of exclusiveness as the
Dutch had methodised for spice, and the English for tea. They
learned statistics, mapped the islands, counted their population,
divided them into districts, calculated their power of breeding,
and every spring and autumn sent out a fleet of proas, visiting
the different islands in rotation. They considerately refrained
from pouncing on the same island for three or four, or some-
times more years. The young and able-bodied were selected,
from the age of ten to twenty-five, marked with a hot iron and
black powder, and carried to St. Sebastian, where they re-
A YOUNGER SON. 171

mained till an occasion offered for disposing of them to the
French, Dutch, Portuguese, or English.

The Maratti learnt another lesson from the Europeans:
they left no means untried to foment disunion and hatred
among the natives of Madagascar, and enlightened them as
to the advantage of selling their prisoners through them, out
of which they deducted a very pretty interest, in the way of
dustoory. As long as they restricted themselves to kidnapping
and selling slaves, however obtained, whether from their own
kin and kind, whether they were sons sold by fathers, or brothers
and sisters by the first born, all was fair and honest traffic.
But a French schooner, having plundered a village of sheep and
poultry, and beaten the inhabitants, was pursued by the
Maratti in their war-canoes, boarded, taken, and, ere the
French had time to cut the throats of the sheep, they them-
selves were slaughtered, and the innocent sheep released, and
restored to their pasture. The representatives of the grand
nation at the Mauritius were struck with horror at this daring
atrocity ; aud if unatoned for by an ample massacre, their
honour would be compromised. A total extermination of the
natives of Madagascar was first contemplated. These ideas of
severity were, however, mitigated, owing to the unlucky
circumstance of their only disposable force, two frigates,
being blockaded in the port by two much smaller English
frigates, or, generally, by no more than one. At last a corvette
arrived in the port, to windward of the island, and she was
sent with ample orders, but with very limited means, to
execute them. This was the vessel we fell in with.

The commander, a young man of engaging manners, the
next morning came on board, rejoiced at the opportunity of
getting information from De Ruyter. He used every argument
to induce him to join the expedition; and insisted on his
dining on board the corvette, with Aston and myself, at four,
by which time De Ruyter promised to give a final answer.
172 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XXXIX.

How speed the outlaws? Stand they well prepared

Their plundered wealth, and robber rock to guard ?

Dream they of this our preparation, doom’d

To view with fire their scorpion's nest consumed ?
Byron.

HAT evening De Ruyter told the French commander that
he had only one difficulty to get over, and, if that could
be mastered, it would please him well to keep company with
him till the blockade of Port Louis was raised. ‘“ But,” said
he, ‘‘ you must be aware that, with our force, we can literally
do nothing; unless, perhaps, to ascertain who the pirates
were, wherefore they had attacked the French flag, and
whether the schooner had given cause for that attack. For,”
he added, ‘‘I am sorry to say we are somewhat too hasty,
overbearing, and unjust in our dealings with the natives of
these islands. Therefore let us first discover who were the
ageressors, and then we may find a time to punish them.”

The captain replied he had boarded several vessels, which
had been recently plundered by the long war-canoes of St.
Sebastian.

“T doubt little,” said De Ruyter, ‘‘of their being the
Maratti. But you know they seldom go to sea, unless in the
south-west monsoon; and what can we do against their
numbers?”

To this the captain answered, ‘From every thing I hear
they are now out; but where, I cannot learn. We must first
think of your despatches; and I believe we shall not be long
without an opportunity of sending them; for I expect every
day to fall in with some of our cattle-boats.”

From this time we continued in company. The weather
being particularly fine, with little wind stirring, we passed our
time very pleasantly, in giving parties alternately on board the
corvette and the grab. Aston, who had been a prisoner in
France when a midshipman, spoke French as perfectly as De
Ruyter. At daylight we used to separate, and keep a look-out
to windward; and towards sunset we bore down, and remained
A YOUNGER SON. 178

together during the night. The first vessel we fell in with was
a schooner, which, after a long chase, we made out to be an
American. As soon as she discovered we were French, she
hove to. She was a beautiful vessel, long, low in the water,
with lofty raking masts, which tapered away till they were
almost too fine to be distinguished, and the swallow-tailed
vanes above fluttered like fire-flies. The starred flag waved over
her taffrail. As she filled and hauled on a wind, to cross under
our stern, with a fresh breeze to which she gently heeled, I
thought there was nothing so beautiful as the arrowy sharpness
of her bow, and the gradually receding fineness of her quarters.
She looked and moved like an Arab horse on the desert, and
was as obedient to command. There was a lightness and bird-
like buoyancy about her, that exclusively belongs to this class
of vessels. America has the merit of having perfected this
nautical wonder, as far surpassing all other vessels in
exquisite proportion and beauty, as the gazelle excels all
animated nature. Even to this day no other country has
succeeded in either the building or the working of these
vessels, in comparison with America.

A light and fairy-looking boat, akin to the Nautilus, was
now launched over the gunwale. It appeared a marvel how
she could support the four herculean mariners that jumped
into her. Two or three strokes of her long wooden fins
brought her instantly alongside of us, and De Ruyter was over-
joyed at meeting with his countrymen; for though his father
was Dutch, he was a naturalised American, and he had known
no other home. He wrung the captain of the schooner by the
hand, talked of nothing but Boston, his birth-place, and the
port whence the schooner had last sailed. She had touched at
St. Malo’s, and was bound to the Mauritius.

This was one of the fast-sailing schooners, which drove what
was called a forced trade for drugs and spices. They were
principally Americans, selected for their matchless sailing.
After leaving America, they touched at some French port, got
French papers, and sometimes had commissions and lettres de
marques. They were armed and well manned; and all on
board being allowed a portion of the profits on the freightage,
they were interested in its success. They had a nominal
174 ADVENTURES OF

French captain, a mere cipher, but necessary, as America was
then at peace with England.

This schooner had a cargo, to my mind richer than gold,
of cognac, claret, sauterne, and a variety of European luxuries ;
which, when she had discharged at the Mauritius, were to be
exchanged for spices. She had run the gauntlet through the
English squadron in the Bay of Biscay, and at the Cape of
Good Hope; and had we not given her information of the
blockade at the Mauritius, she would have run another risk
of being captured. De Ruyter advised her to put into the
port to windward of the Mauritius, gave our despatches, and
wrote some letters. She, in return, let us have a pipe of
claret, a hogshead of cognac, and good store of edibles.

The corvette now coming up, we separated from the
American, and kept our course for St. Sebastian. Soon after
we fell in with, and boarded some Arab trading-vessels. They
had been plundered: the greater part of their cargoes and
crews were taken out, leaving merely a few old men to work
the vessels, with a little water and rice. This was committed
by a fleet of eighteen Maratti proas, each having from eighteen
to forty men on board. It appeared that this fleet was bound
to some of the islands in the Mosambique channel.

De Ruyter now conferred with the French commander ;
and his advice was that we should, in the absence of the
greatest part of the pirates, effect a landing at St. Sebastian,
surprise them during the night, plunder and destroy their
fortifications, burn their town, and rescue their prisoners; for
doubtless they were loaded there, as they had kept possession
of two of the largest of the Arab traders. This was agreed to;
and the corvette supplied us with two of her brass guns, and
lent us fifteen of her soldiers.

Without anything particular happening, we got into 15° 20'
south latitude, ran on till we saw the high land of Madagascar,
and kept to the north-east side of the island, till we had run
well in shore; when we sent a boat, and brought off some
fishermen, who gave us information. We then crept round
the land, to the north, at night, De Ruyter piloting, being in
sight of the north point of Cape St. Sebastian, which stretches
far out to sea, in the form of. an estuary. Taking advantage
A YOUNGER SON. 175

of the twilight, De Ruyter piloted us through a narrow channel
in the recess; and, before midnight, we brought to as close
to the rocks as we could on the east side, having the cape
between us and the town, by which means we were unob-
served.

It was a cloudy night, with frequent showers of rain. We
got out our boats, and landed a hundred and twenty officers
and men well armed: eighty from the corvette, and forty from
the grab. To do the Frenchman justice, he felt no envy of
De Ruyter’s superior knowledge ; on the contrary, he insisted
on his taking the command, and gave his officers orders to
implicitly obey De Ruyter in every particular, he himself
staying on board the corvette.

On landing De Ruyter divided the men into three parties,
retaining to himself and the first officer the strongest, con-
sisting of fifty men, armed with muskets and bayonets; a
French lieutenant commanded thirty-five, and I thirty. I had
a part of De Ruyter’s favourite band of Arabs, armed with
their lances, and short carbines. We kept on together, till we
got round the cape; then De Ruyter ordered me to ascend the
rocks, and keep round the hill, nearly at the foot of which the
pirates’ town was situated, till I arrived immediately above it.
The lieutenant was directed to keep along the beach, till he
was in a line with me; while De Ruyter, with the main body,
went directly forward. We were all to march as near as
possible, and by every precaution to avoid discovery. When.
we had taken up our respective positions, we were to conceal
ourselves till just before the dawn of day, when the main
party would fire a rocket, which, on being answered by us, was
to be the signal for a simultaneous advance and attack. We
were to make what observations we could, under cover of the
night, as to the readiest means of getting into the town, which
was defended by low mud walls, having three entrance-ports.
On taking possession of these entrances, we were each to leave
a party to keep them, who were to kill or make prisoners all
who attempted to escape, whilst the remainder attacked those
within. If any of us should be previously discovered, or if we
should be attacked, we were to retreat to the main body.
After some other instructions, De Ruyter commanded us to
176 ADVENTURES OF

kill none, at our peril, but those with arms in their hands ;
and particularly to avoid doing injury to the women, children,
and prisoners.

CHAPTER XL.

With a nimble savageness attacks,
Escapes, makes fiercer onset, then anew
Eludes death, giving death to most that dare

Trespass within the circuit of his sword.
Keats’ MS.

Y party had some distance to go, and up a rugged and
precipitous path, where we were suddenly stopped by a

black and deep ravine or chasm, at the bottom of which we
heard the dashing of water. It would have been folly to
attempt to cross here; for a couple of men, on the other side,
might have opposed us with success. We therefore went lower
down the mountain; and it was with great toil, and loss of
time, that we crossed to the opposite side. My impetuosity
spurred me on; and when it wanted little more than half an
hour to dawn, our scouts in advance gave us the welcome in-
telligence of being near our destination. I now halted our party,
and advanced with two men. We descended a narrow sheep-
path, amidst broken and stony ground, overgrown with prickly
peas, low shrubs, and clumps of the palm cocoa. We heard dis-
tinctly the surf breaking on the beach, with the monotonous
regularity of the ticking of a clock at night. The ground became
smoother, and we discerned, close under us, the low huts of the
town, huddled together, and looking like a multitude of large
white ant-hills, or bee-hives. We then came to some ruins, on
‘a conical hill, up which one of the Arabs climbed on all fours,
like a jackall, and found it was deserted. I sent the other
man back, to bring up our party, as this was a capital post to
occupy, in case of surprise. With great caution I then de-
scended to the wall of the town; it was low, and in a crumb-
ling state, till I came to two or three palm trees, where a mud
hut was built on the wall, like a swallow’s nest. Below there
was an entrance, or rather a hole, which evidently led to the
interior. Having examined the place well, we hastily returned.
A YOUNGER SON. 177

The clouds gave indications of breaking in the east. The rain
was still falling. I crept down with ten men, and advanced
under the shadow of the wall, till within pistol-shot of the
entrance. There taking our position, we impatiently awaited
the concerted signal from De Ruyter.

The night was tardily withdrawing her dusky canopy, and
the morning advanced gloomily. The hushed stillness was
ominously broken by the whizzing noise of the rocket-signal,
flying like a meteor over the devoted Maratti town. It evi-
dently came, not as it should have done, from De Ruyter, but
from the lieutenant, being exactly opposite to my position,
which showed that the lieutenant’s party was discovered, or
anticipated discovery. I replied to it; and nearly at the same
moment another rocket ascended from De Ruyter. This com-
manded an immediate attack; and scarcely had it risen to
the height of the lance I held in my hand, ere I had forced
the trifling impediments at the entrance; and, in my haste,
stumbled over something on the ground. The man, for such it
was, essayed to rise. I dropped my lance, and grappled him
by the throat. The greater part of my Arabs rushed in. I
called out to force open the inner entrance; which done, the
faint light shewed us four or five of the Maratti rising from
the ground, commencing their war-cry. These were despatched
quickly. The man I held scarcely needed the aid of the creese,
which I forced through his breast into the sandy floor.

A commotion was now raised within. We got through the
rude out-works into the interior. The remainder of my men
were dropping down inside the wall, which, with the aid of
their lances, they had scaled. A noise of the assault on the
other side was growing high; and presently we heard the sharp
report of fire-arms. I left a portion of my men to guard the
entrance, and advanced, as previously arranged, to the centre
of the habitations; the inmates of which—for the surprise
was complete—came out in twos and threes, in great confusion
and terror. Those who crossed our path we speared; and
those seeking to save themselves by flight we fired at. We
gave them not an instant to rally, till we arrived at the ruins
of a considerable building in the centre, which had been
erected as a magazine and court of guard by the Portuguese

12
>

178 ADVENTURES OF

or Dutch. Here, having taken possession, we halted. Pre-
sently the lieutenant, and then De Ruyter, came up; he said,
“Well done, my lad! always first in danger.” Then leaving
an officer and twenty men to keep this place, we advanced in
three parties, dividing the men equally, with strict injunctions
to make all the prisoners we could, and send them in to this
post.

De Ruyter told me to go round to the port I had entered, as
there would be an attempt to escape that way to the mountains ;
and while he was speaking, a sharp fire was opened from that
quarter. I hastened thither, amidst a scattering fire of mus-
kets and match-locks, and the yells and shrieks of men, women,
and children, running about in all directions. The war-cry of
the Arabs, and the allons ! and vivre! of the French were so
loud, that I could not hear either my own voice, or distinguish
the report of my own carbine. On nearing the place at which
we had entered, we saw a mingled heap of naked savages, of
all ages, men and women, armed with creeses, guns, knives,
and bamboo spears; others with their children, and many
loaded with their goods, all rushing on. I stopped my men,
and gave them a volley; and as they were facing about, we
charged them with our lances. They stood on their defence
with the fierceness of desperation, and a few of our men
dropped ; but they resisted without method, impeded by their
own numbers, and a panic seizing on them, they separated to
escape. A great many were butchered, and no prisoners made;
for blood is like wine, the more we have the more we crave,
till, excited to madness, one excess leads to another ; and it is
easier to persuade a drunken man to desist from drinking
whilst he can hold his glass, than a man, whose hands are
reeking with blood, to desist from shedding more.

My fellows rushed about in ungovernable disorder, destroying
all whom they met; and I was obliged to remain myself at
the outlet, until I had enforced ten or twelve of them to keep
that post. As the light grew clearer, objects became distinct,
and I beheld the confusion and slaughter going on within. My
senses were dizzy with the blood I had shed, and seen shed.
The Maratti, environed in their own walls, essayed every out-
let, sought every means to provide for the escape of their women
A YOUNGER SON. 179

and their children, and, finding none, they fought with the
fearlessness or heedlessness of ensnared tigers. They ran from
gate to gate with blind fury, and threw themselves headlong
on the bayonets and lances. They had never heard of mercy,
yielding, or asking for quarter. There were no such words in
their language. They had been accustomed to shed blood from
their childhood, whether of men or monkies, with equal in-
difference ; and they believed all the world to be of the self-
same nature. As for Europeans, they were always treated by
them, if they fell into their hands, like fish—hanged up in the
sun to dry. Old men, women, and children, therefore, pre-
ferred to die fighting; and, thus far, we had not a single
prisoner. They would have succeeded in forcing my position,
had not De Ruyter come to my aid. I feel extreme pain and
shame at remembering the horrible ferocity with which I
slaughtered these besotted barbarians, and more at the savage
and inhuman delight with which I did so. It would have
ended in their total extermination, had they not effected
several outlets in their mouldering walls.

The only wound I received was in the leg, from a woman,
who attempted to hamstring me, as, in hurrying along, I
stepped on her body; and the first symptom of my returning
reason was, on discovering her sex, instead of crushing her
with my uplifted foot, to have her carried to the main guard;
this was the first prisoner we had taken. It was then De
Ruyter came to me, and said, ‘‘ We have had blood enough.
Call our people off, and let the poor devils go. Seize what
prisoners you can, but take no more lives: and lead your men
to the huts on that sand-hill;—there you will find their Arab
and other prisoners; take care they are not sacrificed in the
fray ; and send them to the guard. Bandage your leg—you
are bleeding fast.”
180 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XLI.

She was born at midnight in an Indian wild,
Her mother’s screams with the striped tigers’ blent,
While the torch-bearing slaves a halloo sent
Into the jungles ; and her palanquin,
Rested amid the desert’s dreariment,
Shook with her agony, till fair were seen
The little Bertha’s eyes ope on the stars serene.
Keats’ MS.

How beautiful, if sorrow had not made
Sorrow more beautiful than beauty’s self.

Keats.

DID so, and went as directed to the sand-hill. It was well

I did, or we should not have had a prisoner to release ; for
the women were killing them, as they lay bound hand and foot
on the ground in heaps. These dark hags were despatched.
Then entering a small matted tent, affixed to a larger one,
the first object which struck me was a naked, gaunt Arab,
bound and fastened to a short stake driven into the earth.
He was covered with stabs, weltering in his own blood; yet
though bound, helpless, and dying, his unsubdued spirit still
shone like a chieftain’s. An aged, a decrepit she-devil was
lying on his prostrate body, she having slipped in the gore, and
with a cocoa-nut knife in her hand, was hacking at him with
feeble blows. Her fallen victim held fast her left hand in his
teeth ; and at his feet, huddled up in a corner, was a young
girl, almost naked, screaming in affright,—‘‘Oh! father,
father, let me get up!’—with her bound hands stretched
out, struggling to rise, but pressed down by the strong limbs
of the man, who thus sheltered her from the fiendish old
woman. I seized on the cloth band round the Hecate’s loins,
and, lifting her withered carcase up in the air, I dashed her
down with such force, that she never stirred more, but lay
sprawling like a crushed toad, the faint sparks of life being
extinguished without even a groan escaping her.

This scene exhibited to my view the worst of cruelty, in its
most diabolical shape, and filled me with horror and pity. I
bade an Arab unbind the father, who lay motionless watching
me, as I proceeded to liberate his daughter. He seemed per-
A YOUNGER SON. 181

fectly reckless of himself, and hesitating how to act, doubting
my designs. In vain he endeavoured to sit up, for the ground
was slippery with his blood. I saw his fears, and, to dispel
them, instantly placed him in a sitting posture, and drew my
creese from my belt. His eyes glared ferociously. I put the
weapon into his hand, and said,—‘‘ We are friends, father ;
—fear not!” He tried to speak, but the blood oozed from his
mouth, and the words died on his lips.

His child, now unbound, over whom I threw a mantle,
crawled to her father’s side, and kissing his incrimsoned hands
and eyes, bent over him in speechless and indescribable an-
guish. The old man’s desperate look relaxed; his eye lost its
fierceness, then became clouded and dim. I knelt, subdued by
the scene, on the side opposite his child, supporting him. He,
with an effort, took my hand in his; I felt its clammy
moisture ; he put it to his lips; then, with great difficulty, he
removed a ring from his finger, and placed it on mine; and,
laying my hand on his child’s, he alternately looked at us
both, and convulsively squeezed our hands together, muttering
some words. My eyes were wet with tears, which dropped on
his bosom. His head and frame shook as with an ague-fit ; his
fingers grew cold as ice, his eye stony, fixed, and glazed, and
his limbs rigid. I could no longer uphold his increasing weight.
His spirit fled its earthly tenement. Yet still our hands were
bound together so fixedly in his, that I could not release
them; and he still seemed to gaze on us both with intense
anxiety.

Motionless as a form of marble, his child bent over bin.
She neither wept, nor even appeared to breathe. This re-
called me to my senses. I thought she was dead too; and
unclenching his death-gripe, I freed myself, arose, and went
to her. She appeared to awaken, when I tried gently to
remove her, as from a trance, threw her arms round her
father’s neck, and clung to him with convulsive strength. I
cleared the tent of the gazers-on, who were not unmoved, for
they gave vent to their feeling in vows of vengeance; then
placing two Arabs, in whom I could confide, at the entrance,
to let no one pass, I went into the open air, to recover from
the faintness that was creeping over me.
182 ADVENTURES OF

Islung my carbine over my shoulder, and now used all my
efforts to stop the slaughter. A general pillage was going on.
The grab’s and the corvette’s long-boats were attending on the
beach, the vessels themselves not being able to get round the
reef, as it was perfectly calm. These boats, therefore, and
some canoes lying on the beach we commenced loading with
the booty, which was considerable; gold, spices, bales of
Chinese silk, the muslins of India, cloths and shawls from the
Persian Gulf, bags of armlets and anklets, silver and gold
ornaments, maize, corn, rice, salt fish, turtle, rackee, and an
infinity of arms and apparel, besides slaves, male and female,
of all ages and countries. Every eye glistened, and every
back was bent with a costly burden.

Yet so greedy and insatiable were our men, who were at
first fastidious in their selection, that at last they regarded
everything with a jealous eye, and became so gross in their
avaricious desires, that they would fain have borne off garbage
which the wild dog would have passed heedless by ; rotten
fish, mouldy rice, rancid ghee, broken pots and pans, cast-off
apparel, mats and tents, nothing so villainously worthless or
nauseous but had some value in their inordinate avidity for
plunder. What they could not carry on their backs they did
in their bellies; they gorged themselves, like the ostrich, till
they could scarcely move.

Van Scolpvelt and the steward now appeared in the field,
and took their ground, intent on very different objects. Van
seemed distracted with the rich variety of patients before him.
As he hurried about the encampment, with his shirt sleeves
tucked up, his skinny arms, bare, bony, and hairy, a case of
glittering and appalling instruments in one hand, and in the
other a monstrous pair of scissors, rounded into the form of a
crescent ; he realized, in his appearance, the most damnable
picture of an avenging demon, that was ever conceived by
saintly painter or poet. Some, not quite dead, feebly shook
their creeses at him, others screamed with horror as he
stopped to examine their wounds, and a few actually gave up
the ghost as he approached.

The steward, on the other hand, grinned from ear to ear, as
he contemplated the huge mass of plunder, and the destruction
A YOUNGER SON. 183

of the pirates, whom he hated, because they had repeatedly
intercepted the cattle trade to the Mauritius. But his joy
was presently checked, and he said to me in sadness, and in
worse English than I give him, ‘Oh, Captain, can you let
these improvident savages waste so much ? Look, the earth
is covered with grain and flour as if it had snowed! And do
you see these lively turtles ? They are of the most delicious
kind, and the most beautiful creatures I ever saw: what
beastly savages to leave them here! Make the men throw
away the lumber they are carrying on board; we don’t want
it ; do you? and load the boats with these. Of what use are
those black savages you are sending in the boats? One of
these ’’ (pointing to a turtle) “is worth an island of them.
Nobody can eat them; can you? Bah! I hate savages, and
doat on turtle ; don’t you? We have enough of the one sort
on board; but where have you ever seen such lovely creatures
as these? I have not for years; have you?”

Intent on this, which now solely occupied him, by threats
and entreaties he endeavoured to induce the men to assist him
in bearing off the turtle. At last growing desperate at the
Arabs, who loathe them (which Louis said proved they were
without human palates), he set about loading the slaves and
women with them, the latter of whom he declared he never
saw usefully employed before ; then turning to me, asked, in his
peculiar voice, which began in the deep hollow tones of a
muffled drum, and ended with the tinkling jingle of a matin
bell, ‘Have you?”

De Ruyter now came up, accompanied by Aston, who had
just come on shore to see the place. I told them of the
scene I had witnessed in the slave tent, when Aston’s gentle
heart was moved, and he reproved me for having left the girl.
My reply was, that I had done so, thinking it was better she
should be left alone, to give vent to the first burst of sorrow.
184 ADVENTORES OF

CHAPTER XLII.

The Moslem daughter went with her protector,
For she was harmless, houseless, helpless ; all
Her friends, like the sad family of Hector,
Had perished in the field or by the wall:
Her very place of birth was but a spectre
Of what it had been ; there the Muezzin’s call
To prayer was heard no more!

Bryson.

7 UT,” said De Ruyter, “there is not now an instant to
lose. We must hasten aboard; for these fellows out-
side will assuredly rally, and, aided by the Madagascarenes,
assault us in our turn. §o call the stragglers together. The
prisoners are embarked, and we must embark forthwith.”

“Come, Aston,” I said, ‘‘assist me in getting this poor
orphan girl on board.”

We proceeded together to the tent, where we found her
making loud wailings. Then she would break off, and cry,
‘‘ Father, arise,—we are free! The strangers are good; and
see! they come to free us. The old woman has not killed me;
I am well, and she herself is dead. Oh! father, get up !—look,
I have bound up your wounds,—you don’t bleed now!” And
indeed she had carefully bandaged him with the only remaining
rag on her person.

Taking her hand, I said, ‘‘Come, dear sister; you are free.
We must leave these cruel Mayratti.’”’

Without looking at me, she went on,—‘‘See, how my
father sleeps! They would not let him sleep or eat, and he is
weary and hungry.”

“Come, dear,’ I said, ‘we must go.”

“Go!” she replied, “how can we?—our father sleeps !—
and I cannot awake him! Oh, awake him, that I may feed
him! See, I have got some beautiful fruit, and his lips are
dry. Oh, these cruel Maratti will come again when you are
gone, and kill hin! Awake, my father! His eyes are open,
but he can’t move. He is old, and feeble from hunger; he
wants food ; his lips are cold with hunger!’ At this she kissed
A YOUNGER‘SON. 185

him, and rubbed his head, and squeezed pomegranate juice in
his mouth,

““Come!’’ said Aston, “they are calling you. We must be
off. I cannot bear this sight. I'll take her to the boat.”

I entreated him to do so; then gently loosed her hands,
covered her with my abbah, and told her I would take care of
her father. Aston snatched her up, and bore her off. Her
screams were appalling. She called on the name of her father
to save her; and Aston shook, but not with his light burden.
I was in little better trim. Sending some Arabs down to the
beach with Aston, I returned to De Ruyter, who was drawing
off the men with great difficulty.

Louis, whose bad English I must continue to make better,
as Aston passed him, exclaimed to me, ‘‘ What is he carrying
away? What! a girl! What use is she? Why, he could
carry this great turtle, which else must be abandoned, for no
one here can lift him,—can you? And she might carry that
little one,—it will make very good soup; and is very pretty,—
much more so than a little girl?”’

I passed on, ordering him instantly to come on board, or the
Maratti would soupify him. ‘“‘ What!’ he ejaculated, ‘leave
that turtle, worth all the rest we have taken!” and he wrung
his hands in anguish. ,

Armed men were now appearing on the hills; and De Ruyter
grew furious at the tardy movements of his men. Many of
the Frenchmen were drunk, and could not be got out of the
tents. The shouts on the hills augumented, and we were
obliged to move. De Ruyter went out of the gate, and I stayed
some time longer with the Arabs, to collect stragglers, and
then followed him. I omitted to mention that we had fired
the town in many places, and burnt two Arab vessels which
were grounded, with seven or eight canoes on the beach.

The natives were hurrying towards the town; and soon after
we saw bodies of them armed, skirting along the side of the
river we had to cross, and descending as if to attack us there.
We hastened on, preparing our arms. When we arrived there,
keeping as near the sea as possible, we heard a firing, and saw
De Ruyter crossing the river. He left a party to keep the
opposite bank, went on to the boats, fearing they might be
186 ADVENTURES OF

attacked, and sent a messenger to me, to hasten me on. But
before I could arrive there, being detained by the difficulty in
getting on the drunken Frenchmen, the natives had increased
till their numbers were formidable. They grew bold, and
attacked the party on the opposite bank; then wading down
the stream, and closing on our rear, they became troublesome.
We kept our ground firmly, and I continued on the bank till
our party had crossed. Just as I was following with my
Arabs, I heard some shots in our rear, and now appeared,
emerging from behind a sand-bank, a monstrous figure, a
Patagonian, in (what I thought, as the sun shone on him)
bright scaled armour. It was the steward, with the turtle on
his shoulders, accompanied by a Dutch soldier. I roared out
to them to come on quickly, for every moment became more
perilous. As they staggered towards us, I could hardly refrain
from laughing. Louis, whom I could with difficulty make out
to be a human figure, looked like an hippopotamus, as, reeling
like a drunken man, he bent under the weight of the huge fish,
which I thought he had left behind. The other fellow, the
Dutchman, who came staggering on in his wake, was bulged
out into preposterous proportions; his red Guernsey frock and
ample Dutch trousers, secured at the wrist and knees, were
crammed with stowage of gold and jewels, which he had
discovered after one of the houses had been pulled down. He
looked like a wool-sack, and moved like a Dutch dogger, which
his broad beam resembled, labouring in a head sea. I told
them to cast their slough, if they valued their lives, and
commenced crossing the river by a sand-bank, thrown up by
the tide, the only passable ford.

The natives pressed more closely on our rear; the difficulty
in using our arms in the water made them bold; and but for
our men stationed on the opposite bank, we should have had
little chance of escape; for they, in a great degree, checked
their advance, and kept the space clear before us. Still we
were compelled to hurry on. At this moment I heard some-
thing flounder in the water, and a savage yell, as of triumph,
from the natives. I looked round, and the Dutch soldier, who
was in my rear, was missing. Overballasted by his treasure,
he lost his footing on the ford, and sunk in the stream, borne
A YOUNGER SON. 187

down by the weight about his body, which it was impossible
for him to shake off. I only got a glimpse of his person, when
my attention was called off by the steward, who either from
fear, or from having been caught hold of by his fallen country-
man, who was elose to him, had also fallen. J ran back, and
holding the shaft of a spear to him, he grasped it tight, while
the huge monster he had been carrying tumbled into the
water, and flapped his heavy fins in triumph, as he regained
his native element. ;

When Louis had recovered himself on the bank, he ex-
claimed, with a rueful look,—‘ But where is my turtle? Oh,
don’t mind me, Captain !—save the turtle !”’

“ Hang the turtle! I wish he was down your throat!”

“Oh! so do I, Captain !—that’s all I want! Oh, where’s
my turtle?’’ As he vociferated this demand, up it rose to the
surface, in mockery of his enemy; and the instant its bright
shell glistened in the sun, Louis seemed inclined to rush
down the stream after it, bawling out, ‘There he is! Oh,
save him!”

Thinking he meant the soldier, I Jooked, and inquired,
« Where ?”

“Why, there!” he replied, pointing to the turtle. ‘Oh,
Captain, I told you how lively he was! I cut his throat two
hours ago; but he won't die till sunset ; they never do; and
then he will be lost,—won’t he?”

I had ordered two of my men to drag him along; and so
loth was he to leave the turtle, that, with his eyes strained
down the stream, he came reluctantly in a sidelong motion,
like a crab.

Once or twice I was compelled to turn round on our pur-
suers, and drive them off, before we reached the other side.
We hastened to regain our boats. Four of our men were
slightly wounded in this retreat; besides the loss of the
Dutch soldier, and the deeply lamented turtle. Wherever
the ground was broken, or where there was a cover of rocks
or shrubs, the Madagascarenes closed in on our flank and rear.
I therefore retired close to the sea, and skirted its margin.
There was one very dangerous pass; it was the rough abut-
ment of ragged rocks jutting out into the sea, half a mile on
188 ADVENTURES OF

the other side of which were our boats. The natives were
ranged along the ridges in files, and there was already a sharp
firing going on there. While wondering that De Ruyter
should have deserted me under such circumstances, and hesi-
tating as to the best mode of proceeding, I espied on the
extreme point his swallow-tailed flag. We now ran on, and
were hailed by our shipmates; who seeing this post was
possessed by the enemy, had driven them up, and opened a
passage for us. Yet every inch was obstinately disputed, and
here three of our men were left dead; for the natives, under
cover of the rocks, and lying down with their long match-
locks, had a great advantage, while we could not get a shot at
them. The boats approached; and the French soldiers were
drawn up on the beach, which being open, the natives dared
not advance, though they kept up a scattering fire. We em-
barked amidst the wild yells of the savages, who, the moment
we shoved off, came down like a countless flock of crows ; and
with as much noise and din they even followed us into the
water, and their arrows, stones, and balls fell about us like a
hail-storm.

CHAPTER XLITI.

Ay! at set of sun;

The breeze will freshen when the day is done.
* # * * * *

The vessel lay
Her course, and gently made her liquid way ;
The cloven billow flash’d from off her prow
In furrows form’d by that majestic plough ;
The waters with their world were all before,
Behind the South Sea’s many an islet shore.
Bygon.

LL of us, I believe, were glad to regain our ships. We

then towed them out, it being a dead calm; awaited the

land breeze at night; and ran directly from the land, shaping
our course for the island of Bourbon.

On computing our loss on board the two ships, the killed

and missing amounted to only fourteen, but we had twenty-
A YOUNGER SON. 189

eight wounded, most of them, however, slightly. I observed
to De Ruyter, as I was entering these particulars in the log-
book, ‘‘ It appears to me, considering the service we were on,
and the numbers against us, this is a very small loss.’

‘No, it was a very large one!” cried out Louis, who had
just come down the ladder, ‘you'll never see so fine a one
again. I’d rather have lost every man and thing than that ;—
would not you?”

“What do you mean, Louis?”

‘Mean !—why, the turtle, to be sure. You saw it, Sir, and
might have saved it,—could you not? But you think of
nothing but little girls,—my turtle was worth all the girls in
the world ;—was it not?’’—turning, as he always did, at his
repeated interrogations, sharp round, and shoving his expanded
nostrils right in one’s face.

“This fellow,” said De Ruyter, ‘is a Hindoo; and believes
the whole world is supported on the back of an enormous
turtle.”

‘And I should not wonder,” I added, ‘if he makes a voyage
to the Pole, not for the benefit of navigation, but to extract its
calliopash and calliopee. What luxury, Louis, to let your
entire carcase wallow in such a sea of green fat !—would it
not ?”’—mimicking him.

“Yes; he replied; ‘but there is no turtle there; nothing
but walrusses, white bears, and whales.”’

Van Scolpvelt now came down with some splinters of bone
in his palm, and said, holding out his saw in the other hand,
“See here! I have trepanned a skull; and look, what I told
you is true; feel the edges of the bone, they are smooth as
ivory, and have a gloss, a polish on them, quite beautiful. I
have extracted a ball, and the cerebrum is uninjured, the
weight of a hair not having compressed it.” He was proceed-
ing to say the man never felt it, when an assistant came to
tell him the man was dying. ‘That’s a lie!” he exclaimed,
and rushed on deck after the messenger, who was frightened
at the outstretched instrument. As the doctor followed him
up the ladder, it tickled him on the breech, and made him
spring on the deck, as if a white hot iron had been applied.

Soon after, under the superintendence of Louis, a feast, that
190 ADVENTURES OF

might well be termed a turtle one, was served up. A huge tub
of soup, where a fleet of canoes might have almost fought a
battle, the steward himself put on the table ; and, mopping his
reeky brows, said—‘ Taste that, and you'll live for ever! Why,
the odour itself is a feast for a burgomaster, or a king! I
never smelt anything so beautiful ;—did you?”

Then came calliopash and calliopee, and stewed, and steaked,
and minced, and balled, and grilled ; and when all these were
cleared away, leaving us well nigh surfeited, quoth Louis le
Grand—‘ Now here are two dishes which I have invented, and
no one has the secret of them; though burgomasters and
foreign ambassadors have been sent to me with great offers to
discover it. But I never would; because this secret makes me
greater than all the kings in the world, for they cannot
purchase them with a kingdom, nor would I give them in
exchange for a kingdom ;—would you? All I shall tell you is
this—and it is more than I ever told any one before—the soft
eggs, and head, and heart, and entrails, are all there!—but there
are many other things, which I shall not, must not, speak of.”

Casting his eye on my plate, and seeing the green fat left,
he inquired, in astonishment why I did not eat it. I answered
him, ‘I can’t; I don’t like it.’ “ Can’t!” he exclaimed—
‘why, if I were dying, and had but strength enough to open
my mouth, I would devour that divine food! And not like it!
—then you are no Christian!—ishe? But it is impossible,—I
don’t believe him ;—do you?”

Madagascar is one of the largest and most fertile islands in
the world; nearly nine hundred miles in length, and three
hundred and fifty in its greatest breath. There is a chain of
glorious mountains, winding through its entire length, of varied
height, whence many large and navigable rivers take their
source. The interior of this vast island, and its inhabitants,
are little known ; but those parts on the coast which, at that
time and afterwards, I have frequently visited, give abundant
indications that nature has here scattered her riches with no
stinting hand. Nothing seems wanting but knowledge to
place this magnificent island in the foremost rank of great and
powerful empires. When I was there, the line, distinguishing
the man from the animal, was hardly visible.
A YOUNGER SON. 191

The evening was singularly beautiful, the sea calm and
clear as a mirror, and our crew sinking into rest, outworn by
the unwonted toil of this busy day. De Ruyter was in the
cabin ; I was keeping the watch, and Aston bore me company.
He lay along the raised stern, and I leant over the taffrail, gazing
on the land. The forms in the distant range of mountains were
growing dark and indistinct. The transparent, glassy, and
deep blue of the sea faded into a dusky olive, subdivided by an
infinity of mazy, glimmering bars, as if embroidered with
diamond heads, traced by the varied, wandering airs, and
sporting like the lion’s whelps on their mother’s quiet bosom ;
while he, their mighty parent, lay hushed within his lair, the
caverned shore, torpid from toil and devastation. Over the
land the glowing sun hastened to his cool sea-couch; his
expiring rays stained the lucid sky with bright, fading colours,
—deep ruby tints changing to purple; then emerald green,
barred and streaked with azure, white, and yellow; andas the
sun was dipping, the whole firmament was died in crimson, and
blazed; then left the western sky brighter than molten gold,
till the sun’s last rays were extinguished. When the moon
came forth with her silvery, gleaming light, all the gay colours
faded, leaving a few fleecy and dappled specks, like lambs
grazing on the hills in heaven. The change was like life in
youth and beauty suddenly extinguished; white and misty
death, with his pallid winding-sheet, enveloped all around. As
the grab’s stern swung round, and as my eye caught our com-
panion, the corvette, her black hull and white wings alone
broke the line of the moon-lit horizon, like a sea-sprite reposing
on the boundless waters. Enwrapped in our contemplation of
the wonderful beauty of an eastern night, we remained hours
in silence ; and after the turmoil of the day, this stillness had
a preternatural, or magic effect on the mind, more soothing
than sleep. The helmsman, in his sleep, from habit, called
out— Steady! steady!” and even the customary forms of
changing the watches had been neglected while the sentinels,
unconscious that their time of duty was expired, dozed on their
posts of guard over the prisoners; and the balm of sleep
medicined the wounded, and made free the captive, who, per-
haps, dreaming of hunting on his native mountains, or fondling
192 ADVENTURES OF

with his young barbarians, or their mother, was destined to
awake, fettered and bound with festering manacles, chained, like
a wild beast, in the worst of dungeons, under the sea, in a ship’s
hold, doomed to death or slavery.

CHAPTER XLIV.

And we prolonged calm talk beneath the sphere
Of the calm moon, when suddenly was blended
aie our repose a nameless sense of fear ;

* * I seemed to hear
anni gathering upwards, accents incomplete,
And stifled shrieks ; and now, more near and near,
A tumult and a rush of thronging feet.

SHELLEY.

SOUND, as of some one moving, caught my ear, instantly
succeeded by a rattling noise, as of stifling, and a
gurgling flow, as of water, followed. Aston and myself started
up. He inquired, ‘‘ What is that?” as a heavy weight tumbled
on the deck, in the bow of the grab. Ere any one could answer,
a dark and naked figure approached us with a hurried step.
Instinctively I griped hold of the small creese I always wore in
my sash. Ashe stopped, a few paces before us, I said, ‘‘ Holloa!
Torra, is that you?” (He was a Madagascarene slave, whom
De Ruyter had emancipated, and who had been much favoured
by him and me.) ‘‘ What do you want? What noise was that
just now forward?”

He replied—‘‘ Only Torra kill his bad brother with this.”
And he extended his black bare arm, his hand clutching a broad
knife.

“ Killed what ?”

He repeated, ‘‘ My brother—bad brother Shrondoo.”’

“What brother? You are mad or drunk!” For I knew of
no brother he had.

‘““No, massa. Torra no mad, and no drink.”

An alarm now took place in the forecastle; and the helms-
man, opening his eyes, said, ‘‘ Steady! Steady!” Torra looked
A YOUNGER SON. 193

round, and, seeing the men coming aft, said, ‘‘ You no hear me
now, massa. Torra say all when day come.”

The men recoiled on coming near him, seeing his knife. He
observed it, and told them—‘‘ No fear Torra. No do bad.
Torra only kill bad brother ;’—and he cast the weapon into
the sea. ‘‘ Massa, you good man. You friend to poor black
slave ; won't let them kill Torra, now night. When morrow
come, Torra say all. He wish to die then. No wish to live.
Go to his father in good land; no slave there; no bad white
man come buy poor black one, for make slave.”

Thinking him mad, I ordered him to be seized, handcuffed,
and ironed. He stood motionless, only again saying,—

“No kill Torra, night. Kill Torra morning. Torra must tell
all.”

T hastened forward, asking—‘‘ What has he done? Who is
killed? And as I advanced, my naked feet felt something wet
and slippery. Looking down I beheld a dark liquid stream
running to the scupper holes. Something lay huddled up,
from which it flowed, an undistinguishable mass, covered with
a stained white cotton garment, at the breech of the bow-gun
carriage. A man lifted it partly up, and said, ‘‘ Here he is!”
The gazers-on said, ‘Allah! I] Allah!” and it again fell
heavily ; when, at the sound, they all stepped back. The light
of the moon, then unshaded, fell on the corpse of a dark naked
man ; its covering had fallen; the head was nearly separated
from the trunk by a frightful gash across the throat. Again I
demanded, who it was; but none could answer. I then recog-
nized it as the body of one of the prisoners lately captured.
As life was extinct, I ordered the corpse to be laid on a
grating, and brought aft, and a sentinel to be placed over the
assassin.

This horrid sight seemed to have banished sleep. The men
stood about in disordered groups, startled at their own voices,
which sounded low and husky ; and fellows whose hands and
garments were still moist and dabbled from the morning’s
slaughter, stood appalled at a solitary night-murder. They
gathered round to gaze on Torra, the assassin, as he sat on his
heels, shadowed by the bulk-head. His irons jangled, and the
gazers-on shrunk back ; the same men who, a few hours before,

18
194 ADVENTURES OF

had assaulted unhesitatingly a walled camp of desperate men,
of ten times their number.

Aston and De Ruyter were conferring together, when I
observed a light air stealing along from the land. I called out,
“ All hands trim sails!”” The crew started, and then I went
on giving directions to shorten sail, to reef top-sails, and to
make sail again. De Ruyter came up to me, and said, ‘“‘ Why
all hands? ‘There is no squall that I can see.”

‘Nor I either,” I replied ; ‘‘but a panic seems to have taken
possession of the whole crew ; and I want, by finding employ-
ment, to shake it off. They appeared spell-bound ; and if a
squall had come, we should have lost our masts, ere they
regained their faculties.”

«Well thought of, my lad.”

Having turned the tide in the sailors’ minds, by making as
great a commotion as if we were in a storm, they replied to my
orders, and moved with their wonted alacrity, regardless of the
continued stillness of the weather. At any other period I should
have insured to myself a thousand muttering, sullen curses.
This done, I left De Ruyter in charge of the deck; and in
despite of what had taken place, the stiffness of my limbs, and
the smarting of my cut leg, with shooting pains from former
wounds, which seemed breaking out again, so heavy were my
eyes that, while endeavouring to recall the events of the day,
without troubling myself to unrig, I tumbled into a berth, and
slept as soon as my head touched the pillow, as if by enchant-
ment. Perhaps it was a magic pillow ;—I wish I had it now.

CHAPTER XLV.

Iam a guilty, miserable wretch ;
I have said all I know, now let me die.
SHELLEY.

N a youthful, well-formed frame, which is health and
strength, and wherein a good heart naturally seeks to
dwell, for it must have room to expand, in order that its glow-
ing impulses may rush through every channel, unimpeded, like
A YOUNGER SON. 195

lightning, ere it cools,—in such a frame the soul or spirit which
governs us is strongly engendered, is born, and lives for ever ;
but when forced and crammed into narrow, dark, and dreary
bosoms, from want of air and room, its feeble flame dimly
flickers in the lamp of life, till it is almost or wholly extin-
guished. The philanthropist Owen of Lanark, or the sage and
saintly Hannah More, and her tribe, scrawl and jabber about
education, and of that alone constituting the difference between
man and man, and of nature having sent us into the world
equally disposed for good or evil. Shakespeare and Bacon
thought otherwise ; and they were deep and wise, as the others
are shallow and foolish. Bacon says, ‘‘ Deformed persons are
commonly even with nature; for as nature hath done ill by
them, so do they by nature, being for the most part (as the
scripture saith,) void of natural affection ; and so they have
their revenge of nature.” And as ill-finished, dwarfish, or mis-
created abortions sometimes strive against their nature to
attain goodness, so do the well-formed (for I talk not of beauty),
in some instances, incline to evil, from choice against their
nature.

I have been led into this digression by the memory of Aston
and De Ruyter, whose noble and majestic persons, free and
graceful movements, lofty spirits, and gentle and loving hearts,
first awakened in my nature feelings, which had been trampled
on but not annihilated, of friendship and benevolence ; for I
had begun to think the world was peopled with demons, and
that I was confined in a dark and dreary hell. How fondly do
I dwell on those days, and gladly pay them this tribute, poor
as it is, in return for such content and happiness as I
experienced in their dear presence, when the sun seemed
always shining, and the world one great garden of fruits and
flowers! I would not then have given up this world, such as
it was to me, for paradise, such as it is painted by saintly
enthusiasts, even though I could have gone thither, without
passing through the dread ordeal leading to it.

Yet mine was then a life of almost unexampled toil and
peril, of pain from wounds, and sometimes of greater suffering
from hunger and thirst. I have seen the time when I would
have freely exchanged my blood, or given both my hands full
196 ADVENTURES OF

of gold for enough water to fill one of my palms; when my
lips have been glued together, and thirst, like a malignant
fever, gnawed at the vitals of life. Abundance came, and my
sufferings were forgotten on the instant, or only remembered
to give a keener appetite, a more exquisite relish to things,
which, grown too common by use, are almost considered use-
less—bread and water. Often with my head pillowed on a
shot-locker, for iron servéd my turn then better than the
softest down does now, covered with a tarpaulin to break the
fury of the rain and spray, in which I was well nigh floating,
plunged and tossed on what might be well called a sea-coffin,
on a lee and dangerous shore, amidst thunder and lightning,
in a tempest which would have torn up a cedar, as easily as
man uproots a blade of corn,—thus, and in such a scene, I
have slept sounder than a wearied child upon its mother’s lap,
hushed with song and gentle rocking. If 1 could endure these
hardships and privations uncomplainingly, how unnaturally
must I have been dealt with in my earlier days by parents and
guardians, to be so disgusted with life, as to seriously ponder
on self-destruction! Yet not only did I think on it, but, at
the age of fourteen, I was on the point of carrying it into
execution. It was then that I collected all the authorities,
ancient and modern, within my reach, in its defence and justi-
fication. I am induced to mention this, on account of having
found that paper a few days since. But soon after Aston,
Walter, and then De Ruyter bound me to the world by the
gentle chains of friendship. Thus was I rescued from a
fate, which, but for their love, would assuredly have been
mine.

It was near noon ere I was awaked by the doctor’s boy with
a bottle of camphor and oil to apply externally, and a mixture
to take internally. Louis was standing by, giving directions
for serving up a second repast of turtle, and commenced an
angry altercation with the fellow. ‘What is camphor good
for,” said he, ‘“‘but to stuff dead Arabs? I hate the smell ;—
don’t you? The doctor would make every man live on poison,
like himself, the scorpions, and the centipedes. The captain
wants to fill his body, not to rub his legs. The soup is ready ;
and I warrant that will go down to his toe-nails, and circulate
A YOUNGER SON. 197

through his corns, if he has any. It will cure everything ;—
won't it?”

I answered, for 1 was hungry as a bird in a hard frost, «I
think it will.” So the boy was chased up the ladder, and a
repetition of turtle laid on the table. When De Ruyter and
Aston came down, I inquired what had been done with Torra.

“ He is as you left him.”

“Well, have you found out the mystery? For he must
have been governed by some strong impulse, to enact so bloody
a tragedy, as he has always appeared a good and quiet man.”

“Yes,” observed De Ruyter; ‘but I have ever found these
very quiet men the most dangerous, revengeful, and bloody.
They execute, whilst brawling fellows satisfy themselves with
talking. Did you not see him, in the morning’s slaughter,
dyed like a red Indian in blood?”

“Certainly I did; he startled me. He rushed wherever
they were thickest, armed with nothing but two long knives.
I began to think he had a propensity for cannibalism. But he
is kind-hearted as bold: you remember the other day, when
my favourite bird, the loorie, was knocked overboard, in a
squall, by the topsail halliards; he leaped into the sea, and
saved him. And he was very honest; for he was continually
down here, where dollars are more plentiful in the lockers than
biscuits, and spirits than either, yet he never took one of the
first, nor helped himself to a glass of the latter. Besides,
Louis knows him to be the most trustworthy man in the
ship.”

“Oh,” said Louis, ““I am sure of that! I’d trust him with
all the gold in the world; for nothing can tempt him to steal.
Only recollect when, off Ceylon, I picked up that pretty little
turtlet, which you all contended was a log of wood,—but I
knew he was a turtle, Why, I can see a turtle twenty miles
off, when he shows no more shell above water than that ladle ;
that is, when they sleep, for then they like to feel the sun on
their backs,—don’t you? Well, do you remember how I took
him up in the boat, so gently, without waking him, like a little
child! And then, when I was insinuating my knife between
his shell, he just popped out his pretty little head, looked me
in the face, and felt my knife tickle him; and he had only
198 ADVENTURES OF

time to draw it in again, before he felt himself in the pot on
the fire. Oh! the black man is honest and brave !—for he
knocked down one of the men who wanted to put his spoon
into that soup! And though I left it to him to watch, he
didn’t even put his finger in to have one lick. Oh! he is the
most honest man in the world !—for anybody else would have
had one lick,—would not you? a black man, quite different
from a white man, steals nothing, not so much as a lick at the
soup. I like a black man for that ;—don’t you?”’

“Come,” said De Ruyter, ‘hand out the long corks, and
clear the decks.”

This done, Louis withdrew himself into his berth, where we
heard him feeding like a cormorant, and bolting green fat, as a
turkey bolts barley-meal balls. ‘If the ship were on fire,”
said Aston, ‘he would not move from his moorings; he is
fast. So, De Ruyter, tell us about Torra.”

‘“‘Tt is soon done,” said he, ‘but I must first tell you-what
I knew of him previously to last night.”

CHAPTER XLVI.

I do not feel as if I were a man,
But like a fiend appointed to chastise
The offences of some unremembered world.

SHELLEY.

Thou wert a weapon in the hand of God
To a just use.

Lbid.

“ T{ IGHTEEN months since I put into the Island of Rod-
riquez for wood and water; and, shooting in a jungle
there, I sprung this fellow from a lurking-place among the
rocks. He was one of the most wild and hungry a
“What!” bawled out Louis, not getting up, but thrusting
his enormous head forwards, the perspiration running from his
forehead, the turtle-fat oozing from his jaws, and his eyes, like
a lobster’s, protruding, ‘‘ What! hungry !—If he’s hungry, I'll
give him some of this. I can’t eat it all, and there’s plenty on
board now ; and I love him, because he’s an honest man.”

 
A YOUNGER SON. 199

Our laughter compelled him to withdraw, when De Ruyter
continued : ‘‘ Having a rifle in my hand, he could not escape.
I beckoned him towards me, and when he came I questioned
him. As well as I could comprehend him, he gave me a
dreadful account of what he had suffered from a Dutch over-
seer (for he was a slave), and that he had been employed, with
others, on the northern part of the island, in salting fish and
catching turtle, to be sent to the Isle of France. He ran away
just as the party were taking their departure before the 8.W.
monsoon was over, for Macao; and ever since he had lived
alone in the woods, subsisting on eggs, fish, and fruit. Well,
though this was an old tale, I pitied him, and took him on
board ; since which, as you have seen, he has always behaved
extremely well.”

Louis, now surfeited, again made his appearance, recom-
mending us strongly to take a glass of skiedam, just to keep
the turtle quiet. ‘For,’ said he, ‘“‘though you have got him
in your bellies, he’ll not die till sunset, because he was killed
this morning; for now Torra is gone, I have nobody able to
assist me. A turtle should always have his throat cut at sun-
set, and then they die directly. Torra knows this; but all the
rest on board are fools, and know nothing,—do they? Just
let this little drop go down, it will turn him, he’ll stay quiet
till sunset, and you'll hear nothing more of him. That French
wine is only good for soup, when there is no Madeira.”

As he could not persuade us that smoky Hollands was better
than the best Bourdeaux, he, to comfort himself, half filled
a cocoa-nut shell, which he called a sail-maker’s thimble,
opened his dry-dock gate, and let the water in.

De Ruyter, who oftener encouraged than interrupted him,
proceeded,—‘* After you were asleep, I went to Torra. On my
questioning him, he related his story. I'll give it, as well as
memory serves, in his own words.”

“Do,” I said; “but not with your usual brevity. You are
a most unmerciful clipper down of other men’s stories. And
I wish much to know everything about the fellow ; for, as
Louis says, I like him, and shall be sorry to find I have been
deceived in him.”

‘“ T will be more honest,” said De Ruyter, ‘‘ than most trans-
200 ADVENTURES OF

lators are; for, if I don’t give it literally, you shall have the
matter unbiassed by my opinions, and free from the chaff of
canting moral digression, either as episode, preface, note, or an-
notation, all which one fool makes, thinking many fools will read.

«¢T was born,’ said Torra, ‘at a fishing village, on the
north-east part of Madagascar, in the Bay of Antongil. My
father was a poor man, and took one wife. She had only one
child, a boy, sickly, and not good for much. She would not
let him work, nor would she have another child ; and as she
grew old, she grew cross. So, you see, the same species of
women flourish here asin Europe. In courtship they give us
their furred paw, and we think it soft as velvet. We wed
them ; and then the contracted talons are unfolded, and their
gentle purring is changed to a threatening hiss.’ ”

Tlooked at Aston, and we smiled at De Ruyter’s having so
soon forgotten his promise at starting. He observed this, and
sald—‘‘ By Heaven! this is only a liberal translation, or
imitation, of a simile he actually did make. Hear his own
words: ‘In youth a woman is like a green gourd; her shell
is soft and pliant ; but, when old, harder than iron-wood. My
father talks not to his wife, it is of no use; but, like a wise
man, he goes and buys another wife, and gets three children
by her. The first wife likes not this, and lets him not bring
‘her bome. §o he goes to the other side of the water and
builds a new house. Here he catches more fish, and trades
with the white men who come there. He now sees not his
old wife. Her son is big enough to work, and he gives him
a canoe, a fishing net, and a spear. But he likes not work,
and they are very poor.

‘“«* When I grew strong I was a good fisherman. My father
loves me. Sometimes I give my brother fish; and when I
have no fish, I give him couries. Then the white men,’ (here
Torra meant the Frenchmen from the Isle of France) ‘seeing
the place was good, speak kindly to my father, and a great
many come and live there. Soon after they quarrel with my
father. They want his land, where he grows his bread, to
build a strong place. My father likes not to give it; and they
kill him, and take it, and take my mother and my sisters, and
make them slaves.
E. J. TRELAWNY
IN GREEK DRESS.

From a portrait by Kirkup, tn the possession of John Temple-Leader, Esq.)

 
aA YOUNGER SON. 201

“«T yun up to the mountains, and then I cross to Nossi
Ibrahim. There they are a very brave people, and hate the
whites. They steal on the water, not on the land, and make
no slaves. When I tell them the white men came and killed
my old father, who was a good friend to them, they all say
they are glad of it, for my father was wrong to have white
friends. But when I tell them they took my mother and my
sisters, and made them slaves, they say that was very bad.
Then they call a war-talk, and say they would speak with
these white men. And then an old man who was a friend to
my father, says, ‘“‘ No! it is not good to speak with them.
Their words are white as morning, but their deeds are black as
night. Itis not good to speak with them. It is good to kill
them all.” And after much more talk, they agree with the
wise old man.

««« They get many great war-canoes. They all sail over in the
night. There was no moon, and the night was dark. The
oldman likes the black night. ‘For the white man,” he says,
“is afraid, and likes not to fight in the dark. A black man
is the owl that sees them in the night; but they the wild
turkey that sees nothing, Their thunders strike not.”

«<The white men made a feast; for it was the great day
of their good spirit ; and in the poor black man’s country they
are all drunk. And when we hear they sing no more, we
know they sleep; and we come down the hills and kill them
every one.

“« My friends take all they can find, and go away. I like
not to stay there, now that my father is dead. I take my
mother and sisters, and go to the other side, where my father
first lived. Our father gone, my brother seems very sorry ;
so we are all good friends, and I work for them all. My
brother goes many times away, we know not whither; and
stays many days.

‘“«¢ Four moons after, I go to Nossi Ibrahim, to see the old
man ; for he was a good friend, and more moons older than I
can tell. When I come back, I go to my house, and find no
one there, though it is night. I go to my brother; and he
nearly dies with grief. He tells me that, when I went away,
the Maratti came in their war-canoes, took my mother and
202 ADVENTURES OF

sisters, and because his old mother talked to them, and she not
being good for much, they killed her. ‘ Now,” he says, “I
want to make fire to burn her.” In grief we go, and build a
pile, and the body is burnt.

“«Then my brother says to me, “It is not good to weep.
Thy tears will not bring back the women.”

“And I say, ‘‘ Why did they not take thee?”

«ee Oh,” he says, ‘I ran up the mountain, and they saw
me not.”

««T was going back to the old man at Nossi Ibrahim, to ask
counsel. But my brother says, ‘“No; that people is few
and poor, and they sell not slaves. The Maratti are a very
great people, and they make many slaves. They hate each
other like bad brothers. In the Maratti there are some good
men; let us go to them; one of them is my uncle; he will
get back what you have lost, for he loves me; let us go and
talk with him.”’”

CHAPTER XLVILI.

The ghastly spectres, which were doomed at last

To tell as true a tale of dangers past,

As ever the dark annals of the deep

Disclosed for man to dread, or woman weep.
Byron.

The boat was one curved shell of hollow pearl
Almost translucent.
SHELLEY.

4c

HE conclusion,” continued De Ruyter, ‘“you may

surmise. The simple fool, Torra, was kidnapped
and sold by his crafty brother. He being the eldest, inherited
paternal rights over the youngest ; and had, by their laws, the
power, of which he took advantage, to sell them all. His old
mother, having less of the devil in her, or through fear,
opposed him; upon which he himself killed her. Torra was
sent in slavery to Rodriguez; and the women to the Isle of
France. You already know the rest of Torra’s tragic history,
and his summary code of laws. There is no more to remark
on but this: yesterday morning, when we had landed, he
A YOUNGER SON. 208

swam on shore, with his knives; and it seems he joined your
party.”

To this I replied, ‘‘ Torra indeed surprised me. When we
were stumbling about in the dark, seeking to cross the ravine,
it was he that led us forward to a place lower down. He was
afterwards of infinite use in directing us to the walls and the
gate. Indeed I had a suspicion, from his extraordinary
officiousness, that he intended some stratagem, and therefore
I kept an eye on him. But on our entering, when the signal
was made in the morning, all doubt vanished; for the fellow
was by far the most active of us all. Though he puzzled me
then, you have now made me understand his feelings of
revenge against the Maratti. While I was losing time in
holding a fellow by the throat, to prevent his giving an alarm
to those within, Torra had most expeditiously, as well as more
effectually, silenced the three others—I verily believe, before
they were awake. He then burst open the other entrance,
which led to the interior. After which I lost sight of him,
till I caught his figure, crimsoned from head to foot, rushing
from hut to hut. Wherever he was, the air was rent with
piercing shrieks and screams, till all was silent. I thought
the fellow mad, and at last fired a shot across his bow, for it
was useless to talk to him; and thus I stopped his triumphant
war-yells.”

“But,” said Aston, ‘‘ you have told us nothing regarding his
meeting with his brother.”

“Oh,” said De Ruyter, “it was truly fraternal, But I had
forgot, he is a dreamer, and has visions. Never remembering
my own dreams, no wonder I should forget friend Torra’s. By
Jove, it is most miraculous, and deserves to be recorded.
Thus saith Torra:

““«In the town of the Maratti I seek, in every place, to find
my bad brother; but I find him not. SoI feel my head and
blood like fire. I kill all I find. I too wish to die, but no one
fights with me. All run away from Torra, one man with
nothing but a knife; while they have swords, and darts, and
guns. Iron strikes me and hurts me not; guns wound not
Torra.

««¢ When I come on board I am sick and hot, and lie down
204 ADVENTURES OF

on the hammock-nettings of the forecastle, but not to sleep.
I have too much pain to sleep. I lie down, looking at the
sea: and then I see my old father rise up from the bottom, in
a great fish-shell, with his fishing-net in his hand. He looks
at me, and says, ‘ Torra, my son!”

“«T try to answer, but cannot,

«««Then he says, ‘‘ Thy mother, thy sisters, where are they?”

‘“««T try to say, they are slaves to the white men.

“«« He understands me, and says, ‘‘ No, Torra, they are free ;
look here! thou art a slave, my son, but they are with me!”
And I see them all three in the shell.

“«« Then he says, ‘‘ Thy brother, where is he?”

“««T try to answer, ‘‘ I know not!” when an old and wrinkled
white man, who lives in the dark clouds, comes with a long
spear of fire, and says, ‘‘ Where is he?”

“«« My father shakes his fishing-net, and again says, ‘‘ Where
is he? Torra, thou art a bad son, and a false brother to thy
sisters, not to send thy bad brother to the evil Spirit, who bids
me cast my net for him; and till I catch him, we are to have
no rest, no peace, condemned to follow him; and now I find
he is in the ship with thee, and he alone of all my blood can
sleep. Torra hath forsaken and forgotten the law of his
father’s land, blood for blood !”’

“«*« My father then throws his net again and again, and the
white demon of the cloud shakes his spear, calling on the
name of my brother—Shrondoo.

“«T turn and look the other way, and see my brother, as
my father said, asleep. I go down on the deck ; I stand over
him ; and when I am certain it is he, I kill him. And TI look
through the port on the waters, and see my father catch his
spirit in the net, and the white demon take it on his spear.
They all scream and clap their hands; the shell sinks in the
sea ; and the white demon is seen no more!’

“Such was Torra’s vision—what think you of it? I
promise you the fellow is in earnest, for he entreats me to let
him go overboard to his father ; but I think the conch-shell is
sufficiently charged already.”

“Poor fellow!” said Aston, ‘‘ he has been hardly used, and
misfortune has extinguished what little intellect he had.”
A YOUNGER SON. 205

“By Heaven!” I exclaimed, “I don’t know what you call
little ; the wisest of the ancients would have lost their senses
in such a case. As to killing his brother, if he had slaughtered
a myriad of such fellows, he ought to be rewarded, not
punished.”

“Very true; but men’s prejudices,” observed De Ruyter,
‘must influence the scales of justice. Our crew would
become mutinous, if I were to pardon Torra. His brother,
as the first-born, had his patriarchal rights, and might sell all
his kin and kind. The command of the father, though but in
a dream, might, on the other hand, justify Torra in killing
him ; but, as the father is not here to give evidence, Torra’s
blood must now atone for that which he has shed.”

“Surely,” I eagerly asked, “‘ you don’t intend it?”

‘Surely I do not,” was his reply; “but we must make a
show as if we did, and use some occasion of letting him
escape when we get near land.”

However, this was unnecessary ; for, two days after, Torra
going towards the bow of the vessel, handcuffed, and with a
sentinel guarding him, looked at the sea, cried,—‘ There he is,
waiting forme! I come, father!” and sprung over the bow,
and the ship passed over him. It was useless to make any
attempt to save him, as the weight of his manacles dragged
him down like lead.

This poor fellow’s story, and melancholy fate, made us all
sad for some time. Aston, who had a shade of a sailor’s faith
in dreams and omens, was at some trouble, on our arrival at
the Isle of France, to find out if that part of Torra’s dream
or vision, relating to the death of his mother and sisters, had
actually happened. There being a government office, where
the deaths of slaves were registered, he discovered it not only
verified, but, on comparing our log-book with the register,
that they had all died within the four-and-twenty hours, in
which Torra had seen them on the sea; they having been
drowned in a boat as they were being conveyed to the Isle of
Bourbon. I need not add that Aston’s faith, after this, was
not to be shaken.
206 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Whereat a narrow Flemish glass he took,
That since belonged to Admiral De Witt,
Admired it with a connoisseuring look,
And with the ripest claret crowned it ;
And, ere the lively bead could burst or flit,
He turn’d it quickly, nimbly, upside down,
His mouth being held conveniently fit
To catch the treasure: ‘‘ Best in all the town!”’
He said, smack’d his moist lips, and gave a pleasant frown.
Keats’ MS.

E were in the west trade-wind, and scudded merrily
along in company with the corvette, having determined
to run into Port Bourbon, in the Mauritius, on the south-east
coast, as the English frigates were blockading the port on the
north-west. ‘*Port Bourbon,” said De Ruyter, ‘is the best
to get into, being on the windward side, but difficult to get out
of. However, it is a beautiful harbour, and we shall have to
lie out the north-west monsoon, which is on the eve of com-
mencing. Besides, we shall then be nearer my home, and in
quiet, as there are few ships and little commerce in Port
Bourbon, that being carried on to leeward at Port Louis.”
Having been now some days at sea, I thought of visiting my
little female captive; not that I had neglected her hitherto,
having given her my own, comparatively, comfortable cabin,
and ordered the good old Rais to find out those of her father’s
tribe, or followers, on board. Besides, I sent him, privileged
by his age and rank, to see her, talk to her, and assure her
she should want nothing, and that all her wishes should be
granted. He told me that three women, who had been with
her in her father’s ship, were already with her; that he had
collected and given them what articles they wanted, and that
in a few days she would be better. Indeed the old Rais, in
respect of her father’s having been, not only an Arab, but a
schaich, of a tribe in the Persian Gulf, near his own country,
had anticipated all my wishes. He said, ‘‘ I must do the same
for her as for my own child ; for we are all brothers.”
De Ruyter, who heard our conversation, as he stood by,
began to talk with the Rais, addressing him by the name of
A YOUNGER SON. 207

«Father ;’’ for so he called him, the commander of his Arabs,
and one who had been long with him. He consulted the Rais
on every point connected with his men, and never opposed the
fulfilment of their customs. On his secret expedition to the
English ports, the entire command, in appearance, devolved on
the old Arab, while De Ruyter took the character of a mer-
chant, Parsee, Armenian, or American—they were all the
same to him, as occasion served. ‘I have been telling this
youngster of mine, Father,” said he, ‘that the Arab girl is now
lawfully his wife, in the most sacred manner, according to the
customs of your country. Is it not so? Inform him.”

The old Rais had heard all the particulars from the men
present at the father’s death, and said, ‘“‘ Most assuredly,
malik ; who can doubt it? Yet strange it sounded in my ears
when I was told it. It is the first time, old as I am, that I
ever heard of an Arab schaich, whose generations are countless
as the grains of sand on the great desert, giving his daughter,
and mingling the blood of the ancestors of the human race
with one of the infidels of a country, so newly discovered, that
our fathers knew not of tt, nor could her father have heard of
its existence ; a Yaoor!”

“Bah!” replied De Ruyter. ‘Why, the father knew him
for an Arab, to be sure. What else? Does he look like a
Christian? Has he not the Koran in his cabin? Come,”
(addressing me,) ‘‘say your Namaz.”

«Wise are you, malik,” said the Rais; “ that is the truth.
It is not strange her father should have so thought ; and I am
an ignorant man if his father was not an Arab born, or Arab
descended: for I never saw any of your western people sun-
dyed and featured like this boy. He is honest and brave,
loves our people, fights with our weapons, and uses our
customs. You see nature will break out. Now that he has,
by the blessing of Mahomet, our Holy Prophet, an Arab wife,
I hope he will find out the tribe of his ancestors ; and not, like
unto his foolish father, go from his own country, to dwell on
white rocks in the sea.”

This was spoken so seriously, and De Ruyter, checking his
ready laugh, conversed so learnedly on the subject, that I
began to entertain doubts of my own identity.
208 ADVENTURES OF

Moreover the Rais argued that the father had joined our
hands, when under the shadow of death; at which period,
though distant things become indistinct, things near are
miraculously unfolded, when connected with the secrets of the
other world, which, to us living, are visionary as spectres in a
dream, but, when flitting between life and death, are made
distinct and clear. ‘‘ Therefore,” said he, ‘her father could
not have been deceived in that moment. He knew into whose
hands he was giving his daughter, the. hopes of his house, and
the care of his children.”’

“What children?” inquired Aston; “has he other chil-
dren? ’

Already I began to think in what a predicament I was
placed ;—wife, children, and Heaven knew what else !

‘Children!’ said the Rais; ‘oh, yes! but not many. For
he was a brave and- desperate warrior; and most of his tribe
have been cut off in wars with people like these Maratti, who
pillaged his village, and killed them almost all. Now he has
not more than twenty or thirty.”

« Bnough too!” exclaimed Aston.

“T think quite enough,” added De Ruyter, mimicking Louis,
—‘ don’t you?”

I suppose I looked little animated at this discourse, now
that I began to find it in earnest ; and, perhaps, as chap-fallen
as one of Louis’s lively turtle, after his throat is cut. How-
ever, I was a little comforted by discovering that his children
were not of his body, they having been removed by the creeses
of his enemies, but his tribe—as the Rais called all the Arabs
on board his children; sometimes, when he was pleased,
including De Ruyter and myself. De Ruyter assured me, on
his honour, casting jesting aside, that, strictly speaking, every
thing the old Rais had said was true as the Koran. “But
then,” he added, ‘“‘ the Koran is nothing to you, and the Arab
law is not yours.”

“True; but how will it affect her?” I inquired.

“Only that, as her father affianced her to you, she can
marry no one else. From duty, therefore, as well as humanity,
you must provide for her, and convey her, with her Arabs, to
her own country. I know you have feeling as well as honcur,
A YOUNGER SON. 209

and that, whatever course you are destined to steer, they will
never quit the helm. I never have, nor ever will, my dear boy,
thrust officious counsel down your throat, which, like iron, is
only to be digested by the power of an ostrich’s stomach.
Besides, you are not one of those who arrogate exclusively to
themselves, their sect, or country (as too many of your
countrymen do), all the good and virtue under the sun. The
light is not less bright, because unobscured by, what is falsely
called, civilization, on the sands of these wild children of the
desert. Though they are not warmed and cooled by the same
summer and winter, as old Shylock says, as Jews and Chris-
tians are, yet if you prick them, they bleed,—and so forth.
You understand me. So, come down, and having discussed
this, let us discuss a cup of claret; the making of which, and
of barbers, dancers, fiddlers, cooks, pimps, and courtezans, are
the only real benefits France has conferred on the world, as
Voltaire has fully proved in his ‘ Lettre aux Welches.’ If any
Frenchman expects to go to heaven, it must be by virtue of
one of these pleas alone.”’

Aston afterwards inquired of me what I intended doing in
this affair. ‘ Doing!” I replied; “why, did you not hear ?—
it is all ready done, man.”

«What done?”

“Why, I am married,—without banns, or babbling about
the business. It is but like the first shock in bathing; the
timid suffer most by creeping in by degrees; the bold, by
plunging in head foremost, hardly feel it. I am no stickler.
If I must go in, give me deep water, and a height to leap from;
—then I shall neither cut my foot, nor feel the shock.”

“But consider, my lad, she is but a baby; and you have
scarcely seen her.”

«Well, what Arab does till after he is married ?”’

«“ How can you take her home? You don’t intend passing
‘all your life with Arabs ?”’

“Why not? I have no home. Old father Rais says this is
my country; and I like it very well,—I like the sun better
than snow. Aston! don’t be puckering up your face, like a
libidinous parson in the pulpit, exhorting his parishioners
against the sin of the flesh and the devil. Come, shake those

14
210 ADVENTURES OF

wrinkles out with claret. Have you not heard this is my
wedding-day ? Let usspend it in rejoicings! Ihate preaching,
and like wine.”

So with callians, sharoots, and claret we passed the time ;
De Ruyter and Aston bantering me about my novel marriage.
My spirits were too good to be dashed by such a trifle, as I
then thought marriage. When Louis heard of it, he said, “I
had a frow too once ; but she was never good for much. When
I went to sea, she drank all my gin. I never could keep a drop
of good skedam in the house. I did not like that ;—would
you? She grew very big, and every one said she was with
child; but I knew, if she had anything, is must be young kegs
of hollands. Afterwards the doctors thought the same; for
they—what they call—tapped her many times. But she loved
the liquor too much to let it out,—they got nothing but water.
This I could not have believed—would you? For I never saw
her touch water in my life ; she could not abide the sight of it,
and said it gave her a cold inthe stomach. So I left her, and
went to sea,—I knew she’d not follow me on the water; and
she was sad, and sick, and melancholy from grief, poor
woman !—because she got no more gin. I took all with me.”

CHAPTER XLIX.

For your gaping gulph and your gullet wide,
The ravine is ready on every side ;
There is boiled meat, and roast meat, and meat from the coal,
You may chop it, and tear it, and mash it.
SHELLEY.

and wounded. His hands were so full of business, that

we seldom saw him,—except his head, which he oc-
casionally shoved up the hatchway for air, as a grampus does
his above the water. He expounded to us the law regarding
murderers, whose bodies, in all civilized countries, were given
for dissection ; therefore, he continued, by benefiting science,
they did a great deal more good than evil in the world, and

We SCOLPVELT then came down, with the list of sick
A YOUNGER SON. 211

that it was a pity so few murders were committed, Then he
accused us of a conspiracy to paralyse the efforts of scientific
men, not only by opposing amputation, but by conniving at a
felonious fraud in depriving him of a post-mortem dissection.
“Had you acted,” said he, ‘‘in a summary manner, which you
do on other occasions, with Torra,—who was a very fine sub-
ject,—you would have hanged him instantly, and given me his
body. I thought he was an honest man, but find him like
every one else, conspiring to cheat the doctor,—which he has
done by throwing himself away to the fishes, when he was my
lawful perquisite.”’

With a glass out of Louis’s bottle, he returned to his
patients. “Ah!” said Louis, “if I did not see him drink
this now and then, and smoke his pipe, I’d not believe him a
live man. But any man may live on this,’’—(holding up the
bottle,)—‘‘ could not you? For it is like oil and spirit at once ;
the one keeps the body, the other the soul ;—don’t they?”

“Yes, with the addition of a turtle, now and then, I think I
might. Do you think, Louis, they have turtle in heaven?”

“T am positive they have,” was his reply ; ‘‘ or who would
wish to go there?—would you? It is no paradise without
turtle ;—is it? Then there is plenty of water in the moon, or
where does the rain come from ?—so there must be gin there
as well, to keep the damp owt.”

I went on deck to keep the first watch. From Louis and
turtle my thoughts reverted to my own little turtle-dove in her
cage. Then, only looking on the sunny side of things, all was
bright. I seemed to expand in bulk and stature. My thoughts
ran nearly in the same channel with those of Alnaschar, the
prattling barber’s brother, the fabled glass merchant, of imagi-
native renown; for, like him, my fancy ran wild. I determined
to be, at first, a kind and loving husband, then austere and
severe, or kind and cruel by turns. Certainly, though I thought
of everything the most preposterous, not a single ray of light,
useful or rational, shone on my midnight reveries. The gong
sounded twelve; I was relieved from duty. The cares of
married life not once disturbed my sleep. I wonder now I
slept so soundly.

At last I was awakened by Van’s shaking my leg. I sprung
212 ADVENTURES OF

up in an instant, stamping it on the ground, in fear that he
had been operating on it in my sleep. ‘‘ What’s the matter,
Van?”

“What are you talking about? One of the prisoners, an
Arab, is dying. He wants to see you.”

I dashed my head into a bucket of salt water, and followed
the doctor. Notwithstanding I met Louis in the way, with a
hot turtle-steak, which he urged me to eat first, as it was
hazardous to go into the sick berth with an empty stomach,
down I went; the man, who was badly wounded, only wanted
to tell me to be kind to his father’s child ; to let him see her
before he died, in order that he might take any message to her
father, with whom he should soon be again, for he saw the blue
angel of death hovering over him in haste to spring aloft; to
urge me to be a father to his two wives and five children, and
to tell them they must, Ishallah! (please God!) continue their
war for ever with the Maratti; because, whilst one remained
alive, their father’s spirit would be kept out of the heavens ;
and lastly, to see him put into the sea with all the customary
rites of his country, not allowing that white Indian with his
long knife, pointing to Van Scolpvelt, to scalp him, or cut
him. ‘ For,” said he, “if he cut anything away from me
here to eat it, I am no more fit for a warrrior in the other
land.”

Van gathered up his visage into a compound of horror,
astonishment, and ferocity, and growled and snarled like a
hyena. I believe the fear of Van Scolpvelt hastened the
Arab’s spirit, which, by the glassiness of his eye, was already
on the wing, for it took flight, while I was endeavouring to
appease the doctor’s wrath.

I bade his Arab comrades take charge of the body. They
erected a canvas berth, placed it within, and repeated the
same ceremonies I have before narrated—only that now I was
obliged to be an actor in their mysteries.

Here was I transformed, as by magic, from a friendless,
outcast, reckless boy of the west, without tie or home, into sea
Schaich, Arab, Mussulman—married! To give some idea of
how much these transitions (at least the last, which governed
the rest) weighed on my mind, I should not have known my
A YOUNGER SON. 213

wife from any other girl or woman. I had been so occupied
with the father, and her head and face having been, for the
most part, veiled, that I had not seen, or observed her features.
I had not even yet inquired her name. It is true I had a
Koran ; but I knew not where was my adopted country.

The first step I took was, I then thought, and think still, the
right one—to obtain information regarding the lady. I there-
fore ascertained, to begin in a business-like way, that her name
was Zela. That, engraved on my memory then in faint
characters, will be found deeply, indelibly impressed on my
heart when I die. Should any curious Van Scolpvelt desire to
pry into my body, I freely give him leave, but more readily to
Van himself, should he then live, to show him that I have not
that unmeasured hatred of science, with which he has so often
taxed me. He shall find, annexed to my last testament, a
codicil, in which I have expressly set down that my body shall
be sent to Amsterdam (where he was when I last heard of
him), conserved in a hogshead of right skedam—the body for
the scientific Van Scolpvelt, the fluid for honest Louis’s frow,
if recovered from her dropsy.

After I had breakfasted, and fulfilled the injunctions of the
dying Arab, by witnessing the consignment of his body to the
deep, my thoughts again veered round to the right point of the
compass—my virgin bride. I was schooled into the proper
guttural pronunciation of her name; no easy task, for I was
compelled to repeat the Z a hundred times, ere the old duenna
who tutored me was satisfied with its hissings aspiration.
Then she proceeded to impress on my memory ten thousand
ceremonies and cautions to be used; I was not to touch the
lady’s veil, or person, or garments, or talk too much, or ask
questions, or stay too long. For the lady Zela’s thoughts were
communing with her father’s spirit ; all her love was dead with
him ; her eyes, which outshone the stars, when she was happy,
were now lustreless as her dead father’s; her face, fairer than
the moon, was now darkened by the clouds of grief; her lips,
redder than henna, were pale with sorrow; all her loveliness
was under eclipse, for tears had been her only food, and peace
and sleep had fled her pillow, since her father’s spirit had gone
away, and left her alone in the world. She then added, “Oh!
“214 ' ADVENTURES OF

stranger, be good to her, and all good will be yours in possessing
her!”

CHAPTER L.

She like a moon in wane,
Faded before him, cower’d, nor could restrain
Her fearful sobs, self-folding like a flower
That faints into itself at evening hour.

KEATS.
This ring ¥ * * ‘i * *
’Tis chosen, I hear, from Hymen’s jewelry.
Keats’ M8.

HE went to prepare the lady Zela, and, had I been a hot
and impatient lover, she left me time to cool. Possibly the
very thought that I was not going to woo, but was already fast
wedded, helped to make the hour and a half, before she
returned appear neither more nor less than ninety minutes.
Nor did I make any pretty invocations to Time, with leaden or
swallow wings. It might be that about this time of the day, I
had a particular relish for smoking my callian, and sipping my
coffee. I have never quitted this vice, or rather virtue ; for, at
this very time, I am as surly, if called away in the morning ere
I have had my pipe and coffee, as a judge, when a jury finds a
verdict according to their conscience, and against his summing
up; or, as a bull-dog with his bone, when an impudent cur
offers to nab it; or as a woman, detecting her wearied
husband in the act of moving her new bonnet off the sofa to
repose himself.

I sat inhaling the last whiff of the fragrant tombacae of
Shiraz, through rose-water from Benares. I filled my lungs
with a delicious cloud, which seemed to circulate throughout
my body; and I sent it forth again like a jet of water, or
frankincense burning from an altar, or from a swinging chalice,
or like the spiral wreath from a cottage chimney,—for I was
comparing it to all these; and so intently wrapt in watching
and admiring the rainbow-like tints, borrowed from the sun,
glittering upon the vapour, as I eked it out from my compressed
lips and nostrils, with my cheeks swollen like a trumpeter’s,
A YOUNGER SON. 215

that I had not seen the old Arab woman return. I suppose
her beauties too were, like the moon, under a cloud, or in an
eclipse ; for her dark figure startled me, and I thought of the
tale of the fisherman, and that the smoke had condensed itself
into a black witch. She informed me that the lady Zela had
been awaiting me with coffee and sweetmeats, till the one was
cold, and the other turned sour.

“No one has been here,” I replied, ‘‘ to tell me she was
ready.”

She looked sour enough to have spoiled the sweetmeats at
a@ glance, as she said querulously, ‘‘I have been standing here
so long, that, see—my feet are grown to the wood!”

I laughed ; for she was so far right that the sun and heat of
her foot had melted the pitch ; and she had some difficulty, as
the vessel was heeling over, to keep her balance, while she
disengaged her hoof. Saying all I could to soften her, down
we went together.

The cabin-door was opened by a little Malayan slave girl,
from the coast of Malabar, whom I had sent as my first gift, and
IT entered. The lady-mine was seated cross-legged on a low
couch, so shrouded and enveloped in yellow drapery, the mourn-
ing of her country, that I could distinguish nothing of those
wondrous beauties the old Arab woman had talked of. On my
entrance I thought her one of those marble figures I had heard
of in Egyptian temples; but I found she was alive. Her feet
were bare; she rose and placed them in embroidered slippers,
which lay on the deck of the cabin; she took my hand, put
it to her forehead, then to her lips: I entreated her to be
seated. She resumed her position, and remained motionless,
her arms drooping listlessly down; her little rosy feet nestled
under her, like tiny birds under the mother’s wing. Her hair,
the only part now visible, covered her like a jet black cloud.
I had felt the pressure of her tremulous lips ; and imagination,
or perhaps some faint outline which fancy had left graved on
my-hand, pictured her mouth exquisitely soft and small—
(I loathe a large and hard one); and I think now, this silent
pressure wove the first link of that diamond chain which time
nor use could ever break or wear away. I seemed entranced.
We both sat silent; and I felt it a relief when the old Arab
216 ADVENTURES OF

woman returned with coffee, and mangastene and guava jelly.
She again rose, which I would have prevented, but the old
woman signed me to sit still, She took a minute cup, in a
filagree silver stand, and presented it to me. I was so
intently gazing on her tapering, délicately formed fingers, that
I upset the coffee, and, putting the cup to my mouth, was
going to swallow that; which indeed, as it was not bigger
than the spicy shell of mace that holds the nutmeg, I might
have done without choking. The old woman told me after-
wards this was a bad omen. She then presented the con-
serves, and, returning the stand to the woman, resumed her seat.

Taking from my hand a ring of gold, with an Arabic in-
scription, and hooped with two circles of camel’s hair, the
same her expiring father had placed on my finger, I held it
towards her. The low and suppressed moans she made on
my entrance broke out into sobs, so violent that I could see
her loose vest agitated by the beating of her heart. I was
about to remove this object, which awakened such painful
remembrances, when she grasped it, pressed it to her lips,
and wept over it some time. The woman then said something
to her; and, without the guidance of her eyes, she again put
forth her tapering little fingers, and replaced the ring. It was
indeed the antique signet of her father’s tribe; and, like the
seal of princes, it made right wrong, or wrong right, and gave
and took away, and made and unmade laws, obeying the will
of its wearer. She put it on the forefinger of my right hand ;
and again pressed my hand to her head and lips.

Upon this I took a ring I had selected from De Ruyter’s
store of baubles; it was a deep ruby, of the shape and size of
a wild grape, hooped and massy with virgin gold, and, by its
size, seemed to have been worn by a fairy. Gently disengag-
ing her hand from the drapery as it lay motionless by her side,
I placed this ring on the forefinger of her right hand ;—the
old woman smiled. Then I put her little palm to my lips, and
repeatedly kissed it;—the old woman’s brow darkened, or
rather the wrinkles on her brow deepened, for her colour, by
time and the sun, was fixed into an indelible bronze. How-
ever, taking the hint, I let go the hand, and it dropped by her
side.
A YOUNGER SON. 217

This interchange of rings was a definite acknowledgment of
our union. I now asked the lady if I could do anything to add
to her comfort on board the ship. I told her I had collected
and released all I could find of the tribe of her father ; that
they should be kindly attended to; that I was a stranger, and
ignorant of many of their customs, entreating that she would
direct me; that our Rais was a good man, and would love her
like a father. Her sobs now became more violent. Catching
the infection of melancholy, I put my hand to my heart, and
said, ‘‘ Dear sister, moderate your grief. Command me in all
things; for am I not your happy slave?” She did nothing
but weep, and I withdrew.

CHAPTER LI.

The simplest flowers
In the world’s herbal ;—-this fair lily blanched,
Still with the dews of piety ; this meek lady
Here sitting, like an angel newly shent,
Who veils his snowy wings and grows all pale.
Keats’ MS.

HUS passed my first visit, and many successive ones. It.
was long ere I heard the music of her voice. I thought
she was mute as well as motionless; but, distracted by the
busy turmoil of our now crowded vessel, my visits to the
silent lady were not irksome. I culled everything I thought
would amuse or please her; made strict search, amidst the
heaps of plunder we had taken from the Maratti, for every-
thing belonging to her, her father, and his people, which was
restored and I was unwearied in attempt to win her regard
Yet so long she remained insensible, that I thought I might as
well have worshipped a mummy from the pyramids; and had
not my impatience been listened to, and soothed, by the kind-
hearted Aston, I should have expressed my dissatisfaction to
the lady herself, and totally have withdrawn from her, as my
presence seemed offensive.
Perhaps that would have been no easy task. For though I
218 ADVENTURES OF

could never interchange speech with Zela, the old Arab woman
was not so reserved. She would stop in the midst of every
errand, as she crossed the deck, and talk of nothing but her
lady Zela. At first I cursed her garrulity, as my legs grew
weary with standing; I thought she would have talked them
off, for nothing would induce her to be seated. No! she must
not sit in the presence of her malik; besides, her mistress was
waiting for water, coffee, sweetmeats, or something else. Me-
thought her mistress must be wondrous patient, for the moon
wasted ere her discourse concluded.

At last she instilled into me hopes that Zela was not
insensible of my kindness; that she said I was very good,—I
must be, for her people said so; that it was a pity I spoke her
language so imperfectly, and was a stranger of a far distant
tribe; she was sorry the great kala panee (black water) was
between our father’s lands; but I was gentle, kind, beautiful as
a zebra, and she liked to hear my voice.

This delicious poison relumed my expiring hopes; the dark
old woman grew bright and entertaining, and her harsh voice
sounded sweet. My night watches seemed miraculously
diminished. Yet I had seen no more of Zela than her foot
and hand; the tone of her voice I was as yet a stranger to.

How then could I love her? I had never felt, or seen, or
dreamt of the strange power of love. Indeed I know not when,
or why, or where, or how he found entrance even in my
thoughts. It appeared to me I was only fulfilling a duty, sacred
from its having been laid on me by the impressive energy of a
dying parent, consigning to me, with his last breath, his friend-
less child. In the crystal purity of youth, this was the first
impressive scene, in which I had been the principal actor, in
which the emphatic appeal was made to the good feelings of
my heart, a sealed fountain, then broken ; and pity, and sorrow,
and now love were flowing from it like a swollen torrent, which
bears down all before it. The poor little captive bird was
building her nest in my bosom’s cove, whilst I thought her
quietly caged in my cabin below. My visits grew longer and
more frequent. I retained her passive hand in mine, till I felt
its warmth restored, and fancied it glowing with mine. The
very air about her seemed to grow heavy with fragrant odour.
A YOUNGER SON. 219

Even the touch of her insensible hair, more graceful than the
willow’s pendent boughs, as it kissed my cheek, filled my soul
with passion, All my senses seemed exquisitely refined, and a
world of new thoughts and delicate fancies to have birth within
me. As I at last caught the full radiant brightness of her
large dark eye, my limbs shook, my voice trembled, and my
heart beat convulsively, and fast. Holding her hand, I gazed
in speechless ecstasy. Whether she observed, I know not;
but she removed her hand, and veiled the brightness of her
eyes. It was enough; they had thrilled through me, and the
fire was inextinguishable. She had murmured some words in
a broken voice, which buzzed in my ears like a honied bee’s, or
like the warbling of the humming-bird, that lives in the
cinnamon groves, and her breath was sweeter than the trees on
which it lives. My senses ached with the intensity of the new
world of delight which opened to me.

And love was thus ignited in my breast, pure, ardent, deep,
and imperishable. Zela, from that day, was the star I was
destined to worship ; the deity at whose altar I was to offer up
all the fragrant incense of my first virgin affections, feelings,
and passions. Nor did ever saintly votary dedicate himself to
his god with intenser devotion than I consecrated my heart to
Zela. When dull mortality returns to dust, when the spirit
bursts its charnel-vault, and wings its way, like a dove, it will
find no resting-place, or olive branch of peace, till re-united
with Zela’s; then will they blend, two sun-beams together,
shining onward to eternity.
220 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER LII.

And then he went on shore without delay,
Having no custom-house, nor quarantine
To ask him awkward questions on the way,
About the times and place where he had been:
He left his ship to be hove down next day,
With orders to the people to careen,
So that all hands were busy beyond measure,
In getting out goods, ballast, guns, and treasure.
Byron.

O other circumstance, of any importance, dwells on my
mind during this eventful cruise. We were now in the
latitude of the Mauritius, thirty-two leagues N.W. of the Isle
of Bourbon. The Mauritius was first called by the Portuguese,
on their visit in 1521, Swan Island, from being a favourite re-
sort of that bird. The grasping Dutch were the first to lay
their hands on it, yet not till long after, somewhere about 1600.
They named it the Mauritius, complimenting, in this appela-
tion, the Admiral of the United Provinces. The French, as I
have already related, succeeded them, and called it the Isle of
France ; and it was the rallying point and rendezvous of all
their cruisers. Nearly in the track of the company’s homeward
and outward bound Indian fleets, of the departure of which
care was taken to procure early intelligence, they sent their
ships of war to cruise for them in the latitudes of their usual
route. But it was from private ships of war, with commissions
of lettres de marque, that the English merchant fleet principally
suffered. Against the large French ships they were protected
by efficient convoy of their own men-of-war; but the smaller,
fast-sailing French cruisers, filled with desperate adventurers,
hung round their fleets, like the wandering Arabs on the desert
round a caravan; while the English men-of-war were withheld
from pursuing them, fearful of losing sight of the merchantmen,
and of their being attacked by others in their absence. The
Frenchmen rarely ventured near them during the day, or when
it was fine weather, unless supported by some of their own
frigates, following them in the hope of cutting off stragglers.
In bad weather, during dark nights, they deceived them, by
A YOUNGER SON. 221

making false signals to lure them off; or during the heavy and
sudden squalls which prevail in those latitudes, in the event of
any accident happening, such as losing a mast, or, what fre-
quently was the case, losing sight of their convoy, they were
certain of attack from one or more of these French privateers.
But being all well armed, and very large ships, they sometimes
succeeded in defending themselves, not only from the private
ships of war, but on more than one occasion, they gallantly
beat off a French squadron.

The French found the Mauritius of essential importance ; en-
abling them to harass the English commerce, and to preserve a
footing in India. They spared no expense in fortifying it ; and,
to confess the truth, they were not backward in improving it,
by rendering it useful and productive. They introduced, and
cultivated with success, most of the spices and fruits of India,
with rice, and all sorts of corn from Bourbon, Cochin China,
and Madagascar. But the island being small, not more than
nineteen leagues in circumference, of course all this was on
a proportionally limited scale. The Dutch, by their neglect,
had allowed the most valuable port, on the N.W. coast to be
choked with their own filth, and mud and stones washed down
by the torrents from the mountains rising close to it. The
French, under a clever and enterprising governor, cleared this
harbour, built a good pier, and made a superb basin for their
ships of war, sheltered from all winds, which are here occasion-
ally terrific.

We made the land of Bourbon, then hauled up to the
Mauritius, which we soon after got sight of. This island is
of an oval form, and that part we now coasted, on the N.W.
was grand and rugged, with occasional verdant cover. De
Ruyter observed that this side of it had been turned topsy-
turvy by the agency of volcanoes; and that it was thought, by
observers in these matters, to have been formerly united with
the Isle of Bourbon, but torn asunder by the convulsion of
internal fire. We saw many huge, arched caverns, into which
the sea was rolling with a hollow, thundering voice. Grey
and ragged fragments of calcined rocks were piled on each
other in fantastic disorder. The land then rose gradually from
the cliffs to the centre of the island, terminating in a mountain,
222 ADVENTURES OF

which rose like a dome. De Ruyter told us this was an
elevated plain, thirteen hundred feet above the sea; and
though, from this side, it appeared a precipitous mountain, on
the other side, at Port St. Louis, the ascent was so gradual,
that a horse might gallop up nearly to the summit, which was.
pointed like a sugar-loaf, called Piton du milieu, and surrounded
by a plain. We saw seven other mountains, looking like seven
giants seated in conference. Many low capes stretched out
into the sea, and, winding their rocky roots yet farther,
formed beautiful bays, with white sandy beaches, and narrow
valleys, often intersected by streams or rivers, verdant and
wooded, and thickly set with shrubs and flowers.

As Aston and myself stood watching these with our glasses,
I said, ‘‘ How quiet and exquisitely beautiful is that! O, let us
go and dwell there!’’ Then, as that shut in, and another opened
far more beautiful, and then another, and another still, I
reiterated the same exclamation. We all three loved nature,
and De Ruyter took delight in pointing out to us every minute
change in the scenery. ‘ Surely,” I cried, ‘this island is a
paradise of the eastern poets! Who but a fool, once on this
land, would leave it? O, let us forsake the never-certain
ocean, which, with its treacherous smiles, lures us on to sick-
ness, disappointment, pain, and death!”

Aston was not less delighted than myself ; and there was a
willing alacrity and lightness in the movements of all on board.
Joy spread in every countenance, every source of discontent was
forgotten, and all was union and harmony. As we let the
anchor go, the men flew aloft like birds, and the sails were
furled inaninstant. Canoes, almost sinking with their cargoes
of fresh fish, fruit, and vegetables, were hovering round us.

The pleasure which filled my heart was augmented to over-
flowing by the dear presence of my little eastern fairy Zela,
who, yielding to my earnest prayers, had allowed me to lead
her on deck. As the gentle air waved her light gauzy robes
aside, or pressed them closer to her, played with her hair, and
showed her youthful form, which seemed almost suspended in
its own lightness, Aston gazed at her with astonishment, and
compared her to a young fawn by the side of a stag. De
Ruyter, who spoke her language perfectly, took her hand, but
A YOUNGER SON. 223

was so surprised at her beauty, that it was some time before he
could utter a word, though she was then pallid and wan, and
her lips colourless. He talked to her in his most soothing
manner; then, turning to me, said, “This is some little
eastern sprite, too delicate and frail to be touched by human
hands! I may now congratulate you with all my heart; nor
lives there a man so cold as not to envy your good fortune.
By Heaven! I thought you were making a sacrifice, and I
find you have a jewel, which kings, if they had hearts, would
give their crowns to possess! Knowing this, if you do not
treasure her as such, may happiness forsake you for ever!
Fortune can never again give anything so far above com-
parison.”

She looked round like a frighted antelope, with wonder at
finding herself surrounded by so many strangers, all gazing on
her; and her face was crimsoned like the morning clouds.
She would have returned below, but her hand was shackled in
mine. I sent for a carpet and cushions, and she sat down on
deck, encircled with women.

CHAPTER LIT.

Worse than a bloody hand is a hard heart.

SHELLEY.
Thou bitter mischief, venemous, bad priest!

Keats’ MS.

E RUYTER went on board the corvette, to tell her
captain that the English frigates had left their blockade
of the leeward port. This was occasioned by the loss of their
men and boats, and in order to return to Madras before the
SW. monsoon set in. Besides, as the homeward-bound fleet
was supposed to have passed the latitudes of these islands,
their object in blockading was effected. It was then determined
that the corvette, after getting a supply of water and fresh
provisions, was to go round to Port St. Louis; and that De
Ruyter, by crossing over land, was to meet the captain there,
and give their despatches to the French general commanding.
224 ADVENTURES OF

This done, he returned on board, when we sent all our
prisoners and wounded on board the corvette, and De Ruyter
went on shore to provide accommodations for his own sick, and
procure supplies. The next morning he left us for the town and
port of St. Louis. He gave me directions what to do in his
absence, and promised to be with us at latest in three days. We
shook hands and parted.

It was arranged that when the grab was cleared, we should
lay her up, and proceed to De Ruyter’s country house;
he possessed a considerable estate in the interior of the
island.

It is worthy of remark that, regarding climate, this island
has a peculiarity I never remember to have found in any other
in India. Other islands are comparatively cool and pleasant
on the coasts, and close and unhealthy in the interior, unless
on the heights. Here it is reversed: the entire coast is
so scorchingly hct, and the air so bad, that at Port St. Louis,
and other places round, no one dares venture out in the day-
time during six months of the year, as he may be almost
certain of having a sun-stroke, which occasions a brain-fever,
the malignant fever, cholera morbus, or dysentery; while,
at the same period, in the interior, particularly on the
windward side, the air is temperate and salubrious. For six
months in the year, from November to April, the town of St.
Louis is insufferably and noxiously hot; scarcely any one but
the slaves could be induced to remain there, the free inhabitants
departing for the interier. Then again, the dry months at
Port St. Louis are the rainy ones in the central parts; and
whilst the fiercest hurricanes are raging on the coast, a few
miles inland all is calm and sunshine. I have repeatedly
witnessed this ; and it is strange in so small an island.

With a nature ardent, active, and enterprising, my soul was
in what I undertook, and with unwearied diligence I executed
De Ruyter’s behests. Watching and toil were to me pleasure,
for my body was strong, and my spirits winged. Magazines of
spars, planks, and matting were speedily erected on the shore ;
every article not pertaining to the vessel was landed and daily
sent round on the backs of mules, asses, and slaves,—(the last,
I shame to say, were the chief animals of burthen on the
A YOUNGER SON. 225

island,)—and transported, with proper precautions, to the
town of Port St. Louis.

De Ruyter had made great exertions and sacrifices in the
importation of buffaloes and asses, to supersede the use of
slaves, in the degrading and painful toil of bearing burthens in
a climate of almost insufferable heat. But the cold indifference
with which men, solely devoted to mercenary pursuits, treated
his humane propositions, made it up-hill work. These heartless
traffickers could neither see nor hear of any plan, except such
as tended to their own immediate profit. With them the
common organs of nature became brutalized; their views of
things were narrowed into the circumference of actual sight;
and as the wasp, with an eye like a lens, magnifying into bulk
the minutest objects within an inch of its optics, cannot
distinguish, at the distance of a yard, a wall from a wall-
flower, so was it with these fellows. There was no use in
talking of to-morrow, of what could be then done with mules
and buffaloes, because with slaves they could realize a profit
to-day. As to human suffering, they not being touched with
human feeling, how could that influence them? ‘Is that the
law ?—I cannot find it, tis not in my bond,’—is the sum of
their ready reply to the advocates of humanity. To every
appeal they are deaf as crocodiles ; and while you are talking
of humanity, they will lash, or order to be goaded the bare and
festered back of an overloaded female slave, her tender nature
one animated mass of ulcers and cancers, half consumed alive
by flies and maggots, antedating their destined prey. Then,
what the free and happy most fear—death, is her only hope
and refuge, and comes like a bridegroom; when the corrupted
mass is cast uncoffined into the sea, or in a ditch, where the
dog-fish, or the wild dog, famishing, will turn from it,—the
worms’ leavings. Thus it is with her, and with harder and
more enduringman. I have seen their spines knotted asa pine
tree, and their skins as scaled and callous, with the flesh cracked
into chasms, from which blood oozed out like gum, as hundreds
of them, poor wretches ! underwent their daily toil in the dock-
yard at Port St. Louis, under a sun so scorching, that their
task-masters, shaded, sheltered, and reclining, have gasped as
from suffocation ; and when, from the mere exertion of moving

15
226 ADVENTURES OF

a few yards, at a snail’s pace, to give commands, their bodies
have reeked with moisture, and larded the earth, like a horse’s.
after arace in July. The pity and pain I felt, at the sight of
these poor slaves, could only be equalled by the deep and over-
whelming damnation I invoked on the heads of their inhuman
oppressors, them and their kind for ever! Surely monsters.
like these are annihilated,—they cannot be immortal! Yet they
should be so, with an eternity to torture them in. They should
have justice and their bond; what they have done to others.
should be done to them; and I defy the invention of hell’s
fabled demons to be more cunning in cruelty than themselves.

This barbarous treatment of the slaves, though not to the
extent which I afterwards witnessed on the other side of the
island, impelled me on, if a spur was wanting, to despatch my
business in Port Bourbon, that I might hasten to the secluded,
wild, and wooded hill, De Ruyter had pointed out as the place
of his residence. There, I knew, where he had power, pain
and oppression would be softened, if not driven away alto-
gether.

At the appointed period De Ruyter returned. Active and
energetic as he was in all he did, he was surprised at our expe-
dition. The burthened hull and lofty-rigged vessel, which, a
few days before, had come into the port half buried by her
weight, with clouds of canvas on her, now floated as light as
a sea-bird sleeping, her canvas unbent, masts and yards struck,
dismantled and moored close to the shore.

De Ruyter informed Aston that he had obtained permission
for himself, and the four men belonging to the frigate, whom
we had kept on board, to remain with him, on his parole for
himself and them.

We were discoursing of the slaves when he came in. He
told us this tale, in his pithy and abrupt manner : ‘Two days
ago I went to the door-way (for I never venture farther) of a
church they were consecrating, to seek for a slave-dealer, with
whom I had business. He is a cruel villain, but a punctilious,
sanctimonious, and sour church-goer ; a fellow who, if there
remained but one man besides himself in the island, and if their
faiths differed but in the breadth of a hair, would, by force or
stratagem, stake or burn him. You shall hear: the church,
A YOUNGER SON. 227

flagged with white pavement, was blotted by half a score of
black priests. There was a mass of people to see the ceremony;
and these priests looked like the smutted ears bound up with a
sheaf of corn. I was going away, for I grew sick, from the
filthy compound smell of frankincense, sweat and garlic, all
mingled. An ignorant, converted slave entered, who, seeing
some muddy water in a stone basin at the portal, concluded
it was for ablution. He, therefore, laved his tarred and
begrimed arms in it, up to the elbows. A missionary priest
observing this, struck him over the pate with the cross, on
which was bedaubed, as if in mockery, a gory Christ. The
eross, being of the same materials as the priest’s heart, iron-
wood and ebony, was heavy. The priest was strong and malig-
nant. It crushed the fellow’s bare head, and entered the
brain ;—the first good act a bigoted priest committed—for the
slave was emancipated.”

«‘ What did they with the assassin ?”’ exelaimed Aston.

“I know,” answered De Ruyter, ‘what they would have
done with you, if they had heard you so call him. Why, they
drowned the victim’s death-scream with bellowing Te Deum,
mopped their sweating brows, and went and feasted at the
slave-butcher’s house. As to poor negur man, I saw his car-
cass to-day, as I rode along at high water mark, a banquet for
the land-crabs. These are the staunch upholders of the Pope’s
bloody banner, and these the arguments used for the conver-
sion of unbelievers. At Rome is the mainspring of this faith,
which I liken to a banian tree ; for every branch from the main
body throws out its own roots, at first in small tender fibres,
but continually growing thicker, by gradual descent, they get
within the surface of the earth; where, sticking in, they
increase to large trunks, and each becomes a parent tree,
throwing out new branches from the top; these, in times, sus-
pend their root, and receiving nourishment, swell into trunks,
and shoot forth other branches; thus continuing in a state of
progression, so long as the first parent of them all supplies its
sustenance.”

“No more of this!” said I; ‘let us hasten to our quarters
on the hill, away from priests and slaves!”
228 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER LIV.

Soft mossy lawns
Beneath these canopies extend their swells,
Fragrant with perfumed herbs, and eyed with blooms,

Minute yet beautiful.
SHELLEY.

No tumbling water ever spake romance,
But when my eyes with thine thereon could dance,
No woods were green enough, no bower divine,

Until thou liftedst up thine eyelids fine.
Kazarts.

N a few days more, all our arrangements being made, and

the Rais left on board in command, De Ruyter, Aston, and
myself, with the gentle Zela, and her attendants, went on shore
as the day broke. We commenced our journey inland, with
mules, ponies, and asses. We went some distance along the
pebbly margin of the shore, beautifully tesselated with a
variety of shells, of all colours and shapes. Then crossing an
arid plain, we wound up a rocky, rugged ascent, on a path
with only room for one mule. I walked by the side of Zela’s
little horse, and pointed out to her the sublime beauty of the
scenery. As the grey mist was evaporating, the tops of the
cone-like hills were left bare, while their bases were still hidden
by the vapours. They looked like a group of beautiful islands,
or black swans, floating in a calm and silent lake, some
feathered to the very crest with shrubs and bushes ; some with
majestic timber, the palm and cedar ; and others blasted by
volcanic fire.

Zela had the blood of a fearless race. She had been bred
and schooled amidst peril, always at hand. Not having learnt
to affect what she did not feel, she crossed ravines, wound
along precipices, and waded through streams and rivers, not
only without impeding us by enacting a pantomimic represen-
tation of fears, tears, entreaties, prayers, screaming, and faint-
ing, but she was such a simpleton as not even to notice them,
unless, in the usual sweet, low tone of her voice, to remark
that they were delightful places to sit in, during the sultry part
of the day; or she would stop her pony over a precipice to
gather some curious flowers, drooping from a natural arch; or
A YOUNGER SON. 229°

to pluck the pendant and waving boughs of the most graceful
of Indian trees, the imperial mirmosa, sensitive and sacred as
love, shrinking from the touch of the profane.

“Put this,” she said, holding out a branch, “in your turban;
for I am sure in some of these hollow caves and dreary chasms.
the ogres live ; they feed their young with human blood, and
they love to give them the young and beautiful. Put it in your
turban, brother,—since you say I must not call you master ;—
and never frown,—I do not like to see it, for then you are not
so handsome,—I mean, good, as when you smile. Do not laugh,
but take it. It will preserve you from every spell and magic.
Nothing bad dares come near it.”

While crossing a sandy level, suddenly she started, as her
eye caught some object. Without stopping her horse, which
was ambling along, she sprang off, and ran up a sand hill, like
a white doe. Never having witnessed any thing like this before,
I was so astonished that she was returning, ere I could overtake
her to ask if an ogre had lured her with his evil eye. ‘O, no,”
she cried,—‘‘ look here! You like flowers, but did you ever see
any one so lovely as this? Smell it,—’tis so sweet, that the
rose, if growing near it, loses its beauty and fragrance, from
envy of its rival.”

Certainly I thought she was bewitched. It was a glaring
large, red bough, full of blowzy blossoms, and yellow berries,
with a musky foetid odour. ‘ Why,” I exclaimed, ‘‘ you have
as much reason to be jealous of old Kamalia, your nurse, as the
rose to be jealous of such a scraggy bramble as this! Faugh!
the smell makes me sick.”

I suppose I was instigated to make this rude speech by her
fondling and kissing it. Her dark eyes expanded; and she
seemed, for an instant, to view me with astonishment, then with
sorrow; as they closed, I perceived that their brightness was
gone, and the long jetty fringe, which arched upwards as it
pressed her cheek, was covered with little pearly dew-drops.
The branch fell from her hand under my feet, her sprightly
form drooped, and the tones of her voice reminded me of the
time when she hung over her dying parent, as she said,—
“Pardon me, stranger! I had forgotten you are not of my
father’s land. This tree covered my father’s tent, sheltered us
230 ADVENTURES OF

from the sun, and kept away the flies, when we slept in the day.
Our virgins wreathe it in their hair, and, if they die, it is
strewed over their graves. So, I can’t help loving it better
than any thing. But, since you say it makes yousick, I won't
love it, or gather it any more.’’ Then her words became
almost inarticulate from sobbing, as she added,—‘‘ Why should
I wear it now? I belong toa stranger! My father is gone!”

I need scarcely say that 1 not only returned the flowers,
and pleaded my ignorance, but I went up the hill, and pulled
up the tree by the roots. ‘‘ Sweet sister,” said I, ‘1 was only
angry with it because you abused the favoured tree of our
country, the rose. But now, as the sun shines on it, and I see
it nearer,’’—looking at her,—“ I do think the rose may envy it,
as the loveliest of my countrywomen might envy you. I'll
plant it in our garden.”

“OQ, how good you are!” she exclaimed; “and I’ll plant a
rose tree near it, and they shall mingle their sweets; for our
love and care of them will make them live together without
envy. Every thing should love each other. I love every tree,
and fruit, and flower.”

Still I observed, as her thin robes were disarranged, that her
little downy bosom fluttered like an imprisoned bird panting
for liberty; and, to turn her thoughts from what had pained
her, I said,—‘‘ Do not fear, dear Zela. That is the last stream
we have to cross; and then we shall ride over that beautiful
plain.”

““Q, stranger !’’ she replied, ‘‘ Zela never feared any thing,
but her father, when angry; and then, those who feared not to
gaze on the lightning, when all the world appeared to be on
fire, feared to look in his face. Then his voice was louder than
the thunder, and his lance deadlier than the thunder-bolt.
Last evening, when you talked to that tall man, who is
so gentle, you looked like my father; and I thought you were
going to kill him, and I wanted to tell you not; for I have
read his eyes, and he loves you much. It is very bad to be
angry with those that love us.”

“Oh, you mean Aston! No, dear, I was not angry with
him. I love him too. We were talking of the horrid cruelties
practised on the poor slaves here; and I was angry at that.”
A YOUNGER SON. 231

“I wish I knew your language! How I should have loved
to hear you! And then I should have slept; but being
ignorant of that, I did nothing but weep, because I thought I
saw you angry with one that loves you.”

De Ruyter now came up, and we suddenly stood on the
elevated plain, called Vacois, in the centre of the island. Our
ascent had been very abrupt, winding, and rugged. Before us,
in the middle of the plain, on which we now rode, was the
pyramidical mountain I have already noticed, under the name
of Piton du Miliew. Inclining to our right was the port and
town of St. Louis. To the south were large plains, in rich
vegetation, divided by a fine river, with one solitary hill. To
the north were other plains, inclining to the sea, white as if the
briny waters had recently receded from them, and only partially
cultivated with sugar-canes,.indigo, and, in the marshy spots,
with rice. From south to east it was volcanic and mountainous,
with jungle and ancient forests. The north-east was, for the
most part, level. The plain, where we were, was full of little
sheets of deep water, forming themselves into pretty lakes;
which, overflowing during the heavy rains, at times made the
plain swampy, and ever overgrown with canes, reeds, and
gigantic grass. Such was the diversified and beautiful scenery
now disclosed, as the sun, having risen above the mountain in
the east, dissipated the yellow mists, and laid bare the hitherto
obscured beauties of this divine island, like a virgin unrobed
for bathing.

We alighted under the shade of a group of the rose-apple trees,
which seemed to have drawn a charmed circle round a solitary
oak, on the brink of a lake, clear as a diamond, and apparently
of amazing depth, the golden Chinese fish sporting on its surface,
and green, yellow, and blue dragon-flies darting here and there
above it. The modest wood-pigeon and dove, disturbed in their
morning ablutions, flew away to the woods, The gray partridge
ran into the vacour, which stood in thick lines on the brink,
impenetrable from its long fibrous leaves, standing out like a
phalanx of lances. The water-hens dived, and the parrots
chattered on the trees, as if they had been peopled with scold-
ing married women ; whilst the sluggish baboon sat, with portly
belly, gormandising with the voracity and gravity of a monk,
2382 ADVENTURES OF

regardless of all but the stuffing of his insatiable maw with
bananas.

We were told that there were, in this lake, prawns as big as
lobsters, and eels of incredible size, from fifteen to twenty feet
long. The two principal rivers took their rise from this plain,
augmenting in their course by the ‘tribute of an infinity of
streamlets; till swollen into bulk and strength, like two rival
monarchs, they ran parallel for a while, trying to outvie each
other in pomp and velocity, springing over their rocky beds.
After some distance they separated to the right and left, and
passed through their different districts, to pay, in their turn,
tribute to the mightier ocean.

‘

CHAPTER LV.

The oak
Expanding its immeasurable arms
Embraces the light beech. The pyramids
Of the tall cedar, over-arching, frame
Most solemn domes within; and far below,
Like clouds suspended in an emerald sky,
The ash and the acacia floating hang
Tremulous and pale. The parasites,
Starr’d with ten thousand blossoms flow around
The grey trunks.

SHELLEY.

FTER the senses were satiated by the matchless beauties
of nature, our grosser appetites prevailed, craving some
of her solid bounties. Fish, fruits, and other simple fare, a
sailor's greatest luxury, were spread out in abundance. We
devoured them with truly sacerdotal zeal. Meanwhile the
odour of citrons, raspberries, guavas, wild mangoes, and straw-
berries, with countless herbs and aromatic plants and shrubs,
ascending up the valley with the morning dew, filled us with
exquisite sensations of delight. My limbs, light and elastic,
impelled me to believe I could have outrun the deer, which,
from time to time, we saw crossing the opening glades, and
dashing into the coverts.

A portion of the pleasure I felt infused itself into the mind
A YOUNGER SON. 233

of Zela. This was the first time we had eaten bread and
salt together. As I remarked it to her, she smiled, and said,
“Yes, now we must be friends! And, if you keep our country’s
customs, you must not even frown on me, your guest, till the
sun shall set, and again dawn.”

While strolling together, and gathering flowers, I questioned
her respecting their classification,—not the botanical, but the
oriental one of love; but De Ruyter soon halooed us to horse.

We left the lake on our right, skirted the base of Piton du
Milieu, over a volcanic soil of pulverized cinders, and, by gentle
descents, proceeded towards the south. Again we were among
mountains, passing green lawns, and marshes overgrown with
vitti-vert, (which is used for thatching,) fern, marsh-mallows,
waving bamboos, and wild tobacco. We saw plantations of
the manioc, (bread-fruit,) maize, sweet potatoes, the cotton-
tree, the sugar-cane, coffee, and cloves. Then we crossed rocky
channels of clear rippling water, hedged by dwarf oaks and the
dusky-coloured olive, underneath which flourished the dark-
green fig-tree, with its strawberry-red marrowy fruit, bared by
the bursting of its emerald-green rind. Here the majestic
palmiste towered grandly alone, crowned with its first, tardy,
and only fruit ; and when deprived of that diadem, like earthly
monarchs, it perishes. We penetrated the wild native woods,
where grew the iron-wood tree, the oak, the black cinnamon,
the apple, the acacia, the tamarind, andthe nutmeg. Our path
was arched by wild vines, jessamine, and a multitude of deep
scarlet-blossomed creepers, so thickly interlaced in their living
cordage, that neither sun nor storm could penetrate them; or
if a wandering beam found éntrance through the thick natural
trellice-work, it was only enough to cover some little tuft of violets
or strawberries, its own offspring, growing up in its genial
warmth with a strength and vigour pre-eminent amidst the
pale and sickly brood of the neglected children of the shade.
Nothing I had ever imagined of the loveliness of nature equalled
the reality of these scenes. Among such fairy haunts, created for
a sylvan people, we appeared intruders ; and, for the first time,
methought De Ruyter’s and Aston’s voices were harsh, and
their manly figures and weather-strained brows, out of keeping :
they would be more in their places, I thought, on the armed
284 ADVENTURES OF

deck of a ship, or leading men tobattle. I could in no manner
so group them as to make them keep tone, or preserve the
harmony of the scene. The most favourable view that could
be taken of them, was to regard them as wood-demons, jungle
admee, (wild men,) ouran-outangs, or centaurs. The old nurse,
Kamalia, who, with two black slaves, brought up the rear, I
was so convinced was a sybil or sorceress, with her attendant
demons, ready to execute her horrible enchantments, that I
began to wish myself out of the gloom of the forests, and to
long once more to be in the sun, however scorching ; and when
Zela pulled in her horse, and the old dark hag approached with
her blacks, I grasped hold of his bridle, and urged him on,
anticipating every instant to see Zela transformed into a white
fawn, bounding into the density of the woods, and myself and
all the others into great black dogs, doomed to hunt her, with-
out pause, for a hundred moons. My fears were a little
dissipated, as, clinging firmer on her horse, for its sudden
motion, as she was looking up, had almost thrown her, she said,
“OQ, let me go—I shall fall!—and I want to speak to old
Kamalia, to ask her what these beautiful red flowers are on the
top of that tree. And, see! they are not blossoms, but little
scarlet birds, and you have frightened them all away!”

I, laughingly, acquainted Zela with my thoughts. She
laughed too, and inquired—

“But what do you think I am?”

“You, dear, are the gentle Ariel, the fairy sprite of the place.
This wood should be your dwelling-place, your empire: nothing
human, for every thing human is dashed with evil, should find
an entrance. Hlemental walls should incage you, and you
should live, like the bee and those bright birds, on the sweets
of herbs and flowers.”

“Yes, but I should not wish to live alone; nor could I be
happy if imprisoned, though in the sweetest place, for then it
would be no longer sweet.”

‘Then, dearest, I would attend on you as your slave.”

“OQ, no, no, no, there shall be no slaves: did you not say
so?”

Our path now became wider and lighter, and we emerged
from dark shade into an open plain, almost blinding us with
A YOUNGER SON. 235

‘dazzling brightness. As we crossed a river, by a rustic bridge,
I thought I recognized De Ruyter’s hand in the construction.
Again ascending a zig-zag path, we mounted, amongst groups
of trees and shrubs, to an elevated platform, on which stood
the house and gardens of De Ruyter. I shouted with delight
to Aston, who was behind me—

‘See, here it is—here is our house: it must be so, for who
but De Ruyter would have ever discovered so matchless a spot
to build a dwelling on? I told you so: every thing we have
hitherto passed is nothing in beauty to this; and, possessing
this, what else can a man desire; for here is every beauty in
nature drawn together to make it perfect.”

“Tt is indeed!” answered Aston, looking at the situation,
and gazing round at the extensive view over the island, “it is
perfection!”

““Come, come, dismount,’ said De Ruyter; “you'll have
time enough to examine this. It is now the hottest hour of
the day. Your husband,” turning to Zela, ‘is fit only fora
wandering santon of the desert: see, he has selected the most
unsheltered place he could find, to have the full benefit of the
sun. Look at him, he is unturbaning! He would be a saint
among the Raypoots—the sun’s offspring!”

Zela came up to my side, and gently said, ‘Do not stand in
the sun, for it is very bad now. Look! all the blossoms and
flowers shrink from it, and, shutting their eyes, they sink into
the shadow of the leaves ;—and they too droop despondingly.
And all the pretty birds and insects are gone to sleep in the
woods. No animal is stirring abroad, when the sun is in the
middle of Heaven. Every thing sleeps; even the wind is gone
to sleep, in those holes and caverns we saw on the shore.
Nothing but the malignant little fly is awake ; he now collects
his venom in the poisonous exhalations, to torment the night
with his war-cry, whilst he stabs with his lance, and frightens
sleep away. He is the bad spirit, and sleep is the good.
Come away; the captain says so, and you mind him more than
me.

A very pretty description of the sand-fly tribe, thought I, as
we dismounted under a veranda, and were led by De Ruyter
into the house. It had a double row of Persian blinds all
236 ADVENTURES OF

round, which completely excluded the sun, and let in the air.
The centre hall, comprising nearly half the house, had a flag
pavement, with a stream of the clearest water, hurrying through
a little channel, which filled an oval basin in the middle, and
then a large bathing tank in the garden-grounds, serving also
for irrigation. It afterwards formed a cascade, and leaped
from crag to crag, till it reached its parent-river, whose waters
could be heard from the window, murmuring beneath us. De
Ruyter had cut, upwards in the mountain, to the source of one
of the springs, which he thus brought down into his house and
grounds. Round the centre hall were low, broad, cushioned
seats; and on its walls Indian and European weapons of the
chace, mingled with drawings and rustic implements. Zela
and her attendants were shewn into one of the wings, over
which was written, in Persian characters, ‘‘ The Zennanah.”
“This was a whim of the artist,’ said De Ruyter, “« who
arranged and painted the interior ; for your lady 3 is the first
who, as far as I know, ever entered. it.’

Then shewing Aston his room, he turned to me, and con-
tinued: ‘“‘As for you, a walled room cannot contain your
wandering spirit. So we must leave you to rove about after
your restless fashion ;—I know you will do so, whether per-
mitted or not. If you want any thing, clap your hands; then,
if they are real wants, they will be satisfied. As to luxuries, I
have avoided the taint of the climate; yet nothing is prohibited,
for that defeats its object, and sets a value on shadows. When
the gong sounds one, you will find tiffin in the hall.”

CHAPTER LVI.

We gaze and turn away, and know not where,
Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart
Reels with its fulness.
Byron.
ITH these words he left us to ourselves, and Aston
exclaimed: ‘What can he mean by luxuries? Can
the world produce such as these, to my mind the most exquisite
that man can conceive ?”’
A YOUNGER SON. 237

“T think we may contrive,” I replied, “ not being very fasti-
dious in these matters, to rough it here.”

“Yes,” he rejoined; ‘‘ and when we leave it, every thing else
will appear rough and murky as an Irish hut.”

Thus chatting, strolling about the hall, and just sallying out,
the gong sounded. All but Zela appeared. ‘‘ We shall find
you,” said De Ruyter to me, ‘‘ but a droning sort of comrade,
unless the queen bee makes her appearance; so let her be
entreated to waive the customs of her country, and follow ours,
—at least in this. In most others I like hers best.”

A woman was called and sent to her. After some demur
Zela entered, and, placing her on a couch, for she had never sat
ona chair, I placed myself by her. Admirable were her little
tapering fingers in eating. Their beauty was destroyed by an
ugly iron prong, which she essayed in vain to use. I begged
her to teach me her way; but, instead of separating grains of
rice, as she could, with fingers, it was impossible to separate
the rice from the wing of fowl in a curry. JI was compelled to
shovel them both in my mouth together.

Zela, with still some difficulty, consented to accompany us
in our evening stroll. She retired, and we reclined on the
couches round the hall, with coffee and callians, gazing on the
water, which, in its shadowed channel, looked like a mirror in
a marble frame. Too happy to express our feelings, we did
not talk, but sat musing, till we found relief in sleep.

On awaking, we washed in basins placed on stone benches
by the stream. A drink was brought, of iced water, with the
compressed juice of the freshly plucked pomegranate ; and a
little filagreed basket of fruit and sweetmeats. Then again
restoring the fine tone of the palate with coffee, whose frag-
rance filled the hall, we once more smoked our callians, till the
sun was sinking behind a mountain, and the breeze came from
the sea, when we sent for Zela.

At her appearance we went into the grounds about the
house, and ascended, by a gentle acclivity, in shaded and em-
bowered paths, to a summer-room, exactly of the form and
colour of a markee. -Here was a commanding view of the
principal beauties of the island, the sea, and the entire port of
Bourbon. Zela cried out, ‘There is the ship !—close below us,
238 ADVENTURES OF

—not more than five miles off!’ And, with the telescope, I
fancied I could see Louis le Grand busily handling the turtle,.
under the awning on deck.

Isat down on a projecting crag, above a deep chasm, with
my eyes rivetted on the light and winged movements of Zela,.
who was flitting about, like a bee or bird, from tree to flower,.
examining nicely into each scent and quality. Hlegant motion,
graceful bearing, and bashful yet unembarrassed address are to
be found in perfection in the east. Nature, as if fearing the
rivalry of art, or indignant at its presumption, or disdaining to
contend with so feeble a foe, or disgusted that her choicest,
best gifts are despised, tortured, and distorted into unseemly
shapes in what is called civilized communities, has withdrawn
from populous cities to the desert and the lonely mountains,
her own loved haunts ; and there she dwells sporting with her
favoured offspring, the ring-dove, the antelope, and the barb.
A child of the desert is like a vine in the wilderness, spreading
its leafy tendrils in profusion ; although, in comparison to the
same plant cultivated and pruned, it yields but a scanty vin-
tage, it is more beautiful, hanging in flowing ringlets on the
heads of forest trees, than clipped and confined to hedge-stakes.
The vine and the olive are children of the hills and sands,
nurtured by sunbeams. The desert-horse and antelope are the
fleetest and most beautiful. That majestic king of birds, the
plumage of which waves over the jewelled diadems of human
kings, and nods in triumph over a royal hearse, inhabits the
sandy wastes. The richest fruits, the sweetest flowers, the
balmiest air, the brightest and purest water, are found amidst
rocks and sands, nursed in solitude and liberty; and there
man communes with God and nature till, in love and worship,
his feelings are almost divine. There too I have seen her
virgins, and Zela was one of these, untaught as her wildest
children, whose exquisite loveliness shamed the Grecian sculp-
tor’s art, his measured lines and cold proportions, by beauties
such as inspiration, with the perfection of science, could never
dream to trace. I have gazed on their forms, features, and
expression, blending and harmonizing together, till the over-
excited senses, all concentrated into one, have so fascinated
my being, that I have become faint with unendurable delight,
A YOUNGER SON. 239

and my heart, overflowing with its delicious sensations, sought
relief in sighs and tears. What eye so stony, that meets their
arrowy glance, darting through the brain, could scrutinize its
colour or measure its lines, to see if it were of the Grecian or
Roman mould? The owl might as well attempt to gaze un-
dazzled at the sun.

Tt was only in Zela’s absence that I could dwell on her
portraiture. She had just turned her fourteenth year; and
though certainly not considered, even in the east, as matured,
yet, forced like a flower, fanned by the sultry west wind, into
early developement, her form, like its petals bursting through
the bud, gave promise of the rarest beauty and sweetness.
Nurtured in the shade, her hue was pale, but contrasted with
the date-coloured women about her, the soft and transparent
clearness of her complexion was striking ; and it was heightened
by clouds of the darkest hair. She looked like a solitary star
unveiled in the night. The breadth and depth of her clear and
smooth forehead were partly hidden by the even silky line
from which the hair arose, fell over in rich profusion, and
added to its brightness; as did the glossy, well-defined eye-
brow, boldly crossing the forehead, slightly waved at the outer
extremities, but not arched. Her eyes were full, even for an
orientalist, but neither sparkling nor prominent, soft as the
thrush’s. It was only when moved by joy, surprise, or sorrow,
that the star-like iris dilated and glistened, and then its effect
was most eloquent and magical. The distinct ebon-lashes
which curtained them were singularly long and beautiful; and
when she slept they pressed against her pale cheeks, and were
arched upwards.

That portion of the eye, generally of a pearly whiteness,
in hers was tinted with a light shade of blue, like the bloom on
a purple grape, or the sky seen through the morning mist. Her
mouth was harmony and love; her face was small and oval,
with a wavy outline of ineffable grace descending to her smooth
and unruffled neck, thence swelling at her bosom, which was
high, and just developing into form. Her limbs were long, full,
and rounded, her motion was quick, but not springy, light as a
zephyr. As she then stood canopied beneath the dense shade
of that sacred Hindoo tree, with its drooping foliage hanging in
240 ADVENTURES OF

clusters round her, in every clasped and sensitive leaf of which
a fairy is said to dwell, I fancied she was their queen, and must
have dropped from one of the leaves, to gambol and wanton
among the flowers below. Running to her, I caught her in my
arms, and said, ‘‘I watched your fall, and have you now,

dear sprite, and will keep you here!”—pressing her to my
bosom.

“Oh, put me down! You hurt me,—I have not fallen,—oh,
let me go!”

“Will you promise then not to take flight to your leafy
dwelling, in that your fairy-kingdom-tree ?”’

“What do you mean? Oh, let me go,—you'll crush me!”

I gently placed her on the ground, and told her my fears.
The instant I unclutched her, she ran to her old attendant,
scared like a young leveret ; and this was my first embrace of
my Arab maid.

That it may not be considered I exaggerate, when speaking
of the Arabs in India generally, I must refer the reader to what
a recent, learned, and unprejudiced traveller says of them:
«The Arabs are numerous in India; their comparative fairness,
their fine, bony, and muscular figures, their noble countenances,
and picturesque dress, intelligent, bold, and active,” &c.

Zela’s father was all this, and her mother a celebrated beauty
brought from the Georgian Caucasus, and twice made captive
by the chance of war. After giving birth to Zela, she looked,
and saw her own image in her child, blessed it, and yielded up
her mortality. Is it to be marvelled at, that the offspring of
such parents was as I have described, or rather what I have
attempted to describe? For I am little skilled in words, or
words are insufficient to represent what the eye sees, and the
heart feels.
A YOUNGER SON. 241

CHAPTER LVII.

There’s not a breath
Will mingle kindly with the meadow air,
Till it has panted round and stolen a share
Of passion from the heart.
Kzats.

N my return to De Ruyter and Aston, they were
determining on the necessity of our calling on the
commandant at Port St. Louis, and agreed to ride thither
on the ensuing day. I begged off, under plea of having the
ship’s duty to attend to. We continued in the open air til]
supper was announced, and our evening terminated as agree-
ably as the day had begun, wanting nothing but the presence
of Zela. As we were to rise long before the sun, to enjoy the
cool morning air, we retired early to our couches.

My restless spirit could not be hushed to sleep. After
tossing about for an hour, I returned to the summer-house,
where they found me in the morning. I then went to the
bath, which refreshed me more than sleep. After coffee, and
smoking our callians, we went round with De Ruyter to look
at his plants and shrubs, which he had brought from different
islands in the Indian archipelago ; for he had a strong passion
for gardening, building, and planting, and loved this island for
its climate and soil, where every thing flourished. He said,
‘““T have questioned all sorts of people, up to princes and
tyrants, and find that gardeners are the most contented, and
therefore the happiest people in the world. I confess, if I had
not been a sailor from chance, I should have been a gardener
from choice. But we have no voice in these matters, com-
pelled, like the beetle and the bat, blindly on, in the earth, or
in the air.”

I could hardly remember a fruit or flower I had ever seen in
Europe or India which he had not collected together here ; and
there were many I had never seen, or never taken note of
before, besides the aboriginal trees of the island. Except the
platform on which the house was built, all the ground round
about was wild and broken. The timber found on the spot had
been partially cleared away; small groups, and single forest

16
“249 ADVENTURES OF

trees were left. The house consisted of a single story, with a
projecting front and roof, and was colonnaded. The front was
to the south, and looked down on a small plain; the sea was to
the north-west ; and to the east, mountains, forests, rocks and
precipices diversified the scenery. With the exception of a
portion of the plain below, nothing indicated cultivation or
inhabitants. There was a large plantation, with several small
ones, divided by avenues of trees and paths between, and
white-washed wooden cottages, whence De Ruyter drew all his
supplies, making it a point to produce every article he consumed
in abundance.

“Tt would be more advantageous,” said he, ‘‘in a worldly
point of view, to cultivate that alone, in large quantities, which
is best adapted to the peculiarity of the soil; and, by turning
the overplus into specie, to purchase what necessaries or
luxuries I might fancy. But, besides the satisfaction I feel in
my plan, for what I lose in profit I gain in pleasure, health,
and occupation, it enables me to meliorate the hard fate of
those suffering under a detestable system,—which I abhor, but
cannot remedy,—I mean that of slavery. What I could, I
have done. You will find no slave on my property. The bread
you eat may not be the whitest or the lightest; but it is not
stained by the blood and sweat of the galled and overtoiled
captive, or leavened in execrations. Some score of slaves that
I have redeemed, or found free, are my tenants. I have a tithe
of their produce; I take it in kind. One is to supply me
annually with corn, another with coffee, and so on to rice,
sugar, spices, cotton, tobacco, wine, oil, spirit, and what else
the ground will produce. What is superfluous I dispose of.
Every thing you eat and drink here is by free, not by forced
labour ; and I think we shall not relish our homely fare the
less from knowing it is so. I am not one of those heavy-
beamed moralists who preach, but hang astern from practice ;
fellows who scrutinize into the doctrine of a tailor before they
venture into a pair of breeches of his making, without a
thought of payment; I rather look at the goodness of their
work, then at their godliness. I am better served by free
people, working with all their hearts, than by the hands of
heartless slaves.”
A YOUNGER SON. 248

The ride to the commandant being postponed to the following
day, we all proceeded to employ ourselves after our own fancies.
De Ruyter made a drawing of a wing he wished to add to his
dwelling, as a zennanah for the women. Aston unearthed
sweet potatoes, yams, and herbs for dinner. I formed an
harbour of bamboos amidst the shrubs, where I planted the
mystic tree, the yakoonoo, that caused Zela’s tears to flow on
our journey. As I lay down under the shade of a rose-apple,
not having slept at night, I fell into a sound nap; from which
I was awakened by feeling, as the sun ascended over the trees,
the rays stealing up my limbs like flame. I-knew I should be
burnt out of my post in a few minutes; yet this enhanced
the pleasure of those moments, and I contentedly endured the
fiery martyrdom of my lower extremities. At this moment I
heard a gentle rustling noise approaching. What could it be ?
I was stretched out in such listless indolence, that I could
neither move nor look, though I continued to listen intently.
I felt I ought to rouse myself, for as it came on, it struck me
it was a serpent; but then I instantly recollected that De
Ruyter told us there was not a single venomous reptile on the
island. Oh, no! thought I, I know the sound; I am confident
it is only a lizard or two, fly-catching. Then I was conscious
of something being lightly placed above me, which rustled in
its motion; and, opening my eyes, I beheld Zela, with her
little Malayan girl, Adoo, shadowing me with part of a talypot
palm-leaf,—for an entire one is sometimes thirty feet in cir-
cumference. She was running away when she perceived me
awake; but I caught hold of the hem of her loose, embroidered
trowsers. ‘‘ Why,” said she, ‘do you lie in the sun? Don’t
you know it is worse than the bite of the chichta?—and its
blow on the uncovered brow more fatal than the bahr’s ?”’

“Sweet Zela! what brought you here?”

«Oh, to gather fruit!”

«« Why did you bring that palm-leaf? There’s none of them
near this place.”

Her eye then caught the tree I had planted, and she asked,
“What do you think for? How could I know you were
sleeping in the sun? We got the leaf to cover this yakoonoo.”’

“ How did you know it was planted there, for I told no one
of it?”
244 ADVENTURES OF

I thought I read in her eyes, and in the varying expression
of her features, the mirror of her mind, that I was not, as
heretofore, indifferent to her. With a step almost as’ light as
hers, I returned with her to the house.

CHAPTER LVIII.

Sublime tobacco! which, from east to west,

Cheers the tar’s labour, or the Turkman’s rest ;

Which on the Moslem’s ottoman divides

His hours, and rivals opium and his brides ;

Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,

Though not less loved in Wapping, or the Strand ;

Divine in hookahs, glorious in a pipe,

When tipp’d with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe.
Byron.

And on the sand would I make signs to range

These woofs, as they were woven of my thought ;

Clear, elemental shapes, whose smallest change

A subtler language within language wrought.
SHELLEY.

E were met by De Ruyter, who said, “ Lady, I was
about to pay you a visit, for a cup of old Kamalia’s
coffee.”

“T beseech you do, captain,’ she answered; ‘“ she makes it
better than any one; her sherbet, too, and her arekee are
excellent. She knows many other things; and can read the
old books of our country, and the stars.”

“By her antique look,’’ observed De Ruyter, ‘she must
have studied from the papyrus; and it would not surprise me
if she could clear up the mystery of hieroglyphics.”

On entering the zennanah, the old governante, Kamalia,
haying counted us on her four skinny fingers, proceeded to
fulfil that sacred rite, never omitted in the east, of presenting
refreshments ; without the heartless and niggardly ceremony
of appealing to the guests, as is wont in Europe, to learn
whether they will take them or not, looking on those who
receive them with an evil eye. I followed Kamalia to know
how the genuine oriental coffee is made. Good mussulmans.
A YOUNGER SON. 245

can alone make good coffee; for, being interdicted from the
use of ardent spirits, their palate is more exquisite and their
relish greater.

Thus it is—A bright charcoal fire was burning in a small
stove. She first took, for four persons, four handsful of the
small, pale, mocha berry, little bigger than barley. These had
been carefully picked and cleaned. She put them into an iron
vessel, where, with admirable quickness and dexterity, they
were roasted till their colour was somewhat darkened, and the
moisture not exhaled. The over-roasted ones were picked out,
and the remainder, while very hot, put into a large wooden
mortar, where they were instantly pounded by another woman.
This done, Kamalia passed the powder through a camel’s-hair
cloth ; and then repassed it through a finer cloth. Meanwhile
a coffee-pot, containing exactly four cups of water, was boiling.
This was taken off, one cup of water poured out, and three
cups full of the powder, after she had ascertained its impalpa-
bility between her finger and thumb, were stirred in with a
stick of cinnamon. When replaced on the fire, on the point
of over-boiling, it was taken off, the heel of the pot struck
against the hob, and again put on the fire. This was repeated
five or six times. I forgot to mention she added a very minute
piece of mace, not enough to make its flavour distinguishable ;
and that the coffee-pot must be of tin, and uncovered, or it
cannot form a thick cream on the surface, which it ought to
do. After it was taken, for the last time, from the fire, the
cup of water, which had been poured from it, was returned.
It was then carried into the room, without being disturbed,
and instantly poured into the cups, where it retained its rich
cream at the top.

Thus made, its fragrance filled the room, and nothing could
be more delicious to the palate. So far from its being a long
and tedious process, as it may appear in narrating, old Kamalia
allowed herself only two minutes for each person; so that
from the time of her leaving the room to her return, no more
than eight minutes had elapsed.

Zela herself handed it to her guests, the little. Malayan girl
following with sweetmeats and water. Zela then brought me
a cheboukche (Turkish pipe) ; it being the custom for the wife,
246 ADVENTURES OF

in her apartment, to fill and light it, but only for a father or
husband. She removed the pale-coloured amber from her
ruby lips, and, presenting it to me, crossed her hands on her
forehead. She then left me to see her other guests served by
her women.

Pallid amber, not transparent, tinged with the lightest shade
of violet, or, as the Mussulmans say, like the hue of a fair
virgin’s brow just as the life has fled, is by far the most
precious. Next to that, in their estimation, ranks the lightest
of the lemon shade, cloudless and unspotted, but not trans-
parent.

The only admissible beverage to preserve the sensibility of
the palate, whilst inhaling the vapour of that exquisite and
inestimable leaf, which grows at Shiraz, on an estuary, the
eastern side of the Persian Gulf, (said to have been Adam’s
Paradise, and I believe it!) if you would voluptuize in the full
luxuriance of its perfect flavour, is either coffee, such as I have
described, or the juices of fresh fruits compressed in water, or
the pure element, or Tonkin or Souchong tea, gathered whilst
the dew was on the leaf; let the best be selected, and infused
with a liberal hand in water, the instant ere it boils,—not
stewed, asin Europe. Just as the leaves are unfolding them-
selves, the infusion is pungent and aromatic, without being
bitter and vapid. It should then be sweetened with the
clearest candied sugar. All fermented liquors are held in
Mahometan abhorrence by refined smokers, as blunting the
delicate sense of the palate, and destroying the mental relish.

Zela’s father was deeply versed in the art of smoking, and
had initiated her theoretically in its most hidden mysteries, as
an indispensable part of female education; and De Ruyter,
little inferior in his practical knowledge, used to say, “I
consider European accomplishments as mere springes to catch
woodcocks. Useful knowledge they have none. All their
pride is in their feathers and ornaments, like the coloured
muckarunga, or the flaunting peacock, or the motley jay,
stupid, presumptuous, and chattering. Whilst these Arab
maids, whom they scoff at as barbarians, because they alone
value what is useful, can manufacture cloth of all sorts, fashion
it into dresses, sow the corn, bruise it, and make it into bread,
A YOUNGER SON. 247

hunt and spear the flying antelope, or ostrich, and cook either
in a variety of modes. Then their plighted faith was never
broken ; and their watchful quickness and devoted courage are
a shield on their husband’s bosom, when his eyes are closed in
the nest of danger ; for then treason or force cannot reach their
lords, unless through their faithful breasts. As to female
beauty, who is to decide on the general standard? They are
all classed together, and so are the lily and the garlic; yet
what can be more dissimilar. In Siam and Arracan long ears
and black teeth are thought charming; in China and Tartary,
large lips and long nails. In some parts of Europe the points
of beauty are considered similar to those of the horse,—
breadth, bone, height, and solidity of structure. In England
there is an Amazonian breed arrived at perfection, together
with the horse, the bullock, and the oak. But those who love
dainty, delicate, and feminine forms, must seek them in the
lands where flourish the crimsoned-blossomed ceiba, the date,
and waving bamboo, which love nature’s wildest nooks, and
refuse to mingle their beauties with the crowded jungle or
cultivated plantation.”

On the ensuing morning De Ruyter and Aston went to the
town of St. Louis on a visit to the commandant; and I
amused myself in gardening. Zela was becoming accustomed
to be with me, and I could hardly live a moment out of her
presence. Her calm features became dimpled and animated
by smiles. We were both unlearned in love. Though we
could converse on common topics, notwithstanding my mis-
takes in the Arabic, without any great difficulty, yet were we
equally novices in the language of the heart. The fierceness
of my passions, which usually hurried me on impetuously, was
now checked by the acutest sensibility. I eould find no words
to express my new feelings, while their violence craved the
perfection of eloquence to delineate them. But words died on
my lips; and, as we sat down on a carpet, under the shade of
a tree, we communed in the antique characters of her country,
which, for lovers, far excel the alphabet of Cadmus. We
drew figures, on the red sandy soil, of birds, ships, and houses,
and to these hieroglyphics we added the mute language of
fruits and flowers. These, with her large dark eyes, the sweet
248 ADVENTURES OF

movement of her lips, their touch, and our fingers twined
together, as our young hearts beat tumultuously, seemed to me
most eloquent and intelligible. Time passed rapidly, as the
little gusts of wind, flying over the silvery surface of the tank
of water at our feet, or as they bent the flowers and passed on.
Then we strolled about, and ravaged the garden of its ripest
and richest fruits, when the greatest contention that ever
passed between us was,—who culled the best? and which
was the best? She grew animated in panegyrics on the fresh
and luscious date, and I declared it nothing in comparison with
the downy nectarine, aud the lordly-crested pine-apple ; while
Aston, close behind us, gave it against us both in favour of the
mangostein, in which he contended were united the flavours of
the nectarine, the date, and the pine-apple, in addition to its
own.

‘“‘ Holla !”’ I exclaimed,—‘‘ Aston! I thought you were gone
to call on the commandant. It is too late now,—the sun
is hot,—I feel my blood boiling. Why did you not go with
De Ruyter ?—he has been off this hour.”

“You are dreaming,” answered Aston; ‘‘De Ruyter and
myself went off six hours ago, and here we are returned. It
is now mid-day, and we have been seeking you everywhere.
Dinner is waiting.”

“ Nonsense! Zela and I came out here while you and De
Ruyter were drinking your coffee, and talking of going into
town. Certainly that’s not more than an hour ago.”’

‘“‘Awake, you dreamer!” he said, ‘‘and look at the sun.
Don’t you see it has passed the south, and is now above your
head? Surely it must have affected your brain! But come,
get up; we, who count time by our appetites and the calendar,
want something more solid than the dainty food of love.”

Amazed at the unwonted rapidity with which the day had
flown, we returned to the house. Zela, ignorant of all artifice,
could only assure De Ruyter, in reply to his bantering, that
she did not know it was so late, that she feared she had
unconsciously dozed away the time, and that as we had eaten
of so many fruits, neither of us was hungry, and we had never
thought of dinner.
A YOUNGER SON. 249

CHAPTER LIX.

And are you really, truly, now a Turk?

* * * * x
Is’t true they use their fingers for a fork ?
Well, that’s the prettiest shawl, as I’m alive!

You'll give itme? They say you eat no pork.
Byron.

HE commandant, I was informed, was anxious to see
me, and had requested us all to dine with him. Aston
had been very kindly received.

Consequently, a few days after this, before the break of day,
we returned by the same route by which we had come to the
elevated plain, passed the Piton, and, by a tolerable road, and
a very agreeable descent, arrived at the town of St. Louis.
On this side the mountains slope as smoothly down to the sea,
as they rise abruptly and precipitously on the other side. The
lands near the town were highly cultivated. Groups of pretty
cottages, with green verandas, were scattered about on the
plantations, which were separated from each other by double
avenues of trees. These were vacours, impenetrable from the
dense mass of barbed and pointed leaves, and the beautiful
scarlet and white blossomed rose-apple, growing in the form of
an olive; and under their shade was the coffee-tree. We saw
a great variety of bananas, fields of pine-apple, hedged by
peach-trees, Persian roses, and a beautiful Indian shrub, called
netshouly; while the willow-like bamboo hung his head over
the clear river, as if enamoured of his own graceful form.

On arriving at the town, built close to the harbour, at the
month of the delightful valley through which we had descended,
and which was overhung by a lofty mountain, we passed some
tolerable houses in the suburbs, having gardens filled with
fruits and flowers. We then wound through some narrow,
dirty, unpaved streets of wooden and mud tenements. As we
approached the harbour, near the quay, we came to the
commandant’s house, which loomed like a magnificent palace
amidst the dwarf hovels around.

The commandant received us with that urbanity and equality
250 ADVENTURES OF

which the French so readily put on; and which are so striking
when compared with the dog-like surliness of the rude and
stiff-backed Englishman in power, who looks at every stranger
as an intruder that ought to be attacked. He swells with
paltry pride, puts on the air of a muzzled bear, or vicious mule,
and pats his dog, the emblem of his master, that struggles to
break his chain and fly at your throat, while you are growlingly
asked,—‘‘ What’s your business, Sir?” If, forcing his nature,
he sulkily asks you to walk in, and if his wife happens to be
caught unprepared to receive you, she reddens with anger, and
with some gentle hint to her husband, bounces out of the room
like a fury. Unless you find some means to appease her, for
the whole day her temper is discomposed, and you are ever
after considered as an intruder; or, if of high caste, she treats.
you with blank indifference.

With our French commandant it was different, he went to.
the other extreme and loaded us with welcomes. While
refreshments were preparing, he took me into his lady’s
dressing-room, and saying,—‘‘I have brought you a young
Arab chieftain,’ *—left us.

She made me sit by her on the couch, and asked me all sorts.
of questions; never doubting I was not what I seemed. She
told me I was handsome, and my shawls were handsomer,
wished to know if they came from Cashmire, why I shaved my
head, if I believed in the Virgin Mary, if I had ever loved, and
if I would be christened. Her hands kept pace with her
tongue till she almost stripped me to examine my apparel.
My skin, she said, was very smooth, not very black, and she
asked if Arab women were handsome, and if I liked the French
women. Then she told me she was returning shortly to
France, because she could no longer endure the heat, the
‘barbarous people, the want of society, the want of an opera,
of every necessary of lite,—except the real ones, which she
allowed were good and abundant,—but these she did not want.
Here she was interrupted by De Ruyter, a great favourite of
hers. She called him the only real gentleman on the island,
as he had passed many of his early years in France and at
Paris. Upon which she talked unceasingly of Paris. ‘Dear
De Ruyter,” she said, ‘‘does this boy belong to you? Where

»
A YOUNGER SON. 251

did you get him? I have taken a great fancy to him, and
positively Iam determined to take him to Paris. Only think
what a sensation he will make there! Well! it is wonderful
these people, who live on the sands, with the lions and tigers,
should have such a distinguished air, and carry themselves so
well! And then, my dear De Ruyter, only think what he will
be when he has passed a winter in Paris, and learnt to waltz!
Well, you are a dear creature,—and remember you have given
him to me. How beautifully he puts on his turban, and—
what is your name? Come, shew me how you fold your
turban. Every one in Paris will be dying in love with—your
turban and shawls.”

She ran on in this style till wearied; then vowing I should
remain with her, and that she could not bear me out of her
presence an instant, she threw herself on a couch, and pointed
to me to get a punka and fan. ‘Ah! who would live here,” she
ejaculated, ‘‘where the heat is so insufferable that a person
cannot say a single word of welcome to an old friend, without
being ready to expire! I declare I have not spoken three
sentences this month. And this boy must be wearied too.
You know our house, De Ruyter; and do—that’s a dear
creature—send some of my women,—and reach me that Hau
de Cologne.”

After a sumptuous tiffin, the commandant conducted us,
together with the captain and some of the officers of the
corvette, which was then lying in Port St. Louis, to a reading
room, which the merchants had built for literary pursuits and
the improvement of the island. There we found all the
principal persons assembled, military, civil, and mercantile.
The commandant was requested to read an address of thanks
to the captain of the corvette, De Ruyter, and their officers
and crews, for the important benefit they had effected in the
extinction of the pirates at St. Sebastian. The French captain
added that their success was to be attributed to De Ruyter’s
skill and intrepidity. The commandant then presented the
two captains with handsome swords, and the first lieutenant of
the corvette and myself, with silver-gilt goblets, bearing
inscriptions. The commandant, in compliance with De
Ruyter’s wish, previously made known, from delicacy to
252 ADVENTURES OF

Aston and me, did not refer to the affair with the English
frigate.

We then separated, after a renewal of refreshments, and
looking over the books and newspapers. On returning to the
commandant’s house, where there was to be a public dinner,
his lady insisted on our all sleeping during the heat of the day;
but I made my escape, and went to look at the ships in the
port. The beautiful American schooner was there, and I could
have passed the day in gazing on her symmetry and the
exquisiteness of her model; but the groans of the slaves,
staggering under their burthens, their sweaty brows, wan eyes,
and galled backs covered with flies, drove me away. I then
wandered about the town. Out of a population of seventeen
or eighteen thousand, there were not more than seven or eight
hundred Europeans; and these were a motley crew of all
nations. Consequently the proportion of slaves was immense.
They were chiefly from Mosambique and Madagascar, and the
islands scattered about. Some of them were free, and excellent
mechanics, very good and industrious. Most of them spoke
French, and many spoke English. They were admirable
accountants and linguists. I saw neither horses nor carts;
slaves and buffaloes were the only animals employed; these did
all the work. I wandered about the suburbs, where the natives
exclusively reside, went into their hovels, and talked with them,
till I thought it time to return to the commandant’s. _

After bathing, I dined with a large party there. The con-
versation ran principally on la grande nation, the pirates,
and Paris; only one of which I had seen, wished to see, or
cared about. JI remember a gawky, convex-bellied, bilious,
hawking Frenchman, with a mouth as large and deep as a
horse’s, eyes yellow as topazes, no forehead, no complexion, no
hair, with a nose like a squashed fig, the usual characteristics
of his nation, and he asserted that London was as inferior to
Paris as the black town of the isle of France was to Calcutta.
I was rejoiced to get away from these vain, gasconading
harlequins, and accompany the commandant on horseback to a
magnificent open space, planted with trees, in the outskirts of
the town, surrounded by hills, with summer cottages of every
description. We then, to my great delight, returned towards
A YOUNGER SON. 253

our home, the commandant accompanying us part of the
way.

CHAPTER LX.

And, oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat
How much it costs us! Yet each rising throb

Is in its cause, as its effects, so sweet,

That wisdom, ever on the watch to rob

Joy of its alchemy, and to repeat

Fine truths—
Byron,

N my impatience to be at home, I took little notice of the

scenery. De Ruyter asking me what I thought of the lady,

I replied, ‘I think her a little angel! She is so gentle, of so

heavenly a disposition, with such noble sentiments, and high

courage! And though she is extremely silent, that arises from

timidity and thoughtfulness; for such eyes and such a mouth
were never meaningless! ”’

“Take a turn there, my lad !—you have said enough. I will
allow you she has all the beauty pertaining to her nation,—
that is, youth and dress. As to all the other charms you have
enumerated, I have not discovered the smallest indication of
their existence, neither in her, nor in her nation,—and I have
lived among them. What do you mean by timidity ?—the air
and carriage of a courtezan! As to her thoughtfulness, you
may as well call these noisy, screaming parrots contemplative.
Then her extreme silence !—I would rather lie in a whirlpool,
with a hurricane over my head, or be condemned to the
galleys for life, than endure the torture of a French woman's
tongue an hour a day in a tropical climate !”

« A French woman!” I exclaimed; ‘‘ who do you mean?”

‘Mean! who should I mean but the woman we have passed
the day with!”

“Oh! I had quite forgotten her! I was talking of Zela!”

“Ha! ha!” he replied laughing, ‘ you are the lad who—

Wrote to his father ending with this line,
‘My dearest Zela, I am ever thine!’
254 ADVENTURES OF

I thought you had more of the eagle’s aspirations than to
stoop so low. It is rightly called falling in love, for a man can
fall no lower. Great spirits are never enslaved by so grovelling
and feeble a foe. You are greedily gloating on a poison, which
will destroy all the noble feelings and energies of your character.
You have now as inextinguishable a fire in your bosom as that
which is burning in the dome of this mountain; and, mark
me! it will destroy you as it will that hill, granite though it
be. Poor boy, I pity you! for I see you have resigned yourself,
a willing slave, to the worst and most enervating of human
passions. Women are like parasitical plants, casting their
wild tendrils from one tree to another, till, swollen inte tough
cordage, they strangle those they embrace, and luxuriate in
their decay. That broad and open forehead indicates a
judgment, which, when matured to fulness, ought, with its
iron grasp, to crush the reptile passion, soon as it kas birth.
Men like you are for nobler uses, for actions that may benefit
mankind, not to be dedicated to the narrow, paltry, selfish
views and gratifications of a solitary individual, however
worthy. What! devote yourself to the childish pastime of
fondling a tawdry toy, a baby’s doll!’’ Seeing me silent and sad,
he ended by quoting his favourite authority, on all questions,
but, like all others, quoting only for his own purpose :

“Rouse yourself ; and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,
And, like a dew-drop from the lion’s mane,

Be shook to air.”’

Soon after he added, by way of softening the pain his taunts
had given me, ‘‘I do not mean to censure you for loving Zela.
She is your wife, dependent on you, and most worthy to be
loved. But I object to your exclusively loving her, and with-
drawing your affections from others, together with your time
and talents which can be beneficially employed.”

He then talked on other subjects, and endeavoured to awaken
that interest which heretofore I had taken regarding general
topics, as well as in those connected with my own particular
duties.

Perhaps to avoid further discussion, I spurred on a long way
A YOUNGER SON. 255

before De Ruyter. On ascending the eminence on which our
dwelling stood, I was surprised at observing all the blinds and
windows closed of the centre room. It was the cool time of
the evening, the sun had dipped behind the western hill, and
the sea-breeze was blowing freshly. I feared something was
wrong,—some accident. As Zela was alone in my thoughts,
notwithstanding De Ruyter’s censure on love, I hastened round
to the back of the house, forced one of the blinds, and jumped
into the large room. The sudden transition from light to
gloom prevented me from distinguishing any thing; but calling
out ‘‘ Who is there ?’’—a voice replied, ‘‘ Close the window,—
he will escape! Shut the window,—they will escape !”’

As I advanced, I stumbled into the water channel, the voice
still vociferating,—‘‘ Shut the window,—oh, they will escape!
they will escape !

Recovering my footing, and looking up, a ghost-like, lean,
and shadowy figure came towards me. I soon recognised the
sound of the flabby foot on the pavement, and then dis-
tinguished, by the aid of a small lamp held in a horny hand,
the light reflecting through it, the unearthly visage of Van
Scolpvelt. In his left hand he held a long white bamboo,
which he waved like a wand, preparatory to an incantation.
He passed, without noticing me, his eyes strained almost out
of their sockets, staring towards the ceiling. He shut the
blinds with his wand, then kept waving it aloft, and muttered :
«They have not escaped me,—there they are !—and the air
has done them good. They were merely somewhat vertiginous,
and have resumed their vivaciousness. Well, it is wonderful !
Look—is that you, captain ?—I thought it was one of the
blacks,—I am glad you are come; for you will be delighted
with these gay, sprightly quadrupeds, wantoning about in the
air.”

“ What do you mean? I see no quadrupeds. I believe you
are the devil, or you could not stand the suffocating heat of
this room.”

“Heat! I feel no heat. Now, don’t open the windows,—
you will destroy me. I shall be satisfied in a few minutes
more. Do look at them !”’

“T gee them, and hear their faint cries. What are you
256 ADVENTURES OF

at with these birds? Are you conjuring with them, or
what ?”’

“Birds! Humph! I thought you must be very ignorant,
on account of your opposing science. Birds!—they are no
more birds than I am. They are viviparous, classed in the
same order of animals as yourself. You threw my Spallanzani
away the other day, when I sent it you, or you would not be so
ignorant as to call a bat a bird.”

“Come, Van, open the windows, I am sick.”

“ Sick! what consequence is that? Am not I here? I wish
you to witness the success of the experiment. Would you not,
observing their motions, conclude they had the use of their
visual orbs? Would you imagine the cornea had been burnt
out?”

“ Burnt out!”

“Yes, this half hour.”

«What brute did it?” ;

Zela, the window being now open, came in weeping, and
said, ‘‘I am glad you are returned,—that horrid yellow Indian
has been catching all the poor creatures he could, and putting
out their eyes with hot needles.”

Van, it appeared, coming to see De Ruyter, found some bats
in the ruined wall of an old well. He had caught three,
blinded two with a hot wire, and scooped out the eyes of the
third. Then he let them loose in the room to see if they could
direct their flight with the same rapidity and precision as before
they were thus horribly deprived of sight.

He termed it an interesting, delightful, and satisfactory
experiment. ‘‘Spallanzani,”’ said he, ‘essayed it on the
common bat, but I on the vampyre and spectre species. To-
night I will determine another question. It is asserted they
are such admirable phlebotomists as to insinuate their tongues,
which are aculeated like the finest lancets, insensibly into the
veins of persons asleep, using their long wings as a fan to
soothe their slumbers, and thus extract an immense quantity
of blood. They prefer the veins on the back of the neck, or on
the temples. Sometimes the victim insensibly bleeds to death.
Now,” turning to me, “you are young, heated, feverish,—
and your veins are large and full,—will you repose by the old
A YOUNGER SON 257

well to-night ? I will regulate the quantity, and stop the after
bleeding,—which is the only danger. Think of the advantage
you will confer on science, as well as the benefit to yourself!
For, if it is true, cupping-glasses, leeches, and other means of
bleeding may be advantageously superseded by this inestimable
phlebotomist. Then, in the morning, we will proceed to the
examination of the physiological construction of its tongue ; as
that may throw some new light by which the lancet may be
improved.”

Van warmed with the idea, and grew eloquent. I knew
how vain it was to contend with him on these points, and
therefore contented myself with giving him a flat denial, and
expressing my abhorrence of what he had already done. Upon
this he tried to coax De Ruyter and Aston to submit to the
experiment; but, finding them deaf, he put on his most
whining look, and was shuffling towards Zela,—she ran off
like a hare. Sputtering about the ignorance of womankind,
and the prejudice of mankind, he declared that he himself
would have his bed by the well-side, which he actually directed
to be done.

CHAPTER LXI.

Grim reader! did you ever see a ghost ?

No; but you’ve heard ;—I understand—be dumb—

And don't regret the time you may have lost,

For you have got that pleasure still to come.
ByYnon.

STON and I vowed we should practise some trick on
Scolpvelt, in return for his cruelty to the bats, and
quickly decided on our operations. While De Ruyter
accompanied him to supper, I went, with a couple of black
- boys, to survey the localities of the well. It was built in the
eastern manner, broad and deep, with steps leading to the
bottom. With difficulty I descended, the steps being broken
and worn away, the sides overgrown with dark and rank
vegetation, night-flowers, and creepers, and towards the bottom
blackened and clogged with the dung of bats, and slippery from
17
258 ADVENTURES OF

the slime of toads, which raised a hoarse and discordant
clamour as I thrust a bamboo down to try the depth of the
water. Satisfied there were only two or three feet, and having
partly cleared the bushes away, I ascended and made my
arrangements. A cot of De Ruyter’s having been brought, we
placed it with the head towards the steps of the well, passed a
rope through the rings at the two ends, and then a loose
lashing round it, to haul-taut when he had turned in. A large
pepul tree grew near, with one of its branches crossing the
mouth of the well, and darkening it with its dense foliage.
On this bough a block was lashed, and the rope rove through
it. Having instructed the boys in the parts they were to play,
I returned to the house to equip them properly.

As I entered the room to call De Ruyter away, it having
been agreed that Aston was to be left to entertain Van till he
chose to retire to his berth, J could not refrain tarrying an
instant in admiration of his discourse. ‘‘I wish,” he exclaimed,
“my mother had not brought me into the world, or that I had
been born a thousand years antecedent to this dark age, in
which I behold the sun setting on science. Had men been
wise, had they encouraged it to the utmost, it would pro-
gressively have advanced, till it ascended above the dark
clouds enveloping us, and the chemist, with his galvanic
battery, would be no longer destroying, but creating. New
planets with immortal beings might then by science have been
created, as by science they have been created out of pre-
existing matter. Oh! my mother, had you lived to this dark
period when I cannot find a man rational enough to sleep by a
well! You, my mother, who loved and honoured nothing but
science, and me, your only child, for my devotion to it, you
knew how long and ardently the Scolpvelts had pursued their
god-like profession; and when, from intense study, your eye
became diseased, and I told you it would end in cancer, if not
removed, you said,—‘ My son, remove it.’ On the instant I
did so, and she uttered not a groan, but leant back unconfined
in her arm-chair, smiling approbation at my unshaken nerves!”
Then exultingly he added,—‘“ And where will you find such a
woman now?”

He lit his ecwme de mer, offended at our laughter, which he
A YOUNGER SON. 259

‘at all times abhorred, and went and laid himself down in his
cot by the well. Aston had promised to give a look to Van
every hour.

We now proceeded to fit the black boys for their parts. De
Ruyter mixed up some chenam and lime, with which he drew
lines on their bodies, leaving the form of a skeleton distinctly
marked out,—a white one on a black ground. This, together
with Malayan bows, covered with blackened paper, streaked
with white, and attached to their backs as wings, gave them a
complete spectral appearance. We then armed them with small
needles, bound together with thread, leaving a minute portion
of their points bare, and separated from each other, such as
sailors use for tattooing their skins.

A little after midnight Aston and De Ruyter placed them-
selves at the end of the tackle, to be hoisted at a given signal ;
I crawled, unperceived, under the pepul tree; and the spectre-
boys occupied stations among the bushes on each side of the
cot. There was actually several of the dusky, monstrous,
obscene bats flitting round and round the well, while others
were attached by their long thin claws to the branches of the
pepul, hanging with their heads downward, immediately over
Scolpvelt, who lay on his back, and seemed anxiously watching
them. He looked like an ancient mummy partially unrolled.
He was furnished with a bandage to stop the bleeding, when
he should, in quality of physician, ery—‘ Hold, enough!”
When I gave the signal, the boys rose from the bushes with a
shrill cry, flapped their skeleton wings, enclosed him in the
flaps of the cot, and hauled the lashing taut in an instant.
The signal to hoist was then made, and Van ascended. I bore
the cot over the mouth of the well, and made the signal to
lower away. The boys, playing all sorts of antics, caught hold
of the rope, jumped on the cot, and pricked Van all over with
needles, thickly as ahe stings of a swarm of wild wasps. Mean-
while the cot was lowered as fast as possible, when the bats,
disturbed in their haunts, sprung out in multitudes, flapping
their wings in disorder ; and the toads and rats, of which there
was an abundance, increased the din. When the cot was
landed at the bottom of the well, and the boys had cast off the
rope, and cut the lashing, we ran them up. We then all joined
260 ADVENTURES OF

in the shrill cry of the American Indians, by screaming and
patting the mouth with the hand, at which the affrighted
inhabitants of the well, undisturbed for centuries, beasts, birds,
and all the tribe of reptiles and vermin, burst from their dark
abodes, appalled at the unwonted summons.

To us, who were only looking down, it was a fearful sight ;
to Van at the bottom it must have appeared horrible. We
began to repent of our frolic; but De Ruyter said, ‘No, he has
the heart of a stoic. Hither his philosophy, or his fear, or
both,—for they are not, though they ought to be, incompatible,
—prevent his calling for aid.”

“Hush!” I whispered, ‘‘I hear his fin going in the water.
He is moving,—and hark! his croak rises above the toad’s.”

We heard him muttering and stumbling about, groping his
way; then a splash in the water, as if he had slipped his fin.
and undergone a ducking. Satisfied he was in no immediate
danger, but wishing to punish him for his barbarity, we left
him till the expiration of the hour. Aston then went, feigned
surprise at not finding him, and walked about the garden
hallooing his name. I, who had followed, heard him flounder-
ing in the water, cursing the hour in which his mother had
brought him into the world, the island, the bats, the well, and
all the devils in it, in Dutch, Latin, and English. At last
Aston deigned to hear him ; and, after allowing some time to
elapse, we proceeded with ropes and lights to release him. A
boy lowered into the well lashed a rope round his body, and we
ran him up to the pepul-bough with such force that his
trowsers and shirt were torn, and he looked like a felon hung
in chains with his rags fluttering in the wind. When lowered
on the ground, he was too exhausted to articulate. The
resurrection of Lazarus conveys but a faint idea of him as he
stood before us, with our lanthorns thrust in his face. His
head shook as if palsied, his thin legs knocked together like
bamboos in a gale, his skin was stained with bat’s dung and
green slime, his face was of a clay-cold blue mottled with spots
of blood, and his long thin hair hung down like a mermaid’s.
With grizzled eye-brows standing right out, he was sullen and
snarling as a jackall entrapped. Not a word was uttered in
reply to our incessant interrogatories, as we followed him to
A YOUNGER SON. 261

the house. He scowled malignantly at me, as I persecuted
him with questions respecting the vampyres, how they got him
down into the well, and if they had bled him. A tumbler of
skedam, a dry shirt, and a bed were prepared for him in the
hall. He sullenly and silently lay down.

CHAPTER LXII.

When snouted wild boars routing tender corn
Anger our huntsman,
Kaats.

N the morrow Aston and I took our boar-spears, and
ascended the woody part of the mountain. After
wandering for some time, we followed the course of a small
stream, almost consumed by the long drought. Its scanty
waters laboured in tortuous windings under the shade of trees
and shrubs, which, still verdant from the moisture, in grateful
homage bent over their feeble nurse, paying their tribute of
shade. The burning sun, like fire, seemed to be destroying all
around. The hardy oak and lofty pine, the giant palm and the
majestic teak, rising like chieftains above the forest, with
scorched and seared heads, appeared drooping in anguish.
Their shrivelled and red-spotted foliage, and withered fruits
dropped from their sapless branches without a breath of air to
move them, and cracked under our feet. The noisy parrot
tribe was stilled; and the restless monkeys, half-dozing in
listless apathy, hung on the branches, and let us pass un-
noticed; or, if I awakened their attention by casting my spear
or a stone, slowly and sullenly they ascended a few feet higher,
or merely shifted their posts to the other side. No other
animal was to be seen. Yet, with the nerve and sinew of
youth, health, and strength, we seemed sun-proof, as we
bounded along regardless of all impediments of bush, bamboo,
or briar, clearing the path with our spears, and forcing a
passage, like the wild-boar which we were seeking, and only
reminded by our appetites of the approaching hour of noon.
Then, crossing the streamlet, we descended towards the
262 ADVENTURES OF

house, when we were surprised at the report of a musquet:
close to us, loud as a cannon, owing to the stillness around,
and echoing from rock to reck. In an instant the wood was.
in an uproar with its alarmed inhabitants. As we hastened to:
the spot, whence the gun was fired, a wild sow burst out of
the hollow trunk of a broken tree, followed by her litter of
young, filling up the concert with their most sweet voices.
Aston and I gave a loud holloa, and sprang after them. The
mother, brutish as she was, turned at bay, and opposed her
breast to our pointed weapons, forgetting all but her children.
I wish my good mother would sometimes think of hers; it is
so long since she gave them birth, that perhaps she may not.
remember she ever had any. In my eagerness I got before
Aston, and heedlessly rushing on, the shaft of my spear
snapped, as the weapon, ill-directed, glanced off from the sow’s.
hard and wrinkled hide, and, the ground being dry and
slippery, I fell before her. She gave me no pause to rise; I
grasped the small creese in my bosom, and lost not my pre-
sence of mind; though her small and fiery eye, her wrinkled
snout and huge tusks looked terrific as she was dashing in on
me. Aston exclaimed,—‘ Lie still!—don’t move!” and I
felt his lance glide over me, as he forced it under the sow’s
left shoulder through the heart, and almost through the body,
which fell dead upon me,

Another voice then exclaimed ,—‘‘ He’ll made excellent hams!
Tl carry him down, and salt, and cure him!” upon which I
found my limbs were caught hold of.

“Tl be hanged if you do!” I answered, as I got up, and
confronted Louis, who had that morning arrived at the house
with provisions.

“Oh!” said he, ‘‘I did not see two, I thought there was
ouly one!’”’—then stooping down, and handling the swine, he
chuckled over it with delight, as he feasted, in imagination, on
its carcage; till, catching the sound of the little grunters,
squeeling and running about in quest of their dam, ‘‘ Ah!” he
cried out, ‘‘she has little ones,—has she? Why didn’t you tell
me that?”

We succeeded in catching the greater part of the litter.
Louis fondled, kissed, and hugged them, called them his pretty
A YOUNGER SON. 263

dears, bade them not cry, promised to take as much care of
them as their own mother had done, and then, turning to us,
inquired if we were hungry, and if he should light a fire and
roast a couple of them, by way of tiffin, to give us an appetite
for dinner. We asked him what he had been firing at. ‘Oh,
I had quite forgot!” he replied ; ‘first let me tie these lovely
little creatures, two and two, by the legs, and I’ll shew you
what I’ve been shooting ;—it is not dead yet.”

He led us a few paces off, under a large tree, from one of the
horizontal branches of which was suspended a huge baboon.
His entrails were hanging out, and the blood was running
down in a stream, yet, in pain and agony, clinging with his
hind feet to the branch, he mowed and chattered at us. Louis
forthwith reloaded his long gun, and as he pointed the barrel
upwards, the poor brute seemed sensible of his impending fate.
His rage gavé way to fear; he cast one piteous glance, made a
last effort to move from his perilous and exposed situation, and,
ere the gun was fired, dropped down lifeless. Louis promptly
seized him by the nape of the neck, and cut his throat. It
looked so like a human murder that I shuddered, and said,
‘«Come along,—leave him there,—leave him !”’

«What for?” said Louis. ‘Ill not leave him; it is
the best eating in the world! If you don’t know that, you
know nothing.”

‘“ Bah!” said Aston, “the fellow’s a cannibal; come
along.”

We left him, promising to send some servants to bring down
the wild sow, and hastened down the hill. We found Van
Scolpvelt seated nnder a prickly pear hedge; he had a large,
old, musty folio spread out before him, and was intently occu-
pied in looking at something with a magnifying glass. He
took no notice of our approach, but resumed working with a,
small knife; and I discovered he was (still untamed in his
cruelty) at what he termed vivisection on an unfortunate
hedgehog. He said to Aston, with asperity, ‘‘Take a lesson
here! Look at this heroic little animal,” (drawing his knife
across him,) ‘‘ you see he is alive, has muscles and nerves, yet
he neither moves nor makes a noise !”’
264 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER LXIII.

Our talk grew somewhat serious, as may be
Talk interrupted with such raillery
As mocks itself, because it cannot scorn
The thoughts it would extinguish.
SHELLEY.

A lovely being scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.
Byron.

_ NTERING the house we saw De Ruyter busy with his
books and journals. He asked me to look over the ship’s
books and letters; when my attention was called off by a
discussion between Aston and De Ruyter. The former was
urging the latter to publish some journals he had written, and
permitted us to read. I was struck with De Ruyter’s reply.
“Tf,” said he, “I were ambitious of an immortal name, and
had genius enough to insure it by writing, I would not write.
Action, when pure, bright, and unsullied, is the nobler sort of
immortality ; and writing, unless our actions correspond with
it, is to be remembered but as Seneca’s. How few of the
ancient Greek and Roman heroes were authors, yet how many
live to us in their deeds. Aschylus, Sophocles and Homer are
read; but Socrates, Timoleon, Leonidas, Brutus, Portia and
Aria are known. Signal actions of heroism, devotion and
generosity have saved them from oblivion. Immortality, con-
ferred by action, is fully as honourable, and infinitely more
universal than that conferred by writing. For millions are
incapable of comprehending the ideas of a great author, who
are warmed and made to glow at the narration of a noble
or generous deed. Content, during my life, to be thought
well of by those I love; to the world in general, now
and .hereafter, I am indifferent. I value your good opinion
beyond the approbation of the French government. They
have written me here that you are to be—(but it is a general
order)—imprisoned until exchanged. But I, selfishly inclined
to live in your good opinion, give you your liberty uncon-
ditionally ; and will procure you a passage to one of your ports,
when you grow tired of our dull life here.”
A YOUNGER SON. 265

“Tf Iam to wait till then,” answered Aston, ‘‘it will never
be; for, till the present period, I have hardly ever enjoyed
rational pleasure, or felt a delight in my existence, such as I
now feel. I am perfectly content here; I have not a wish un-
gratified ; and my happiness would be complete, but from the
uncertainty of its duration. So that I must candidly confess
my lips would belie my heart, if I thank you for this news.”

“Then spare your thanks, and stay where you are,” he said,
getting up and wringing his hand. ‘‘ Stay where you are, and
leave the rest to me. I will manage the commandant; and
from what you have told me of your affairs, it cannot injure
you in your own service.”

“Curse the service!” said Aston, as De Ruyter went out
of the room. ‘Iwasa silly boy when I entered it, and have
been a besotted fool to continue in it, till I am unfitted for any
rational pursuit, by which I might earn my bread. I have
been in it from ten years old till now that I am five-and-
twenty, never three months on shore, my skin nearly burnt
black by the sun, and my hair grizzled with storms; this,
with a sprinkling of scars, occasional rheumatic twitches,
and the rank of lieutenant, is all I have yet got, or am likely
to get.”

“ Yes,” I added, ‘you will get a snug berth in Greenwich
Hospital,—a nice little cabin there, six feet by five, all to your-
self, with grubbery, free of rent and taxes, a cabbage-garden
to ruralize in, and three half-pence a day—backee money!
What can man wish more?”

Aston went on bewailing his hard destiny, and I dosing him
with consolation derived from the hospital. However, it ended
with my persuading him to continue for some time where he
was, and to wait for an opportunity of our putting him on
board one of the country vessels, or of landing him on the
coast near one of the English settlements. I must confess I
often urged him, with all the warmth of my character, and my
friendship for him, to relinquish a service where he was hopeless
of promotion, and, as he was destitute of fortune, to join with
us; by which means he would, after a few years, in all proba-
bility, be enabled to return to his own country, or to any other,
with the means of enjoying, his sole ambition, a country life.
266 ADVENTURES OF

“For,” I continued, ‘(a man without money has no country.
Besides, Aston, you are a Canadian born; and if you go to
England without money, remember there are certain unsightly
boards at the entrances of the towns, neatly painted, and
swung gibbet-fashion, intimating some awkward, ungentlemanly
sort of hint to persons without money—something to this
effect—Vagrants are not admitted here. So that Greenwich— ”
Here he stopped me, by taking down a boar-spear, and I
jumped out of the window.

Nor would he ever seriously listen to my propositions on this
subject; he was not to be moved. As to De Ruyter, I believe,
he never thought of such a thing; though he and Aston were
firm and inseparable friends.

I went down to the port where the grab lay, paid the men a
considerable share of prize-money, and discharged the greater
number, merely leaving sufficient to take care of her, under the
command of the good old Rais. I made an arrangement with
him that I should go on board the grab twice a week, and that,
he should come up to us on two or three of the other days. Thus
having settled every thing regarding her, I gave up mind, body,
and soul to the full enjoyment of our rural life. Nearly every
day I explored the island in some new direction, discovered
where game most abounded, and in what rivers and lakes were
the finest fish, sometimes with De Ruyter, at other times with
Aston. On good sporting days we all went together, taking
provisions with us, and dining in the woods; when Louis, who
had little to do on board, was our caterer. When the weather
was favourable for working in the garden we were occupied
there; when it was wet or stormy we fenced, read, wrote, or
employed ourselves in drawing. We went as seldom as possible
to the town, notwithstanding the almost daily solicitations
from the commandant’s lady, officers, and merchants. De
Ruyter, and indeed all of us, hated what is called society. He
had therefore chosen a place for his house, well nigh inac-
cessible during the rainy season; thus artfully avoiding in-
trusion on his solitude bv frivalonc, idle, and troublesome
visitors, such as swarm in oned town, quoting the
words of the French philosopher Morin, ‘‘ Those that come to
see me, do me honour; and those that stay away, do me a
A YOUNGER SON. 267

favour.” When some of them did venture, their whole dis-
course was about the perils they had passed in fording rivers
and swamps; while De Ruyter provokingly pointed out with
what facility it might be remedied, and talked, after his next
voyage, of looking to it. But when they had left us, he would
say, ‘‘ I wonder how they managed to get here so easily. We
must dam the water up to increase the swamp and the torrent,
and add to the vibration of the bamboo-bridge.”

Yet he was no churl. All worthy men were weleome; he
himself would be their guide; and, as the door flew open at
their approach, he clasped their hands, and every feature in
his face expressed how heartily they were welcome. He felt,
and he made them feel, that their acceptance of his hospitality
was a proof of their great friendship for him. The longer they
stayed, the more he was obliged; and if they left him before
their affairs compelled them to be gone, his brow darkened
with unquiet thoughts. In few houses where I have lived,
(married men’s, of course, out of the question,) did every guest,
as well as the host, enjoy so much liberty as in De Ruyter’s.
Tf fellows, calling themselves gentlemen, resembled him, they
would require no slang dialect, no polish to their boots, or
starch to their shirts, to point them out.

My little orphan bride, thank heaven! knew nothing of civi-
lization. Her shyness was that of the wood-pigeon, not the
coquette’s. She, poor simple thing, thought her husband alone
should dwell in her thoughts; and imagined not that fashion
had made that a crime in my country, more heinous than
adultery. The circumstances of our first meeting, our ship-
life, then our dwelling together in scenes formed for love, per-
fected in a few months what years would have perhaps been
too short for in ordinary situations. Besides, the custom of
her country was in our favour, where courtship is wisely dis-
pensed with. I say—wisely, because while youth and beauty
are wooed, judgment is blinded by passion. In the east these
matters are better contrived ; the process is summary; parents,
whose judgments are matured, and whose passions are withered,
conclude the necessary preliminaries; and the bride and
bridegroom meet, and are married in the same hour. “ For,”
said the old Rais, and he was wise, ‘“‘ young men and women
268 ADVENTURES OF

are like fire and gunpowder ; they should therefore be carefully
kept apart from each other, as on board the grab.” It is
notorious that, in Europe, diplomatic mothers know how much,
for their own interest, is to be effected by dress and address,
importunity and opportunity, with young persons. There the
unmarried talk of domestic happiness and conjugal affection ;
at which, I have observed, the married wince, as the horse
does under the torture of the firing iron ;—some, indeed, with
heads as hard as rams, and hides wife-proof, endure the yoke
with magnanimity. It is in the east that wedded love reigns
triumphant; where the unmarried alone are the poor, the house-
less, and the despised.

Zela, though young, was familiar with death, and as grief
for her lost parent faded, her affections were re-awakened by
me, their only claimant, and mine were all dedicated to her. I
taught her my language, and learnt more of hers,—it was all
she knew. Our breath mingled as I bent over her, our lips
met, and our hearts beat together. She was an apt scholar,
though her only punishment for idleness or neglect was the
infliction of kisses, which were so long and ardent, that our
lips seemed to grow together. She became the companion of my
rambles, and, with a light hunting spear, followed me through
the woods, and up the mountains. Her fairy form was endued
with wonderful strength and agility. If stopped by a torrent,
or a rugged ravine, I bore her in my arms; and, in the
jungles, cleared the path before her. Our happiness could
admit of no augmentation; it was perfect. In these our
halcyon days, we thought no more of what others were about
in the world, than of what was doing in the moon or stars.
Those who dwelt with us occupied the small portion of our
thoughts and affections, which could be spared from our deep
and overwhelming devotion to each other; and Aston always,
and afterwards De Ruyter, sympathised with our feelings, and
glowed with admiration at witnessing such strange and match-
less love.
A YOUNGER SON. 269

CHAPTER LXIV.

Rapt in the fond forgetfulness of life,
Neuha, the South Sea girl, was all a wife ;
With no distracting world to call her off
From love; with no society to scoff
At the new transient flame; no babbling crowd
Of coxcombry in admiration loud,
Or with adulterous whisper, to alloy
Her duty, and her glory, and her joy.
Byron.

E had now been some months luxuriating in a tranquil
life, little disturbed or marked by events worth record-
ing, every moment of which lives fresh in my memory, when
De Ruyter received intelligence that determined him to pre-
pare for sea. His spirit knew no pause when an object was to
be obtained. His mind, like a lens, concentrated its power
into one piercing ray. From the instant he arrived on shore
he had doffed his sea-garb, put on that of a planter, and with
it the character. They both sat on him so well that a stranger
would have thought he never had worn any other. Horti-
culture and agriculture, pruning and planting, exclusively
occupied him, hand and heart. He never went down to the
port, detested the smell of tar, said the sight of the sea made
him qualmish, and cursed the sea-breeze for uprooting his
sugar-canes, and destroying his young plantations. He inter-
dicted the use of nautical phrases, and forbade salt junk to be
brought into his house.

So that one day when he hailed me from the balcony, as I
was at work in the garden, with—“ Holloa! my lad,—heave
ahead !—you’re wanted!” I threw down my spade and
entered the house, ready to tax him with his sea-slang. But
I was stopped, on entering the room, by observing the floor
covered with charts, a case. of instruments lying open, and
himself kneeling and measuring distances with a scale and com-
passes. The tall spare form of the Arab Rais leaned over him,
pointing with a sea-bleached hand to a group of islands in the
Mosambique channel. As De Ruyter was too intently occu-
pied to perceive me, I looked for a while first at one, and then
270 ADVENTURES OF

at the other. The hazy film which hung on his eyes when he
was calm had evaporated, and they sparkled; all his face was
lighted up, and its muscles in motion. I then looked at the
Rais; but his features were as little subject to change as a
ship’s head, stained with tar and tempests; his face was like
an antique sun-dial, with its surface corroded and effaced, no
longer marking the passing hour. ‘“‘Ha! my boy,” said De
Ruyter, ‘‘we must be stirring. Order out our cattle. We must
go down to the port.”

He then rose up, took off his white jacket, and shipped a
blue one. I asked.no questions, but followed his example, and
off we started. His little acheenian pony kept not pace with
his rider’s impatience. ‘‘Come,” he said, ‘let us leave these
ambling stumbling brutes, only fit for monks, and cross the
hills on foot by the compass.”

We gave them to a servant, climbed the hills, and made our
path as straight, and our flight almost as rapid, as the crane’s.
Arrived at the port, we pushed off in a canoe. The instant he
was on board of the grab, he resumed his command with a
stamp on the deck, when the idle Arabs, who were listlessly
lying in the sun, jumped up, and all was life and motion. As
he went about giving orders, the new masts, spars, and sails,
which had been preparing, were now completing. The copper
bottom of the vessel was careened; the elongated bow was
unshipped; the upper works lowered; and the grab was about
to be converted into a corvette.

When De Ruyter had instructed me in what he wished to be
done, he went on shore with the Rais, and crossed the land to
Port St. Louis, to recruit his crew, complete his stores, and
arrange his other affairs. Immediately it was known he
wanted volunteers, sailors of all countries, and all sorts of
adventurers flocked to him. His name was enough; every man
shipped for a cruise with him thought his fortune made; and
instead of slinking about to avoid his creditors, he was again
to be found carousing and brawling in wine-shops, and lolling
on shop-boards and benches. The hollow in his cheek was
again filled with a quid, and his inconstant womankind now
his constant companion. But De Ruyter was fastidious in the
selection of men, particularly of Europeans, whom indeed he
A YOUNGER SON. 271

employed as sparingly as he could, knowing the difficulty of
governing such lawless outcasts, and left the old Rais in charge
to make up the number of his crew from Arabs, and various
natives of India, which, in the crowded port of this island, was
no great difficulty.

Mean time we worked hard, day and night, on board the
grab,—as I shall still designate her, for she underwent many
transformations. In a few days, from looking like a floating
hulk, she became like a winged thing of life; and, in a few
days more, like a ship of war. We painted her sides of
different colours, one entirely black, the other with a broad
white streak.

De Ruyter had given me to understand that he should pro-
ceed to sea alone. He also informed me of the design he had
in view; which was to intercept some English vessels in the
Mosambique channel; and that he should not be absent more
than a month or six weeks. ‘‘In the mean time,” he said,
“you can amuse yourself in overlooking the plantations, and
completing the improvements we were about. You seem so
perfectly happy here, are become such a good planter, and
there are so many things that require a master’s eye, that it is
better, since one of us must remain, that it should be your lot.
Besides, Aston must not be left alone. On my return, I have
more important designs in view. We will then refit, and all
embark; when we can put Aston ashore in one of the English
settlements.”

These and other reasons induced me willingly to consent;
and when De Ruyter had completed his water and provisions,
we had a carouse on board the grab, shook hands, and parted.
He weighed with the land-wind; and in the morning, at break
of day, from a height, which Aston andI had ascended, we saw
her dark hull and white canvas, skimming the water like an
albatross.

I continued the same sort of active, yet quiet and happy life.
My love for Zela knew no diminution. Every day I discovered
some new quality to admire in her. She was my inseparable
companion. I could hardly endure her out of my sight an
instant; and our bliss was as perfect as it was uninterrupted.
My love was too deep to fear satiety ; nor did ever my imagi-
272 ADVENTURES OF

nation wander from her, to compare her with any other woman.
She had wound herself about my heart till she became a part
of me. Our extreme youth, ardent nature, and solitude, had
wrought our feeling of affection towards each other to an
intensity that perhaps was never equalled, assuredly never
surpassed. I went to the town only when affairs called me
thither, or to visit the commandant, with whom De Ruyter
had pointed out it was necessary to keep on a friendly footing.
His lady, who was really a good creature, preserved her liking
for me, and wished me much to put Zela under her tuition;
that she might be instructed in, what this lady called, the rules
of civilized society, declaring she would be a gem of the first
water, if set and polished. Little as I had seen of polished
and accomplished ladies, that little was enough to disgust me.
Even in their extreme youth their beauties are soiled by the
pawing and officious hands of dancing masters, music masters,
and French masters, whose breath is the essence of garlic.
Then, when properly drilled, and the necessity of hypocrisy
ad lying inculeated by their mothers and governesses, they
are thrust into the stream (not a crystal one) of fashionable
life, rudely stared on, and examined, point by point, by those,
exclusively denominated, gentlemen, who earn the title from
doing little but drinking, and gambling. If the girl has money,
some-sinking gamester seizes on the occasion to keep himself
afloat by marrying her; if she is poor, some old lechers, their
dormant passions rekindled, beset her; and if she escapes
either of these snares, a season or two of fashionable dissi-
pation, day-beds, fetid air, nightly waltzes and quadrilles, rob
her of youth; when, with a mind tainted by vicious converse,
her rose-coloured cheeks now yellow, her bosom collapsed like
an ancient matron’s, she could not, had she lived in the most
degraded places, have suffered more, or gained less, from her
bringing up and bringing out. Something I had already seen
of this, which determined me, from the first, to leave Zela wild
and unreclaimed as she came from the deserts; and I carried
my dread of any innovation in her country’s customs, so far
that, had cannibalism been one of them, I do not think I
should have permitted her to change it.
A YOUNGER SON. 273

CHAPTER LXV.

A sail!—a sail—a promised prize to hope !
Her nation—flag—how speaks the telescope ?
She walks the waters like a thing of life,
And seems to dare the elements to strife.
Who would not brave the battle-fire—the wreck,
To move the monarch of her peopled deck ?
Brroy,

E RUYTER had been absent little more than five weeks,
when I was aroused, before the day, by a messenger with

news of the grab’s lying at anchor in Port St. Louis. I sprang
from my couch, asked no questions of the messenger, but
hurried through the gloomy wood, ascended the Piton du
Ailiew, with the fleetness of a roebuck, regardless of falls and
broken bones. When on the height over the port, there still
was not light enough to distinguish the vessels: I could see
only a confused mass of hulls and masts. I hastened on. The
morning gun announced the daylight, when, running up a high
bank, I saw the grab’s dark, long, low hull, and her masts
towering above all the other ships. She was lying outside the
harbour; she was in the act of hoisting her flag. A cable’s
length astern of her, my eye caught the beautiful American
‘schooner, floating buoyantly on the short and breaking sea,
(for it had been blowing freshly during the night), like a sea-
gull. What could she be doing there? She had left the
Mauritius for Manilla, and then to return to Europe. I was
the more astonished at observing her hoisting a French flag,
and an English ensign unfolding itself beneath. What could it
mean? Certainly she had come in with De Ruyter. I de-
scended the bank, and my pace was not slackened by this first
excitement. I thought I should never arrive at the port; and
when there, I was in despair at the few minutes which elapsed
ere I could get a boat to take me on board. I passed one of
the grab’s boats going on shore, but would not delay an instant
in speaking her. I seized hold of the stroke-oar, and pulled as
if each stroke was for my life. The clear and deep voice of
De Ruyter struck my ear, and in an instant our hands were

18
274 ADVENTURES OF

clasped together. His left hand was suspended in a sling: I
pointed to it, not having yet recovered my breath. , He smiled,
and, in return, pointed to the schooner.

“What do you mean?” I exclaimed.

“Come down, my lad, and I'll tell you. After cruising some
time on the northern coast of the Mosambique channel, I
received intelligence of an English frigate’s having run into
Mocha in a gale of wind. To avoid her, I stretched over to
the Amiranti islands, between them and the amber shoal,
during a tempestuous night. I observed, or rather, I imagined,
for amidst the lightning it was difficult to distinguish them,
blue lights and signal rockets to leeward. I kept my wind as
well as I could, thinking it might possibly be the frigate.
Towards daylight the wind lulled, and I soon after discovered,
to my great surprise, as well as joy, a sail on our lee-quarter,
certainly not the frigate. She was to the northward and east-
ward; and as we had been standing to the eastward, I could
only make out she was a fore-and-aft, and not a square-rigged
vessel. I got my top-gallant masts up, and bore down to make
her out better. We neared her fast, for she was lying to,
having, as it afterwards appeared, been struck by lightning,
with the head of her foremast badly wounded. As we neared
her, I discovered, by her hull and raking masts, (for who that
has once seen, can mistake her,) our Boston schooner. Now
doubly anxious to get to her aid, I buried the grab’s lean bow
in the still heavy swell, by crowding canvass on her, till I
thought I should have been dismasted too. The pune spars:
bent like bamboos, and the kiar backstays, strong and elastic
as they are, snapped like cast iron—not from having too much
wind, but too little. On shewing my flag, I observed some
commotion on board of her, and marvelled at seeing her soon
after, despite of her crippled state, making sail, and bearing up.
You know the grab’s point of sailing is not before the wind; nor
is the schooneyr’s, luckily. However, she got her square sail
up, and, with her immense main-sail, she seemed to hold her
ground with us. In this juncture, a man at the mast-head
called out, ‘Another strange sail to leeward!’ Pondering on
what this could mean, I saw the Boston schooner’s main-sail
jibe ; and as she broached to, the head of her foremast went by
A YOUNGER SON. 275

the board. I pressed more sail on the grab; and ere she could
clear, or rather cut away the wreck, which soon after floated
past us, I was within gun-shot of her. I then fired my bow-
chaser, but without shot, to make her shew her colours; but
she did not shew them till a second, with shot, was fired over
her, and a third into her. The mystery was then explained by
her shewing an English ensign. She had been captured by the
frigate which was to leeward of her. They had been separated
by the gale during the night. There was no time to lose. The
frigate, though a long way to leeward, was in sight; yet it was
probable, from her great distance, and from our being smaller
objects than she was, that she had not yet seen us. The
courage of Englishmen is not to be subdued, under whatever
circumstances they are encountered. Having cleared herself
of the wreck of the foremast, she bore down on her consort,
and kept up a fire on us with every gun she could get to bear.
Soon alongside of her, I was compelled to give her several
broadsides; and, keeping to leeward of her, we cut off all
possibility of escape. She then struck, and I took possession
of her. I found she had been a

* But,” I said, ‘you have not yet told me what loss you
suffered, and what is the matter with your arm.”

‘We had one man killed, two wounded, and my fin shattered
by a splinter.”

‘Not much damaged, I hope?”’

‘Oh, no ;—nothing.”

“What!” said my old friend Van, who came into the cabin
with plaster and scissors, ‘‘ what do you call nothing? I, that
have practised for nearly half a century, never saw a worse
contused wound. Were not two out of the three digital branches
of the ulnar artery lacerated?—the bone denuded under the
flexor profundus of the mid finger ?—the first phalanx of the
index finger shattered, even to the socket of the metacarpal?”

“Bah!”’ said De Ruyter, ‘“‘a feeler or two smashed and
jammed together.”

“Yes,” answered Van, looking at me with triumph, and
then with complacency on the swollen and disfigured hand,
which, having unbandaged, he laid on the table, and examined ;
—‘had I not amputated that index finger, and removed every

 
276 ADVENTURES OF

particle of splintered bone,—had you been under any other
surgeon’s hand than mine,—you would not have lost a mere
finger, but the entire hand up to the wrist. And now you call
it nothing! But wounds are nothing, when I am by to heal
them ;—such is my art! I operate so gently,” (applying a
strong wash of blue stone,) “that my patients are more
inclined to sleep than groan.”

Perceiving that De Ruyter winced, I said, ‘‘ Yes, Scolpvelt,
you torture your patients into insensibility.”’

Without noticing this, he watched De Ruyter, and said, “I
feel pleasure that you feel pain.”

“The devil you do!”

“Oh, yes! Iam delighted; for it shews that the sensibility
of the part is restored. I also observe that the muscle is
granulating. Now we have only to use fomentations to subdue
the swelling, and keep down the proud flesh with lunar caustic.
It will soon be well.”

I greeted old Louis, who inquired kindly after the turtle he
had left with Zela; and, while breakfast was preparing, I
went on deck to shake hands with the Rais, and my old ship-
mates.

CHAPTER LXVI.

Ay, we like the ocean patriarch roam,
Or only know on land the Tartar’s home!
- My tent on shore, my galley on the sea,
Are more than cities and serais to me;
Across the desert, or before the gale,
Bound where thou wilt, my barb! or glide my prow!
But be the star that guides the wanderer, thou!

Thou, my Zuleika!
Byron.

FTER breakfast De Ruyter related the conclusion of his
cruise. He found that all but five of the Americans, who

were ill of the fever, had been removed on board the frigate ;
that seventeen men, with two junior officers of the frigate, had
been put on board of her, with orders to keep company; but,
as has been mentioned, she was separated in the squall. “I
A YOUNGER SON. 277

sent these men on board the grab,” said De Ruyter, “replaced
them with a strong party of my best, took her in tow, and set
about repairing her damage with some of our spars. The
frigate chased us, and kept in sight two days, till I got among
the Amaranti islands. There (for I knew them well, which
they did not) I baffled her by anchoring, during the night,
under the lee of one of them. I saw no more of the frigate, put
a jury mast in the schooner, and here I am, my boy.

“Now take a boat, and go on board of her; let us work into
the harbour ; or—stop—you had better remain in the grab,—
the wind is dying away. I must go on shore. Do you moor
them close together in our old berth. Tl return in two or
three hours. I must go and talk to the commandant, get our
prisoners landed, and see the merchants to whom the Boston
was consigned. Though taken by the English, she was not
yet condemned by them, when I retook her; so I suppose I
am only entitled to salvage on her and her cargo ;—but that
will be a heavy one.”

This news a little damped my pleasure; for I had regarded
the prize as ours, and doubted not having the command of her,
to obtain which was the climax of my most aspiring wishes,
and certainly I should have preferred her to a dukedom. From
our first meeting her at sea, and especially when I afterwards
examined her in port, I had viewed her with a longing and
jealous eye. The apparent impossibility of possessing her
made me covet her the more. I would not only have sacrificed
my birthright, but a joint of my body to boot, with all I had in
the world, except what was alone more estimable—Zela—to
obtain her. De Ruyter had often bantered me on this; and
now that my wish seemed within my grasp, I could not com-
prehend his law of salvage. He had possession, and that was
the only law I considered just or rational.

I awaited his return with impatience, but when he came, my
impatience was left unsatisfied; for he was to meet the
merchants in the evening. Next day brought the same story,
and so on for many days. I loathe the tardy transactions of
these grovelling serpents, I hate arithmetical calculations ;
they do more mischief than earthquakes in destroying badly
founded fabrics; they are like a Mameluke’s bit to a fiery and
278 ADVENTURES OF

impatient horse. I was, however, like the horse, compelled to
submission.

Much time was thus wantonly wasted, ere De Ruyter had
concluded arrangements to pay, instead of receiving, certain
sums, and give securities, and enter into certain bonds, and
sign deeds, all preliminary to retaining possession of the
schooner. However, it was accomplished; and, in less than a
month after his arrival, I was installed in my heart’s desire.
Aided by De Ruyter, I set about refitting the schooner for sea.
Whilst at work on board, Zela stayed with me. We all made
occasional holidays at the villa, which was left in charge of
Aston.

When the grab and schooner were ready for sea, De Ruyter
gave me his instructions. In company we weighed our anchors.
De Ruyter had pretty well recovered the use of his hand. The
Americans, who had been left on board, and the four English
sailors, taken with Aston, had entered voluntarily to serve on
board the schooner. My crew had been completed by De
Ruyter, and was a tolerably good one. I was armed with six
twelve pound carronades, and four long six pounders. We had
provisions and water for ten weeks. Zela, whom nothing but
force could have induced to remain behind, and that I had no
inclination to essay, was with me.

Thus, with all my wishes gratified, my joy was boundless as
the element on which I floated; and I thought it would be as
everlasting,—thanks to my being no arithmetician, and not
being gifted with the prescience even of an hour. Accursed
foresight! which turns enjoyment into misery by calculating on
what is to ensue! I never did so; but went to sea with an
exulting heart, fearless and free as the lion, when he leaves his
lair in the jungles to hunt on the plains.

We steered to the northward, intending to make the island
of St. Brandon, thence to a group called the Six Islands, and
cruise in the Northern Indian Ocean, crossing the track of the
vessels which run from Madras to Bombay in the south-west
monsoon. The first days were passed in trying our respective
rate of sailing, and getting the vessels in their best trim. The
grab beat everything in India, except indeed dead before the
wind; with a heavy swell nothing hitherto had any chance
A YOUNGER SON. 279

with her but the schooner. We now found, on repeated experi-
ments, that, in short tacks, we should beat her close on a wind;
but in every other point of sailing she had the advantage,
though so small as still to leave a doubt about it.

We ran by the island of St. Brandon without meeting with
any particular event. Shortly after I gave chase to a brig,
which I brought to. She proved to be French, from the island
of Diego Garcia, bound to the Mauritius. Her captain told us
he was employed in running to and from that island, for fish
and fresh turtle, which abounded in its vicinity. It was unin-
habited; but some merchants had sent him with a party of
slaves thither; while taking in his cargo, an English ship of
war had nearly surprised him: and, though he escaped, the
slaves and his cargo had fallen into their hands.

When De Ruyter heard this, we consulted with the captain
on the possibility of recovering the slaves and cargo. De
Ruyter, who was as fertile in plans as daring in execution, soon
determined on a stratagem to be carried into effect by him and
me. The brig, not being a very crack sailer, he recommended
to go into a port, which he pointed out by his chart, in one of
the Six Islands, which had previously been agreed upon as our
rendezvous, in case of separation. This arranged, we made all
sail, running down, with a rattling trade-wind, to Diego
Garcia. The form of this island is that of a crescent, contain-
ing within its band a very small island, which, serving as a
break-water, afforded a spacious and secure harbour behind.
On making the island, and observing the frigate at anchor
there, we, in running down on the land, kept the little island
between us and her, which prevented our being seen. We
there anchored ; and the next day getting under weigh together,
the grab ran down to leeward, disguised like a slave ship, and
appeared at the mouth of the harbour, as if ignorant of there
being any vessel there ; till, opening the frigate, which instantly
got sight of her, she wore round, and made sail as if to escape.

The frigate, under the prompt and rapid hands of English
sailors, slipped her cable, and made sail in chase. Yet time
enough elapsed to give the grab a good offing, and time for
me to keep out of sight, by working up to windward. I had
landedZa man on the little island to make signals of the frigate’s
280 ADVENTURES OF

motions, and timed it so well that, ag she shut in the port, by
rounding the projecting angle of the island, I weathered the
extreme point of the little island, ran into the bay, hove to
close to the shore, and landed with a strong party of men.

The contrivance was so well managed, and so rapid, that I
surprised a party of the frigate’s men, with the slaves in
custody, and others employed in cutting wood. We embarked
the slaves, and as much fish which had been cured, and turtle
as we could during the four hours I ventured to lie there. The
remainder we destroyed. As to my countrymen, their case
seemed so vexatiously hard,—I left them; yet not before I
made them declare I was the best fellow in the world,—but
then I had made them all drunk. Besides, I had cheated them,.
hoisting Yankee colours, and they knew the schooner must be
of that country; so that, instead of escaping to the woods and
hills, by running a hundred yards, they had awaited our land-
ing without suspicion, discussing the amount of anticipated
prize-money, and disappointed at having been left by the frigate,
when in pursuit of a flying Frenchman, as they were certain.
the strange sail was, by her leanness and fleetness. We parted
such good friends that, as I left the shore, they gave me three.
cheers, in return for three bottles of rum I left with them.

CHAPTER LXVII.

No dread of death, if with us die our foes,

Save that it seems even duller than repose ;

Come when it will, we snatch the life of life ;

When lost—what recks it—by disease or strife ?
Byron.

THEN rounded the northern point of the island, and, with

a flowing sheet, scudded gallantly along towards the port

where we had engaged to meet; nothing doubting the success

of De Ruyter’s stratagem to draw the frigate off, and, after

dogging her about to give me time, to escape in the gloom of
night.

The weather had been hazy, with violent squalls of wind and.
A YOUNGER SON. 281

rain, which was a favourable circumstance. We had a speedy
run down to the destined islands; and the grab and schooner
almost simultaneously appeared to the north and west, as
entering the channel between the centre of the cluster. We
anchored together in a small but secure port, sheltered from the
winds, as well as from observation, by a high and projecting
bank stretching into the sea, in the form of a bent arm.

Next morning the brig made her appearance off the island;
and soon after came to an anchor. I left De Ruyter to settle
the business he came about respecting the return of the slaves,
and went on shore. I remember nothing particular of the
natives, except that they were a simple-hearted, hospitable
people, chiefly fishermen. We procured goats, fish, fowls, and
vegetables ; and then took our departure, standing towards the
Maldive Islands, to get on the Malabar coast before the north-
east monsoon, which was approaching, should set in.

We soon after boarded and plundered several vessels, having
English papers. Among these there was one with a Dutch
frow on board, whose beam was nearly as large as the vessel's.
She had a considerable investment of goods belonging to her-
self, with which she was trading, between Madras and Bombay,
on her own bottom. Her late husband had been in the employ-
ment of the English Company, which was enough for me to
condemn her as lawful prize. After culling out some of the
most valuable portion of the cargo, and throwing overboard the
most worthless, I recollected we were in want of water. There
were five or six butts of that element on her deck. While I
was waiting to get out the long-boat to send them on board the
schooner, the Dutch monster of a woman was smiling, ogling,
and coaxing me to come down in her cabin, praying and
entreating I would not take the water. ‘It is infernally hot,”
said I, ‘“‘and I want water. Handa bucket here!’’ (catching
hold of a half empty cask.)

‘Oh, that’s not good,’ quoth the oily frow; ‘“ here, boy, get
some water out of the cabin. Oh, don’t drink that, captain !
I'll get you some wine,—Constantia, from the Cape itself!”

“Come,” I ordered to one of the men, ‘knock out the bung

from this cask.”
One was trying to wrench it out with his knife, and the
282 ADVENTURES OF

Dutch woman was entreating him to broach one of the others,
declaring that to be brackish. ‘How comes it then, you old
frow, abroach? I think you’ve got Constantia here! If so,
I'll take it on board.”

I seized on a crow-bar, and forced out the bung, marvelling
at the frow’s eagerness to withhold me, and withdraw my
attention. I really believed there was something uncommonly
good in it, skedam or wine, owing to her protestations to the
contrary. The bung out, I held a bucket as a man tilted over
the cask; and, while the clear water rushed out, and while I
was laughing at the beldam’s pertinacity, she gave a scream, and
Ia shout of surprise, at what I first thought was some animal,
but was soon distinguished to be the end of a pearl necklace.
The frow’s red face, as I pulled it out, and held it up to her,
became redder than a string of cornelians, which next plumped
into the bucket.

“Out with the head, and start the water !—A lucky prize!
Hands off,—or I'll cut them off! Put the baubles into the
bucket.”

We fished out a superb haul of rings, pearls, corals, and
cornelians,—a private spec of the Dutch frow, who, during the
chase, had thus cunningly secreted them. But for my having
taken a particular fancy to diving into that cask, not wishing
to broach a full one, we should have missed this pearl fishery.

We made a stricter search, but discovered nothing else.
Giving back to the frow a ring, not one of the worst, which
she, with an oath, assured me was her grandame’s, together
with a kiss, as I placed it on her fat, stubby finger, I said,
“ Don’t grieve, my young frow; for this is a marriage contract
in the Arab country, and you’re my wife. When we meet
again I’ll consummate the rite, and, till then, take care of your
dower.”’

I then shoved off to the grab, putting the plunder on board
her, as we had little stowage on board the schooner. I told
Louis of the affair with his countrywoman, and added: ‘“ She
is certainly your frow, by the description you have given
me of her, in search of you;—the identical woman, depend
upon it.”

Louis looked grave, but presently cheered up, and said,—
A YOUNGER SON. 283

““My wife has no jewels, nor any rings on her fingers; she
gave her wedding-ring for a bottle of skedam, the first time
I refused her a dollar to buy one.”

We fell in with a fleet of country vessels from Ceylon and
Pondicherry, convoyed by a Company’s brig of war. De
Ruyter telegraphed me to bring to, and examine the vessels,
while he gaye chase to the Company’s cruiser. I soon came
up with the country craft; they were of all sorts, shapes, and
rigs,—snows, grabs, patamas. The Company’s vessels, dis-
covering us to be enemies, made sail, and left them to shift for
themselves. As soon as I was near enough to get a gun to
bear, I fired a shot amongst them, when they separated like
a flight of wild ducks, driving away in the direction of every
point of the compass; while I pursued them as the beneta
does the flying fish, and kept them as well together, by
running round them, as a huntsman, or rather a whipper-in
controls a pack of hounds. Some few, indeed, gave me the
shp; but I got the main body together. We boarded them
successively, with little for our pains; they were principally
loaded with bumbalow, paddy, beetle-nut, ghee, pepper, arrack,
and salt. However, there was a sprinkling of silks, muslins,
and a few shawls; and, with infinite industry, I contrived to
realize a few bags of gold mores, and rupees.

De Ruyter was now a long way to leeward; and by occa-
sional reports of cannon, I knew she was keeping up a running
fire on the brig, which seemed to be a remarkably fast sailer.
Leaving the small craft, I bore away, crowding every inch
of canvass, to rejoin the grab. In the direction they were
running there was a group of three rocks raising their crests
high out of the water. There was a passage between them,
and the Company's brig seemed making for them. Her object
T could not guess at; but when she neared them, being much
cut up in her rigging, and finding she had no chance of escape,
she hauled her wind, and, after shortening sail, hove to, and’
commenced an engagement with De Ruyter. I was all on fire
to be init. As I approached, a signal from De Ruyter directed
me to run to leeward of the rocks, to prevent the possibility
of her escape; and, judging from appearances, the grab had
already so much the advantage of her opponent, that I could
284 ADVENTURES OF

only have diminished my friend’s glory, without gaining any
myself. But, before I could obey the signal, the brig had
drifted on the rocks, designedly to destroy her, and then struck
her flag.

Instantly, in conjunction with the grab, we got all our boats.
out, boarded her, and endeavoured to tow her off. She was.
a fine vessel, armed with sixteen eighteen-pound carronades,
and had eighty or ninety men and officers on board. She had
not been engaged more than ten or fifteen minutes; yet her
hull, as well as rigging, was a good deal cut up. She had only
seven or eight men wounded, and one killed; the grab had
two or three wounded, and one killed by an accident. As he
was in the chains, ramming down a cartridge (the gun not.
having been sponged, and the vent stopped), it exploded as the
man was standing before it. The old Rais told me, in his.
unmoved way, ‘I looked out of the port-hole, and ordered the
man, who was loading the gun, to take care not to carry away
the dead eyes of the standing rigging ;—for he was too hot and
hasty. The gun going off prevented his replying. I looked
again; the man was no longer there; but a piece of his red
cap, or red head, was floating on the water. I never saw
anything more of him.”

“Tt was Dan Murphy,—poor fellow!”

“Yes,” replied the Rais; ‘he was always in a hurry, never
attending to orders. And look at the dead eyes,—he has.
carried them away with his foolish head.”’

We secured the Europeans in the prize, took some of her
stores and arms, put on board our sick men, with all the
plunder we had accumulated, and draughted twenty men, two.
quarter-masters, a prize-agent, and master. After repairing
her during that night and the ensuing day (for we hove her off
the rocks, without much damage, it being calm weather), we
sent her to the Isle of France. Her Lascars and native sailors,.
in a few days after, we shipped in a country vessel, giving,
them their liberty; with the exception of eight or ten, who
entered with De Ruyter. More would have followed their
example, had we wanted them.
A YOUNGER SON. 285

CHAPTER LXVIII.

But feast to-night !—to-morrow we depart ;

Strike up the dance, the cava bow] fill high,

Drain every drop !—to-morrow we may die.
Byron.

E RUYTER determined on running through the straits

of Sunda, while I was to run through the straits of

Molacca, and procure intelligence of the English ships,—con-

sequently we separated. We were to meet, after a certain

date, at an island near the great Island of Borneo. De Ruyter

gave me full instructions, from which he made me promise not
to deviate.

He then took an affectionate leave of Aston, pressed on him
presents of curious arms, in which Aston was an amateur, and
both of them struggled, by indifferent words, to hide their
emotions. De Ruyter then laid his last solemn injunctions
on me, kissed Zela’s brow, shook hands, and returmed on
board the grab.

“We made sail, steering different courses. As soon as I
was sufficiently near the entrance of the straits, I stood over
on the Malay coast, which is very high and bold. Getting
into a large bay, formed by a bite of land, I-anchored in a
secure berth, between a small island and the main. There
I opened a communication with the natives; and with some
difficulty, procured a large and very fast pulling proa; which,
I thought, was the safest way of taking Aston to Pulo-penang,
lying at the entrance of the straits, and in the possession of the
English. Pulling along the Malay shore, in one of their own
fashioned canoes, I should neither be remarked by the natives,
nor suspected, if seen, by the English. Thus I might land on
any part of the island I pleased.

Pulo-penang was purchased by the English Hast-India
Company from the Malays on the opposite coast, and is now
called Prince of Wales’s Island. It is small, but exceedingly
fertile, and very beautiful. It runs parallel with the Malay
coast, which is very high; and the intermediate channel forms
a magnificent harbour,
286 ADVENTURES OF

Determined to accompany Aston, I manned the proa with
six Arabs and two Malays (their arms secreted), with three
days’ provisions and water. Aston and I embarked; he in a
white jacket and trousers, I in an Arab sailor’s dress. We
shoved off from the schooner, left in charge of the first mate,
an American, who had been a second mate on board of her
when she was taken. He had recovered froin his fever, and
De Ruyter had recommended him to me fervently. He was
an active, intelligent fellow; a thorough sailor, born and bred
at New York. His name was Strong, a short, thick-set man,
powerful as a Suffolk horse. One of my own country, who
had been captain of the forecastle in Aston’s frigate, was my
second mate. He had all the characteristics of a man-of-war’s
man, taciturn, obedient, brave, and hardy. He had also a sailor’s
predilection for grog. The captain of the hold, his messmate,
having bulled an empty rum cask, that is, immediately after
the spirit is started, put in a gallon of water, there to remain,
with an occasional roll, for twenty-four hours, when it turns
out good stiff grog, our forecastle captain swilled too freely
of this wash, and failed in his respect to a superior officer.
The boatswain, jealous of this man’s better seamanship, and
hating the deference that was paid him, was the cause of the
man’s being flogged. This disgrace preyed on his mind, and
was the motive for gladly entering with me. Besides, as he
argued, he had been twenty years serving the king in the
West and East Indies, with nothing but two days’ liberty on
shore, the yellow fever, many wounds, one drunken bout while
on duty, and a flogging.

To return to my story, after shoving off in the proa. It
was calm, with a sun that seared to the bone. We kept:
along the Malay shore; and in the evening, were off the
Malay town of Prya, defended by a fort. Having got into
conversation with some Malays in a fishing-boat, at night we
crossed over in company with them to Penang river, lying to
the southward of George Town, on the Prince of Wales’s.
Island. As it was a run of less than two miles, Aston and I
recreated ourselves with swallowing the delicious oysters, so
celebrated on this coast. On attempting the river, we found
our proa was too large to cross the bank; so he and I landed.
A YOUNGER SON. 287

I directed the proa to go into the harbour, with some fishing-
canoes, taking fish to town in the morning.

We slept in a fisherman’s hut. Just before daylight, we
started for the town ; and crossed several streams, flowing from
the mountains into the river. The hills were covered with
magnificent timber, and our path was fragrant with the odour
of flowers and spices, which seemed ten times more exquisite
to us, Just landed from a small and crowded vessel anything
but fragrant. Near the town, in the margin of the sea, was a
wide extent of plain, of a light sandy-looking soil, as thick
with pine-apples as the most prolific soil in England could be
with turnips. Like boys, always hungry, we walked along,
scooping their hearts out with our knives, and daintily plucked
and cast away twenty ere we were satisfied with the flavour
of one.

We entered the town unquestioned, and went to a recently-
established hotel. Aston there rigged himself, waited on the
resident, and told as much of his story as we had previously
agreed on was necessary for him to know, or for us to divulge.
He said he had been landed from an American vessel lower
down the coast, and brought to the town by a Malayan proa.

The resident, a military man, was very kind; he requested
him to take up his quarters in his house till some man-of-war
or English ship should come into port. Aston thought it
prudent to comply, merely requesting permission to stay at
the hotel for a day or two till his apparel and other necessaries
should be furnished.

He then returned to me; and as I was to go back to my
proa that night, we were resolved to make a day of it before-
hand, which we forthwith commenced by a tiffin, and an order
for a sumptuous dinner.

Aston took this opportunity of again counselling me to
return to the navy, and pointed out the consequences of my
serving under an enemy’s flag, urging me, at all events, to
remain at the Isle of France, neutral, and not act offensively
against my own countrymen.

«When I have realized a competency,’ I said, ‘it was
always my intention, following our old captain’s example, to
become agriculturist; but I must first have money, for, you
288 ADVENTURES OF

know, Iam getting into years, have a wife, and shall have a
family. Oh, I must be provident, and provide for them! Now,
if I were a single man like you, Aston, young and thought-
less, it would be another thing.”

‘Get out, youmad-headed boy. Why, the united ages of
yourself and family would scarcely amount to the proper age
of manhood—thirty !”’

“Thirty! Whew! A man is then old, decrepit, grisled
like a worn-out mastiff!”’

This was while we were playing at billiards. Weary of the
game, I sauntered forth, surveyed the port, and set down in
my memory every vessel lying there. J marked, too, my proa,
lying astern of an Arab vessel, a little to the westward of the
town, near a landing-place which led to a slip where a large
country vessel had been built. Not thinking it prudent to
attract notice, I returned to the tavern. We dined; and what
with sangaree before dinner, craftily qualified with Madeira,
and claret, well brandied, after dinner, I cannot affirm I was
as sober as a parson should be, or as silent as a quaker: yet I
was not drunk; and to avoid being so, I proposed we should
sally out for a “lark.”

When in the open air, I yawed about a little wildly, and was
taken aback now and then by keeping too much in the wind’s
eye; but I soon became steady. We wandered for some time
through crooked streets, and among sunburnt mud-huts, till
we fell in with a place called Bamboo-square. It was an open
space, with an irregular range of shops, sheltered all round
from the sun by bamboos and mats. A beating of drums and
tinkling of instruments led us on to a row of huts exclusively
occupied by Nach girls. Aston was fond of music, and an
admirer of dancing-girls, whom I, as all married men should
do, had forsworn. Besides, the smell of rancid oil, ghee, and
garlic was not to my taste. I therefore left him, and strolled
on to a range of shops called the Jewellers’ Bazaar.
A YOUNGER SON. 289

CHAPTER LNIX.

So I drew
My knife, and with one impulse, suddenly
All unaware, three of their number slew,

And grasp’d a fourth by the throat.
SHELLEY.

T was thronged with people, and illuminated with coloured-

paper lamps. I stood before one of these shed-built shops:
it was the best, and kept by a parsee. He was shewing a
woman, who was veiled from her feet to her face, some ear
and nose rings, nearly the circumference of a boy’s hoop, and
descanting on their neatness and elegance. When they had
agreed on the price, she removed part of her head-drapery,
and exhibited her nostril and part of her ear: the latter
almost as big and flat as a plate, and hung down like a sow’s.
The jew alles, placing his thumb to keep the slip in it open,
suspended the huge ring, which looked like a chandelier. She
had no occasion for a mirror, for, turning her head a little
towards her shoulder, she pulled the lap of her ear forwards,
and grinned with delight, shewing a double row of deeply
orange-dyed teeth, more numerous than a garden-rake’s, and
as sharp-pointed. The jeweller, struck with these beauties,
exclaimed, ‘‘ What an angel !”’

She then asked him for a betel box. He produced four or
five of gold, declaring that no baser metal ought to touch her
lovely hand. They were handsomely made; and as it had
just before crossed my mind that I should present some token
of friendship to Aston, who had given me his watch in the
morning, I took hold of two of the boxes. I then weighed
them in my hand, without attending to the price he named,
for I hated bargaining and haggling, put the boxes into the
folds of my shawl round my loins, and gave him, without
counting, what I considered to be the value in gold mores.
He counted them, and seeing me so free with my gold, became
urgent for more. He declared I had only paid for one. To
this I answered, ‘‘That’s a lie!’”’—rolled up a leaf with chinam,
deposited it in my mouth, and was going away. The jeweller

19
290 ADVENTURES OF

called me a robber, and stretched out his hand to detain me.
He got hold of the end of my turban, which was hanging
down, and pulled it off. I turned round, and giving him a
blow on the head, he fell among his glass jewel-boxes. A
parsee never forgives a blow—who does? He stabbed at me
with a knife, or weapon of some sort, the moment he recovered
his feet: but he was in his shop, and I out of it, so that by
stepping back I avoided his weapon; and my blood now rising,
more at what IJ thought the fellow’s audacity than at his
endeavour to stab me, I seized on a jewel-box, and dashed it
at his head.

Several persons, both in and out of the shop, interfered in
the business, and sided with the parsee. The row spread
through the bazaar. The jeweller, with his head and face
bleeding, and frensied with passion, called me thief, robber,
and vociferated to those about me (for the clamour had now
drawn all idlers to us) to seize me, to take me to prison, or to
kill me, if I resisted. As the crowd increased, many pressed
about me; and the infuriated jeweller, grown desperate, made
another effort to lay hold of me.

Danger perfectly restored my senses, and I was enabled to
rally that presence of mind with which I was gifted. I drew
from my sash a pistol and creese, the two best weapons for
close quarters ; but not till I had seen several men close to me
draw their arms. Still I refrained from using mine; for, in
cases of this sort, men will bluster, draw, and threaten, but
yet hesitate to strike an armed and resolute man, ready to
oppose them; but the instant a blow is struck, all strike, when
the weaker party must fall, unless. by the intervention of some
unforeseen event, some lucky chance. In this momentary
pause, on which hung my fate, as by a hair, my eye glanced
round, and I saw the impossibility of escape in the front,
which was crowded. To be killed on the spot was preferable
to being detained and made a prisoner. I seized the only
outlet of escape, by retreating into the den of my enemy, the
jeweller,—not to solicit his mercy. My movements were so
rapid that those in the shop could not oppose me; I stabbed
one, struck the jeweller down, and forced away, suddenly
exerting my utmost strength, the two upright bamboos which
A YOUNGER SON. 291

supported his tent-like shed. Down the roof fell between me
and the people, and I escaped into a narrow and obscure
passage at the back of the bazaar.

The deep guttural curses of the Malays, and the parsee’s
loud threats of vengeance reached my ear. It was better to
retreat than brave the fury of incensed numbers; not forgetting
who I was, and the consequences of being discovered. Had I
been wise, I should have immediately retreated to the outside
of the port, where my proa lay, and embarked; but the desire
of seeing and taking leave of Aston withheld me. I therefore
cautiously threaded the crooked and dingy passage, which led
from the bazaar, surprised at not being pursued. Nevertheless
I hurried on; and to avoid being recognised, made alterations
in my dress. There was much difficulty, through a labyrinth
of dark lanes, in finding the tavern, which was near the
port.

I entered and reached my room unnoticed ; but was annoyed
at Aston’s not having returned. Thinking it possible he might
be concerned in the fray, I determined on changing my dress,
and seeing him. I put on a white jacket and trowsers be-
longing to him, and could not forbear smiling, as I went out of
the house, at the man who had attended us at dinner, when I
saw him puzzled to conjecture who I was. But that trium-
phant smile, I had afterwards reason to believe, betrayed me.

I proceeded directly to the bazaar. There I saw Aston’s
tall figure, a head and shoulders above the crowd, which was
still before the jeweller’s door,—or rather, on the threshhold,
for it was all door now, an empty space. But I observed the
crowd did not consist of the same persons, but of sepoys and
police officers. Aston and one of the officers seemed listening
to an account of the affair. The jeweller, haggard and ghastly,
stood before them, narrating his injuries. Several of his family
and friends were about him. He pointed to the place where
his shop had stood, now a gap in the bazaar, stamped on the
roof, as low as the foundation, and, as he finished his vehement
discourse, tore the turban from his head, and rent his robes to
fragments. And then, without heeding those who addressed

him, he disappeared.
292 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER LXX.

Cry a reward to him who shall first bring
News of that vanished Arabian.
Keats’ MS.

O avoid observation, and not wishing to be questioned, I
went back to the tavern. Aston soon joined me, and,
shaking my hand, said, ‘‘I am glad to find you here. There
has been a serious row in the bazaar, and I feared you might
have been concerned in it.”

“What was it?” I inquired.

*‘T was drawn to the spot, by seeing the people run that way.
There was a shop, or shed, belonging to a goldsmith, pulled
down, when the mob began to plunder it, while himself and a
few others attempted to defend his property. But all the
scoundrels from the port were there, and I don’t think they
have left the poor fellow a gold more. It was too late when I
arrived there, nor had I my sword with me; but I did what I
could. I knocked down some of the fellows, and procured the
sepoy guard from the gates.”

«But how did it originate?”

“With an Arab; and, as far as I can understand, it is no
unfrequent occurrence here, though seldom done so openly.
The bazaar was full of people, and while the jeweller was
shewing some valuable trinkets to a woman, who is supposed
to be an accomplice, an Arab came, seized every thing he could
lay his hands on, stabbed one of the men in the shop, knocked
the jeweller down, and, assisted by others on the outside,
rushed through the shop, which was then torn down, and a set
of miscreants commenced plundering.”

‘‘Do they suspect any one in particular ?”’

“‘T don’t know; they have some of the thieves in custody.”

“Come, light your sharoot, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

His surprise was great at hearing I was the person denomi-
nated the Arab robber; and, in much grief, he censured my
folly and rashness. ‘‘ Besides,” he added, ‘‘ the jeweller said
he could recognise the man who first attacked him amidst a
A YOUNGER SON. 293

thousand; and, casting from him the few things he had saved,
swore by his religion he would fast till he was revenged.”’

“Tf he keeps his word,” I answered, ‘his rhamadan may
last for ever ; for I shall go to sea with the land-wind.”

But as the devil willed it, the weather was so bad I could
not embark that night. I had no reason, however, to imagine
that I was, or could be suspected; especially in a town where
brawls were common events, and where a man dead, or
missing, was of little account, amidst a population of armed
and blood-thirsty Malays, (who, of all eastern nations, and all
human beings, except kings, hold human life in least respect,)
and Arabs, with whom, if precedents and time can make a
thing lawful, killing is no murder, and robbery no crime, for
they are coeval with their race. Besides, the parsee’s brother
was not dead.

Aston went early in the morning to the resident; and I
went out, taking the precaution to wear an arrican cap instead
of a turban, and loitered down to the port to glean information.
Afterwards I visited the shops to purchase some trifling things
I wanted; besides which, I had several important commissions
to execute for De Ruyter, in procuring information, and for-
warding letters to the interior of Hindostan. This I did
through an agent of the French government, which had spies,
I believe, in every port in India. Once or twice during the
forenoon I thought I was watched, and evaded my imagined
pursuer; and, on more than one occasion, the waiter at the
hotel surprised me by some observations he made on the affair
of the preceding night; which struck me the more, because
another servant had told us this same jeweller was in the
habit of bringing his trinkets to the hotel, when there were
strangers there.

We passed this day in the same way as the preceding one;
not that I was altogether quite at ease in being delayed. The
affair of the jeweller troubled me little, compared to the hazard
of personal discovery. Some of the vessels I had plundered
at sea might be in this port; and notwithstanding the difference
in my dress, some person or other might recollect me. My
mind then reverted to the schooner; for however secure she
might be in her present berth for a day or two, some accident
294 ADVENTURES OF

might discover her; and she was only in comparative safety
when in motion, with a good offing. Then there was a magnet,
stronger than all these prudential considerations to hasten my
departure,—my own little turtle dove, Zela, who, I knew,
would outwatch the stars, and find no rest while I was absent.
This determined me to embark that night, in despite of wind
and weather, which was still cloudy and unsettled ; and, what
is often the case in these latitudes, the day-breeze went down
with the sun.

I pass over my parting with Aston; indeed, to avoid some
portion of the pain, I took advantage of his absence, and wrote
him a short adieu, leaving the fifty or sixty gold mores I had
about me in the sleeve of his jacket, so that he could not fail
to find them.

I made no mention of my departure to any one in the house.
As to baggage, it consisted of nothing but my abbah, which the
occasional showers made no burthen. Modern frippery of
combs, razors, brushes, and linen, which prevents a man from
sleeping out of his own house without the incumbrance of the
best part of a haberdasher’s shop, I never dreamed of. My
teeth were as strong and white as a hound’s without the aid of
hog’s bristles. My head was not, as before, shaved, but thickly
sprouting like a bramble bush, and was left to its natural
growth with as little care and cultivation as is bestowed on
that most fondly remembered fruit-tree. I say so, because, in
common with all young urchins, I recollect the time when,
spurned like a dog from the vicinity of every other fruit-tree, I
solaced myself under the friendly bramble, and its beloved
companion, the beautiful hazel. Sacred haunts! unprotected
by churlish guardians, and where, by the by, we eat without
having planted. This must be the reason why starving poets
call nature and mother earth bountiful,—there can be no other ;
for only be detected in extracting a turnip, and hear what a
magistrate will say, particularly if he is clerical. You will then
find mother earth the worst of step-mothers, and have enough
of her in the colonies.
A YOUNGER SON. 295-

CHAPTER LXXI.

The waning moon,
And like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapt in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain.
SHELLEY.

He dies! ’Tis well she do not advertise
The caitiff of the cold steel at his back.
Keats’ MS.

HUS unincumbered, a little before midnight, and avoiding
the most populous parts of the town, I walked as fast as.
possible; but the night, and the narrow, dirty lanes, con-
siderably impeded my progress. At length I reached the open
space near the now quiet port, in my way to the outside of
the town, where was a rude sort of half-finished dock-yard,
off one of the slips of which lay my proa. The weather was
favourable ; what wind there was, I observed, by the occasional
gusts, was not stationary, but shifting about in all quarters.
Dark and white masses of clouds seemed jostling together ;
and, every now and then, as they met in contention over the
moon, the world was left in almost total darkness. Men from
the shore hallooing their vessels to send boats, and the “ All’s
well!” of the sepoy sentinels, were the only voices I heard.
When out of the town, my heart became lighter, and my stride
longer, as I beheld, the free expanse of sea on my right, and’
the mountains before me; either of them would have been a
refuge, had I been pursued ; however, I now considered myself
out of danger. ‘I came on a little line of huts, and a wooden
fence, which I had not observed before. A sentinel, standing
under the lee of a hut, stepped forward, as I was passing, and
said, ‘‘ Who goes there ?—stop!”

How near the guard was I knew not; therefore, to prevent
his giving an alarm, which he would have done had I not
stopped, I obeyed, and, to preserve my Indian character,
answered in Hindostanee, ‘ A friend.”’

He then questioned me, in the usual manner, about where I
296 ADVENTURES OF

was going, and upon what business. On my replying, he said,
“You can’t pass here without an order.”

‘“‘T know that,” I answered; “I have one; ”—I fumbled in
my dress for a letter or paper. I took one out, and, with great
appearance of simplicity, advanced towards him, and said,
‘“ Here, Sir, it is!”

He bade me keep off, and was bringing his musquet down,
when I sprang in upon him, griped him by the throat, which
prevented his giving the alarm, and laid him on his back in an
instant. His musquet fell from his hands; and this little
irascible Bombay soldier struggled hard to loosen my hold, and
lay hands on me; but he had no more chance than a cat with
a mastiff. I held him till he was almost strangled; then, the
moon being again hidden by the clouds, I cast his bayonet one
way, his musquet another, let him go, arose, and bolted off in
the direction I had come, as if returning to the town. But I
took the contrary direction, and, giving the arsenal a wide
berth, went through some Indian corn-field. When at a
sufficient distance, I again slanted down towards the sea.
More than once, it seemed, I was followed. I stopped, and
turned round. As I regained the beaten track, I fancied I saw
a figure skulking along, his shadow reflected on a wall. Idrew
my creese, and, turning back, sought vainly for the object. The
changing and uncertain light made my efforts fruitless; I con-
cluded it was a shadow created by my excited imagination, and
went on.

As the moon again shone forth, I saw, between me and the
sea, a building close on the beach, in a bite of the bay, which
I knew to be.a public slaughter-house. A little farther on was
an enclosed slip, in which a vessel had been built or repaired.
Half a mile onward, off at sea, lay my proa expecting me.

I stopped on a little mound of sand, looking to seaward, if
I could make out the boat. One of the walls of the slaughter-
house was by the side of this, and I leaned on it. At this
moment, with a gleam of moonlight behind me, my shadow
was reflected slantingly on the white ground, when a huge arm
uplifting a weapon, large (such it appeared in shadow), as a
spear, was in the act of stabbing. I turned, and thrust my
left hand, in which my cloak was gathered, to ward off the
A YOUNGER SON. 297

blow, for it was a man with a creese in the very act of de-
spatching me. The blow pierced through many folds of the
strong camel's hair, but the point of the weapon was turned,
and glanced on my loins. I gave a shout, started back, pre-
sented a small pistol Aston had given me, and snapped it in
the fellow’s face. The Birmingham toy was not made for use ;
it missed fire; I cursed its manufacturer, threw it away, and
drew my creese, in the use of which, thanks to the Rais, I was
perfect. I having the upper ground, the assassin could not
repeat his blow. He believed the first had wounded me; and,
knowing his weapon to be poisoned, and if the skin was but
scratched, it was enough, he endeavoured to escape.

Instantly I was at his heels. He was swift of foot, and so
was I. By the turnings and twistings he made, he seemed
acquainted with the localities of the ground, over which I
repeatedly stumbled. Yet I pressed him so hard, calling out,
“Stop,—or Dll fire!’ (though I had no fire-arms,) that he
suddenly turned through a gap in a wall, a loose stone of
which I caught up, and hurled at him. Following close upon
him J found, by the spars and timber which impeded me, that
I was in the temporary dock. It had, I remembered, a high
fence on each side; for I had been down there twice to speak
with my men. The deep slip, or channel, which had been cut
to float a vessel in, now almost free from water, lay in front. I
therefore thought him embayed here. However, the man went
straight on, then turned, and hesitated an instant. I imagined
he was about to turn round, and again attack me. The night
had become a little lighter, but I could distinguish no features
in his dusky face, except the eyes glaring on me. As I was
now rushing on him, he eluded my grasp by stepping aside, for
he was on the very verge of the deep chasm, and walking, as it
at that moment appeared, in the air; whence he turned his head
towards me, and exclaimed,—‘‘ Robber and murderer, you dare
come no farther!”

The moon, again unveiled, explained the mystery. The
shaft of an unbarked tree, the larger part towards the side on
which I stood, lay horizontally across the chasm; and the man,
steadying himself, and clinging with his bare feet, was cau-
tiously crossing on it.
298 ADVENTURES OF

He paused to defy and execrate me; and I, hesitating what.
to do, said,—‘‘ Cowardly slave! who are you ?—and why have
you attacked me?”

With his ghastly face towards me, he replied, ‘‘I am the
jeweller you robbed, the brother of him you stabbed! But I
am revenged !”’

‘You lie,—you are not!”

“Fool!” said he, holding up a creese, ‘if this did not go
deep, the poison onit will!”

“Will it?” I cried, and, without more hesitation, having
shaken off my shoes, I sprang along the spar. He jumped on
it, perhaps to increase the vibration, or to cross it, or to
turn,—I know not. My action was so rapid that, quick as
lightning runs along an iron rod, I closed with him. He was
surprised, if not panic-struck. The impetus with which we
met destroyed our equilibrium, and we fell together, neither
making the vain effort of using the dagger. The jeweller, who
was on a smaller and more rounded portion of the spar, and, I
believe, in the act of turning, made a desperate effort, as he
fell, to catch hold of me, when we should have been precipi-
tated together in the dark gulf. But it was not so decreed; for
he only clutched my dress, which rent asunder, and I heard
him fall heavily beneath.

T had fallen on my face, and clung round the spar with my
legs and one arm, for in the fall I seemed to have dislocated
the other. My body was light, and my limbs long and sinewy.
I contrived, though I hardly know how, to thus support and
save myself; but I remember what toil and peril I had in
crawling along, hand and foot, on this dangerous bridge, which
now, to my mind, was as difficult to cross as the bridge which
Mahomet calls al Sirat, finer than a hair, and sharper than the
edge of a sword, with the gulf of hell gaping below.

It was strange that, when the jeweller caught at me, and
rent my vests, the gold boxes, the source of all this mischief,
dropped from my bosom, (for, after what had occurred, I did
not think it right to give them to Aston,) and I saw them
glittering, as I imagined, on the man’s head.
A YOUNGER SON. 299

CHAPTER LXXII.

A bitter death, a suffocating death,
A muffled death, ensnared in horrid silence,
Suck’d to my grave amid a dreary calm !

Keats’ MS.

N regaining the brink of the chasm, breathless and
almost exhausted, suffering from a contusion on my
head and wrist, I sat down on the margin of that deep and
dismal gulf, which gaped like a charnel-vault beneath me, and
looked the more deep and terrific under the clear moonlight.
Then the noise from below, which the parsee made, struggling
for life; for at the bottom of the canal was a little stagnant
water, dammed up with sand from the sea, and sludge washed
down by the torrents, with all the accumulated filth from the
slaughter-house—being a consistency in which no man could
long float, or immediately sink; but every struggle made it
worse. The man had sunk deep the first plunge, and his hard
efforts to rise were apparent from the speechless agony with
which he toiled, and the quick and stifling noise he made, as if
half suffocated by the slimy composition. He panted, gasped,
and floundered on the surface. I could perceive no more than
an indistinct mass thus writhing and groaning in torture.
It was a horrible sight, and, though not very nervous, my
flesh quivered, and my whole frame shook as in sympathy with
his sufferings.

I gazed round in the vain endeavour of seeking something to
aid me in rescuing him; but though the moon shone brightly,
it only shewed me the hopelessness of the man’s situation. I
tried to keep my eyes off, but, as if fascinated, I could not. I
had almost determined to give the alarm, by calling for assist-
ance, (as I supposed a sentinel could not be very far,) regardless
of consequences to myself.

The struggle now became feeble, and the noise indistinct,
rattling, and hoarse. I looked, and the dark mass was slowly
sinking beneath the slimy surface ; and, as he sunk for ever, I
thought I saw an arm still holding its serpentine weapon,
300 ADVENTURES OF

which seemed (as it might have been from his convulsive
death), quivering while it gradually sunk—shaking, as it were,
still in defiance !

TI remembered he had told me it was poisoned, and his last
action reminded me of a venomous serpent I had killed the day
before, which, whilst expiring with its emerald-green eye
sparkling, and inflated hood, yet shot forth its forked tongue,
as if in revengeful rage not to be subdued.

My eyes were riveted on the spot where the man had
disappeared. The bubbling and disturbed surface was subsid-
ing into smoothness, when I was suddenly so startled as nearly
to lose my balance and fall down headlong, at hearing a voice
at my ear call out—“ All's well!” :

It was the voice of a distant sentinel, borne on the wind
while my head was on the ground near the fatal spar which
crossed the chasm, and which acted as a conductor. This,
and the extreme stillness of the night, made the voice seem
close to me, and certainly alarmed me more -than I had ever
been alarmed.

I sprang on my feet, and looked round fearfully ; but all was
again still. Daylight was approaching, and every moment
precious. I cast a last look at the spot where the man had
sunk, and a pang of remorse came over me as I recalled the
occurrences of the two last days, in which I had been the
cause of the destruction of this man’s property, perhaps of his
brother’s life, and then of himself. What havoc and sorrow
had I caused in his family; what curses must fall on my head!
—What demon of mischief urged me on? His death-cries
long haunted me.

It appeared to me, on after-reflection, that the waiter, or
some other person in the tavern, had suspected me as con-
cerned in the jeweller’s affair—that he had acquainted him
with his suspicions—that, during my morning walk, the jeweller
had seen and recognized me—that he had afterwards followed
and kept sight of me down to the place where my boat lay.

Had he given notice to the authorities, and charged me with
being the principal in the attack on his shop, he perhaps was
aware of, or had experienced the tardy and corrupt proceedings
of courts, and the little justice got by law: besides, there are
 

FORTIFIED CAVE IN MOUNT PARNASSUS,

The Strenghold of Odysseus, A.D. 1824.
A YOUNGER SON. 301

wrongs which cannot be righted by law, and for which men
seek redress in vengeance. Feelings of this sort must have
determined him on attempting to kill me. If he had indeed
known who I really was, his revenge would have been
effectually executed by simply informing against me; but of
this he had no suspicion.

I hastened down to the beach, as if pursued ; and, deserying
the proa, I was about to hail her, when I called to mind the
vicinity of the sentinel. My left wrist was strained or dis-
located—the hot blood was trickling down my face, and I was
suffused with a clammy heat. I looked anxiously along the
margin of the sea for a boat, but could discover none that
would serve my turn. Every instant of delay augmented the
hazard of detection: I therefore secured the few things which
would be destroyed by water, in my cap, and walked into the
sea, which was smooth, with a breeze from the land. I swam
as fast as I could, having the use of but one paddle. There
was no difficulty in this to one like me, who could swim nearly
as well as walk, and whose daily pastime, when at Madras,
had been in buffeting through the tremendous surf in which no
European boat can live. But the danger I ran was from
sharks and alligators, which were multitudinous about this
island, the latter of which I knew used to swarm round the
outlet from the slaughter-house, attracted by the smell of offal.
Perhaps they were then banqueting on the wretched jeweller.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

As past the pebbly beach the boat did flee,

On sidelong wing, into a silent cove,

Where ebon pines a shade under the starlight wove.
SHELLEY.

With shatter’d boat, oar snapt, and canvass rent,

I slowly sail, scarce knowing my intent.
Keats.

APPILY I got on board the proa; and, having silently
weighed our grapnel, we all lay down, and let the boat
drift out in the channel, till the fishing canoes ran out, when
302 ADVENTURES OF

we paddled amongst them, hoisted our mat-sail, and ran over
to the Malabar shore; there being little wind during the day,
we paddled along the shore; and as the clouds towards evening
again threatened a squally night, we went into a little open
cove, not having any vestige of being inhabited.

There we beached our boat, and prepared to sup and sleep
under the shelter of some pune-trees, growing close to the sea.
Meanwhile two Malays speared fish from the rocks, and others
lighted a fire against a huge teak-tree, which, as I afterwards
learnt, had crept into the forest, and continued burning for
seven or eight months. Wearied and worn out, after having
placed two men as outposts some distance from us, and
appointed a strict watch to be kept, I selected a soft stone as
a pillow for my head, and with my feet to the fire, wrapped in
the boat’s sail, I slept so soundly that neither the wind nor
rain, which came on in the night, awakened me.

An hour before daylight I was called. My limbs were cold
and stiff. Coffee and smoking, my never-failing remedies in
the morning, refreshed me. We launched our boat, and, with
a breeze still from the land, made good way through the water,
keeping well out to meet the sea-breeze. After mid-day the
weather became clear and bright, and about midnight, we ran
along the north-east side of the island, at which the schooner
was moored. We did not see her, so snug was her berth,
until we rounded an estuary. Aman on the look-out on shore,
belonging to the schooner, descried us. As we approached, I
perceived Zela, with my pocket telescope, looking through one
of the ship’s glasses.

Springing over the schooner’s low gunwale, I lifted her up by
the waist, which had outgrown my span. I pressed her to my
bosom in rapture, carried her down the hatchway and placed
her on the cabin table. Then, turning to my mate, I said,
“Strong, have you seen any strangers in the offing?”’

“ Only country craft, Sir.”

“No matter. Get under weigh, and let us make a stretch to
the eastward.”

I should have mentioned that I had previously examined the
place which I thought the jeweller’s creese had grazed, but
could discover no wound. The loose and thick folds of my
A YOUNGER SON. 303

camel-haired abbah, and the shawls round my waist had saved
me. My eyes were both blackened by the blow on my brow,
and my left wrist was swollen and painful.

My abbah I had picked up, so there was not the minutest
clue by which the jeweller’s friends could trace him or me.
Whether the sentinel, with whom I had the scuffle, gave an
alarm, or made a report, I know not. Probably, as he had
committed a fault in permitting me to come near him, without
giving an alarm, he was silent.

Zela’s paramana (nurse), old Kamalia, doctored my wounds;
and Zela chafed my temples, and rubbed my stiffened limbs
with cajeput oil and camphor. Whether it was this hot oil, or
the hand acting in animal magnetism, or roast fowls and claret,
or my callian and coffee, or guava jelly and sweeter lips to kiss,
that restored me, is a mystery. But certain it is that these
external and internal applications restored my body’s health.
Aly arm I was obliged to keep some time in a sling; and I
hardly think it ever regained its former strength.

De Ruyter having told me he should go through the straits
of Sunda, and touch at Java, I proceeded to Borneo. I passed
the straits of Drion; but anxious to get through these, I did
not run out of my way to board any of the country vessels,
which I occasionally fell in with. The first vessel I boarded
was some time after this, at the dawn of day. She was a
singularly constructed and rigged vessel, coming right down on
us, apparently of less than a hundred tons burthen, with two
masts, snow-fashion ; her ropes were principally of a dark grass,
her sails of purple and white cotton, though some looked like
matting; her hull was high out of the water, bleached to a whitish
brown; her bottom (for I could almost see the kelston as she
rolled heavily, more from want of ballast, and the weight above
board, than from any swell of the sea) was overgrown with
barnacles, sea-weed, and green slime. She yawed so widely
about, owing to bad steering, that I could scarcely keep clear
of her. I fired a musquet for her to heave to, which she did in
so lubberly a manner, by heaving up in the wind, that she was
nearly dismasted. A strange antediluvian crew of almost naked
savages, the most uncouth and wild I had ever seen, tattooed
from head to foot, were groping about her deck and rigging. A
304 ADVENTURES OF

ragged piece of painted cloth was hoisted by way of ensign.
Who or what she was, whence come or whither going, it was
impossible to guess. Her upper works were so broken and
gaping, that you could see both into her and through her; this
with her rent and ragged train made her look as if she had
been floating about ever since the flood, and yet the wonder
was how she was kept afloat an hour.

They were attempting to hoist out an old and ornamented
canoe; but, to save time, and anxious to examine her, more
from curiosity than hope of plunder, I lowered a small dingy
from our stern, and went to board her. On nearing her I was
more astonished at her wild appearance ; and, having with
great exertion climbed up her projecting bamboo outworks, I
found the interior far surpassing the exterior. Her upper deck
was thatched over with coir, held together with twined grass
cordage. The savage crew had palmetta-leaf coverings on their
heads, and Adamite inexpressibles. A very tall, thin, and bony
man came forward to receive me. He was distinguished from
the savage group, that crowded around, by his comparative
fairness and fierceness, besides having more covering to his
person. His features were prominent, his complexion a reddish
brown, his hair somewhat darker; and he would have been
strikingly handsome in figure and bearing, were it not for the
extraordinary and grotesque manner in which he was tattooed
on his face, arms, and breast, which were bare. The figure of
a hideous serpent was wreathed around his throat, as if in the
act of strangling him, with its head and lancet-like tongue
traced on the lower lip, as if, killing two-fold, it was darting
into his mouth. The bright green eye and red tongue of the
serpent were so cunningly tattooed in colours, that, with the
movement of the lower jaw, they appeared in motion. Yet
there was a placid expression of the eye and brow which did
not correspond with his wild attire. I had no time to examine
farther, for this captain, or chieftain, came forward in a most
courteous and affable manner, and with a strange accent, but
in tolerable English said,—‘‘ You are English, Sir?” (I had
shewn English colours.)

«“ And who are you, Sir?” I asked.

“‘T, Sir, am from the Island of Zaoo.”
«lL YOUNGHR SON. 305

‘What !—where is that? I never heard of such an island.”

He informed me it was in the direction of the Sooloo archi-
pelago. ‘But it is strange,” I said, for his manner struck me
more than his appearance; “are you of those islands?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“What! a native?”

“No, Sir.”

“Who are you then?”

He paused for a moment, and then answered, — “ An
Englishman, Sir.”

“Indeed! How the devil then came you there, or rather
here, in this trim?”

“Tf you'll walk down in the cabin, I’ll tell you, Sir; ’m
afraid I’ve little refreshment to offer you.”

Just as we were at the hatchway, I heard a woman’s cries
‘below. He stopped, and said, “I had forgot,—we cannot go
down there.”

“Ts there any one ill?”

“Yes, Sir; one of my wives is lying in, and I believe, before
her time. Her labour is brought on by sea-sickness. She is
suffering dreadfully.”

I sent for old Kamalia, telling him I had a wife on board,
and that her nurse, as I had understood, was learned in these
‘cases. Zela’s paramana soon came on board; when, not to
interrupt them, we sat apart on the deck, near the stern, where
the stranger thus began :—‘‘ It is so long since I’ve spoken my
mother tongue, and the circumstances I am going to relate
happened so many years ago, that I shall make a bungling
‘story of it, and am afraid you'll not understand me.”

“Well,” said I, ‘‘it is almost calm, and we have time; so
don’t hurry yourself. And as you seem not very well found in
the grubbery line, Pll send for something to freshen your
memory, while you recall old times.”

We were soon supplied from the schooner with beef, ham,
claret and brandy. Englishmen hate each other till they have
‘eaten together. Hating made us friends, and drinking opened
‘our hearts. The only remnant of civilization, which still
marked him a gentleman, was that he smoked without inter-
‘mission. When our callians were lighted, he commenced his

20
306 ADVENTURES OF

narrative; but in so strange an idiom, and with so many
breaks and stops, that, at first, I had great difficulty in com-
prehending his meaning. For the benefit of others, I take the
liberty of amending his phraseology.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

Nelson was once Britannia’s god of war,
And still should be so, but the tide is turn’d ;
There’s no more to be said of Trafalgar,
Tis with our hero quietly inurn’d.
Byron.

“CGC EVEN or eight years ago,” he said, ‘(I left England in

an Hast India Company’s ship, with convoy, bound to
Canton. The first officer, who had mercantile transactions.
with my father, and was considerably his debtor for prior
investments, induced him to furnish him with a still larger
investment than usual, upon condition that I, who was a clerk
in my father’s house, was to be shipped as a midshipman, and
to receive a certain portion of the profits, on my father’s
account, arising from the investment. Properly instructed in
this, I was to make the voyage, and, if I liked it, to continue
in the service; if not, to return to the counting-house. At the
age of fifteen I need not say how gladly I quitted debiting and
crediting, invoice books, journals, and ledgers, to go to a
country of which I had heard so much, and to rank among
those aspirants, who used to give themselves such airs, and
appear so happy, when they were on shore ;—not knowing then
that the cause of their joy on shore was the being released
from a tyrannical subjection on board those worst of prison-
ships, East Indiamen. However, under the patronage of the
first officer, my initiation into the service might be supposed
favourable.

“But we had not long sailed from the Downs, when I
experienced a visible alteration for the worse. For, besides.
the degrading and abject services in which the class I belonged
to was employed, the first mate, my patron, in whose watch I
A YOUNGER SON. 807

was, turned suddenly upon me, without any fault on my part,
and reviled and abused me. From that time, he treated me,
on all occasions, with mockery and contempt. Not satisfied
with making me do the most menial offices, he punished me for
his sport; for I gave him no cause. He one day told me, in
his passion, that my usurious old Jew of a father had hooked
me on him as a spy, to defraud him of his freightage; adding,
‘He made me give a bond too as security, but I'll be damned if
I don’t make a bond-slave of you!’ It is needless to tell you
what a miserable life I led.

‘‘ Our captain lived apart, as a sort of deity, and so I believe
he thought himself. He associated with none but two or three
passengers of the highest rank, and issued all his orders
through the first officer. One night, off Madeira, it was
blowing hard, when a man called out,—‘A strange sail on the
weather bow!’ I was standing near him, and answered,—
‘Very well, I'll report it ;’—though I saw nothing but what
seemed a great black cloud, and proceeded aft to acquaint the
first officer with it, who had charge of the watch. I beheld
him asleep on the carronade slide; a new feeling awoke in my
bosom,—revenge !”’

“What,” I asked, ‘‘did you stab the fellow, and throw his
carcase overboard ?”

“Oh, no; it was but a boyish spite ;—if I were to meet him
now, perhaps I might do as you say. I left him asleep, and
went down to the captain, whom I awoke with,—‘ There is a
large ship just under our lee-bow!’

“He started up, saying, ‘Where is the officer of the watch?”

««¢T gannot find him, Sir.’

“Not find him!’ and up rushed the captain. The officer
was sleeping close to the companion ladder; so that, on the
captain’s putting his foot on the deck, he stood before him, and
called out his name. The affrighted sleeper sprung up at the
well-known voice of his stern commander. But there was no
time to waste in words; it was blowing a hard gale, and the
sea running high; the dark and moving mass which, an instant
before, I had thought a cloud or land, now in the form of an
immense ship dismasted, came driving towards us. Our
captain roared out to put the helm down, and turn the hands
808 ADVENTURES OF

up; but it seemed too late. A voice, trying to make itself
heard through a trumpet, hailed us as from a tower, for so she
loomed, as she drifted before the wind, borne on by a gigantic
sea, which lifted her above us. The blue lights burning on her
forecastle were reflected on our close-reefed topsail. It appeared
inevitable that, as she replunged in the deep trough of the sea,
in which we lay, becalmed by her monstrous hull, we should
be crushed, or cut in two. Our sails struck against the masts
with a thundering sound; and the crew, scrambling up the
hatchways in their shirts, but half awake, involuntarily
screamed at the sight of the immense ship coming upon us.
Panic-struck we could do nothing; and she, impelled by the
fury of the sea and winds, was borne on, rolling and plunging,
without sail or mast to steer or steady her. It was a scene
that appalled the most hardy; some held out their arms
widely, and shrieked; others fell on their knees; and more
threw themselves headlong down the hatchways; and though
it was but a moment, such a moment makes a boy an old man.
A loud and more distinctly heard voice, speaking through a
trumpet, again hailed us,—it seemed our death summons,—
‘Starboard your helm, or we shall run you down!’

‘‘As the wave was lifting us up, the stranger struck us.
There was a frightful crash. Then I heard the loud shrieks
of our men, and, giving myself up for lost, convulsively griped
hold of the shrouds, and awaited my fate. My eyes were
riveted on the stranger; she passed, as I thought, over us,
and then lay, like a gigantic rock, immovable, close on our
lee-quarter. The gale, unimpeded, again roared among our
shrouds, and the sea broke over us. After a horrible pause,
the bustle and the noise of the winds, waves, and voices
recalled me to my senses. The stranger had struck us on our
quarter, and carried away our quarter-gallery, stern-boat, and
main-boom ;—nothing more,—and we were safe. The ship
again hailed us, and asked our name. She then ordered us to
keep close to her during the night, and added that she was his
Britannic Majesty’s ship, Victory.

“That night nothing was said to the first officer; but he
was put under close arrest. Indeed the panic was so great
that, for a long time, every one seemed under a spell, and our
A YOUNGER SON. 309

captain and officers were only recalled to their duty by the
frequent night-signals from the Victory, with the roar of her
immense guns to enforce attention to them, and to keep us in
our station on her lee-quarter; for they feared we should give
them the slip during the night.

‘In the morning, when I went on deck, I found we had lost
our convoy; and the Victory, still close to us, was making
signals for us to take her in tow. For this purpose, as there
was more swell than a boat could live in, we veered an empty
cask astern, with a rope attached to it, for her to take on
board. This done, she fastened halsers, as big as our cables,
to the rope; and we hauled them on board over the taffrail,
secured them to our main-mast, made all the sail we could
carry, and bore up for the Island of Madeira. Our situation
was most perilous; for, notwithstanding the great length of
the halsers by which we were towing, the weight and size
of the Victory, then the largest ship in the world, gave us
dreadful shocks as we lifted up trembling on the crest of a
wave, and she sank beneath us in its hollow,—she seemed
dragging us stern foremost downward; then again when we
laboured, becalmed in the deep trough, and she was lifted up,
she appeared plunging down directly on us. Sometimes the
tow ropes, though nearly the size of my body, snapped like
rotten twine; and we had again the difficult and dangerous
task of getting her tow-ropes on board. Luckily that night
the wind abated, or, I think, we should both have foundered.
The strain on our ship was so great, that besides the danger
of carrying away our main-mast, the seams of our deck
opened, and the sea broke over us, sweeping away all before
it, and threatened destruction by filling us with water. Our
captain hailed the Victory, and represented our danger: the
only reply was, ‘If you cast off the tow-rope, we will sink you.’

“On board the Victory, they had eased her by throwing
overboard the guns on her upper deck, setting storm-sails on
the stumps of her lower masts, and by every means in their
power. The next day the gale was considerably abated,
though the sea was still heavy. We brought to a large West
India ship bound to Madeira, and she was compelled to take

our place.
310 ADVENTURES OF
e

‘‘Our captain then went on board the late admiral’s ship,
when her commander, after reprimanding him for his bad look-
out during the night, said he should pass over his conduct
in consideration of the service he had done in having been the
means of saving to his majesty and his country the most
valuable of their ships that bore the triumphant flag of Nelson,
and that was then bearing his body.

‘He gave our captain a certificate to this effect. This some-
what appeased our proud commander; and, the danger over,
his wrath was allayed against the delinquent officer, whom
he had threatened, in his passion, to annihilate. Besides,
they were relations, or at least of the same name—Patterson ;
and you know, Sir, Scotchmen are clansmen, and care not
if all the world goes to wreck, so that their own particular
clan escapes, and profits by the general loss. But I ask your
pardon, Sir—there may be some very good men amongst them.”

CHAPTER LXXY.

That boat and ship shall never meet again ! |
Byron.

Thou must hold water in a witch’s sieve
And be liege lord of all the elves and fays,
To venture so.

Keats.

oe HE first officer,’ he continued, ‘‘returned to his duty,
and had no difficulty in tracing the origin of his dis-

grace tome. I need not say my condition was not improved
by this event. Oh, how I envied the life of the most ill-used
chimney-sweeper or outcast beggar! Their existence seemed
passed in bliss compared to mine! Besides, they could fly
from a heartless beadle or cruel master, while I (for so I then
thought) was a hopeless slave. But, Sir, I am detaining you.”
“Oh, no,” I replied, ‘“‘go on;”’ for the similarity of this
man’s fate with Walter's doubly interested me, and I already
felt a friendship for the narrator. By gazing on his features,
as he spoke, I was soon familiarised to the sight of the fright-
A YOUNGER SON. 311

ful figures portrayed on his skin, and “ saw his visage in his
mind.”

‘‘ At length,” said he, ‘‘ by the usual passage, we entered the
China seas. One night, the ship being anchored off an island
(for what purpose, I forget), I was ordered in the boat which
lay astern, to take care of her. Suddenly the thought crossed
my mind that I might take advantage of this and escape.
Without for a moment weighing the hazards of such an
enterprise, I gave myself up to the impulse. There was a
mast, a sail, and a keg of water in the boat, for she had been
employed in landing on the island to windward of us to seek
for water. This determined me. It did not then occur to me
there were so many things necessary, especially bread. I had
only brought my supper of biscuit and beef with me: compass
and charts I never thought of. The night was dark, a steady
breeze blowing out of the gulf, and the sea tolerably smooth.
I took a favourable opportunity of all being quiet on board,
slipped the painter which held the boat, and, after drifting
astern in fearful suspense for a short time, got the mast up,
veered round, and soon lost sight of the ship.

‘An hour elapsed, when I thought I saw a lantern hoisted
by her,-and afterwards plainly distinguished a blue-light. I
hauled in towards the island, that, by running to leeward
of it, I might be screened when daylight should appear.
Thanks to my having been born near a dockyard, and to my
fondness for boating, I had learnt to manage a boat very
well.

“But only, Sir, think an instant on the alteration a few
months had made in my fate, and more particularly that of a
few hours; yet the last I could not regret. My heart, how-
ever, misgave me when at sunset the next evening I pondered
on my desolate condition—alone in a little boat, without com-
pass, or means of existence, on the wide ocean, the wild waters
all around me, and the cloudy and then starless sky above me.
My folly struck me to the heart. I wished myself on board
the ship again. I wept bitter tears, resigned the helm in
despair, and left the boat to be drifted at the mercy of the sea
and winds. Hunger long kept my eyes open: however, at
last, after drinking some water, I slept, overcome by toil and
312 ADVENTURES OF

fasting. My sleep was long and troubled: it was near day
when I awoke, and the sky was clear. I again loosened the
sail to the breeze, and ran before the wind. I endeavoured to
think what course I was in. From the direction of the wind
and the north star, I concluded I was running towards the:
islands in the Sooloo archipelago, and that the high land
which I saw in the morning was Borneo. I was steering
nearly due south, and the island of Paragua, near which I had
left the ship, must have been nearly astern. The breeze:
continued fresh, and my little bark went fast through the
water. There was no vessel of any kind in sight. I detected
myself unconsciously nibbling round the rim of my only
remaining biscuit. I considered if I should haul in for
Borneo; but the wind veered several points, and, finding I
should have to beat up to it, I was forced to proceed.

“The fear of starvation already made me feel starving: yet
the wind freshened, and I knew I could not be long without
making one of the countless islands which lay before me. I
was determined to run slap ashore on the first I could. This
day I passed in torture from hunger: I felt sick and despond-
ing. The day passed, when I saw no land ahead, and lost.
sight of the land astern. At night I became wild and feverish,
and arraigned Providence for having abandoned me. The
night was clear, almost as light as day, and as I sat sullenly
at the helm, I heard something fall splashingly into the boat,
and sprang up for joy as I eagerly grasped hold of it—a
bright, silvery-scaled fish, nearly a pound in weight. My joy
cooled on reflecting that I had no fire to cook it—not even a
knife to scale it, so ill was I provided. I threw it down in
the boat, and resumed my desponding station at the helm.
My eye now caught something dark floating on the surface of
the water: I edged the boat that.way, and stretching out my
arms, lifted what I thought a small log of wood, but which
proved to be a turtle. I threw it in the bottom of the boat.
These two god-sends, by lengthening the distance between me
and starvation, reassured my mind, and, lashing the helm, I
again fell asleep.

“But I was soon awakened by the water rushing over the
gunwale of the boat, which heeling over on the side I was
A YOUNGER SON. 313

lying, it covered me. I believed she was swamping, but had
recollection enough to cast off the sheet, when the boat righted,
though up to the thwarts in water. Securing the sail, I
turned to with my cap, and baled. The wind had freshened,
the sea was getting up, and the weather lowered threateningly.
Still the night was light. I reefed the sail, again set it, the
boat scudded at a great rate, and I felt confident of seeing
some land in the morning.

‘‘T now became so hungry that I sought out the fish, and,
biting and sucking at the tail, I proceeded upwards towards
the head. It was so deliciously refreshing, so far superior to
any I had ever eaten before, that I wondered people spoiled
them by cooking. However, I had forbearance to stop when
I came to the thick part, to reserve it for a relish on the
morrow; but this served rather to sharpen my appetite than
appease my hunger. I began to look longingly and greedily
on the turtle, which was flapping about, and, remembering it
had nearly escaped when the water came into the boat, I
lashed it by the fins. The remainder of the night was passed
in thinking how I could open its shell, to get at the meat; and
I cursed my improvidence again and again, in not having pro-
vided myself with a knife, a compass, a quadrant, and a nory.
It seemed I only wanted these four articles to fit me for
circumnavigating the globe: for you know, sir, a man feels full
of confidence after a good supper.”

 

CHAPTER LXXVI.

With dizzy swiftness, round, and round, and round,
Ridge after ridge the straining boat arose,
Till on the verge of the extremest curve,
Where through an opening of the rocky bank
The waters overflow, and a smooth spot
Of glassy quiet ’mid those battling tides
Is left, the boat passed shuddering.
SHELLEY.

™ HAT night I ran a great distance. As the day broke, I
watched with intense anxiety to discover land ahead.
There was as much sea running as my small boat could
314 ADVENTURES OF

live in, and I was kept almost constantly baling. My life
seemed to depend on making land quickly; and I cannot
describe my disappointment and horror, when the day did
appear, to see I had run past several small islands in the dark,
and the wide sea before me, without a solitary speck on the
horizon. The remainder of the fish—I could not help it—I
devoured during the night. I made a vain attempt to haul my
wind, and fetch one of the islands I had passed; but the wind
and sea were too high, and if I had not instantly again put the
boat before the wind, I should have been swamped.

‘A few hours after, notwithstanding every effort to keep my
eyes on the horizon ahead, that I might catch the first appear-
ance of land, and shape my course so as not again to get to
leeward of it, fierce famine again so gnawed my stomach, that,
in spite of every endeavour to the contrary, from occasional
wanderings, my eye became fixed and riveted on the turtle. I
could attend to nothing else. If I exerted myself to slue my
head in another direction, it was only like shaking a compass
—the turtle acting on my eye-ball as the pole on the magnetic
needle, bringing it always round again to the same point. My
thoughts, too, were absorbed in imagining the possible means
of opening its shell, I unlashed it, brought it aft, and pored
over the mazy, coloured lines and divisions marked on its back,
as if I had been studying a chart. Never had I seen any thing
so well secured, except the iron-chest in my father’s counting-
house, to open either of which without iron appeared impos-
sible. Then I studied the structure of the boat, till I could
have built one, to discover if a bolt or nail might be safely
subtracted; but in vain. The extremities of the turtle, indeed,
seemed more in my power; but one end was fast locked by its
horny head and bony fins, and the other by his fins and a sub-
stance tougher than the sole of my shoe. As to its head, as if
aware of my purpose, it never even put it out. I then tried to
crack the shell, by beating it against the gunwale of the boat;
but the boat was stove, without the slightest fracture of the
shell. After many fruitless attempts, I succeeded in grasping
hold of its head, when I secured it with a rope-yarn, and,
making use of the last expedient, at length I killed it.”

“But how?” I asked.
A YOUNGER SON. 315

‘“‘By gnawing through the skin of the throat, though my
eyes were well nigh beaten out by the fins. Then I thrust my
fingers into the breast, forced off the fins, and so got into it.
But, in my haste, or from ignorance, for I knew nothing about
the matter, I suppose I burst the gall; for though I washed
the flesh well, it was very bitter. The eggs, of which it was
full, though they were very small, were the best part. However,
my appetite was appeased; and I now turned my attention to
look out for land; when I shouted with rapture as I discerned
it on my starboard bow.”

While describing his contention with the turtle, his looks and
gestures became so fiercely vehement, that I shoved over to
him the remains of the meat on the table; and kept my throat
at a respectable distance from his vulture-like claws, which the
black lines tatooed on them made them resemble.

“ At the sight of land,” said he, ‘‘my expiring energies were
awakened. The breeze was still increasing, and, fearful a gale
was coming on, I exerted myself to make the island quickly.
Although the boat almost flew through the water, so that the
spray dashed right over me, I thought, in my impatience, she
lay like a log. I saw several other islands to the south of this.
The sun was nearly sinking, when I had approached the land
so as to see the surf breaking on the rocks. In my anxiety to
be on shore, I heedlessly let the boat run on, and neglected to
run along the shore to seek a beach or landing place, and avoid
the shoals and rocks. Blindly I scudded on even to where the
surf was highest, and found myself suddenly embayed amidst
rocks, over which the waves were furiously and unceasingly
breaking. In my too great eagerness to escape from sea-perils,
I was devoting myself to destruction on the far more dangerous
rocks. I let go the sheet which held the sail; it fluttered wildly
in the wind. The sea-birds flew screaming overme. My little
bark, almost buried in the spray, which beat on me like a hail-
storm, was tossed, wheeled, and whirled about, with so much
water in her, that I hardly knew if I still floated in her, or in
the sea. Just as she was borne by a high wave madly against
a rock to be dashed to pieces, the wave, not breaking, bounded
back like a ball, and hurried her against the opposite rocks,
and then rebounded, as if in play. The noise of the winds and
316 ADVENTURES OF,

waves, breaking all about, was deafening. The space between
me and the shore was white and frothy as milk when overboil-
ing, and seemed close to me, without a chance of my arriving
at it. Suddenly the boat disappeared from under me. Though
I could swim, my efforts were vain; for after I had, with all
my strength, approached within an arm’s length of some of the
rocks, the reaction of the swell drove me back again, mocking
my exertions. At length worn out, and bleeding all over from
wounds inflicted by the lancet-like points of the coral reefs,
against which I was ‘driven from time to time, I felt myself
going down. I believed it was all over with me, and must say
that death by drowning is not so frightful as it is represented.
Perhaps my previous exertions, hunger, loss of blood, exhaus-
tion, and the hopeless situation I might be in, if I were landed,
made it the less bitter. However that may be, a calm sensa-
tion, almost amounting to pleasure, came over me as the water
closed over my head. After that I even remember, as I still
mechanically or convulsively struggled for a few moments, that
I seemed suspended under the water, not sinking. Then came
a pang, as if my heart had burst, and life was fled.”

CHAPTER LXXVII.

The gentle island, and the genial soil,
The friendly hearts, and feasts without a toil,
The courteous manners, but from nature caught,
The wealth unhoarded, and the love unbought ;
Could these have charms for rudest sea-boys, driven
Before the mast by every wind of heaven.

Byron.

E paused to fill his callian, and then proceeded in his
story. ‘‘ How long I remained under the water I know

not. A sensation of dreaming and trying to awake, of which
I have a faint recollection, was what I next felt, and then of-
suffocation. I thought people were endeavouring to stifle me,
by holding me under the waters of a torrent, and that its noise
drowned my cries. At last my senses were partly restored. I
«l YOUNGER SON. 317

distinguished some figures leaning over me. I was giddy, sick,
and shivering with cold. The people looked very strange, and
talked to me; but I could not understand them. They were
very kind, for they were chafing my body with their hands to
recall me to life. But I hasten over this, Sir, to tell you of my
astonishment, when, so far recovered, I could comprehend
things about me.

“T lay on the ground with mats under me, and cotton cloths
above me. There were three women, nearly naked; but I
afterwards found their being so was owing to their having
covered me with their garments, not from the custom of the
country. Their faces, arms, and necks were covered with black
lines. They had gold rings in their nostrils, and on their arms
and ancles. They were very young, and were it not, as it then
struck me, for the strange marks which disfigured them, hand-
some, and not very dark. They screamed when I spoke and
moved to sit up. Dreadful hunger had again taken possession
of me. I made signs to this effect, when they all ran away,
but soon returned with fruits. Greedily were they devoured,
one after the other, as they gave them; while they were
frightened at the ferocity with which I ate.

‘“‘ My hunger satisfied, I gazed round to see where I was, and
found myself on the brink of a little river, smooth and trans-
parent; yet I was startled at hearing the loud surf breaking
near me. It was not in sight, for a high screen of rocks lay
between me and the sea. It afterwards appeared that when I
had sunk, a strong under-ground eddying current had carried
me, along its windings, into the mouth of this little river, calm
as a pond, being completely sheltered from the wind, and not
visible from the sea, though running into it from a jungle.
Three girls, who had just come down to this river’s mouth in a
canoe, to be in readiness to spear fish in the night, always
plentiful during boisterous weather at sea, must have arrived
at the instant my body came up to the surface. Neither sur-
prise nor fear prevented them from dragging me to the shore.
For a long time they considered me dead. To decoy the fish
they lighted a fire, near which they had laid me; a happy
chance, as I conjecture, to which I owe my life. My first
symptoms of breath and motion, as they occasionally came
318 ADVENTURES OF

to look at me, were sufficient to excite them to do all they
could to preserve me, which, though little, was enough.

“T am now, Sir, speaking of the ensuing morning; for I
remained there all the night under their care. Then I was
enough recovered to stand on my legs, and they led me down
to the canoe, which they launched in the river. I had a strong
repugnance, a dread of the water; but we all embarked. They
seated me down in the bottom, and commenced with their
paddles to urge the boat along.

“When we left the little open pool, formed by the river,
hedged round with rocks, cocoa-nut trees, and yellow moss,
and ascended the stream, the trees and bamboos were so thick
on each side, as, in many parts, to meet together overhead,
and exclude both sun and light. On these trees were hanging
in clusters, like living fruit, little black monkeys not bigger
than an apple. The sweet smell of the trees and blossoms,
and the kind looks of the girls who conducted me, went far
towards restoring me. The river turned about a good deal,
and, at times, narrowed. In many places it had burst through
its banks, and formed streamlets, of which you could trace the
course by the loftier and brighter trees, and by the luxuriant.
vegetation. In about two hours we came to one of these
streamlets ; its mouth was larger and deeper than those I had
observed before ; they turned their canoe into this, and made
signs for me to land. I did so: the vegetation was so thick
here, that there was scarcely sufficient space for us to stand
upon ; nor could I see any path, where the canoe was landed,
amongst the long wild grass.

“They made signs for me to follow them; and they walked
down in the shallow part of the stream for a few minutes;
then, after a turn, they came to a path, still by the stream.
Here, amidst a grove of tall trees, entirely cleared from under-
wood, there was a multitude of little huts, built of wood, and
covered with leaves. They led me into one of two or three,
the largest and nigh together, fenced by a prickly pear-
hedge.

“On clapping their hands, a number of old women, and
young naked children came out of different holes and corners.
After staring at me, they asked a thousand questions of the
A YOUNGER SON. 319

girls who had conducted me thither; then they came and
scrutinized me, touched my hair and hands, and returned to
listen again to my story. Soon after all the old women of the
village, in like manner, visited and examined me.

‘‘Meantime my hostesses supplied me with abundance of
provisions, flesh broiled, rice, Indian corn roasted, and fruits.
What astonished me most was that I saw no men, except two
or three decrepid ones. But,” said my narrator, ‘the night is
coming on, and therefore I’ll hasten over my tale of years;
for all seem but as yesterday, since few events have marked
them.

“T found a refuge amongst the kindest-hearted and most
simple-minded people in the world. When I arrived, the men
of the village, as I afterwards learned, were gone to attend the
king on a great hunting and fishing tour, through and round
the island, which takes place twice every year. The three
girls who had gone fishing down the river, and preserved me,
were this king’s daughters. At night when I retired to sleep,
my surprise was great when the eldest of the girls, after
making up for me a comfortable bed of reeds and mats, con-
ferred a few minutes with her sisters, and then came, and lay
down by my side.”

On my laughing, the Zaoo Englishman seemed annoyed, and
said, ‘Sir, it is the custom of the country for the eldest un-
married female of the family to sleep with the stranger.”

‘Go on; I approve of the custom very much. It is admir-
able, especially for us travellers; and I wish such sort of
hospitality were universal.”

«From that time,” he added, ‘this girl became my wife.”

That, thought I, alters the case, and I looked grave. ‘The
king,” continued he, “ returned with his people, and expressed
his surprise and joy at finding me one of his family. By
degrees I became accustomed to their manners, and spoke their
language. I had naturally a mechanical turn, improved by my
vicinity to a dock-yard in England, so that I was useful to the
old king, who soon loved me as a son, and gave his two other
daughters to me for wives, at their own earnest request. Then
I went into a separate house, a gift from the king; but he
could not long endure my absence. You may see, Sir, I have
320 ADVENTURES OF

lost every vestige of civilization, and am, as it were, a native
of the island.”

“But,” said I, as he concluded, ‘you have not told me
whither you are bound.”

“Oh,” he replied, ‘as you are English, I believe there is no
harm in my telling you. Why, Sir, within these few years,
several vessels of the Spaniards and Dutch have touched on
our island; and, besides plundering our coasts, they have
seized some of the unarmed people to make slaves of them.
They come from the Philippine Islands. I am going, Sir, to
petition the aid of the English government in India, and to
purchase arms and ammunition for a battery, or——”’

I interrupted him with,—‘‘ The latter is wise; but as to
your petition,—don’t think of such a thing. What have you
to induce the Company to interfere ?”’

‘A valuable pearl fishery,” he said, ‘‘ which neither they nor
any European is aware of except myself.’’

I placed my hand on his mouth, and exclaimed, ‘‘ Never
again mention it to a living being, or your island will be
wrested from you! Collect your pearls in secret, and barter
them for arms, or let them lie quietly where they are.’’

This advice I impressed so seriously on him that, I believe,
he has followed it, and I have been careful not to betray him.
“But still,” he said, ‘I must go to Calcutta; for there I hope
to hear of my family, and I wish to let them know where I am
living, and that I am perfectly content. Return to Europe I
never will! Besides that I have wives and children here, and
am beloved by every one, what could I do in Europe with the
marks of my savage life branded on my face and body? Here
they exact reverence, as they shew I am the son of a king;
there they would make me stared at, and hooted wherever I
went, like a wild beast.”
A YOUNGER SON. 3821

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

As to the christian creed, if true

Or false, I never question’d it :
I took it as the vulgar do.

For my vext soul had leisure yet
To doubt the things men say, or deem

That they are other than they seem.
SHELLEY.

& UT where, in the name of old Neptune,” I asked, ‘did
you get this antique-looking vessel? Or is this the pearl
oyster bank raised up, and set afloat?”

“Seventeen or eighteen months ago,” he replied, ‘when I
was out with a number of canoes, pulling round the south-west
part of the island, we discovered this vessel, dismasted and drift-
ing towards the land. I approached her, and, seeing no one, went
on board. I found her entirely abandoned. On opening her
hatches, and going below, dreadful exhalations arose as from
putrid bodies; of which, indeed, we found a heap lying huddled
up together, in an undistinguishable mass. By a few vestiges
we believed them to be Lascars or Arabs, or both. There was
a large ring-tailed cat, together with some great water-rats,
tearing at and feeding on the corrupted bodies. My people
said, and I suppose they were right, that it was a country
vessel, which had been attacked by pirates, and the crew
massacred. Every thing valuable or portable, that could be
come at, had been taken from her. We towed her into a little
port in the island, cleaned her, and repaired what we could.
I have been a year about her, and you see how little I have
been able to do, having neither proper tools, iron, cordage, tar,
paint, canvass, anchor, nor cable. Such shifts as I have been
put to you perceive. Whether I shall proceed, or obey the
dictates of common sense, and go back, I cannot tell. Your
opinion, Sir, as you seem kindly interested in my behalf, and
are my countryman, shall decide on my movements.”

I shook hands with him, and professed that, in either event,
I would do all in my power for him. But, as it was then late,
I returned to the schooner, with a promise to lie by him that
night, and to visit him early on the morrow, accompanied by

21
322 ADVENTURES OF

my carpenter and boatswain, that his vessel might be properly
surveyed, to see if she was sea-worthy.

Accordingly, the next morning, a careful examination took
place, and I received rather a favourable report. After con-
sulting with his highness, the Prince of Zaoo, and having
listened to all his motives for wishing to visit an European
port, where he could procure arms and supplies, and a variety
of articles he wanted, I recommended him to run along the
Malabar coast, with the land and sea breezes, and go to Pulo
Penang, where his vessel would be repaired, and put into
better sailing trim; and thence to go on to Bengal, as there
alone he could procure the supplies he wanted.

In reply to my questions regarding the island and its in-
habitants, he told me the island is small and low, with the
exception of one rugged mountain nearly in the centre, which
the natives informed him had, according to tradition; been
once all on fire. ‘‘I therefore conjecture,’ observed the prince,
‘it has been a volcano, possibly thrown up from the bottom of
the sea, and then enlarged, as it is now increasing, by the
living coral. You know how rapid vegetation is in this
climate. They add that the village, where the king now
resides, was formerly close to the sea; and by the sand and
sea shells, found on digging, it seems it has been so. The
whole island is now covered with large timber and impene-
trable jungle, except towards the summit of the mountain, and
in those places, near the rivers and the streams, which have
been cleared by the natives for their dwellings. We have wild
and tame hogs, goats, deer, monkeys, and poultry; then there
are yams, kladi, and a variety of roots and herbs, mangoes,
plantains, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits, while the sea coast
“swarms with shell and other fish. Where Providence does so
much, we do little but fish and hunt. The inhabitants are wise
in contenting themselves with what they have, never toiling
and sweating for more. What is forced and wrung from the
earth by hard labour is embittered by the pain with which it
is purchased. The women are very industrious, attending to
household affairs.

‘‘Our people are spread about the island in villages, governed
by their own laws, which are simple, equitable, and summary.
A YOUNGER SON. 323

A great council is held twice a year, at which the king presides,
hears complaints, and settles all disputes. Women have their
full share of liberty. Every one may marry whom she likes,
and return to her family, if ill-used by her husband. Before
marriage they may indulge in sexual intercourse with the un-
married and unbetrothed ; but when married, it is considered
‘so infamous, that both parties are branded and tured out of
the community. Polygamy is allowed, though none but chiefs
are permitted to have more than two wives. As every woman
is obliged to do the work of her own house and family she is
not only content that her husband should take another wife,
but generally provides him with one herself, either a favourite
sister or friend, for there are neither slaves nor servants among
them.

‘The women are well made, gentle, and remarkably attached
to their families. They are clean in their persons, attired in
a cloth made of the bark of a tree, which is both soft and
‘durable, and dyed of all colours. Our houses are raised a story
on bamboos, the lower part serving as a magazine for pro-
visions. The tobacco you are now smoking grows on the
island; our people all use it. They manufacture these wooden
pipes out of a sort of jessamine creeper, by forcing the pith
out when green; and the bowls are made of a hard wood
burnt. They make their own spears and knives, the handles
of which are ornamented with carving. There is a remarkable
diversity in the features and complexion of the people.
‘Occasionally there has been a little commerce, by way of
barter (for money is not known), with small vessels from
Borneo; which brought iron, hatchets, wire, coarse cloths,
brass, and old musquets; and in return received a variety of
gums and resins, cocoa-nut oil, sandal and kiabouka wood.
But the approach to the island is dangerous, owing to the
strong under-ground currents, and the immense coral reefs,
on which the sea is perpetually breaking. Then there is only
one port, very small, and not very secure.”

Upon my inquiring if they had any religion, and what it was,
he said, ‘« Yes, we have our superstitions, but no priests. Our
chiefs preside on particular ceremonies, sing prayers, and
make offerings to the evil spirits.”
824 ADVENTURES OF

‘ But,” I asked, ‘“‘ what is their faith?” a

‘Oh, it is founded on the same as yours at home ;—a belief
in a good spirit which is above the earth, and in an evil one
which is beneath it.”

His highness had victualled his ship with paddy, deer and
goat’s flesh, in slices of about the size of cutlets, dipped in
salt water, and dried in the sun, and fish cured in the same
way. Besides, he had great store of cocoa-nuts, and a fiery
sort of arrack made from the sap of the tree fermented, with
melons, pumpkins, onions, and an extraordinary supply of
tobacco, which was large and thicked leaved, but of an excel-
lent flavour. He gave me a boat-load of it, and one of his.
pipes; the latter I still preserve in memory of this strange
being; grotesque and wild figures of nondescript animals are
deeply chased on it.

During the day one of his princesses miscarried of a prince ;
and to my astonishment, shortly after, made her appearance
on deck, with the intention of bathing in the sea.

Having already expended more time than was warranted
with him, I gave him a chart and compass, a few bottles of
brandy, a bag of biscuits, and what was of more importance,
I repaired his rudder, and put his vessel in a better trim. He
was profuse in thanks, and pressed a small bag of pearls on
me; which, as it was a plentiful product of his island, I
accepted. I then promised, if possible, to visit his island;
when we cordially embraced, and made sail on our different
courses.
A YOUNGER SON. 325

CHAPTER LXXIX.

Or could say
The ship would swim an hour, which, by good luck,
Still swam, though not exactly like a duck.
BYRON.

It may be easily supposed, while this
‘Was going on, some people were unquiet ;
That passengers would find it much amiss
To lose their lives, as well as spoil their diet.
Ibid.

| ONTINUALLY in chase of something, I fell in, among

other coasting and country craft, with a Chinese junk,
‘drifted out of her course, on her return from Borneo. She
looked like a huge tea-chest afloat, and sailed about as well.
She was flat-bottomed and flat-sided; decorations of green
and yellow dragons were painted and gilded all over her; she
had four or five masts, bamboo yards, mat sails and coir
rigging, double galleries all round, with ornamented head and
stern, high as my main top, and was six hundred tons burthen.
Her interior was a complete bazaar; swarms of people were
on board, and every individual, having a portion of tonnage in
measured space, had partitioned off his own, and converted it
into a shop or warehouse ; they were like the countless cells of
a bee-hive, and must have amounted to some hundreds. All
sorts of handicraft trades were going on, as if on shore, from
iron forging to making paper of rice straw, and glass of rice,
chasing ivory fans, embroidering gold on muslins, barbacuing
fat pigs, and carrying them about on bamboos for sale. In one
cabin a voluptuous Tartar and a tun-bellied Chinese had joined
their dainties together; a fat dog, roasted entire, stuffed with
turmeric, rice, suet, and garlic, and larded with hog’s grease,
the real, delectable, and celebrated sea-slug, or sea swallow’s
nest, shark’s fins stewed to a jelly, salted eggs, and yellow
dyed pilaff formed their repast. A mighty china bowl of hot
arrack punch stood in the centre of the table, from which a
boy was continually ladling out its contents. Such voracious
feeders I never beheld; they wielded their chop-sticks with
the rapidity and incessant motion of a juggler with his balls.
326 ADVENTURES OF

The little, black, greedy twinkling eye of the Chinese, almost
buried in mounds of fat, glistened like a fly flapping in a firkin
of butter. The Tartar, with a mouth the size of the ship’s
hatchway, seemed to have a proportionate hold for stowage.
Understanding these were the two principal merchants on
board, I had come to speak to them; but like hogs, buried up
to the eyes in a savoury wash of garbage, there was no moving
them from the dainties they gloated on. A sailor, who had
conducted me, whispered his Tartar owner who I was; he
grunted out some reply, and with a greasy paw, placed several
handfuls of boiled rice on a corner of the table, indented it
with his fist, poured into the hollow some of the hog’s lardings
out of the platter containing the roast dog, and then, adding
five or six hard boiled salt eggs, motioned me to sit down and
eat.

Driven away by these unclean brutes, I went into the Tartar
captain’s cabin, built over the rudder. He was stretched on a
mat, smoking opium through a small reed, watching the card
of the compass, and chaunting out, ‘“‘ Kie! Hooé!—Kie!
Chee!’ Finding I might as well ask questions of the rudder
as of him, I hailed the schooner to send a strong party of men.

We then commenced a general search, forcing our way into
every cabin, when such a scene of confusion, chattering, and
noise followed, as I never had heard before. Added to this
there were the mowing and gibbering of monkeys, apes, parrots,
parroquets, loories, mackaws, hundreds of ducks, fish-divers,
pigs, and divers other beasts and birds, hundreds of which were
in this Mackow ark. The consternation and panic among the
motley ship’s crew, and merchant-passengers, are neither to
be imagined nor described. They never had dreamed that a
ship, under the sacred flag of the emperor of the universe,
the king of kings, the sun of God which enlightens the world,
the father and mother of all mankind, could, and in his seas,
be thus assailed and overhauled. They exclaimed, ‘‘ Who are
you ?— Whence did you come ?—What do you here?” Scarcely
deigning to look at the little schooner; whose low, black hull,
as she lay athwart the junk’s stern, looked like a boat or
a water-snake, they wondered at so many armed and ferocious
fellows, not believing they could be stowed in so insignificant a
A YOUNGER SON. 327

vessel, whose hull scarcely emerged from the water. A Hong
silk merchant, while his bales were handed into one of our
boats, offered us a handkerchief apiece, but protested against
our taking his great bales, when we could not possibly have
room for them.

A few grew refractory, and called out for aid to defend their
property. Some Tartar soldiers got together with their arms ;
and the big-mouthed Tartar and his comrade, swollen out with
their feed of roast dog and sea-slug, armed themselves, and
came blowing and sputtering towards me. I caught the Tartar
by his moustachios, which hung down to his knees; in return
he snapped a musquet in my face; it missed fire; his jaw was
expanded, and I stopped it for ever with my pistol. The ball
entered his mouth (how could it miss it ?), and he fell, not so
gracefully as Cesar, but like a fat ox knocked on the head by
a sledge-hammer. The Chinese have as much antipathy to.
villainous salt-petre, except in fire-works, as Hotspur’s neat
and trimly-dressed lord; and their emperor, the light of the
universe, is as unforgiving and revengeful towards those who
kill his subjects, as our landed proprietors are towards those
who slaughter their birds. An English earl told me the other
day he could see no difference between the crime of killing a
hare on his property, and a man on his property, arguing that
the punishment should be the same for both. However, I
have killed many of the earl’s hares, and a leash or two of
Chinese in my time, instigated to commit these heinous crimes
by the same excitement,—that of their being forbidden and
guarded against by vindictive threats of pains and penalties.

But to return to the junk. We had a skirmish on the deck
for a minute or two, a few shots were fired, and a life or two
more lost in the fray. The schooner sent us more men, and
no further opposition was made. Then, instead of gleaning a.
few of the most valuable articles, and permitting them to
redeem the remainder of the cargo by paying a sum of money,
as the rogues had resisted, I condemned her as lawful prize.
We therefore began a regular pillage, and almost turned, her
inside out. Every nook, hole, and corner were searched ;
every bale cut, and every chest broken open. The bulky
part of her cargo, which consisted of camphor, woods for
828 ADVENTURES OF

dyeing, drugs, spices, and pigs of iron and tin, we left; but
silks, copper, selected drugs, a considerable quantity of gold’
dust, a few diamonds, and tiger-skins were ours; and, not
forgetting Louis, who had entreated me to look out for sea-
slug, I found some bags of it in the cabin of my late friend,
the defunct merchant. Neither did I neglect the salted eggs,
which, with rice and jars of melted fat, victualled the ship.
I took some thousands of these eggs, a new and excellent sort
of provision for my ship’s company. The Chinese preserve
them by merely boiling them in salt and water till they are
hard; the salt penetrates the shell, and thus they will keep
for years.

The philosophic captain, whose business it was to attend
to the navigation and pilotage of the junk, having nothing
to do with the men or cargo, continued to inhale the narcotic
drug. His heavy eye was still fixed on the compass, and
his drowsy voice called out, ‘‘“Kie! Hooé!—Kie! Chee!”
Though I repeatedly asked him whither he was bound, his
invariable answer was, ‘“‘ Kie! Hooé!—Kie! Chee!” I
pointed my cutlass to his breast, but his eyes remained fixed
on the compass. I cut the bowl from the stem of his pipe,
but he continued drawing at the reed, and repeating, ‘‘ Kie!
Hooé !—Kie! Chee!’’ On shoving off, as I passed under the
stern, I cut the tiller ropes, and the junk broached up in the
wind, but I still heard the fellow singing out, from time to
time, ‘‘ Kie! Hooé!—Kie! Chee!”

We had altogether a glorious haul out of the Chinaman.
Every part of our little vessel was crammed with merchandize.
Our men exchanged their tarred rags for shirts and trowsers of
various coloured silks, and looked more like horse-jockeys than
sailors. Nay, a few days after I roused a lazy and luxurious
old Chinese sow from the midst of a bale of purple silk, where
she was reclining; perhaps she thought she had the best right
to it, as it might have belonged to her master, or because she
was one of the junk’s crew, or probably she was the owner
himself transmigrated into this shape,—there needed little
alteration. I also got some curious arms, particularly the
musquet, or fowling-piece, which, had it obeyed its master’s
intention, would have finished my career. The barrel, lock,
A YOUNGER SON. 329

and stock are deeply chased all over with roses and figures of
solid gold worked in. I preserve it now, and it has recalled
the circumstance by which it came into my possession ; other-
wise, it might have been driven, like any others of greater
moment, from my memory, by the lapse of time, and by more
recent events.

CHAPTER LXXX.

Not a star
Shone, not a sound was heard; the very winds,
Dangev’s grim playmates, on that precipice
Slept clasp’d in his embrace.
SHELLEY.

LD EING now on the south-east side of the island of Borneo,

and the time for meeting De Ruyter drawing nigh, I
made the best of my way to our rendezvous, a little group of
islands close to Borneo; but just as I got sight of land, it fell
a dead calm, which lasted three or four days, during which
I lost one of my best men. Slung in the bite of a rope, and
lowered over the bow, he was nailing on a sheet of copper that
had become loose from the heads of the nails being worn off.
I was on deck, and, hearing a dreadful noise and scream, I ran
to the bow from which it proceeded. A monstrous ground-
shark had got hold of the man’s leg, and, while his fins and
tail lashed the water into a white foam, was tugging to draw
the man under water. Secured under the arm-pits with a
strong rope, and holding on the chain-plates, the man
struggled violently to save himself. When he saw me, he
cried out, “Oh, Captain, save me!”’ I hallooed to the men
who were gathering round, to bring the harpoons and boarding
pikes, and to lower the stern-boat; and with the promptness
of sailors, fearless when a comrade is in danger, they attacked
the monster. A brother of the man even jumped overboard,
armed with a knife. The foam on the water was dyed with
blood, and the greedy and ferocious sea-devil received many
wounds, and was harpooned ere he relinquished his gripe; but
the line, from want of giving him scope enough, was broken,
330 ADVENTURES OF

and he escaped. Meantime, the man, now insensible, was
hauled on deck: his leg was frightfully mangled, the flesh
from above thé calf being drawn down like a stocking, and
the bone left bare. We had a sort of surgeon, whom Van
Scolpvelt had picked up at the Isle of France, but he turned
out to be an idle and drunken fellow, though not ignorant. The
man died a few days after: I suppose his wound was past the:
art of surgery.

An unlooked-for death on board a ship makes a great and
awful sensation. Sailors are as untaught, and have as little
communication with the enlightened world, as the Arabs
imprisoned in their deserts. The one studies the sea of
waters, and the other his sandy wastes, the winds and their
stars, like magic-books, not to be deciphered; and who, igno-
rant of their causes, can contemplate these mysterious powers,
daily witnessing their wonderful changes and effects, without.
becoming superstitious? Certainly not Arabs and sailors,
whose firm faith in signs and omens is as old and boundless.
as the sands and sea. It is curious that so many superstitions.
belonging to the sea should be general throughout the world ;.
for instance, seamen of all countries and religions, from Lord
Nelson, and the Captain Pacha commanding the Ottoman
navy, to the Mainotte corsair and the Arab rais, all think it
a dread omen of evil to begin a voyage on a Friday, the
Moslem’s sabbath and the Christian’s day of the crucifixion.
I had begun my last voyage from the island near ,Pulo-Penang
on that fatal day ; and it is remarkable that the second mate,
my countryman, and two men, brothers, all admirable sailors
and very good men, when they heard me give the order to
weigh the anchor, were dissatisfied, and murmured. I fre-
quently laughed at them about it: they always answered,
‘You will see, Sir—we are not returned to port yet.” It was
one of these brothers who lost his life by the shark, and the
other, shortly afterwards, lost his life in as strange a manner.

Becalmed off Borneo, ] one day pulled in-shore to look at a
small bay at the mouth of a river, and then pulled some way
up the river. We let go the grapnel to dine; and in the cool
of the evening the men bathed. The brother of the man who
lost his life by the shark, an excellent swimmer, challenged a
A YOUNGER SON. 381

Malay (whom I had brought as interpreter, in case I met with
any of that nation) to try which could dive the deeper, and
remain the longer under water. I was just out of the water,
and dressing. They plunged in together, and were so long
under water as to alarm me. At last, up came the dark head
of the Indian: he was astonished at being beaten, and said
the white man must be the devil, for no one else could beat
him. Our anxiety became intense: every eye was strained as
if its glance could penetrate the deep and turbid stream. The
unfortunate diver never again appeared. We dragged and
searched in every possible manner, but in vain. The night
came on, and compelled us to return to the ship.

The strange deaths of these brothers, within a month of
each other, made a strong impression. Matted vegetation,

“or a sunken tree, might have entangled him, or the cramp
might have paralyzed his efforts to rise,—or, more probably,
the jaws of an alligator. Some, indeed, thought that grief at
his brother’s death, which certainly had deeply affected him,
made his own death voluntary. Their fate threw a melan-
choly and gloom over the ship’s crew, beyond what the loss of
the greater part in broil or battle would have done.

As we slowly crept along the south-east coast, towards the
appointed port, the weather was, and had been for a length of
time, unusually clear and bright, with calm and gentle airs.
One evening, just before sunset, I observed the first appear-
ance of a cloud for many days. Thin misty vapours, of a
gauze-like transparency, began to envelope the mountains
to the westward; and suddenly, as the sun disappeared
behind them, a bar of bright flame shot along their
summits, then wreathed itself around the dreary dome of
the highest peak, and remained there for some moments,
glittering like a crown of rubies. The moon was of a
dusky red, the sea changed its colour, and was unusually
clear and transparent. I started at seeing the rocks, the fish,
and the shells at its bottom; we sounded, and there were
twelve fathoms of water. The atmosphere was hot and heavy ;
the flame of a candle, burning on deck, arose as clear as in a
vault. I ordered the sails to be furled, and the anchor to be
let go, as we were evidently drifting in shore, determined to
332 ADVENTURES OF

get under weigh with the first appearance of wind. I re-
marked to the second mate, who had the watch, ‘‘ Well, now
we are anchored, the charm is broken; is it not?”

The man replied sulkily, ‘‘ We are not in port yet, Sir.”

CHAPTER LXXXI.

Hark! ’tis the rushing of a wind that sweeps
Earth and the ocean. See! the lightnings yawn
Deluging heaven with fire, and the lashed deeps
Glitter and boil beneath.

SHELLEY.

HE shore nearest to us was low, and appeared like a huge
swamp, overgrown with monstrous reeds, which waved
about, though we had not a breath of air. There was the
abode of wild elephants, tigers, serpents, and fevers. We
thought we heard the roar of_the tigers in the stillness of the
night. I watched eagerly for the lightest air, to enable us to
remove from this dreary spot. The country evidently was not
habitable for man; yet, as the night advanced, we saw lights
flickering about on the surface of the morass, like the lights
used by fishermen ; others were stationary, as from a village.
There were no clouds visible to leeward, yet not a single
star shone. At length the lightning began to play about the
mountains inland. I was sitting with Zela on deck, watching
these unusual signs, which filled us both with melancholy
bodings ; and she was telling me what strange fires, simooms,
and whirlwinds she had witnessed on her own wild sands,
when, at that instant, I heard a strange noise, such as comes
before the thunder breaks. ‘‘Hush!’’ I said, ‘what is that?”
and sprung on my feet. The blow was struck before I had
time to turn the hands up, for the men were sleeping on deck.
We were dismasted. I looked aloft, and by the light of the
sheet-lightning, saw nothing standing but two bare poles. All
our loftier spars, yards, and rigging were flying away, borne
up by the wind, as if they had been thistle-down. The sea
was all white with foam, and flew about, covering us as if
under a cataract. Our ports, and a great part of the gang-
A YOUNGER SON. 333

ways, were blown clear away; the gun-bolts were drawn, and
the guns broke loose. Our little vessel plunged madly into the
sea, and for a time we were actually under its surface. I
grasped hold of Zela and the shrouds, and with difficulty
retained my grasp against the weight of the waters. The
cable parted, or we should inevitably have foundered.

I first drew my breath on seeing the bow of the vessel
re-appear above the water. I called to the men, but none
answered, and I thought they were all swept into the sea. At
length, speechless, panting, and panic-struck, some straggling
individuals came crawling aft. ‘Are there any men over-
board?”’ I inquired, and looking anxiously over the stern,
a voice called to me from the sea, ‘‘Oh, Captain!” It was
clearer far than mid-day; the flashes of bright sheet-lightning

- were without interval, almost blinding me. The sea, too, was
white as snow, and I thought I could distinguish many dark
heads feebly and vainly struggling in it. The voice that called
on me I recognised as my favourite Swedish boy’s, and fancied
I saw his despairing and piteous look.

The fatal blast of the simoom was over. I loosened Zela,
who had clung to me in agony, and placed her in safety,
accompanied by the American mate, who had seized the helm.
Rushing to a light whale-boat, lying on the gangway—for the
one astern was washed away—and seeing it had escaped the
wreck, I called on the men to save their comrades. For a
moment they hesitated, scarcely knowing if they themselves
were saved. I then called, by name, some of my own country-
men, and said, ‘‘ What! shall our shipmates perish for want
of a boat, or arope? Nota hand to throw them even a rope!
Get out the boat, and where is Strong? By Heaven, he is
overboard, or he would not have needed to be called! Heave
together, my lads ;—she is afloat ;—mnow take care she don’t
get adrift or swamp :—that’s well;—now the four best men
on board get into her ;—I’ll go with you ;—I know where they
are;—come, no more hands’”’ (for now all seemed eager) ;
“and you, Sir, keep her in the wind ;—hoist lights ;—have
ropes ready!”

We shoved off; the wind had as suddenly lulled as it had
burst, but the sea was dashing, jostling, and tumbling about,
334 ADVENTURES OF

like a river where it empties itself into the sea. The lightning,
too, died away into faint and indistinct flashes, and it was
dark and awfully gloomy. As soon as we had drifted astern,
we picked up two men, who had saved themselves by holding
on the drifting spars, which were towing astern. We saved
two others, floating near them. Then, after hallooing, and
pulling about in the direction where the squall had struck us,
in search of the man-of-war’s-man, my second mate, and the
Swedish boy, both of whom were certainly missing, and how
many more we knew not, till we ourselves were in danger of
losing our vessel, we were compelled to return.

Wind and rain succeeded, and the night looked horrible.
It was with infinite toil we neared, and at last got under the
lee of the vessel, drifting rapidly out to sea. As the boat shot
up under her quarter, not being fended off, while the men were
scrambling to get on board the schooner, she gave a heavy
lurch, swamped the boat, and left me, with six others, floating
on the sea. I struck out to keep clear of any one’s catching
hold of me. Curses and screams were mingled. As we fell
into the wake of the schooner, shooting from us, I heard the
men in her crowding aft, and throwing ropes, none of which
reached us, and calling to us to lay hold of the wrecked spars,
but they were lying out of our grasp, foul of the bottom of the
schooner, and to windward, the ship then drifting bodily to
leeward. I called out distinctly, ‘‘A rope, or we are lost!”
for I knew that our only remaining boat could not be got out.
I thought my hour was come, when I perceived something
white on board the schooner, and heard a voice, which thrilled
through my frame, and arose above the wind, the sea, and the
cries of the drowning. It exclaimed, ‘‘ There is a rope! Oh,
God! give it him, or take me!” The extreme bite of a small
white rope fell almost in my hand, it was clutched; so unerring
was the eye that directed, and the hand, heart-impelled, that
cast it. Zela, that hand was thine! Thy little arm and tiny
hand, at that moment, possessed more strength than the
sturdiest seaman’s, and saved five lives, which could not have
been preserved five minutes later.

I can hardly see the paper I write on! The long lapse
of years which have passed since that time, appear but as
A YOUNGER SON. 335

minutes, so vividly is that overwhelming instant graven on my
heart. And oh, blessed angel! have you not since, hovering
over me in battle, preserved me when I have wildly rushed
on death, (for why should I fear or shun what is?) to re-unite
myself to you? And have you not, protecting spirit! turned
aside the cowardly assassin’s balls directed at the heart con-
secrated to you, and guided them through my body, balmed
the wounds, mortal to human remedies, unclenched the gripe
of death, when I have felt his icy fingers in my breast, and
restored me to health by most miraculous means ?

CHAPTER LXXXII.

Angela the old
Died palsy twitch’d, with meagre face deform.
Keats.

UT, slave of my feelings, I must go back to my narrative.

Zela, who had not left the deck, (indeed she never did,
but on compulsion, when I was in danger,) witnessed the
whole calamity. She was, as I have said, of a fearless race,
and her fragile form contained a spirit almost unearthly. She
had pointed to the sailors on board—for the eye of love pierces
through the darkest night—where to throw the ropes; but,
not relying on them, she seized on the deep-sea-lead-line,
which luckily had no lead bent to it, and unreeling a long coil,
she ran out on the foot-ropes of the main-boom. The man
swore she ran on it like a spirit. When at the extreme end,
she was directed by my voice, and threw the coil of line in her
hand, with all her strength. Fearing it might not reach me,
she had fastened the other end, purposing, in that event, to
jump into the sea to bring it me; but finding that I had it,
she threw the end on board. Four out of the six men with
me grappled and got hold of it. Being not much thicker than
whip-cord, it was miraculous that it held us; but the schooner
was now getting stern-way on her, so that other ropes being
thrown, our safety was insured. Two men, either entangled
in the ropes of the boat, or not being able to swim, (and it is
336 ADVENTURES OF

a fact that very few sailors can swim,) never rose after the
boat was stove.

Zela rushed into my arms, but spoke not a word. Her lips
were cold as ice. I seated her down by the Malay girl, on the
hatchway. ‘‘Oh, God!” I cried, as her inanimate form was
upheld by the girl, ‘‘ she is dead!”’

Then the old Paramana, Kamalia, who was bed-ridden in
the cabin, called out—

‘“‘No!—Death is indeed come; but not yet for her. When
next he comes, the noble tribe of Beni-Bedar-K’urcish, which
is coeval with the sands, is extinct for ever! When the
destroying salt wave reaches the root of the date-tree of the
desert, it dies, and its fruits and leaves die too. It is written
so by the prophet. I ransom her life with mine. I swore,
when he took her mother, that when he next called on the
spirits of our house, he should take old Kamalia. Blue fiend!
the prophet heard me, and thou must obey him!”

These words were followed by a stifling noise, as if the poor
nurse was drowning. As I knew the cabin had been full
of water, though I had forgotten her, I called for a lantern,
and ordered the Malay girl and two of the men to go down,
and bring the old woman, who had been rapidly declining
in strength, on deck. There was not a dry rag on board ;
I could only press Zela to my bosom, which was but an icy
pillow, and breathe on her eyes; yet I thought I felt symptoms
of returning life. The men called out from below, that the
old nurse was dead, stiff, and cold as a stone!

The water being cleared out of the cabin, I carried Zela
down, and, when I saw she lived, left her in the Malay girl’s
lap, and hastened on deck. We had enough, in clearing the
wreck, to occupy our hands and minds till daylight, without
inquiries into the number of men we had lost. The Malay
girl’s screams recalled me into the cabin. I found Zela in
what I then believed the convulsions of death. She writhed
for a long time in extreme agony, and pain seemed to have
restored her senses. Before the morning her struggles ceased.
She had been seized with premature labour, and brought a
dead child into the world. But I was happy, for she lived.
I forced her to drink some strong hot brandy and water, and
A YOUNGER SON. 337

she fell into a deep and tranquil sleep. Her before cold and
pallid brow became warm and moist, and at that moment she
looked so exquisitely beautiful, that I gazed on her, spell-bound,
still throbbing with agitation in reflecting how nearly I had
lost her, and determining in my own mind that henceforth I
would cherish her with tenfold care.

Fearful, when she awoke, that she might hear of Kamalia’s
death, and perhaps see her body, I went to the place where
the faithful and good old creature lay. I held the lantern to
her face: it had undergone no change; a mummy that I had
seen at the Isle of France, of Cleopatra’s era, nearly two
thousand years entombed, looked not more antique than old
Kamalia, and it bore as much appearance of animal moisture
and flesh and blood as did her shrivelled, withered, and dried-
up remains. The worms were defrauded of their prey. Her
livid-blue skin covered nothing but dry and sapless bones: a
pale crimson streak, the last small drop of blood, stained a
vein on her temple; a little tuft of grey hair, like hoary moss
on a withered tree, or as if a spider had spun his web on her
skull, alone sheltered the bare bone; her arms and body were
rigid to brittleness. Wrapping her remains in her own
barakan, I lifted the body, and conveyed it to a separate cabin.
She weighed no more than a bundle of rushes. I closed her
stony eye and skinny mouth.

Daylight was approaching: a man called out, “ Breakers
ahead !’—yet we had no soundings. Spite of her crippled
state, the schooner, on which we had now some canvass, went
round them, when we saw the surf breaking on the sunken
rocks. As the day dawned, the weather resumed its previous
tranquillity: the sun arose in all its brightness; a vapoury
veil of mist hung over the now distant low line of shore, from
which we had been driven as if by a hurricane, like an eagle
descending to its nest, was sinking to repose in its own
desolate region, the abode of everlasting rain and tempests.
This vast and dreary swamp, extending deep into the island,
occupies more than a hundred miles along the shore, and
is exactly under the equator. We had cause to be thank-
ful we were driven, though a wreck, from it, instead of
being wrecked on it. The builder would not have recog-

22
338 ADVENTURES OF

nized the schooner. The Zaoo Prince would not have
exchanged his rotten and worthless bark for our now less
safe-looking vessel. Battered, dismasted, and broken, we lay
a complete wreck on the waters, at the mercy of waves and
winds which we should have laughed at the day before. Our
plunder and great part of our provisions were damaged.

Giving the necessary directions, and leaving the deck in
charge of the mate, I went to my cabin, after having mustered
the crew. We had lost the second mate, the steward, the
Swedish boy, and seven men.

I found Zela still asleep, and, putting chairs by the side of
her couch, I placed my arms around her waist, pressed her
gently to my breast, and fell into a deep sleep. I dreamed of
undergoing every kind of horrible death; of being torn to
pieces by sharks, by tigers,—of suffocation by drowning, and of
my skull being cracked and crushed like a nut between the
huge jaws of a crocodile. In my struggles to escape I
capsized the chairs, and fell heavily on the deck of the cabin,
dragging Zela with me. In terror she asked what was the
matter! The perspiration was pouring down my brow: she
wiped my face, and, kissing my lips, said, ‘‘ You were dream-
ing, dearest! and I was trying to waken you, for your sleep:
seemed dreadful.’

It was some time ere I recollected where I was, and could
recall the events of the night. Then, overjoyed to find Zela
recovered, I kissed her a thousand times, and shook off my
heavy drowsiness and sickness with cold water and coffee.

Retarded by light winds and want of canvass, we were four
or five days reaching our destined port. Finding De Ruyter
there with two prizes, our sufferings were instantly forgotten,
and we brought to, under the grab’s stern, singing and cheering
as if we had returned from a most prosperous voyage; so
completely can a ray of joy dispel the remembrance of the
longest and dreariest sufferings.

De Ruyter hastened on board, not knowing what to think,
beholding our crippled and weather-beaten appearance.
‘‘Halloo, my lads!” he said, as he came alongside, ‘‘ have
you cruised to the north pole, and been locked up in an
iceberg for a hundred years?”
A YOUNGER SON. 339

‘“No,” I answered, ‘we have merely turned the schooner
into a diving-bell, or torpedo, to cruise under water.”

‘“What has happened?” he said, as, standing on deck, his
keen eye glanced over the tempest-stricken wreck; ‘you have
been battling with the simoom! No human engines could
have done this. Ha! and I miss some familiar faces!” For
De Ruyter had the gift, which kings are said to have, of never
forgetting faces.

He came wondering down in our cabin, and I told him our
disastrous history. ‘ Well!” he added, ‘you have had a
miraculous escape. It cannot be helped. We must do the
best we can to set you to rights again. I hope you are all
right under water. We have spars enough here, and I can
make ‘a shift to supply you with rope and canvass. I have
been more successful among a convoy of coasting craft in the
Straits of Sunda. We dismasted a lubberly Company’s cruiser,
and took two of her convoy, charged with naval and military
stores and provisions, run them into Java, where we sold them
and their cargoes to advantage. Since which we have picked
up two private traders on our way hither, one loaded for
Macoa with cases of opium, better than dollars, for the
markets are high; and the other with oil, coffee, sugar-candy,
and sundries. You see them both in the port. Besides
which, I have done some service to the people here, Beajus, or
wild men, as they are called by the Moors, for which they
have made me king of the island. Here am I, King Prospero,
with a thousand Calibans for my subjects! See, now they are
bringing wood and water ; and they have shewn me—

‘¢ ¢ All the qualities 0’ the isle
The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile.’”’

«What can you mean?” I inquired.

“Near the uninhabited Tamboe islands I was surprised at
discovering a fleet of proas. Taking them to be pirates, I ran
in amongst them. They were lying close to the shore, and
most of their crews escaped. Some got under weigh, and
attempted to get out; but, with the exception of two or three,
I compelled them to return, when their crews also jumped
340 ADVENTURES OF

overboard and swam on shore. I boarded their boats, and
found, as I had predicted, they were Malayan and Moorish
pirates. They had been to the south-east side of Borneo,
where they surprised the natives, who, as their country is
swamped during the rainy season, and for some time after,
live in floating houses, which are moored to trees. They
could not escape, for these fellows went alongside of them in
their shallops, and made prisoners of them, their wives, and
children, who could neither fight nor fly. Then, with their
living cargo, they put to sea, and had run into the Tamboe
islands for water and provisions, when I happily, in turn, and
as unexpectedly, surprised them, and released the captives, of
whom I found nearly two hundred in the different proas.
These proas I placed in their possession, brought them here,
and landed my Beajus near their own country.”

I must observe that we were now anchored in a port on the
south of the Island of Borneo, in a bay formed by three very
small islands, which were not inhabited, nor indeed habitable,
the largest being less than a mile in circumference, and having
a scanty supply of water. The channel between us and the
main was scarcely a mile broad, and the passage blocked by
an extensive shoal, on which the sea was always in an agitated
state, and generally breaking. The grab lay completely land-
locked; I had been beating about some days ere I could
discover the place, although De Ruyter had been most par-
ticular in laying it down, with written and minute directions.

To add to the calamities of the schooner, many of our men
had been suddenly seized with putrid fever, and dysentery,
attributed to the pestilential atmosphere on the night when we
were anchored off the fatal shore of the morass. Some died
within four and twenty hours after they were attacked; and
the instant their last struggles were over, we were compelled
to throw their bodies in the sea, to be rid of the stench
exhaling from them, which was insufferable before they died.
And all these misfortunes were imputed to having begun our
voyage on a Friday! Every individual in the schooner firmly
believed in this, except myself. But superstitions believed in,
are, in their effects, truths; therefore I never went to sea
again on a Friday.
A YOUNGER SON. 341

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love,
And beauty, all concentrating like rays
Into one focus, kindled from above;
Such kisses as belong to early days,
When heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move,
And the blood’s lava, and the pulse a blaze,
Each kiss a heart-quake ;—for a kiss’s strength,
I think it must be reckon’d by its length.
Bynon.

HE Beajus are supposed to be part of the aborigines of the
immense island of Borneo. They have been driven to
the interior, which is composed of hills and huge mountains,
dark, rugged and precipitous. A chain of these mountains
approached that part of the island, off which we lay; and
stretching their roots, as it were, far out into the sea, rendered ~
the approach dangerous. Had it not been for the little islands,
like excrescences or suckers from the roots, which sheltered us,
we could have found no anchorage there, nor within many
leagues. The sea lies on both sides without port or pasturage,
while the immense morass and high mountains form a barrier
in-land, so that, with the exception of occasional marauders:
pillaging in proas a few scattered villages on a plain bordering
on the morass, the Beajus here live undisturbed, in consider-
ation of a tribute paid to a Malay settlement on the western
coast. Left to be governed by their own chiefs, they live in
patriarchal simplicity. Hunting and fishing are their principal
occupations ; nevertheless they have a sufficient quantity of
rice, Indian corn, and some other grain, with abundance of
fruits, roots, and herbs. The rainy season begins in April, and
continues for more than half the year; and on the great
morass, the boundary of their territory, it rains for ever, with
frightful storms, thunder and lightning. Nothing living dares
to enter, except wild beasts, which sometimes prowl thither.
It was called the land of the destroying power, and believed to
be peopled by demons, who there prepared all the evils in the
world, and then directed their flight with them, whither they
listed. To assuage the wrath of these destroyers, the Beajus
342 ADVENTURES OF

made sacrifices and offerings. They believed in a good and
greater power, but as he never did harm, they did not attempt
to bribe him with offerings, or invoke his clemency. Their
chiefs were elected by the old people. Every head of a family
was despotic, and answerable for those belonging to him.
Only for great crimes they were cited before a general assembly ;
and adultery, in either party, was considered the most heinous,
and punished with death.

The good office De Ruyter had done these people was not
forgotten. Their gratitude knew no limit. The two hundred,
whom he had liberated, considered himself his bond-slaves,
doing him every service in their power, and rejecting payment.
Some of them were continually alongside, and on board us,
supplying fruits, fish, goats, poultry, and what else their
country produced. They erected convenient huts, on the
largest of the islands, for our sick and maimed, which were
numerous in both vessels, under the superintendence of
Scolpvelt, who always took care to be well supplied with
medicines. Besides, he was a herbalist himself, and devoted
his leisure hours to prowling about in search of herbs and
plants, to distilling, making decoctions, and gathering balsams
and gums, for which Borneo is famous. One of the Beajus’
canoes was at his command, with which he made daily
excursions on the coast.

For some time I was exclusively occupied in refitting the
schooner; for which purpose I searched the woods, in the
country of the Malays, for spars. The difficulty was in pro-
curing those which possessed the requisite qualities of lightness,
strength and elasticity ; for, as to timber, there was enough to
build fleets. One day, having pulled far along the coast, I
landed in a small creek, within a little valley, inaccessible on
the land side, owing to an abrupt mountain, and the number
of very high trees, undergrown with jungle ; while the bushes
and canes were so woven together by enormous creepers, that
it seemed as if nothing larger than a rat could pass. But
seeing somes pines, or a species of fir, which struck me would
answer my purpose, provided I could arrive at them, I landed
with Zela, and sent the boat on board to bring the carpenters
with their tools. Although the schooner lay at some distance,
1 YOUNGER SON. 343

the boat had a leading wind both ways, and, as she sailed
remarkably well, I calculated she would return in three hours.

In the mean time we first examined the spot, to find an
outlet, but in vain. We then strolled on the margin of the sea,
in the small space which was open, gathering oysters and
mussels ; for abutments of overhanging rocks, impossible to
climb, shut us in on both sides. While Zela was preparing
coffee, I lay on the rocks, lulled by the monotonous waves, the
crowing of the jungle cock, and the distant voice of the faoo,
screaming shrilly in complaining notes. All who have mingled
in the busy turmoil of life have felt the exquisite luxury, for
there is none like it in the. world’s enjoyments, the balmy
sensation while reposing alone, or, doubly sweet, with one
loved companion, in a sheltered and secluded nook. There we
¢an unpack the burthen with which our hearts are loaded, by
thinking alone, secure from observing eyes, unmocked by
triumphant pity, or sneering self-conceited friends,—those
officious prophets who foresee our misfortunes, warn us to
avoid what is inevitable, and abandon us on finding them
irremediable, salving their conscience with, ‘‘ Well! he rejected
our counsel, and must take the consequences of his headstrong
proceedings!”

Having finished our coffee, Zela laid her head on my arm,
and pointed out a white speck on the waters, which she said
was a canoe, and I contended it was our boat. We were
betting which it would turn out to be. But, that I may not be
accused thus early of a propensity for gambling, I must record
that our stakes were only kisses; so that, whichever it was,
boat or canoe, it only made the difference between giving and
receiving,—yet a very great and important distinction there is
between giving and receiving. Having been accounted learned
and proficient in this abstruse branch of study, my opinion
on this controverted question may be pronounced decisive.
Certainly I was indefatigable in my application to the mystery ;
and had I followed mathematics or astronomy instead of
kissing (not that their utility to mankind admits a com-
parison), Sir Isaac Newton and Napier would have been con-
sidered but as pioneers in science, clearing the path for my
superior genius. Some curious arithmetician has demonstrated
344 ADVENTURES OF

that a man, taking snuff once in ten minutes during the day,
for the space of thirty years, will have been four years per-
petually snuffing. Not only did I kiss every ten minutes
during the day, but all night long, sleeping not to be sub-
tracted ; so that more than half of my early life was dedicated
to, what I then thought, the only thing very well worth doing,
without grudging or grumbling, purely from instinct. I there-
fore, declaring it was our boat, insisted on Zela’s kissing me ;
but, on nearing us, we perceived it was Van’s canoe; upon
which I was about to pay her kisses back again, when I heard
a rustling among the jungle, and prepared my carbine, being.
concealed by a projection of rock. The faoo came nigher to us,
and Zela whispered, ‘‘ Be cautious,—it is a tiger! for that bird
always gives notice of his approach.”

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Upon a weeded rock this old man sat,
And his white hair was awful, and a mat

Of weeds were cold beneath his cold thin feet.
* * * * *

Then up he rose, like one whose tedious toil
Had watched for years in forlorn hermitage.
Keats.

PUT a ball, over the large shot, in my carbine, and making a

rest on the rocks for my gun, I determined not to fire till
he attacked us ; then, if I missed killing him, we were to swim
out to the boat, which was rapidly approaching. Still as we
were hidden, I hoped we should escape undiscovered. Taking
my cap off, I peeped over the rock; the rustling noise in the
bushes continued; when, to my astonishment, I saw, not a
tiger, but a gray, hairy old man. He removed the bushes, and,
after cautiously surveying the place, stooped down, and came
out at the opening of the little creek. I was about to rise, but
Zela held me down, and signed to me not to move or speak.
When he stood up, he was the strangest-looking figure I had
ever seen, tall, lean and emaciated, not at all resembling any
A YOUNGER SON. 845.

people within my knowledge. He was remarkably long limbed,
and had no other weapon than a large club, such as is used by
the South Sea Islanders. His face was black, with grisly hair,
and deeply furrowed with wrinkles. His figure seemed bent
with age and infirmities, yet he walked with long strides over
the rough ground. There was a wild and sullen malignity of
expression in his eyes, more like those of a demon than of a man.
When he came to the margin of the sea, in an opposite direction
to us, he seated himself on a rock, took up a sharp stone,
knocked off the limpets and mussels, and swallowed them fast
and voraciously. After this, he gathered a large leaf, put a
heap of oysters and mussels on it, and folded it up. Then,
looking towards the sea, with his eyes fixed for some time on
the boat, he washed his hands, and returned, somewhat more
nimbly, to the place whence he had issued, and disappeared.

“Tl follow him!” I cried, and jumped up.

Zela urged me to forbear; “ For,” said she, ‘he is a jungle
admee, more dangerous, cunning, and cruel than any wild
beast.”

“He is alone,” I replied, ‘(and surely I am a match for
him. Besides, I shall find a path which will be useful.”

Saying this, I went after him, and discovered, upon crawling
under the thick kantak bush, a narrow winding path, a good
deal foot-worn. I heard the grisled old savage before me ; and,
unseen myself, from time to time, caught glimpses of him.
Several branches of trees, under which he could not pass with-
out stooping, he beat down, or broke off with a blow of his
club. Zela, who could not be induced to stay, followed close
at my heels. We tracked him for a short distance through the
wood in silence. He then branched off to the right, in the
direction of the great morass, passed the channel of a mountain-
stream, ascended a bank, and then, coming to a rock fifteen or
sixteen feet in perpendicular height, he climbed up an old
moss-grown pine-tree. When he had mounted the stem of the
tree, somewhat higher than the rock, he clung with his arms
and legs to a horizontal branch ; and, as a sailor works himself
along the stays of a mast, by alternately shifting his limbs, he
arrived above the summit of the rock, when, suspending his
body by his hands, he let himself gently down, and walked on.
346 ADVENTURES OF

We followed in the same manner, cautiously avoiding his
seeing or hearing us. He crossed a ridge of rocks, compara-
tively open. It was here grew the pine-trees that I wanted.
There was little or no underwood. The old man stopped, and
looking attentively at a huge pine which had fallen from age,
out of which, in its half-decomposed prostrate trunk, grew
a line of young pines, thus perpetuating its species, he ap-
peared to be measuring their length with a stick. He pulled
up four of them by the roots, stripped them of their branches,
secured them together with a fillet of wire-grass, put them
on his left shoulder, and proceeded onwards to a small space,
in which were the wild mango and benana. He examined the
fruit of them, and smelt them to find if they were ripe; and
gathering a plantain, which did not readily peel, he threw
it away. He now made many turns, we following him as close
as we could, without risking discovery, till he came to an open
piece of ground, which had been neatly levelled, the grass,
weeds, and bushes cleared away, and in one corner, under the
shelter of a remarkably thick and beautiful tree covered with
white blossoms, I observed a neat hut, built of canes wattled
together.

I looked round with admiration, marvelling at the good taste
with which the recluse had selected a place for his hermitage.
On one side was a rocky bank, covered with tamarind and
wild-nutmeg, perfuming the air. There was an excavation
in the lower part of the bank, partially screened by three tall,
straight-stemmed betel-trees, with their shining, silvery-white
bark; they shone resplendently-beautiful, and looked like the
Graces of the forest. At the back of the hermitage was a wild
waste of jungle, in which I distinguished tamarind, nutmeg,
cactus, acacia, banyans, toon, and the dark foliage of the
bamboo.

The old savage, having laid the bundle of young fir-trees
against his dwelling, stooped down and entered the low door
on his hands and knees; for the palmetta-leaved roof came
down to within two feet of the ground. While I was atten-
tively surveying and marking the spot, determined on visiting
it again, and endeavouring to look into the hut, under cover
of a thick bush on the margin of the cleared space, a rustle
«A YOUNGER SON. 347

among the bushes made me turn my eyes to the ground, when
I saw the diamond-like eye, sparkling from the black, square
head, of a cobra-di-capella. It was crossing the path im-
mediately where Zela stood, and seemed to have stopped to
gaze at her. Forgetting everything but her danger, I shouted
‘out, and caught her up in my arms. The snake, without
appearing alarmed, slowly retreated into the opposite bushes.
Zela exclaimed, ‘Oh! jungle admee !”

Placing her down, I turned round, and was startled at
seeing him advance with his club firmly clenched in both
hands, and swinging over his head like a quarter-staff. The
gaunt old wretch, by the increased malignancy of his eye, the
grinding of his teeth, and the wrinkles on his narrow brow,
was evidently proceeding to attack me. My carbine, cocked,
was in my left hand, but ere I could get it to my shoulder, he
made one huge stride, and his club was descending on my
head, when, stepping a pace back, I discharged my piece under
his left arm-pit, lodging the whole contents in his body. He
sprung up into the air, and, before I could retire, fell slap
upon me. I thought, as I fell prostrate, that the brute would
certainly finish me, and called out to Zela to run to the boat
and save herself; but she was forcing a boar-spear into his
side, and answered, ‘‘ He is quite dead; he don’t move; get
up!”

With some difficulty I extricated myself, and saw that my
ball had passed right through him, entering his heart, as I
suppose, which had caused that convulsive spring. He bled
profusely.

We then went into his house. It differed little in the
interior from those of the other natives of the island, only
it had a greater degree of neatness and appearance of comfort.
At one end of it was a partition, very ingeniously fastened,
as a security, I conjectured, against thieves when he was
absent. There was good store of roots and fruits, carefully
spread out to prevent their rotting. It might have been mis-
taken for the abode of a mongrel Scotch philosopher.

Hearing musquets discharged, and voices hallooing, I was
surprised at finding we were much nearer the sea than I had
anticipated; but on retracing our steps, I accounted for it, by
348 ADVENTURES OF

the circuitous path the jungle admee had taken us to his abode.
We hastened back to the beach, and found Van and his canoe.
He had been directed to the spot by the men of our boat,
which was now drawing nigh, induced to come from what they
said of it; then, alarmed at not seeing us, together with the
report of my carbine, he ordered musquets to be fired.

“Well met, Van,” said I, ‘here I have procured you a
magnificent subject to work upon.” I then told him of my
encounter with the wild man.

‘“ Where is he?” exclaimed Van.

As I led him to the spot, he eagerly followed close at my
heels, and, when he approached the body, cried out, ‘‘ What!
that? Why, that is not one of the order Bimana,—of the
genus homo, or man; but of the second order, Quadrumana,—
one of the tribe of Sinee,—apes, monkeys, baboons ;—narrow
pelvis, lengthened falx, long arms, short thumbs, flat buttocks.
This,’ continued Van, as he turned him over, ‘‘is an orang-
outang; the first full-grown one I ever saw, and really very
like the genus homo. But feel,—he has thirteen ribs. There.
is little other distinction between him and you: Buffon says
they have no sentiment of religion, and what have you? they’
are as brave and fierce as you are; and are very ingenious,
which you are not. Besides, they are a reflective and con-
siderate set of beings; and have the best government in the
world: they divide a country into districts; are never guilty
of invasion; and never infringe on the rights of others. All
this is because they have no priests, kings, or aristocrats.
They are ruled by democratic chiefs, go about in bodies, build
houses, and live well. This one has been refractory—a heavy
sinner ; and see, he is diseased, has ulcers and a goitre on his
throat. There are also many wounds on his body ;—yes, he
has been refractory, and doubtless banished from the com-
munity of his fellow-creatures. I'll preserve his skeleton, and
present it to the chemical college at Amsterdam. It is a rare
species.”

Leaving Van to work on the orang-outang we went to.
examine the timber, and cleared a path to the beach. At
sunset we returned to our boats, as the place was declared
by the natives to be infested by tigers and serpents.
A YOUNGER SON. 349

CHAPTER LXXXYV.

Millions there lift, at Freedom’s thrilling call,

Ten thousand standards wide ; they load the blast,

Which bears one sound of many voices past,

And startles on his throne their sceptered foe.
SHELLEY.

OTH natives and individuals, possessing qualities most

particularly to be admired, I have remarked are most
generally hated and abused. The mass are exclusively occu-
pied in loving and benefiting themselves, in slandering the
characters of others, and extracting something from their
wealth. All who are ambitious of their good word, must le
to them, fool with them, and do them homage:

“ Desert does nothing ; valiant, wise, and virtuous,
Are things that walk by without bread or breeches.”’

The Malays, scattered about on the sea-coast of India, and
its finest islands, are, by the general voice, pronounced to be
the most fierce, treacherous, ignorant, and inflexible of bar-
barians ;

‘¢ Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill.”

De Ruyter, who had no faith in public clamour, and was
never biassed by the opinions of others, when it was possible
to judge for himself, soon set me right in regard to the cha-
racter of this much abused people. I found he did them but
justice in saying they were true to their words, generous to
prodigality, and of invincible courage. All the attempts of
European and Indian kings to subdue this people have failed.
If any portion of their country is wrung from them by superior
force, with spirits unsubdued they abandon it, maintaining
their unconquerable love of personal freedom, and gain a
footing by conquest in neighbouring states or islands. On the
coast of Malabar, and the three great Sunda islands, they are
the most numerous. They are the only people in India who
have preserved their national character and liberty amidst
850 ADVENTURES OF

contending powers; and it arises from their love of liberty
being greater than their love of any particular spot of earth
which has chanced to be their birthplace. There, where they
can be free, be it rock or sandy waste, is their country. They
are simple in their wants, hardy, brave, and adventurous; such
a race can find few parts of the world where they will not.
contrive to exist. Like the cocoa-nut, they are never far from
the sea; and, like the Arabs, they are not over scrupulous.
in appropriating the superfluities of wealthy strangers to their
own uses. Who that lives in want does not desire to supply
himself from the rich?—cowards beg, the cunning pilfer, a
brave man takes by force. The wealth of India and Asia,
obtained by force and stratagem, is conveyed along the shores.
of the Malays towards Europe; and they would be the most.
besotted of barbarians, if they did not help themselves to a
portion of it. They do so; and though they have been pursued,
massacred by thousands, their country ravaged, their vessels
destroyed, yet their numbers augment, and their piracies, as.
they are called, increase instead of being diminished, for their
war-canoes are widely spread over the Indian ocean. They
have several settlements on the western shore of Borneo,
which lies very conveniently for marauding on the Chinese
trade. Portuguese, Dutch, English, and others have, from
time to time, formed settlements on various parts of the island,
the King of Borneo protecting them the while, as the indus-
trious bee is protected; but when they had established a,
factory, and filled it with treasures, they were smoked out,
and plundered. They are now abandoned to their fate by
church missionary and merchant militant, the island having
no roads, few ports, and plenty of swamps, jungle, rivers and
mountains.

The Moorish king, who resides at. the capital of the island,
Borneo Proper, has neither command nor influence beyond his
own province. Chinese, Macassars, Javanese, and adventurers
from many other lands, have also established themselves there,
and live independently ; while the Chinese have monopolised
most of the trade of the island. To return to my friends, the
Malays ;—a settlement of these neighboured the part of the
coast where we were lying, and as De Ruyter was partial to
A YOUNGER SON. 851

them, having many of that nation in his vessel, we were soon
on the best terms; for we were weary of the Beajus, a far
inferior race.

A Malay chieftain was frequently with us, and, on our
expressing a wish for a tiger hunt, he willingly assented,
though it is not common with them to seek tigers for sport,
as they merely attack them in their own defence, or to preserve
their property. For this sport I had long been eager; and,
being now in a country in which they most abounded, I could
hardly restrain my impatience.

I must observe that, while we were lying here, De Ruyter
occasionally got the grab under weigh, and went out to see
if he could pick up any thing, or gain intelligence of any thing
at sea. Meantime our repairs on board the schooner, (thanks
to my friend, the orang,) proceeded rapidly, as I had found
spars. We sometimes made hunting parties on shore, to kill
deer, wild hogs, goats, and, at times, buffaloes, in order to
supply our vessels with fresh meat, and not to infringe on our
sea-stock. Besides which, there was an abundance of fine fish
on the coast; a party of men was every day sent to haul the
scan—so that we lived well and free of expense. Rice, coffee,
tobacco, Indian corn, and other grains, we procured, by barter,
from the natives. De Ruyter’s intention was to await the
sailing of the China fleet homeward bound, and, if possible,
to attack them.

Having time on our hands, we were anxious to see the
interior of the island. We had heard the natives frequently
talk of the ruins of an ancient city, skirting the great morass,
and that it was the abode of tigers and other wild beasts. An
excursion to that place was quickly planned. We always
kept our vessels in the best order, and omitted no precaution
against surprise, by sea or land. In general, either he or I
remained in charge of the vessels. On the island, where we
had landed our sick, we had mounted two guns and built
a battery, which commanded the schooner. All our men were
kept constantly employed. Discontent, drunken brawls, and,
sometimes, quarrels with the natives, gave us considerable
vexation. But De Ruyter was better qualified than any man
in the world for the service in which he was engaged ; for,
352 ADVENTURES OF

either by lenity, or by severe and summary punishment, he
overawed the refractory, and tranquillised the discontented.
He had a quick eye to see into the characters of men, and he
employed great art in controlling them; a portion of which
I acquired.

We now made preparations for our tiger hunt. The Malay
chieftain was to accompany us, with a party of his followers;
and he engaged to supply us with elephants. De Ruyter took
twenty of the most untractable of his crew, well armed; and
a few picked men out of the schooner.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

I saw a fury whetting a death-dart.
Kauats.

Around, around, in ceaseless circles wheeling,
With clang of wings and scream, the eagle sailed
Incessantly, sometimes on high concealing
Its lessening orbs, sometimes as if it failed
Drooped through the air ; and still it shrieked and wailed,
And, casting back its eager head, with beak
And talon unremittingly assailed
The wreathed serpent, who did ever seek
Upon his enemy’s heart a mortal wound to wreak.
SHELLEY.

HERE is more of the spirit of chivalry among the
Malays than among any other people. They are
devoted to war, and to its inseparable accompaniment,
women; these, with hawking and cock-fighting, formed the
principal recreations of our Malay chieftain. One of the
peculiarities of his character was a punctilious observance
of the Malayan code of retaliation, surpassing the Jewish
law of ‘‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ Indeed
I doubt whether any thing in the records of the most heroic
periods of chivalry, when crazy red-cross-knights ran tilting
among the Saracens, dyeing their yellow sands red, can com-
pete with our Hotspur of the east. In one of his voyages he
touched at Batavia, to dispose of a cargo, when under the
A YOUNGER SON. 853

government of the Dutch, who are particular about the
cleanliness of their houses, but as careless as the Scotch in
their persons and habits. A Hollander, in his armchair, with
a yard of baked clay, well sattrrated with the essential oil of
tobacco, and filled with No. 11 canestre, with a pottle of
smoky skedam, experiences all he can imagine of paradise ;
and, ever careful to avoid polluting his dwelling, spits into the
street. An unlucky delivery of this sort, out of the window of
a Dutch house, fell, not refreshing as the dew of heaven, on
the face of our chieftain, as he passed under the dwelling. He
sought in vain the source whence his defilement sprung, ‘‘ and
passion having his best judgment collied,” he drew his creese,
and ran a-muck through the streets, attacking all he met.
Many a bayonet of a Dutch sepoy let him blood; the garrison
was in arms; when, after stabbing fifteen or sixteen persons,
he threw himself into the sea, regained his proa, and escaped.

Another time a vessel from Bombay had anchored off the
coast where his father was chieftain, who bartered with its
owner the produce of the country for Birmingham musquets,
warranted to endure for ever, hatchets, adzes, and other tools.
Ere the vessel sailed, one of the musquets, on the first dis-
charge, burst in his father’s hands, and a piece of the barrel,
entering his brain, killed him. His dutiful son called together
the immediate followers of his father’s house, boarded the
vessel in the night, and succeeded in taking possession of
her; when, with his own hand, and with his father’s knife, he
severed the heads from every individual of the crew, made a
funeral pile, placed his father’s body on it, bedecked with a
triple crown of thirty heads, and fired it.

To one of his feats I was witness, on the first day of our
march. A brutal follower, a Tiroon, acting as mahout (con-
ductor) to the little elephant on which Zela was seated, while
in the rear of the party, made a sign to the sagacious beast,
as he was passing a wretched man, who came out of the ruins
of a tank to beg, to kill him. The elephant did so. I was
talking to the chieftain, when Zela’s voice made me turn
round. She pointed to the object, which I had not before
observed ; it was a foul and hideous leper, the body perforated
thick as a honeycomb with ulcers, so bloated, swollen, and

23
354 ADVENTURES OF

plastered with leaves and filthy rags, that it bore no resem-
blance to a human being, with the exception of the face, the
lineaments of which were spread by the fell disease, and
shewed that he was thus struck and blasted in the dawn of
manhood.

The Tiroon mahout was of a race who delighted in shedding
blood. They make sacrifices to their gods, and to the ladies
of their love. No Tiroon can marry until he has presented
his bride with a gory head, no matter whose, friend’s or foe’s,
taken in battle, or pilfered from a sleeping guest; a head must
be the first gift. .A fiery lover who presents a bouquet of
heads to a blushing fair one is not to be resisted. I suppose
this to be a natural feeling among gentle women, as it is a
general one, from the Roman ladies who viewed in ecstacy the
wounds and agonies of expiring gladiators, to our modern fair
ones, who are always to be won by fighting.

But to return to my friend the chieftain. As soon as he
was made acquainted with the wanton murder committed by
the Tiroon on the outcast and despised leper, he seized on a
mahout’s stick, and began beating him with it. The wild
Tiroon drew a poisoned arrow from his belt, and attempted to
stab his chastiser, who, on seeing it, became infuriated. He
struck the arrow from his hand, drew his own creese, forced
the fellow back against a tree, held him there in an erect
posture with his left hand, and continually stabbed him with
the weapon in his right, even long after life was extinct. His
fury was indescribable ; and himself, covered with the Tiroon’s
blood, glistening on his raven hair and fiery face, looked like
an avenging demon.

I said to De Ruyter, who had drawn near me, “‘ My carbine
must be in readiness ;—the fellow is mad with rage, and will
be running a-muck here.”

The chieftain, wearied with stabbing, cast the mangled
body of the Tiroon beside the leper; then looking up to the
air, he gave a yell of delight, pointed his crimsoned creese
upwards, and exclaimed, ‘‘ There they are!—Did I not say
so?”

Looking up, I saw a long-winged haggard hawk, of the largest
species, battling with a raven, which had been attracted by the
A YOUNGER SON. 355

scent of blood to the spot where we were. His watchful foe had
espied him, and taken the field against him. The chieftain
averred the hawk was the leper’s spirit, the raven the Tiroon’s,
and watched the conflict with intense interest. Both, wheel-
ing upwards, ascended till they were scarcely distinguishable.
They looked no bigger than the motes in a sunbeam; but the
eagle-eyed chieftain vociferated, ‘‘ Now the leper is uppermost,
and is descending on the spirit of his black assassin !”’

The hawk, having in spiral motion achieved the upper flight,
fell like a thunder-bolt on the raven, stunned him with the
blow, clutched him in his talons, folded him in his wings, and,
the hawk undermost, they tumbled down like a black ball, till
within a short distance from the earth. The hawk then
unfolded his wings, but loosened not his talons till close to the
ground, when the force of the air, acting on the wings, brought
the hawk uppermost, and the raven fell on the earth motion-
less, but, as it seemed by his low harsh croaking, not quite
dead. The chieftain clapped his hands, went to the spot close
by the dead bodies, took up a stone, and smashed the raven’s
skull. The hawk took flight, and perched triumphantly on
the top branch of a very high tree, and appeared as if awaiting
our departure to begin his feast.

Under the conduct of this fiery chieftain we had placed our-
selves. I must remark that the issue of the battle perfectly
tranquillised him; and we resumed our march in harmony.
With the exception of these gusts of passion, he’ was kind-
hearted, courteous, affable, and exceedingly attentive to us his
guests. He had great natural sagacity in overcoming every
difficulty which impeded us, held his followers in complete
subjection, and took every precaution not to be surprised by
the people through whose districts we were passing. His
instincts were exquisitely acute from constant exercise, as the
civilized are dull from want of use. He could distinguish
objects correctly, ere our eyes could reach them; and his
hearing was quicker than a dog’s. Our progress, however,
was slow; the elephants were often compelled to clear us a path
through the jungle, and we lost entire days in searching for
passes round or through the swamps, and pathless forests.
There were few signs of the abodes of man, and there was
356 ADVENTURES OF

neither corn nor culture; but we had an ever-varying succes-
sion of beasts and birds,

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

There the large olive rains its amber store
In marble fonts; there grain, and flower, and fruit,
Gush from the earth until the land runs o’er ;
But there too many a poison-tree has root,
And midnight listens to the lion’s roar,
And long, long deserts scorch the camel’s foot,
Or heaving whelm the helpless caravan,
And as the soil is, so the heart of man.
Byron.

URING the heat of the day, and in the evening, while
lying by, we practised with single ball on deer, wild
hogs, and wild peacocks, which last flew over our heads in
thousands, to seek their roosting-places in the woods. On
the fifth day we drew near our sporting-ground, on the south-
east side of the island. While in this neighbourhood, De
Ruyter cautioned us to smoke incessantly ; and knowing its
efficacy, I made Zela smoke a small hooka. My argola was
never allowed to go out; I was mounted on a huge dromedary,
and the mahout, on the animal’s neck, carried a pot of live
charcoal, and an ample sack of tombackie. During this
excursion I witnessed the admirable effects of tobacco as a
preventive against fever. All those who did not use it
suffered from fever, giddiness, vomiting, spitting of blood, and
dysentery. Even those who were not accustomed to it, and
could only be induced to occasionally smoke a cigar, had slight
attacks of fever. Chewing the weed appeared of little service.
The hooka and callian, by continually exciting the action of
the lungs, as the smoke must be drawn down to the chest,
were effectual preservatives. Then, if possible, we avoided
sleeping under trees, or near jungle. The Malays always cut
down the jungle, and set it on fire; which both cleared the
ground, and purified the atmosphere.
We left the woods, and came to a large extent of plain, with
A YOUNGER SON. 357

nothing on it but enormous reeds, grass, and nauseously
smelling weeds, that grew as high as young fir-trees, mingled
thickly with rattans. Paths had been cleared by wild
elephants, which enabled us to pass this otherwise impene-
trable wilderness. It was bound by mountains, forests of the
most stupendous trees I had ever beheld, and, on our right,
by a low ridge of rocks, in which direction we bent our course.
From the centre of this ridge there arose a mound of earth,
hike a green island ; and the ridge of rocks branching out on
each side, looked like piers built to connect it with the moun-
tains. On this spacious mound were said to be the ruins of
an immense Moorish city, once called the city of kings,—but
now the city of the tigers. The plain was called the plain of
the elephants.

We followed the elephants’ tracks for many a weary mile,
and saw elk-deer and other animals, but no elephants. At
last we came to the ridge of rocks, and, having ascended
them, we looked down on a black and fetid morass which
extended further than the eye could reach, and lay consider-
ably lower than the plain which we had crossed. The green
and wooded hill, to which we were bound, was still a day’s
march from us. There was a terrible gloom hanging over the
black swamp: nothing grew there but dark marsh-reeds, with
high and silky tufts of sooty black, which waved to and fro,
like the nodding plumes upon a hearse, though there was not
a breath of air where we stood. It indeed looked like the
murky abode of all evil; and when the night came, and the
land-wind arose, and swept over it, illumined by faint, pale-
blue lightning, it seemed like a black and agitated sea beneath
us. I thought how nearly I had been cast on it, and doomed
to inevitable destruction.

After having been threatened with a locked-jaw from tearing
and tugging at a half-roasted wild peacock, I lay down in my
tent on a tiger-skin, and put my carbine under my head, while
Zela nestled by my side, and drew a tanned elk-skin over us.
I slept better than those lodged more luxuriously, till towards
morning, when I was with difficulty awakened by Zela.
Owing to the wild and perilous life she had led from her
infancy, she could awake at the smallest noise from the
358 ADVENTURES OF

deepest sleep. I have seen her open her eyes at the mosquito
which I had prevented from alighting on her brow, as it flew,
humming in anger, round her head. This night she was
awakened by a rustling sound, and, seeing my legs were bare,
was about to cover them, when she perceived a large venemous
serpent move from under the skin, and leisurely crawl over
my stretched-out legs. Fortunately, I slept like death, and
felt it not. She had presence of mind, lay leaning on her arm,
held her breath, and watched its motions by the light of the
lamp, and the glowing embers of a fire, at a little distance
from the tent-door, as a preventive against the foul vapours of
the morass. The serpent, attracted by the heat, had left its
cold bed among the rocks, and passed directly towards it.
Had I made the slightest motion, or had she then given the
alarm, he would have wounded me, and mortally. When it
was a few yards from the tent, she aroused me, and the
instant I was made sensible of the danger, I jumped up, fear-
ful that some of the people sleeping without might be attacked.
I bade Zela awaken those on the side of the tent, and followed
the serpent, which was gliding onwards. It heard my
approach, erected its crest, and looked back at me. My
carbine was loaded with large shot, and, being close to it, I
lodged the contents under its head. A man sleeping close to
the spot, sprang up, and then fell prostrate: I thought I had
killed him.

The chieftain gave the alarm, and rushed towards me with
his followers. I pointed to the writhing monster, struggling
amidst the embers. At the report of the gun, he had antici-
pated a battle of some sort; but when he saw what it was,
he appeared disappointed, and said, ‘‘Pshaw! it is only a
chickta? It is wrong to waste powder, and awaken people,
to kill troublesome worms! Why, there are thousands of
them here. This is the way to kill them!” At which he
struck his spear through its head, and held it in the embers.
The snake wound its body round and round the shaft till its
tail came near his hand. The chieftain then unfolded it, and
said, “If you like to hold it here for ten minutes, till well
roasted, you'll find it excellent eating!”

When dead, he dropped it into the fire—covered it with the
A YOUNGER SON. 359

ashes, and saying, ‘‘ We'll breakfast on it,” returned with the
others to their sleep.

De Ruyter, Zela, and myself, not desirous of being again
disturbed by such troublesome interlopers, sat by the fire, and
talked the night away. Our conversation, after a while, veered
round from the frightful and supernatural aspect of the scene
of our encampment, to tiger-hunting. De Ruyter, who had a
strong passion for the sport, and had been celebrated for his
exploits in the upper provinces of India, said—

‘“Tiger-hunting, as practised in India, is little better than
killing cats; nor are there so many risks attending it as in
fox-hunting. The sportsmen, and there are generally twenty
of them, with twice that number of elephants, encaged in the
houdahs, each of them having half a dozen loaded double-
barrelled guns, charged as fast by servants as they can be fired,
are perched in the same security as if on a tree, deer-shooting.
Amahout sometimes gets a scratch, but it is the noble elephant
that bears the brunt of the battle, and every thing depends on
his sagacity, courage and steadiness. If he won’t stand,
becomes frightened, and goes off, then indeed the sportsman’s
life is in some jeopardy ; for a mad bull, or our Malay running
a-muck, is nothing to a helpless elephant.”

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.

Cedars, and yews, and pines, whose tangled hair,
Is matted in one solid roof of shade
By the dark ivy’s twine. A noonday here

’Tis twilight, and at sunset blackest night.
SHELLEY.

The brindled lioness led forth her young,
That she might teach them how they should assuage

Their inborn thirst of blood.
Tbid.

ee UT hunting lions on foot,”’ continued De Ruyter, “or
lions hunting by themselves, is a noble sight, as I once
witnessed. Unlike the crouching and dastardly tiger, they do
360 ADVENTURES OF

not lie in ambush to surprise their prey at night, but take the
field with the dawn—drag cover, and give chase to the first
animal that breaks it, be it what it may, while the forest trembles
with their thundering voices. I had been to meet a prince of
the family of Bulmar Singh, near Rhotuk, in the neighbour-
hood of which I was detained some days, attended by a small
body of followers, with half a dozen of the little mountain-
elephants, on a march towards Kamoon, the country of the
Himalaya Mountains, inhabited by a wild race called Sikhs.
We went by secret and circuitous paths through an immense
tract of country, covered with forest-trees and jungle. I never
lived so long without seeing the sun as when toiling through
that dreary world of shade. Not a ray could have penetrated
it since the creation. Even the winds, wandering vagrants as
they are, could find no entrance there. In that everlasting
twilight, great owls and vampyre-bats gamboled about all day
long, like swallows in spring. The birds and beasts, which
were very few, lacked their natural dyes to distinguish them,
all partaking of the monotonous hue of the yellow, mossy, and
mouldy trees and plants. Fauns, hares, foxes, and jackals
were of a brindled grey. There were toad-stools and fungi
grouped in knots, which in colour and size so closely re-
sembled lions crouching with their cubs, that we, knowing
they abounded there, prepared to defend ourselves. Para-
sitical creepers, gasping, like myself, for air, had plunged their
wiry roots in the deep, dingy, vegetable soil, till their trunks
swelled to the bulk of the teak-tree, up which they had
climbed to redden their heads and spread their scarlet flowers
in the sun; then, as if to monopolize all, they extended them-
selves on the tops of the highest trees, fanned by the air, and
basking in sunshine. Oh, how I envied them !

“You have seen this on a smaller scale: imagine, then, my
delight when I, accustomed from my youth to a boundless
expanse of sea and sky, left this gloomy twilight, and burst
from the belt of death—for so it is properly named—into
broad, open, unobscured light. I blinked like the owl in the
sun, shouted in ecstacy, and respired the free air as you did
when you emerged from your plunge off the frigate’s yard-arm.
The scene looked like a lake fenced by a forest. To the east,
A YOUNGER SON. 361

the mountains arose to a stupendous height; they bordered
the Chinese Empire. There was a clear stream winding
through this narrow and beautiful valley. After crossing it,
we came to the bed of a mountain-torrent, deep, and of great
breadth, but at that time dry, with the exception of a few
pools of water. In the middle of this bed of gravel, inter-
spersed with pieces of rock, was a small island formed by a
rock, and enlarged by fragments which had been brought down
by the torrent, and which adhered to it in natural arches,
overgrown with moss, flowers, and shrubs. The security of
the position, added to its beauty, tempted us to make it our
place of halt and repose. I was then young and romantic as
you are, and, after passing through the dreary gloom of that
forest, thought I could have dwelt there all my life. The
night was clear and bright, and long before it was day, I was
up smoking my callian, and planning a shooting bungalo.
‘The transition from night to day came on so gently that I
did not notice it; yet, in the forest, I could see it was mid-
night. A herd of wild buffaloes, the largest I had ever seen,
came out to graze within a little more than musket-shot of us.
Suddenly I sprung on my feet at hearing a confused noise, like
the rumbling of a thunder-storm, or distant guns at sea. The
woods seemed in motion: jackals, foxes, and dappled deer
came bounding out of the forest; the herd of black buffaloes
ceased to graze, and turned towards the place whence the
noise proceeded. A large flock of glittering peacocks, and
other birds, flew screaming over our heads. A pelican that I
had watched making prize of a snake, dropped it within a yard
of my feet, and flew away. Our little wire-haired elephants,
feeding on the shrubs beneath us, looked terrified, and their
keepers left them, and crawled up the rocks. I watched the
opening in the dark forest, which was half screened by thick
and thorny bushes, when presently a mohr of the elk-kind
burst cover, and, with one long, magnificent bound, appeared
in the plain. In his stature he was far beyond those which
are known in Europe, and his twisted horns were long as that
Malay’s spear. At the same instant, a single, clear, deep,
terrific roar, like a burst of thunder, announced the hunting
lion. He forced his way through bush and briar, with his nose
362 ADVENTURES OF

to the ground, followed by four others. On entering the plain,
he seemed for some moments endeavouring to catch the scent
in silence, his nose always to the ground. Having, as it
appeared, hit it, he again gave a roar, which was now echoed
by all the others; and, pursuing the track of the stag, he
started off at a long gallop, the rest following close in a line at.
his heels. I remarked, if any of them attempted to break the
line, or pass him, he checked them with his voice, which
became deeper and more growling.

“The elk, taking the upper ground, went at an eagle’s.
speed along the margin of the river, leaving the lions far
behind. In attempting to leap the river from a ledge of rock,
the opposite bank gave way, and he rolled in; then, wading
down, he stopped an instant, as if to bathe and brace his
limbs, the voices of the lions now in full chorus nearing him.
He ascended a slope, and, crossing, came towards us in the
deep, dry channel of the torrent.

‘‘T should have observed that the leading lion, when he
passed through the herd of buffaloes, took no other notice of
them than as they appeared to have puzzled him in regaining
the scent of the stag. The buffaloes stood their ground, with-
out budging to make way for the lions, as if fearless of attack ;
and my guides assured me these animals are more than a
match for the fiercest lion, and that any one of them could
kill two or three tigers. However that may be, as the lion
passed through the line of these huge oxen, his grisly and
erect mane, and shaggy tail, waved above them. It was clear
he hunted by scent, and not by sight; instead of crossing the
river in the nearest direction to where the stag now was, he
nosed him to the spot where he had leaped, then wading to the
opposite bank where the stag had fallen, he also followed the
course of the stream, ascended the slope, and, ever in the track
of his prey, crossed into the torrent’s bed.

“Tn all probability the poor stag had received some injury
from his fall. His speed decreased, whilst that of the lions
was augmented, and their voices grew louder as they neared
the chase. The stag had passed the rocky ledge on which I
stood, soon followed by the full pack. I had a good view of
them: the first was an old, gaunt brute, his black skin shining
A YOUNGER SON. 363

through his thin, starred, reddish hair; his tail was bare and
drseoted, and the hair on his mane was clotted together; his
eyes looked dim and blood-shot ; his huge lower jaw was down,
and his tongue hung out like a wearied dog’s. He, however,
kept the lead, followed by a lioness, and three male cubs,
almost fully grown. The stag now made attempts to ascend
the bank, as if to regain the jungle, but the loose shingle gave
way, and he lost much ground. He seemed also, as the chase
gained on him, to be panic-struck by their roars; and, again
falling when he had ascended three parts of the steep aclivity,
he was unable to rise. The roaring of the lions was mag-
nificent, as the head one, erecting his mane, and lashing his
sides with his tail, bounded in on him with a mighty spring.
Then with one paw on his body, he growled the others off, and
leisurely began his breakfast, his family stealing aside with
limbs and fragments which he tore away and scattered about.

“But here comes our wild Malay chieftain ; so finish your
coffee, and let us be moving to the city of kings,—or of wild
beasts,—for they are too often the same. What glorious sport
it would be, to hunt tigers with the souls of tyrants within
them !”

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

Amid the desolation of a city

Which was the cradle, and is now the grave

Of an extinguished people, so that pity

Weeps o’er the shipwrecks of oblivion’s wave.
SHELLEY’s MS.

The tigers leap up ;

A loud, long, hoarse cry

Bursts at once from their vitals tremendously.
Ibid.

S we approached the hill, there was an undulating ground,
the soil red, with low jungle, bearing red and yellow
berries in profusion. Bustards, large flocks of cranes, herons,
and sea-birds were in the air. Jackals, foxes, and several
animals I had not seen before, crossed our path. We had
364 ADVENTURES OF

glimpses of herds of wild elephants and buffaloes, grazing on
the plain we had passed. At noon we were stopped by a river,
broad, muddy, and shallow, which doubtless floods the upper
plain during the rainy season; that is, for seven or eight
months during the year; it then must force a passage into the
morass below. After being a long time detained, the elephants
forded it, when we rested for the night; or rather we did not
rest, for we were so tormented with stinging vermin that none
of us could sleep. The next day we ascended (as it is called)

the haunted hill; which the natives hold in such superstiticu
awe, that, in all probability, we were, for centuries, the first
who had disturbed the hallowed precincts of ogres and spirits,
confidently reported to reside there. Remnants indeed there
were of a city of some sort. De Ruyter said they were

Moorish. There were large masses of stone, choked-up tanks,

and indications of where wells had once been, but almost
entirely concealed by thick bushes, dank weeds, creepers, and
other vegetation, flourishing in profusion. Wherever it was
penetrable, it bore the foot-prints of so many wild animals,
that there was enough to check the -hitherto insatiable thirst
of dry and musty antiquaries.

We pitched our tents on a rocky part of the hill free from
jungle, lighted fires, roasted a young stag, commenced arrange-
ments for the morrow’s sport, and slept. Before the dawn, the
restless Malay chieftain was calling up his fcllowers, and pre-
paring the elephants, of which he had six. Soon after it was
light, every thing was in readiness, and we set forward. Zela,
who insisted on accompanying us, was mounted on her small
elephant, and encaged in the only covered houdah, ours being
all open. We beat about in vain; for though we met with
tigers’ foot marks in many of the open places, near pools of
standing water, the high grass and thick bushes prevented our
tracing them to cover. We found, however, abundance of
smaller game; deer, wild hogs, and a variety of birds. De
Ruyter, having carefully surveyed the neighbourhood, came in
at night, and told us he had tracked three tigers to a thick
jungle, near which he had found the bones of an elk-deer,
recently killed by them.

With this promise of sport, we started in the morning in
A YOUNGER SON. 365

great glee; and, as we thought, well prepared for the attack.
After riding about two miles, we descended to the plain, and
came to an exceedingly thick jungle, with thorny bushes and
canes. Around us was the plain covered with very high jungle
grass, and dank weeds, with bushes scattered here and there,
but few timber trees. De Ruyter conducted us to the spot
where he had discovered the stag’s bones, surrounded by moist
and torn-up earth, and trampled grass; thence we had no
difficulty in tracing the tiger’s huge paws into the patch of
jungle. Here De Ruyter divided our party, so as to block up
the only apparently accessible outlets, made by wild beasts;
and by these openings we were to enter. The greater pro-
portion of our party was on foot, and seemingly as unconcerned
as if going in to hunt weasels. I left Zela, seated in her
houdah, at the opening of the wood, guarded by four of her
own Arabs.

De Ruyter and myself dismounted to clear a passage; the
Malays were divided into two parties ; and we were backed by
our sailors, whom we cautioned to be careful in the use of their
fire-arms, as more was to be feared from accidents with them,
than from the tigers. De Ruyter expressed great doubts of our
elephants’ facing the tiger, but it was necessary to try them.
In our progress towards the bushes we turned out many deer,
hares, and wild cats. We saw also ruins, said to be those of a
Moorish palace. Nothing but the sagacity of the elephants
could have steered us clear of broken masses of buildings,
chasms, and wells overgrown with dank verdure. It was a
wild and haunted-looking place, which awed even the sailors
in their boisterous mirth, and silenced the ribaldry and obscene
threatening of the Malays. The low trumpeting sound and
foot-stamping of our elephants gave notice that the tiger's den
was near. A vaulted ruin was before us; there was a rustling
amongst the bushes; De Ruyter said, ‘‘ Be steady, my lads!”
and a tiger, the first I had ever faced, finding his passage
blocked up, charged us. We fired together, I know not with
what effect ; for both our elephants slued round, and ran away
wild with fear. My mahout threw himself off, and a branch of
a tree struck me off. I heard a tremendous war-whoop, and
fire kept up on all sides. De Ruyter’s elephant fell into a half-
866 ADVENTURES OF

choked well; but, with his wonted self-possession, he extricated
himself.

Leaving the elephants to their fate, we determined not to
lose the sport. De Ruyter thought there were more tigers in
the den, and he went on foot to drive them out. We got some of
the men together, and proceeded to the spot, to which we
were directed by the abominable stench, and the dried bones
scattered about. The bushes were cleared away, and we
heard, as we drew near, back to back, forcing our way onwards,
low muttering growls and sharp snarls. ‘Stand close!”’
exclaimed De Ruyter, ‘there is a tigress with her whelps ;—
have a care;—don’t fire, my lads, till she breaks cover, and
fire low.”

A whelp, three parts grown, first came forth to charge us.
De Ruyter, expecting the old one would follow, reserved his
fire, and cautioned me to do the same. The whelp looked
frightened, and slunk away, crouching under a thick bush,
where it remained snarling, and thither the other whelps
followed. The mother’s growl became terrific ; a shot at one
of the whelps brought her out, lashing her sides, and foaming
with rage. She rushed right on us; I fired both barrels; we
then retreated a few paces. The wounded brute staggered
after us, and when rising to spring, De Ruyter, who had still
reserved his fire, shot her right through the heart. While I
was charging my gun, one of the whelps, already wounded,
drove against me, and knocked me down; when De Ruyter,
with as much coolness as if he had been pigeon-shooting, put
his rifle to its ear, and almost blew its head off. Meantime
the sailors kept up a fire, till the balls were flying about our
heads, on the remaining whelps, which were stealing away
wounded. ‘Let us stand behind this rock,” said De Ruyter ;
‘‘a sailor uses a musquet as he does a horse,—he bears down
all before him.”

A Malay came from the chieftain to tell us the other part of
the jungle was alive with tigers—that they had already killed
two, and that one of their men was dead. There was now as
much noise and confusion as in a naval battle, or at the sacking
of a city. I observed, however, that tigers were not such
formidable opponents as I had imagined. They lay close and
A YOUNGER SON. 367

crouching in the long grass, or under the bushes, and were as
difficult to get up as cats or quail. It generally required a shot
to move them; then they always essayed every means of escape
through the thickest cover, and it was only when finding every
passage blocked up, and smarting from wounds, that they
rushed blindly and madly on their pursuers, forced by despair,
like a cat or a rat. With nerve and self-possession, two men
with double-barrelled guns would have little to fear, and might
boldly go up to the mouth of the den of a tiger. This piece of
thick jungle, interspersed with caverns, rocks, and ruins, plenty
of water near, a great plain covered with high jungle-grass, and
well supplied with a diversity of smaller animals to prey upon,
was a favoured abode for tigers; and had they been endowed
with reason, they could not have selected a spot on the island
so admirably adapted for their residence ; while their number
and size indicated how well they thrived there. A great many
escaped on the plain, where it was impossible to follow them.
Several of our men were badly mauled by them, and more by
falls : one of the Malays had his spine so injured, that he died
in great agony.

CHAPTER XC.

And each hunter, panic-stricken,
Felt his heart with terror sicken,
Hearing the tremendous cry.—

 

Former years-
Arise, and bring forbidden tears.
SHELLEY.

NEASY at my long absence from Zela, I went alone (for

all our people were scattered) to the entrance of the

wood, where I had left her guarded. As I approached the
place, I was alarmed at a mingled noise of tigers, elephants,
and screaming voices. I hastened on as fast as the thick cover
and broken ground would permit. The fierce snarlings of tigers
became louder. I passed the spot where I had left Zela, burst
through the cover wildly with terror, and, on getting to the
368 ADVENTURES OF

open space, beheld a monstrous tiger on the back of her
elephant, clinging with his huge claws on the houdah, gnash-
ing his teeth, roaring, and foaming with rage. Zela not visible,
methought he had devoured her! I struck my head with my
clenched hand, exclaiming, ‘‘ Fool! fool! ” and for a moment
stageered unnerved, while a death-like sickness came over me!
It was but a moment: my blood renewed its course through
my veins like flame! My carbine not being charged, I cast it
from me, and, armed with nothing but a long Malayan creese,
fierce and fearless, I rushed by a half-grown limping tiger-
whelp, whining and gnawing at something, which I passed
unheedingly. The elephant was stamping, squealing, and
struggling desperately to shake off his enemy. The grisly
tiger fell; but within his gripe he held a human victim,
bent up, and enveloped in a white cotton garment, such
as Zela wore. As I came within a few paces of the tiger,
holding his victim down with a paw upon his breast, he glared
ferociously on me. While I was rushing in on him, a voice
above me, faint and tremulous, said, ‘‘Oh, Prophet, guard
him!” I heard no more—I was madly striking out my arm,
to plunge the weapon in the tiger’s throat, while he was in the
act of springing on me. The elephant, as if Zela’s prayer had
been heard, struck the tiger, while his eye was fixed on me,
with his hind foot, sent him reeling many paces, and, ere he
could recover, I had plunged my creese up to the hilt in his body.
A loud shout, drowning the cries of tiger, elephant, and all
others, now burst on my ear, and the Malay chieftain came up,
in good time, for so tenacious of life is the tiger, that he was
still enabled to strike me down with his paw, and as the whelp
had come on me, I should have been torn to pieces but for the
chieftain’s timely aid. He thrust his spear through the whelp,
and buried his dagger twenty times in the body of the tiger ;
then, dragging the lifeless brute from above me, he helped me
up, and said, ‘‘ Yes, this is very good amusement—lI like it!
Let’s go into the jungle again—there are plenty more of them,
and we'll kill them all!’’ upon which, roaring like a lion, and
reeking with sweat and blood, he shook his spear, and darted
into the wood again.

My wild and vacant eye fortunately fell on the form of Zela,
A YOUNGER SON. 3869

who was clinging speechless at my feet, or I should have died
or gone mad, I endeavoured to raise her, but my strength
had left me. I staggered and fell, clasping her, when for a
time I was almost insensible. Recovering, I beheld her safe,
saw the dead bodies of the tigers, and found all was quiet
near us.

“What is that?’’ I asked, pointing to the bundle of white
rags which lay close at my feet.

‘That, dearest, is the poor mahout—I fear he is dead !”

“Oh, is it only he! I thought it had been you, and that
you were now but a spirit, my elected good one; for you know, by
my new Arab creed, I am allowed two, a good one and a bad one.”

My rage was presently directed against Zela’s Arabs, who
made their appearance from the bushes, whither they had
been lured by the cubs of a leopard, one of which they had
secured, De Ruyter having shot the dam. I was infuriated at
these fellows for having put Zela’s life in jeopardy, and gave
chase to one, with the determination of shooting him. My
pistol was pointed at his breast, and I was in the act of pulling
the trigger, when a hand struck up my arm, and the pistol
was discharged in the air. I turned round, prepared to fell
the intruder with the heavy-capped butt-end of the weapon,
when the eye of Zela met mine with a glance that penetrated
my breast, and would have restored my reason, had I been
mad. In her low piercing accents, she said—

‘‘ He is our foster-brother ; our milk was the same, so must
be our blood. Let us not destroy each other. Has not the
prophet, this day, saved the remnant of our father’s house ?
It is the evil spirit, which pursued my father to his death, that
hath now descended on you! His hand is on your heart:
beware lest it shall be turned to stone. His shadow is hanging
over you, like a cloud over the sun, and makes you appear as
black, and fierce, and unforgiving as himself! ”

‘You are our Malay’s hawk, I suppose; but the black
shadow of the raven’s wing is vanished—the sun is unobscured
—the ill-omened bird has left me! I must to the jungle again.
What can have become of De Ruyter? Come, mount your
elephant: I would rather entrust you to him, than leave you
girt round by a thousand Arabs. He is a noble beast.”

24
870 ADVENTURES OF

Going up to him, I gave Zela some bread and fruit that she
might feed him. He seemed abstracted in gloomy contempla-
tion, and gazed with more than human sympathy on the
prostrate body of the dying mahout. He noticed us not; and
as his eye fell on the dead tiger, he stamped, looked fierce,
and made a trumpeting noise, as if in triumph at having
avenged his friend’s death! Then, as if remembering he had
avenged, but not saved, his ears and trunk drooped; and
though he himself was torn and bleeding, his moist and
thoughtful eye gave token that all his feelings were absorbed
in grief for him he had lost. He stood over and watched the
Arabs, who were making a sort of hurdle for the purpose of
carrying away the dying man; for his breast was torn open,
and one of his groins dreadfully mangled. The affectionate
beast refused to eat, even after the man was conveyed out of
sight. I placed the bamboo ladder against him, and Zela
mounted to the houdah: he curled his trunk round, and on
recognizing who it was, resumed his former position, and
continued to make low moans, as of anguish.

I must remark that the man for whom the elephant was
mourning, had long been his provider; and, since the death of
the mahout who was killed by the chieftain, had himself be-
come mahout. The elephant did not seem at all concerned at
the death of the Tiroon, doubtless owing to his having been a
bad and cruel master; for certainly these animals not only
have reason, but are more rational than those they serve. In
gratitude to his having saved Zela’s and my life, I would, had
it been possible, have kept, loved, and cherished him. When
we parted from him, Zela kissed him, wept, and cut off some
of the strong bristly hair near his ears, which I have ever
worn, hooped round a ring, engraven with his name.

But again I am wandering from my subject; nor can I
restrain myself. I must dwell on those occurrences, however
trifling to others, which were written on my memory thus
early. Now my brain is like a confused scrawl, crossed and
recrossed, blotted, soiled, and torn: it can contain no more,
and that which was written in after years is illegible; so that
when I come to narrate the latter events of my life, it will be
as difficult, and require as much time, toil, and patience, as
A YOUNGER SON. 371

the unrolling of the antique parchments of Herculaneum, or
the Egyptian papyri, and, like them, when decyphered, not
worth the trouble.

CHAPTER XCI.

Most wretched men
And cradled into poetry by wrong ;
They learn in suffering what they teach in song.
SHELLEY.

And now his limbs were lean, his scattered hair,
Sered by the autumn of strange suffering,
Sung dirges in the wind; his listless hand
Hung like dead bone within its withered skin ;
Life, and the lustre that consumed it, shone
As in a furnace burning secretly
From his dark eyes alone.
Ibid.

OLLECTING a party of men, I returned to the jungle in
search of De Ruyter, whose long absence alarmed me.
At last I heard his well-known voice, hallooing, and calling by
name one of his followers. On coming up to him, he inquired
anxiously after a Frenchman, his secretary, who had accom-
panied him to the jungle, and was missing. The wild animals
being now driven to the plain, we separated into parties of
twos and threes, and explored, in different directions, a wide
extent of the thicket, calling out his name, and firing musquets
to let him know where we were. But in vain; and the rapid
approach of night warning us to leave the gloomy abode of
tigers, reptiles and fever, we walked towards our tents, marvel-
ling what could have become of the Frenchman.

He was a young man whom De Ruyter, in compassion for
some misfortunes, which had happened to him at the Isle of
France, had befriended ; and, to dissipate his melancholy, had
taken him from the counting-house of De Ruyter’s agents,
where he was employed, to make this voyage, during which he
was to act as supercargo. At the first he fulfilled his duty
with exactness ; but was hardly ever out of his own cabin in
the day time, and never mingled, nor communicated with those
372 ADVENTURES OF

on board, De Ruyter excepted. THe ate little. Books and
writing, which had been, as a poet, his only solace, lost their
power to move him. He continued, for days, gloomily en-
tranced in abstracted reveries, only broken by talking, at
times, to himself, and monotonously sounding a broken guitar.
In my visits to the grab I rarely saw him ; and, being piqued
at his distant manner, I was fool enough to resent it, not dis-
criminating that he was tongue-tied from sorrow, not from
haughtiness. One day he was seated on the taffrail, his
favourite seat, and, on my asking him a question, his mind was
so abstracted that he did not hear me. Nettled at this, I made
some sarcastic comparison,—I forget what. He appeared
stung by it, but remained silent, and walked down to his cabin.
Van Scolpvelt, who heard this, told me I was very much in the
wrong. ‘For,’ said he, ‘he is a hypochondriac, and if he
follow not my advice, will assuredly go mad. As he consumes
more opium than a Chinese, he may be considered a dreaming
philosopher. In the hallucinations, produced by that drug, his
faculties are entranced. He is smitten on the brain,—he reads
and writes verses! I caught him in the act! Fools might say
he was inspired ; but I know it is the first and worst symptom
of lunacy. All other maniacs have lucid intervals; some are
curable; but the madness of poets, dogs, and musicians, is
past hope. Harth possesses no remedy, science no cure.”
That night I lay on deck waiting De Ruyter, who was on
shore. Every one, I believed, was asleep but myself. I saw
the young Frenchman come up the hatchway ; the bright light
of the moon fell on his face, and made him look more pallid
than that luminary. He walked steadily two or three times
around the deck, as if seeking some person. I thought on
Torro; and that, as I had insulted him, he might meditate
revenge. Nevertheless I lay still, with just enough of my eyes
shut, as he passed, to make him believe I slept. He regarded
me, for a moment, steadfastly. If he had held any weapon, I
should have sprung up; but his eye looked dull and heavy, and
his hands hung listlessly down. He went aft, moved one of
the shot-cases, as if going to sit down, and mounted to his
usual place, the taffrail. I still kept my eyes fixed on him,
and saw his fixed on the moon. He turned to gaze on the
A YOUNGER SON. 373

water, muttering something which I could not distinguish,
when, as if he had lost his balance, he fell into the sea. I
sprung up, awakened the sleepers nearest to me, hastened to
the spot whence he had fallen, and called out, ‘A man over-
board !—Drop the boat astern!”

The schooner lay in the grab’s wake, and the night was so
still that they heard my orders, and I heard them getting into
their boat, as I shoved off in ours. I kept steadfastly looking
at the spot where the man had sunk, around which the water
rippled and sparkled; and after a painful suspense I observed
the body, (for the sea was transparent as glass for many
fathoms,) as if suspended midway. It was bent double, with
the face downward ; the bright globular buttons on the back of
the jacket, such as are worn by dragoons, shone clearly. For-
getting every thing but the man’s danger, and knowing this
was a critical moment, I plunged in head foremost, so as to
bring myself close to him under water. I caught hold of his
arm; and the impetus, with which a good swimmer brings
himself up, brought us both to the surface. I then en-
deavoured by shifting my gripe, to lift his head from the water ;
but his body was rigidly bent, and so extraordinarily heavy,
that, notwithstanding the violent exertions I made to keep
myself afloat, and the unruffled surface of the sea in my
favour, I swallowed so much water that I was half water-
logged myself. About to let him go, in order to preserve
myself, the schooner’s boat reached me an oar; missing that,
she passed over us, and forced me under water. However, in
imminent peril of drowning, I retained hold of the body. Two
men from the boat plunged in, when the young Frenchman, to
our surprise, became almost buoyant. We were then all
hauled into the boat, and returned to the grab with our rescued
man, who shewed no signs of life.

Sick, cramped, with a head as if bursting, I was accosted by
Van, who felt my pulse, and said, ‘‘ You are in need of medi-
cine; and sea-water is very good for a strong stomach. But
you were injudicious in exhibiting so large a dose. I never
prescribe more than a tumbler full, to be taken fasting every
day, A.M.”

“Go, doctor, and look at your patient below. If I have
374 ADVENTURES OF

gulped a barrel, you'll find he has swallowed a butt, and must
bulge, if you don’t bear a hand and bale him out.”

“‘ How long was he in the water?”

“T can’t say ;—it seemed to me an hour.”

“No,” said the Rais; ‘I turned the minute glass six
times.”

“Oh!” replied Van, ‘you need not then have been so
impatient. You may safely remain under water for twenty
minutes, provided I am at hand to restore you. Come,—you
shall see.”

Down he stalked into the cabin, where he caused the body
to be stripped and laid on a table. Then by means of external
warmth, friction, and an artificial inflation of the lungs, faint
symptoms of returning life appeared. Louis, who stood by
with his stone bottle, now placed it to the man’s mouth, and
was about to drench him, but Van indignantly pushed it away.
Nevertheless Louis pertinaciously insisted on it ever after that
he, not the doctor, had saved the man’s life, by allowing him
to inhale the aroma of the skedam. A small bottle of ether
was placed to the man’s nose, and afterwards a few drops,
diluted, were poured down his throat; but it was some hours
before he opened his eyes, or moved his limbs.

But to shorten my story, he recovered; and we ascertained
that his design had been to drown himself; that he had taken
two double headed cannon shot from the case which lay aft,
ready for service, and, with one in each hand, by way of ballast,
had dropped himself overboard, having previously assured
himself that we were all asleep. From this time forth he sunk
into the gloomiest despair, totally indifferent to every thing.
He neither spoke, nor ate, unless at De Ruyter’s entreaty, and
then merely to be rid of his importunity. His aversion to me
(since I had saved his life,) appeared to be the only feeling left
him. He scowled at me, as in abhorrence, when accident,
which seldom occurred, brought us near each other.

It was about a month after this event that we set out for the
tiger hunt, when he applied for permission to accompany us,
which De Ruyter gladly gave him. -He had followed in the
rear of our party, and seemed to dread being noticed. It was
strictly enjoined by De Ruyter, who himself never lost sight of
A YOUNGER SON. 375

him, that he should in no way be molested, or intruded on.
When we arrived at the hunting-ground, he was more observant
and wakeful; I thought he even looked cheerful. On entering
the jungle, there was a strange brightness in his eyes, a quick-
ness in his movements. Instead of his wonted scowl, or
shudder, and averted look, as I passed him, he appeared as if
going to address me, and smiled, with kindness beaming in his
aspect. He stood by De Ruyter, when he and I backed into
the first tiger’s lair; and, though armed with a carbine, he did
not attempt to use it. This carbine was afterwards found near
the place. During the confusion which ensued he must have
withdrawn himself, as from that moment he could not be
traced, nor was he ever after heard of.

‘“‘T have reason to believe,” said De Ruyter to me, ‘from
some expressions that dropped from him, that, having pledged
his word not to offer violence to himself again, while we were
seeking tigers to destroy, he sought them to be destroyed.
When urging him against self-destruction, after you had
rescued him, he answered me querulously, and half ab-
stractedly, “Am I a doomed slave, that I cannot dispose of
my own body, now that it is a burthen? Why should that
fierce Englishman, who destroys every thing opposing him, and
delights in cutting off those who cling to life, drag me from my
quiet rest under the sea? The coral rocks seemed soft as her
bosom! I thought I was sleeping on her lap in heaven!
Then that devil brought me back to this hell here,—to mea
tenfold one! There is no quiet but in death; and they have
all conspired to keep me, that loathe life, living. But I will
defeat their malice,—yet keep my promise !”’

For three days we continued our hunting in the jungle, and
amidst the ruins, more excited by the hope of ascertaining the
fate of the young Frenchman, than by the sport. Indeed
the greater portion of the tigers had abandoned this part of
the wood; and the accidents, which had occurred, had
sobered our enthusiasm. The mysterious disappearance of a
person we are interested in impels us strangely on to undergo
any toil, or sacrifice, which we fancy may clear it up; but
our rsearch was fruitless. Except the carbine, we could neither
discover the youth, nor any rag, nor thing that had been his.
376 ADVENTURES OF

There was, indeed, afterwards, the strongest positive evi-
dence, if men’s oaths are to be believed (which I, for one,
discredit), that the suicide-spirit haunted the grab. His
complaints were heard muttering in the wind; his shadowy
form rested on the taffrail; and, if any one was hardy enough
to approach, it plunged into the sea, and followed in the ship’s
wake, struggling in vain to sink under the surface. The sailors
moreover asserted, on their oaths, that he was no living man,
when he was first entered on board, that the captain should
never have placed him on the ship’s books, and that he would
pursue them till his body was buried. De Ruyter told me he
could not yet get the fellows aft to the main boom at night,
and had several times nearly lost it, and had his vessel
endangered by their superstition.

CHAPTER XCII.

Alas! what drove him mad ¢
* * * * I cannot say.
A lady came with him from France, and when
She left him, * * he wandered then
About yon lonely isles of desert sand,
Till he grew wild.
SHELLEY.

Love, jealous grown of so complete a pair,

Hover’d and buzz’d his wings, with fearful roar,

Above the lintel of their chamber door,

And down the passage cast a glow upon the floor.
Kats.

HE history of this youth I learnt from De Ruyter. His
agent in the Isle of France had written to Europe for
French clerks ; and some time after, two young persons landed
with a recommendation to him. They called themselves
brothers, which was warranted by a strong family resem-
blance. The elder was seemingly under twenty, and the
other much younger; both handsome, gentle, and strikingly
elegant, but the younger more particularly so, being likewise
delicate and effeminate in appearance and manner. An apart-
A YOUNGER SON, 377

ment was assigned to them in the merchant's house. The
elder knew very little of business when he came out, the
younger less; their employer was vexed at this, but their
unremitting attention and fidelity soon reconciled him to
them, till, by application, they became admirable accountants.
They were inseparable, shunning all intercourse with others,
and were utterly different from the young men he had ever
seen. For this conduct they gave plausible reasons; the
delicate health of the younger, their being orphans, and the
injunction of their dying parents.

A malignant fever, then ripe in the country, seized on the
younger, and the other never quitted him. For change of air
they were removed out of the merchant’s house, in Port St.
Louis, to a villa. Not having seen or heard of them for some
days, the merchant walked out one evening to visit them. On
approaching the villa, he was alarmed at observing, though it
was then the hottest time of the year, and the coolest of the
day, the place shut up, silent, and apparently abandoned.
After calling and knocking many times, he forced open a back
window, and entered the house. Hearing a low moaning noise
in a room over his head, he went upstairs, listened at the door,
called the brothers by name, received no answer, tried the
door, and found it was secured. He procured instruments,
and broke it open. The brothers lay on a mattress on the
floor, locked fast in each other’s embraces. He thought them
both dead ; yet having so recently heard the voice of one, he
examined them more closely; and uncovering the bodies for
that purpose, he was amazed at discovering the younger to
be a woman. She had been dead some time. The lover, who
was a strong, athletic youth, just on the verge of complete
manhood, exhibited faint signs of life.

Examining the room, the merchant found a sealed paper
addressed to him, the contents of which deeply affected him,
and solved the mystery. It there appeared that the youth,
unable to endure the loss of his beloved, and his disease not
destroying him as speedily as he desired (for he -too had
caught the fever), had swallowed poison—opium, that, as in
life, so in death their spirits might be inseparable. The
merchant, gifted with presence of mind and knowledge, even-
378 ADVENTURES OF

tually restored the youth to life; the violence of passion
neutralizing, or, at least, diminishing the effect of the opium.
Still, the poison, or grief, the most subtle of destroyers, had
penetrated the brain, and he was, for some months, in a state.
of mental oblivion. Time and care restored his faculties ; but
the body and mind refused their mental succour, and warred
against each other. While the mind lay torpid, the body
gained strength; but, on resuming its faculties, it preyed on
the body. Sunk into misery and despondency, he was a mere
shadow, and wandered, during the darkness, like a phantom.
The man of bales and ships’ bottoms fortunately retained
touches of humanity, and did all he could to obliterate, or
mitigate such sorrow. But it lay too deep for the surgeon’s
probe, the leech’s drug, or a friend’s sympathy. As a last
hope, De Ruyter embarked him on board the grab, thinking,
if anything could stir him, it would be our bustling and ever
varying life.

The letter left by the youth, previously to his taking the
opium, explained every thing. They were of a noble family.
The young lady had been educated in a convent in Paris,
founded for the incarceration of the younger daughters of
those proud, unnatural, aristocratic parents, who, to defeat
the wise and just ordination of the law of France, by which
property is equally apportioned, consign their last offspring to
living graves, that they may be robbed of their birth-right.
The youth gained admittance there, privileged by tiestof con-
sanguinity. Their love was known, for it had grown from
youth, though circumstances had separated them. They saw
each other, after the lapse of years, when the innocent love
of childhood burst into a fierce and uncontrollable passion.
Possibly the vestal sisters dreamed not of love’s finding an
entrance into their holy asylum, much less of what that love
might lead to. Besides, love was forbidden there.

‘The walls are high; the gates are strong ; thick set
The sentinels; but true love never yet
Was thus constrained.”’

Escape was contrived in disguise, and executed. They
reached Havre de Grace. A Dutch skipper, bribed with all
A YOUNGER SON. 379

their wealth, concealed them in his ship. The Argus-eyed
police of France was in motion. They were traced, an em-
bargo was laid on the port, and every vessel searched, from
her truck to her kelston. The skipper knew the consequences
of detection, the least of which was restitution of the gold
and jewels he had received; while the dread of fine and
imprisonment sharpened his wit, and inspired him with
cunning, surpassing that of the police. Whilst the embargo
continued, and during the heat of the scrutiny on board the
ships in the port, he concealed the lovers, whom he believed to
be the sons of a conscript of rank, in the vaults of his own
smuggling agent. On the vessel’s being allowed to leave the
port, he re-shipped them, and most providentially, headed
them for security in two casks, stowed on deck; for (whether
from any suspicion of this particular vessel, or that it was a
general practice, is not mentioned), when the Dutchman had
got his vessel under weigh, he was boarded by the police
agents, and the search renewed with augmented rigour. It
was then that a police officer took the bung out of the cask, in
which the girl was concealed, and passed his sword in it,
grazing her bosom; while the skipper carelessly observed,
“Tt’s only an empty water cask!’ Love, which gives to
the gentlest heart the courage of a hero, enabled her to
endure this desperate ordeal in silence.

Thus they eluded the searchers, and escaped to Holland,
friendless and destitute. The skipper, fearing discovery, and
judging from circumstances which had transpired, during the
search of the police, that this was not a common case, and
that he had risked more than he had bargained for, became
extremely uneasy on the subject, anxiously seeking to remove
every trace that could implicate him. He knew he had been
deceived, but could by no threats or wiles draw from them
who or what they really were. At that time the Dutch were
employing every means to induce adventurers to go out to
their Indian settlements ; and our smuggling skipper was one
of their agents. The youth proposed that he should procure
them situations in one of those settlements, to which he
instantly listened, and wondered he had never thought of
proposing it himself. To his great joy they were shipped
380 ADVENTURES OF

for the Isle of France, recommended to the merchant’s
house already mentioned; and the skipper, in addition to
what he had previously pocketed, realised a handsome
premium for procuring two promising and well-educated
volunteers. He knew he had little to fear from their being
heard of again.

I have been thus minute in setting down this Frenchman’s
history, as it was the first instance, which I had met with, or
which had been related to me in an authenticated shape, of
one of that nation loving anything in the world so dearly as
himself.

CHAPTER XCIII.

Who would suppose, from Adam’s simple ration,
That cookery could have called forth such resources,
As form a science and a nomenclature

From out the commonest demands of nature ?

There was a goodly soup. i
YRON.

HIS excursion having detained us much longer than we

had intended, we returned with all possible haste to the

place whence we had started, and embarked, having the

satisfaction to find all right on board our vessels, and the
schooner nearly ready for sea.

I had brought De Ruyter intelligence, among other news
from his agents at Pulo Penang, of an expedition fitting out
by the English, destined to attack the pirates at Sambes on
this island. The marauders were very numerous there, and
had committed great havoc on the Company’s private trade,
both by sea and land; for, like the Court of Chancery, they
endeavoured to get all property into their keeping. It was
determined to attempt the annihilation of—not the Court of
Chancery, but—the comparatively harmless pirates, during
the season they were congregated together, weather-bound in
their port of Sambos. De Ruyter resolved to defeat the expedi-
tion, and, but for the crippled state of the schooner, I was to
be immediately despatched in search of French cruisers, to
give them intelligence, and combine measures for an attack on
A YOUNGER SON. 381

the Company’s force by sea. That not having been possible,
De Ruyter laid his plans, to aid the natives on shore, to whom
he pledged his assistance.

At length I took in my wood and water on board the
schooner, and sailed for Java, with letters and instructions
from De Ruyter. On the same day he took his departure for
Sambos. I lent him a party of my men, and two brass guns.
Thus we again separated. My commission was to deliver
despatches to the governor of Batavia, to purchase stores and
provisions, and to meet the grab again, without loss of time,
at our appointed rendezvous. Louis went with me as negotiator
for the victualling department.

Nothing particular occurred during my run to Java except
the capture, or rather recapture, (for she had been previously
taken by an English man-of-war,) of a small Spanish vessel,
belonging to merchants at the Philippine Islands, loaded with
camphor, and the celebrated edible birds’ nests. There were
only six English sailors and a midshipman in charge of her,
although so valuable a prize; consequently she could attempt
no resistance.

A short time before this, an English man-of-war brig had
captured, off the Philippine Islands, a Spanish vessel, con-
taining a cargo of this sea-slug. On the English officer's
boarding her, and asking what she was loaded with, the
Spaniards truly answered, ‘ Birds’ nests.” John Bull, whose
ship had recently entered the Chinese seas, with gaping
wonder exclaimed, ‘‘ Birds’ nests! What, you rascals, do
you take me for a spoony greenhorn? Birds’ nests! ll
birds’-nest you, you lubberly liars! Off with the hatch. °
ways!”

Accordingly the hold of the vessel was searched, and the
English sailors were dumbfounded at discovering nothing but
sacks of stinking, dirty, muddy-looking swallows’ nests, such
as they had seen sticking under the eaves of houses. They still
thought this slimy compost was merely placed as a skreen or
cover, to shelter something more valuable and threw a great
portion of it overboard, in order to arrive at the treasure
below—chuckling, and treating the Spaniards with derision,
the Jack-tars cutting many witticisms on Spanish sailors going
382 ADVENTURES OF

a birds’-nesting. They cleared down to her kelston, and
searched into every nook in vain. Their officer, on his return
to the brig, gave the commander an account of what the
Spaniards had told him, and that he had verified it with his
own eyes; upon which there was a general laugh throughout
the ship. ‘‘ However,” quoth the greenhorn commander, ‘the
vessel is Spanish, and we must keep her. Though she is but
in ballast, her hull is worth something. They must have been
hard up for shingle, where they come from, to put sludge in,
her,—and in bags !”’

He then gave orders that a midshipman, and three or four
of his worst men, should take charge of her, and run her into
the nearest port. One rational thing he did was to remove
the Spanish prisoners to his own brig, or they would have
soon retaken her. Thus he left her, and it was not till he
himself put into a Chinese port, and accidentally mentioned
this occurrence, as a joke against the Spaniards, that he learnt
the value of the prize. The edible birds’ nests were at that
time selling in the Chinese market at thirty-two Spanish
dollars a kattie; so that, on a computation of the quantity
in the vessel, she was worth from eighty to ninety thousand
pounds; and he, poor devil, that had served twenty years
without clearing twenty pounds prize-money, would have made
a fortune. He raged, and stormed, and went to sea again
to look after her. He offered up prayers, for the first time
in his life, for her safe arrival in port. But it was otherwise
decreed ; the few lubberly fellows he had put on board of her,
were not sufficient to work her, and she was wrecked on the
coast of China. A galleon of gold-dust would not have been
such a windfall to the Chinese as was this cargo of sea-slug.
The news spread like wildfire through the country that a vessel
had stranded on their coast, containing incalculable wealth.
The timid Chinese forgot their fears, and, regardless of winds
and seas, rushed through the foaming surf, trampled the
strong over the weak, brother over brother, all hurrying on
board the wreck ; which was so effectually pillaged, that she
was left floating like an empty tea-chest, not a grain of her
cargo being left sticking to her ribs. During the scramble
in the water, and on the wreck—for every handful was fought
A YOUNGER SON. 383

for—many lives were lost; and the coast, for several miles
round was in anarchy and confusion for a long time after.

The capturer of the prize I retook was of the same class
of well-informed officers. I had more care of her; and, for
security, took my prize in tow. Louis entreated that he might
go on board of her as prize-agent; declaring that the only
thing he wished was to perfect himself in the mystery of con-
cocting that savoury and glutinous soup, secundum artem,
so famous in China, that they have a proverb there, which
says that if the spirit of life were departing from the nostrils,
and the odour of this soup were to salute them, the spirit
would reanimate the clay, knowing there is no luxury in para-
dise to eompare with it. ‘‘ Besides,’ added Louis, “ should
T introduce this delicious restorative into Europe, and the no
less renowned Chinese arrack-punch, I shall be more deservedly
famous than Van Tromp, or the Prince of Orange,—and I will
be!”

_ With these ambitious and glorious aspirations, Louis le
Grand, in conjunction with a Chinese cook, went to work,
heart and hand; and in the middle of a dark night, off a lee-
shore, he hailed me to heave-to, and send a boat, that he
might bring me a sample of his triumphant success. He came
with it; and, though not at that time, I have tasted this dish.
It is certainly a voluptuous relish, but too glutinously rich for
any stomach like mine, accustomed to simple fare. In addi-
tion to the slimy composition of the nest, which, when dis-
solved, is like brown jelly, or melted glue, there were the
sinews of deer, the feet of pigs, the fins of young sharks, the
brawny part of a pig’s head, with plovers’ eggs, mace, cinna-
mon, and red peppers. Turtle soup is tasteless after it; and
it is a marvel that the numerous gastronomic votaries of
Europe have not made this superlative offering to their palates.
They are to blame.
384 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER XCIV.

But I am Pestilence; hither and thither

I flit about that I may slay and smother :

All lips that I have kiss’d must surely wither,

But Death’s,—if thou art he, we’ll go to work together.
SHELLEY.

Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies,
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despair,
Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Keats.

TOUCHED at one of the Barlie Islands, which lay in my
course, but could get little else there but a couple of sacks
of Chinese tobacco, which is excellent. While haggling about
the price, I was playing with a pretty, slim, Malay child.
“Come,” said the mother, ‘‘ give me the gold more, and you
shall have the tobacco, the four fowls, the basket of eggs, the
fruit, and my eldest-born child into the bargain,—as you seem
to like her.”

I threw down the gold coin, told the men to take the things
into the boat, and led away the girl, about eight years old,
giving her some fruit to eat, and pice to play with, while
neither she nor the affectionate parent exchanged a look of
sorrow at parting. The little thing accompanied me on board,
perfectly enchanted with her new abode. I gave her to Zela;
and in my own mind, lauded the mother, who exhibited so
strong a proof of not being influenced by those narrow and
illiberal prejudices, which prevail in Europe. All nature
teaches us that when the offspring are weaned, and can walk,
they ought no longer to be an incumbrance; dogs abandon
their puppies, the cow her calf, the ewe her lamb, and christian
mothers who are enlightened, abandon their cubs, doubtless
prompted by their superior natural instinct. Truly the Malay
mother went a step beyond them in making a profit of her
produce. In justice to European parents, I must say, at least
I believe, they have good sense enough, and certainly know
the value of gold well enough, not to throw away that which,
had they known of an Hastern market, could have been turned
A YOUNGER SON. 385

to profit. But in this, like the English commander with the
birds’ nests, they are greenhorns.

France and Holland were then united under the same dic-
tatorship. Arrived at Batavia, the capital of Java, I was well
received by the governor, a Dutch officer. Having delivered
my despatches, he ordered the authorities under him to afford
me every facility in refitting and provisioning my vessel; and
advised me to lose no time in the port, and to communicate
as little as possible with the shore, on account of the cholera-
morbus, which was then prevailing. The merchants of the
Dutch factory were so officiously hospitable and kind, that
they bored me to death with offers of houses, and invitations to
feasting and gormandizing. De Ruyter was their hero; and
the evident unlimited confidence he reposed in me, the large
sums I was commissioned to negotiate, and the power I pos-
sessed of expending what sum or sums I pleased, had a magical
effect. Besides, I had established a private stock of fame, and a
name, which served my purpose very well, and passed current for
what I then wanted ; though detraction has since analysed—
not it, but what malignity asserts it was,—and declared the
coin was base, and that the stamper of the die deserved a
halter,—assertions proceeding from sheer envy and malice.
As for gold, I had not then acquired those artificial wants
which it can supply.

“ Our simple life wants little, and true taste
Hires not the pale drudge, luxury, to waste
The scene it would adorn.”’

Neither was I born with gentlemanly appetites, but, as Louis
said, lived more like a “nigur” than a Christian. Like
Michael Cassio I had unhappy brains for drinking ; my nature
was too inflammable, tamely to bear the spur of wine in
excess. Feasting and swilling, amidst the sweltering and
unclean slaves of the mouth, I ever held in Brahminical
abhorrence. I therefore shunned the hospitable board of the
merchants, expediting my business with them, impatient to
regain my own little cabin, which, containing Zela, was
spacious enough for all the treasure I possessed or coveted.
We were greedy and insatiable in our love, and required little
25
386 ADVENTURES OF

else. We feasted on the same bunch of grapes, a shadock,
or a sun-cleft pomegranate. We drank from the same cup,
and sat on the same mat. Excess of love was my only excess;
and, either from love or temperance in diet, I acquired strength
and hardiness, proof against sickness, resisting all contagion.
Whilst others writhed and suffered from scratches, the deepest
wounds healed with me, unaided by the surgeon; and the
cholera-morbus, now raging and destroying with a virulence
only to be equalled by the plague, could not penetrate my
strong and healthful frame.

The Europeans, both on board and on shore, declared that
the sole effectual preservative was, what they called, living
well, and drinking freely ; that the fever was like a blustering
bully ;—

“He was a coward to the strong,
He was a tyrant to the weak.”’

I acquiesced in this doctrine, but differed in the premises. They
averred that the stimulant of fiery drink was the method of
keeping up the languid circulation, the quantity not specified.
Water, fruit, rice, vegetables, and all crude substances were
interdicted as the worst of poisons. Yet I pursued this diet,
and so did my native crew, and we lived; while the Europeans
followed their system, and died like murrained sheep. Vessels
in the harbour were driven on shore, for want of hands to
secure them ; others, freighted, could not muster strength to
weigh their anchors. A French and a Dutch ship of war,
under sailing orders, were in such a state, that they could not
leave the port, much less work their ships at sea. If the
disease could have been fended off by free living, the European
portion of my crew would have been fever-proof. Yet it not
only boarded us, but had the audacity to fall foul, exclusively,
of the hardy sons of the north, while it respected its own
progeny, the children of the sun.
A YOUNGER SON. 387

CHAPTER XCV.

A mist arose, as from a scummy marsh :
At this, through all his bulk, an agony
Crept gradual, from the feet unto the crown,
Like a lithe serpent vast and muscular
Making slow way, with head and neck convuls’d
From over-strained might.

Keats.

8 if to decide the question of diet, the contagion by one
fell blow, by one signal example, aimed his shaft at the
head and prime organ of his vaunting defiers, and struck
Louis. If eating and drinking could have warded off disease,
he might have been immortal. He gormandized likea vulture,
and on such dainty and nutritive bits, that a whale’s liver
would not have produced more oil, or an ox’s ribs more
tallow than Louis le Grand. As to drink, his throat and
stomach must have been lined with something as fire-proof as
asbestos, or they could not have resisted the burning liquid
which he had for so many years insatiably poured down,
enough to wear out a dozen copper funnels. From the time
the fatal malady commenced its havoc on board the schooner,
every hour the ship’s glass was turned, and the bell was
struck ; Louis marked the time by calling out,—‘‘ Boy! don’t
you know the glass is turned, and the fever come on board ?
Bring the stone bottle to keep him out!” upon which he turned
a glass down his coppers. Arnold’s chronometer in the cabin
kept not better time than Louis with his bottle. So unerring
was his palate, that if, by error or neglect, the bell was not
struck punctually, he never failed to call out,—‘ Boy, the
bottle !’’ when, if the urchin pleaded that the bell had not
struck, Louis vociferated,—‘‘ Then it should have done so ;—
’tis more than a minute past the hour; tumble up, you idle
sea-calf,—give me the bottle!’’ At last he exclaimed, ‘ Ha!
you young scorpion, «what have you been at?—sucking the
bottle, and then bulling it with bilge-water? Why, this is not
out of my locker; this is beastly stuff,—would make a sea-
horse sick.”’
The boy asserted it was the same he had always drunk,
388 ADVENTURES OF

when Louis waxed wroth, dashed the liquor in his face, and
was about to rope’s-end him. ‘“ Hold!” said I, ‘let me smell
it, Louis. Come, I'll swear it’s all right.”

“What!” he replied, ‘‘ don’t I know my own skedam ?—the
devil himself could never deceive me in that, since I was five
years old! Van Siilpke, the great spirit-merchant of Amster-
dam declared I could ascertain, better than his spirit-proof,
the strength and quality of his liquors; and, besides, I’ve
swallowed as much as would float the schooner,—haven’t I?”
Here Louis paused, and shewed evident signs of sickness.

““Damned devil-boy!” he went on; ‘he has been sucking
the bottle, and filled it up with physic,—and I can’t abide
doctor’s stuff! Bring another bottle, devil, thief, liar !”’

Another bottle was brought, and he tasted it; but the
hitherto genial fluid had lost its flavour on his palate. He
spat, and sputtered, and pushed the bottle from him. I
observed also that he removed a fresh-lighted pipe from his
mouth; and, thinking there must be really something the
matter with him, I got up and went over to him. The glow-
worm sparkle of his small eager eye was dimmed, his lips were
white and frothy, the lower jaw hung down, his head was
drooping, and his hands were elenched. ‘ Holloa, old Louis,
what's the matter? Are you ill?”

“Tll!—no, I’m never ill,—I’m only sickish. That damned
stuff is like poison in me!’ As he said this he made a strong
effort to rouse himself.

‘“Come,” I replied, ‘‘ you are ill. Go out of the sun, and lie
down aft.”

“No, captain, ’m not such a fool as to be ill. I was never
sick like this except once, in the South Seas, at the Island of
Otaheite, when those—what do you call them ?—missionaries
came aboard to preachify with the crew, and cheat them of
their dollars. Like a great fool, I went ashore with them, and
they gave me some cursed stuff they called gin,—such blas-
phemy I never heard! At first when they told me they had
set up a great distillery of gin, I thought them very useful,
clever, good men ; for you know, captain, any nation might be
converted by hollands;—but this was the unchristianest,
beastliest liquor I ever tasted, and it made me—as I feel now.
A YOUNGER SON. 889

Yet the foolish, idiot-people of the island think it very good,
because it makes them mad-drunk, and they believe Heaven
sent it; but it made me believe the devil had got amongst
them.”

Louis broke off his story by complaining of pains all over his
body, his head and stomach. I loved Louis, and saw with
grief the ravage which the envenomed and ghastly destroyer
was tracing on his broad and honest face. | led him down to
my own cabin, placed him on my couch, and charged the
gentle Zela (who Louis declared was too kind and good to be a
woman,) to nurse him, and, if aught human could, to avert the
evil power, whose armed hand I beheld striking at his life.
But it was written ; and the stern decrees of fate, who can
turn aside? He struggled convulsively, and foamed, and raved,
and then sank into idiotic insensibility, moaning and muttering
incoherent words. As the day dawned, (from long habit, out-
living both strength of body and mind,) he said, in faint but
clear accents, the first intelligible sentence he had spoken for
many hours,—‘‘ Boy! bring the bottle!” The wearied and
dozing boy raised himself from the cabin deck, on which he had
sunk, overworn with watching, staggered across the cabin to
perform his first diurnal duty for years, and groped at the
accustomed locker for the stone bottle. I asked Louis how he
was. ‘Hot! very hot, and thirsty !—my body is burning hot,
parched up, dry as ashes, not a drop of moisture. Why, I am
in an oven!—Boy ! the bottle!”

I could not resist the supplicating look of his eye, and the
trembling eagerness of his hand as he grasped at the glass,
which the boy, now thoroughly awakened, held out; but the
instant the spirit, which he used to declare was the spirit of
life, had touched his white and clammy lips, he shrunk from it,
and dashed it from him as if it had been a scorpion. Then,
looking wild with horror around, he cried out, ‘‘Oh! God!
God! I pray for a sea of water, and a thousand devils all bring
me fire! Oh! I am in fire and flame.”

He continued alternately raving and silently insensible till
about noon, when the boy came to tell me he wasasleep. So
rapid and fierce had been the fever, giving no respite, that my
mind misgave me, and I went down into the cabin. I shuddered
890 ADVENTURES OF

as I beheld him: the distorted features, pinched and puckered
up, expanded nostrils, glassy and half-closed eye, the pallid
hue of his skin touched and streaked with blue, the ghastly
and collapsed hand, and nerveless arm hanging down, all
indicated that he had struck his flag to the grisly pirate-king.
Death’s gray banner hung drooping over him. I held a mirror
to his livid lips,—there was not a breath to stain it. Decay
too, as if not brooking an instant’s reprieve, had begun its
work, ere the spark of fire, which animated his clay, was
extinguished. Scarcely had I time, while standing over him,
to brush away the moisture gathering on my eyelids with the
back of my hand, when the doctor of the frigate, who stood by
me, putting his hand on my arm, said: ‘‘ Are you deaf, cap-
tain? Don’t you hear me? I tell you, if you won’t cast the
body overboard immediately, yours will be prey for the dog-
fish to-morrow.”

“What!” I exclaimed, ‘‘ the warm-hearted, honest, kind,
and jovial Louis, the life of the ship’s company, the best
servant man ever had, food for dog-fish and sharks—thrown
overboard like a rotten sheep, ere we are certain that life has
totally abandoned him! Feel,—he is yet warm ! it shall not be
done !”’

CHAPTER XCVI.

And even and morn,
With their hammocks for coffins, the seamen aghast,
Like dead men, the dead limbs of their comrades cast
Down the deep.
SHELLEY.

ee doctor returned to his ship. At the expiration of a few
hours I was convinced the advice he gave, thoughit sounded
harshly at the time, was nevertheless true and good; for the
decomposition was miraculously rapid, and the atmosphere of
the vessel, previously insufferably close, became tainted. It
would have been unsafe, a few hours later, to approach the
body ; so I gave orders to have it sewed up in a hammock, the
sailor’s coffin, with a couple of heavy shot secured at the
A YOUNGER SON. 391

lower extremities. Then, having lowered it in a boat, and
covered it with a flag of his country for a pall, I pulled far
outside of the harbour to sink it, in compliance with an order
that no corpse was to be buried in or near the port. I would
have read the burial-service over him, if such a thing as a
book of prayer could have been procured; but priests and
prayer-books were scarce articles,—indeed not to be come at
on board the schooner; and if wandering souls are bored in
the other world for passports, as they are in a great part of
this, I pity them. We fired three volleys over the remains of
Louis, and committed the body to the deep. Watching it, as
it sunk, with a heavy heart, I gave the order to pull the boat’s
bow round, and give way on board; when, with my eyes fixed
on the rippling, which broke the glassy surface of the sea, I
muttered, ‘‘Poor Louis! poor Louis! I would give the world
to have thee here ag ha! what’s that? Lie on your oars!”
The men turned round, and altogether exclaimed, ‘‘ By God !
he is up again!”

And so it was. My musing had been interrupted by behold-
ing the body rise on the surface, like a spar, which had been
hurled in the sea end foremost from a height, when the
reaction sends it back again, almost into the air, and then it
lies floating on the waters. The boat was crowded with men,
anxious to see the last of him by attending his funeral, for he
was a general favourite. We were all so astonished, that the
cause of this re-appearance, to wit,—the shot not being pro-
perly secured from falling out,—never once occurred to any of
us. We pulled round and hurried back to the spot, as eagerly
as if it were to rescue a drowning comrade. Indeed some of
the crew were for hauling the body into the boat, to examine if
it was not re-animated. On discovering that the ballast had
escaped from the lashings, we were at a stand-still what to do.
To leave the body afloat is sacrilege among sailors, as depriv-
ing it of Christian burial. We had nothing but the boat’s iron
grapnel, heavy enough for the purpose; so we were obliged to
expend it. This was securely lashed, and the body again
sank, every one, I believe, anticipating its re-appearance ; for,
as one of the old man-of-war’s men sagely and oraculously
observed: “I’ll be damned if all the anchors in the dock-yard

 
892 ADVENTURES OF

of Portsmouth would moor that Dutch dogger under water ;
because as how he never let that stuff enter his scuppers in his
life, and it arn’t natural to him, howsomever, though he be
dead.”

T had laid the schooner as far on the outside of the port as
our convenience and security would permit, to be away from
the noxious vapours of the land, and to have as much benefit
from the sea-breeze as possible. Yet the malady was spread-
ing on board; the symptoms of illness, and, as it turned out,
the rapidity of dissolution, being nearly similar to poor Louis’s.
During a great part of the night I was attending to the sick ;
and afterwards I was kept awake revolving in my mind what
was best to be done in order to avert the pestilence from
spreading ;—whether it was not advisable, leaving my business
unfinished, instantly to proceed to some other port for pro-
visions, fearful, if I delayed it, that the alternative of moving
or staying would not be left to my decision. My drunken
docter had deserted me; at any other period I should have
been glad of it, but I had not yet succeeded in finding another.
I had few medicines, and was unlearned in their use; though
De Ruyter had taken pains to instruct me in so important a
part of my duty. Hight of the crew were very ill. After con-
sulting with the two mates, we came to this conclusion,—to cut
and run as soon as daylight appeared. I then retired, harassed
and exhausted, to reeruit my strength by sleep.

At daybreak the man-of-war’s man, to whom I alluded on
the previous evening, came down in the cabin, and, disturbing
me from a heavy sleep, said, ‘‘ Captain, he’s afloat again, and
alongside. Is he to come.aboard, Sir?”

Rubbing my glued eye-lids, I answered, “‘ Yes,—let him
come aboard. Who is it?”

“Why, it be he, Sir.”

“He! Who?”

‘‘The steward, Sir!”

“Steward! What steward?”

““Old Louis, Sir.”

I shook myself, and jumped up, to be certain I was awake ;
and the mate continued with, “ Didn’t I say as how, Sir, he
won’t Jay moored under water ?”
A YOUNGER SON. 393

Accompanying him on deck, he pointed out the canvas
shrouded body of Louis lying across the schooner’s bow,
seemingly supported by the cable. The men all pressed
forward to gaze in wonder and awe. At this apparently
miraculous second re-appearance, I was really as much
astounded as the crew. The grapnel had been securely
lashed, and had often held the boat in a swell, while there
had been neither sea nor wind during the night. On examina-
tion the mystery was explained: the ground-sharks had been
at work, and, by dragging and tearing, had torn the hammock
apart to get at the body, which was horribly mauled, and from
which a leg had been separated, the canvass having protected
the upper part. J now resolved to inter the remains on shore;
but they were offensive to handle, and I had no planks for a
coffin. After some hesitation, I could contrive nothing better
than to tow the body ashore, and inter it in a deep hole,
prepared by the second mate, in the sand, above high-water
mark. ‘For,’ said he, ‘‘if he feels the water touch him, call
me a land-lubber if he don’t slip his cable, get under weigh
again, make sail, and get alongside of us, wheresomever we
may be; so I'll give him a dry, snug berth.” As this was
undeniable, we parbuckled Louis into his shore-grave ; and,
to make assurance doubly sure, we hauled the broken bottom
of a wrecked boat, which lay near the spot, to cover the grave
with it, so that either from above or below, he was secured
against water.

CHAPTER XCVII.

Tis true they are a lawless brood,
But rough in form, nor mild in mood ;
And every creed, and every race,
With them hath found—may find a place.
ByRon.

REPARATORY to going to sea, I called on the governor,
and merchants with whom I had business, obtained my
clearances, paid my bills and port-charges, had my papers
signed, &c., &c. ; then loading a couple of shore-boats with all
394 ADVENTURES OF

the fresh provisions I could lay my hands on, I returned on
board, fired a gun, and hoisted the signal for sailing.

We had been in port only four days, during which there
had been a dead calm. The town, like Venice, is intersected
by canals, which, being receptacles for all the filth of the
crowded population of the place, mud and dead dogs were
dammed up at the outlets, and this was the principal cause of
the sickness. The interior of the island, and the mountains
close to the town, were and are very healthy; but the town
itself is almost annually ravaged by what is, par excellence,
called the Java fever. The young, strong, and florid-com-
plexioned were generally the first attacked, and the soonest
despatched. The great feeders and fat-buttocked never
escaped. I loathe greasy and haunchy brutes as Moses and
Mahomet loathed swine, and rejoice in their extermination
—all except honest, honest Louis, whose warm heart no
mounds of suet could impede in its free beating, or choke its
generous impulses. Gout, apoplexy, dropsy, and the stone, I
laud, respect, and salute with my hat off; for they are, in
their nature, radicals, the fierce slayers of kings and priests,
the grasping wealthy, and the greedy glutton. When the
parson robs the poor cottager of his corn and tithe-pigs,
though his conscience may never prick him, his great toe often
does ; and the porkling never ceases to grunt within him, till,
incorporated on his ribs, or laying fast hold on his throat, he
exhibits apodictical indications of apoplexy. Among us, those
of the greyhound race, the broad-chested, long-limbed, bright-
eyed, gaunt, and spare-bodied, were rarely pursued or seized
on by those blood-hounds, fever and dysentery, no matter
what their habits of living were. Our carpenter, a staunch

sea-dog, drank, with measured accuracy, half a gallon of _. |.

arrack a day, and worked like a steam-engine. You might
track him along the deck by the moisture exuding from him;
and though he had been thus drinking and toiling for years,
the first to begin labour, and the last to desist from it, the
oldest man on board, and the longest in India, his health and
strength were unimpaired—as little affected as a machine by
heat and change. Day or night he toiled on, and wondered
when others grew sick, died, and abandoned their post. He
Pe

A YOUNGER SON. 395

instanced me as a chip of the same block, and fit to command,
for I was always to be found at my duty.

With my mingled, wild, and savage crew, the outcasts of
the west, and those who had lost caste in the east—men
whom the iron hand of the law could neither hold in subjec-
tion nor tame, whose tiger-hearts knew no ties of kindred,
home, and country, or, if known, they were rudely rent
asunder—my duty was no sinecure. More than once my
power was in imminent jeopardy, notwithstanding De Ruyter’s
precautions in having backed me with a force of old and tried
men of his own, the several Europeans I had added to my
crew, who were attached to me, and Zela’s faithful and
devoted Arabs ; I say, with all this, such was the unmitigable
ferocity of some of my men, that I was frequently in great
personal peril, and my destruction was plotted. Zela, by
means of the Malay girl I had bought from her affectionate
mother, and her Arabs, were my salvation, by putting me on
my guard in giving me timely notice of every thing going on.
Besides, the first mate, the American, was my firm friend,
being bound to De Ruyter by the strict ties of mutual interest
—the only hold that man has on man’s fidelity. But we
had a ruffianly set of lawless Frenchmen, brindled-bearded
privateers’ men and smugglers, fellows with long knives in
their girdles, and of such fiery and irascible tempers, that
their hands, as by instinct, were generally on the hafts, while
their grey and assassin-like eyes glared ferociously at the
slightest provocation. Their jealous and malignant natures
ill-brooked the partiality they fancied I shewed towards my
countrymen and the natives, and there were continual broils
and civil contentions on board. A leader of this gang had
one day an altercation with the American mate, who was a
quiet and somewhat timid man, and threateningly drew his
knife on him. I was in the cabin, and overheard the conten-
tion. Having long been irritated at this man’s conduct, (for
he was the organ of all the refractory Frenchmen,) I started
from Zela’s lap, on which my head was lying, rushed on deck,
and confronted the fellow. He stood his ground without
flinching, his knife still held out. Our eyes met, gladiator-
like, in defiance, as I put my hand to draw the small creese
396 ADVENTURES OF

from my waist, exclaiming, ‘A mutiny !—seize the villain!”
We rushed on each other : he called out to his countrymen, and
there was a wild commotion. I felt his knife on my left arm
and ribs, before I could unsheath my weapon. I made no
effort to ward off the blow, but grasped his brawny throat
with one hand, and putting the creese behind his left shoulder,
in the Malay fashion, drove it right down through his heart,
and we fell together on a gun-carriage on the deck.

As I rose, every muscle in my body writhed, like a wounded
serpent, with rage. I killed this man, not from the instigation
of sudden passion, though in passion; for, young and fiery as
I was, I could control myself; but I had premeditated the
ruffian’s death, after using every means to conciliate him.
He was the boatswain, the hardiest sailor on board, and as
insensible to fear as a buffalo. He hated the English, and I
hated him on account of a story he was in the habit of
narrating with savage glee. Once he had been mate in a
small craft running between the Isle of France and Mada-
gascar, trading for cattle. The vessel was captured by an
English sloop of war, when a midshipman with five or six
men were put in charge of her. This fellow and two of his
crew were left on board, and were imprudently permitted by
the midshipman to assist in working the vessel, instead of
being confined as prisoners. One calm midnight, the officer
and most of his men being asleep, he crept into the cabin and
cut the midshipman’s throat ; then, assisted by the other two,
(one an African,) they massacred all the others, threw their
bodies into the sea, and returned to the Isle of France, glory-
ing in their bloody and successful atrocity. This story I had
heard him repeat on the previous night, and could scarcely
then restrain my indignation.

Stretching forth my red hand, with the dripping weapon, I
roared out to the gathering Frenchmen, who stood nearest
to me and together,—‘‘Go to your duty! There is your
mutinous leader ;—and thus will I serve all those that dare
disobey me!”

Zela stood by my side, holding my sword for me. Her soft
eye had changed its hue, and the fire of her race shone in her
bright glances. The disorderly Frenchmen sullenly went for-
A YOUNGER SON. 397

ward ; and the rest of the crew silently leant about in groups.
From this time my influence with the men was considerably
augmented, the growing insubordination’ received a check,
and my youth, the principal plea urged against me by the
refractory, was forgotten.

CHAPTER XOVIII.

It was so calm, that scarce the feathery weed,
Sown by some eagle on the topmost stone,
Swayed in the air.

SHELLEY.

E ran along the eastern coast for a bay, in which,

according to my chart, there was anchorage, with the
intention of procuring a supply of wood and water. We kept
as close in-shore as possible, to be within reach of the land-
winds ; but, for many days, we lay stationary under the high
land, within whose dark shadows I thought we were enchanted ;
for not a breath of air reached us, either from the land at
night, or from the sea in the day. The buoyant rubbish of
chips, feathers, and rope-yarn, thrown overboard, remained as
stationary as the rubbish cast out of a cottage door. The
waters seemed petrified into polished blue marble, tempting
one to walk on their treacherous surface. Among the few
moving things around were those little azure-tinctured children
of the sea, called Portuguese men of war, with sails like a
gossamer, and tiny paddles; they manceuvred about us, like a
fairy fleet, the largest as big as a chrystal stopper of a decanter,
which, except in colour, they resembled. Here and there
were scattered the jellied-looking sea-stars; and a singular
phenomenon, called the puree, which comes from the bottom
to the surface by inflating itself with air, till, from a shrunken,
withered, empty thing, it becomes round and plumped out like
a blown bladder ; after this, it cannot sink for a length of time.
We amused ourselves by practising with our carbines at them;
and also by lowering the square- sail overboard to bathe in,
using that method to avoid the ground-sharks, which, in those
398 ADVENTURES OF

seas, near the shore, lie like silent watch-dogs in their sub-
merged kennels. The heat was so piercing, that the Raypoots,
who worship the sun, fought on the deck for a square foot of
the awning’s shade. I experienced the greatest relief from
anointing my body with oil, and continually, like a duck,
plunging my head in water ; yet my lips and skin were cracked
like a plum-tree. No vessel is so ill-adapted for a hot climate
as a schooner; she requires a great many men to work her,
and has less space than any other vessel wherein to stow them.
On coming on deck from below, the men appeared as if they
had emerged from a steam-bath.

However, calms at sea, like the calms of life, are transitory
and far between; a breeze, a squall, a gale, or a tempest must
follow, as certain as the night the day. With us the winds
came gentle as a lover’s voice to woo the sleeping canvass, not
like the simoom of wedlock, and we glided peacefully along the
rich and varied scenery of the shore to our anchorage near
Balamhua, withinside the island of Abaran. Here we found
an extensive range of sandy beach, a small river, and the wood
so abundant, that the trees seemed enamoured of salt water
and sea breezes, drooping their heads over its surface, as if
they courted the spray, and were nurtured by the briny waves
laying their roots. There was a small village of Javanese at
the mouth of the river, the chief of which, in consideration of
a small supply of powder and brandy, readily gave us permission
to procure what we wanted on shore. We landed our empty
water-casks, and began to cut wood.

The calms, the excessive heat, the closeness of the atmosphere,
all combined to spread the fever and dysentery among the crew;
and few days passed without our losinga man. Adther, opium,
and calomel were the medicines, by my instructions, to be
applied to those attacked; and bark and wine to the con-
valescent. Something I had learnt of the diseases of the country,
yet I regretted I had not been more attentive to Van’s medical
lectures. Now, without a surgeon, I pored over one of Van's
medical books, and lamented that my old schoolmaster had not
succeeded in whipping Latin into me. Horses and dogs,
thought I, are educated by beating; and why not man, the
more obdurate and vicious animal? Latin phrases were
A YOUNGER SON. 399

hieroglyphics to me. Yet I proceeded to practise, though
without wig, amber-headed cane, or stop-watch, as a mask for
gross ignorance, and turned to drugging and drenching with as
little compunction as the members of the Royal College of
Physicians, who write M.D. to their names, which, I shall ever
presume, means ‘“‘ Man Destroyers.”

Preparing for sea, I was amazed to hear that a fray had
happened between some of our men and the villagers. Two of
the natives had been wounded by our men firing at them.
These disputes were ever recurring in our dealings; nor could
our tars comprehend that they were amenable to any law while
on shore. They acknowledged themselves when shipped, bound
to the articles of their duty, and answerable for any neglect or
breach of contract, while on board. They belonged to the sea;
but, ‘it is damned hard if we can’t take our full swing on shore.
We are ready to pay for what we want,—when we have money;
or we are ready to fight for it. For when we haven’t money,
it an’t natural that savages should keep all the shore to them-
selves; when it is quite sartain the land was made for the
christians as well as the sea.” This, or some such reasoning,
was all the reply I could get, from my most orthodox christian
crew, to my frequent remonstrances on the brutality with
which they assailed, robbed, and slaughtered the natives. Nor
could I find a remedy for this evil; I restrained them as much
as possible, and did what justice was in my power, in the way
of recompense, to the wronged. In this instance the Javanese
were accused of being the aggressors ; yet, though I could not
arrive at the facts, I knew some indignity must have been
offered to them; and they are neither patient nor forgiving.
Dreading therefore some. bloody retaliation, and observing they
no longer came alongside of us, while a suspension of barter
and communication was highly detrimental, I took a few
presents for the chief, and went on shore in two armed boats.
This method did not succeed ; but, by going accompanied by
none but my interpreter, after much difficulty and explanation,
I succeeded, at least in appearance, in having accommodated
the affair, when a renewal of our friendly intercourse took
place.

When ready for sea, the chief came on board, and pressed
400 ADVENTURES OF

me to accompany him to a hunting station, abounding with
deer and wild hogs. He had often heard me express a wish to
go thither, but had put it off from time to time, saying it was
better to wait till the rains fell, when, the animals would be
driven down from the mountains. As there had been a violent
storm on the previous night, followed by floods of rain, his
invitation seemed to be the consequence of his former promise.
I readily gave my assent. He cautioned me, with great
apparent sincerity, against creating any jealous fears among
his people by a train of many armed followers. Then, with
other friendly advice on his part, we parted ; it being settled
that I was to meet him on the ensuing morning before day-
light.

CHAPTER XCIX.

There sat the gentle savage of the wild,

In growth a woman, though in years a child,

As childhood dates within our colder clime,

Where nought is ripen’d rapidly save crime.
Byron.

LTHOUGH without fear, I did not neglect to use all
proper precautions. J went on shore the next morning
with fourteen of my trustiest men, well armed. After landing,
I ordered the boat, with a smaller one which accompanied us,
having a part of their crews, to push off from the shore, lie at
their grapnels, and, on no account, to land, or parley with the
natives.

The chief was waiting for me, attended by only four or five
men, armed with merely their creeses and boar-spears. We
penetrated into the interior by following the windings of the
little river, now swollen, muddy, and rapid from the late heavy
rain. We crossed the stream several times by fords, not without
some difficulty, and I failed not to caution our party to preserve
their ammunition and arms from getting wet. I had learnt to be
watchful and suspicious, and took note of several apparently
trivial circumstances, which might have escaped a less wary
person. The Javanese chief frequently held conferences with
A YOUNGER SON. 401

his men; he sometimes wished us to cross parts of the river
which were not fordable, the bottom being muddy, interspersed
with deep holes; and, changing the order of owr progress, he
kept in the rear of the party. Upon this I also fell back, and
watched him narrowly. There was awakened a cunning and
treacherous expression in the glistening of his small deep-set
eye, which startled me. Not to let him imagine he was mis-
trusted, I determined, as we had already advanced two or three
miles, to proceed without pause, keeping near him, and care-
fully watching his motions. At the same time I accurately
noted our road, the localities which marked our progress, and
the fords of the river.

I cannot remember to have ever benefited by the advice or
example of others. Nothing but a blow from the cyclopean
hammer of experience on my head could teach or convince me ;
and nothing less than the imminent jeopardy in which I had
placed Zela, by taking her to the tiger-hunt, contrary to every
one’s advice and all prudent consideration, could have induced
me to leave her on board the schooner, against her own urgent
entreaty to accompany me. That I now knew her to be in
that safe asylum, by removing every care and fear from my
mind, seemed to leave my own body invulnerable. I had
yielded, however, to Zela’s importunities to take her little,
intelligent Malayan girl, Adoo, in whom her mistress placed
implicit confidence. Adoo neither cared not thought about
any thing in the world but Zela. Her attachment to me was
grounded on being beloved by Zela. Adoo was nearly of the
same age as her mistress, but no two creatures could be more
dissimilar. The Malayan girl was stunted in growth, broad
and bony, low-browed, with hair coarse, straight, and black,
hanging over her flat tawny face, like a wild horse's foretop.
Her small and deep-set eyes, by their unusual distance, seemed
éotally independent of each other, and to have power to keep a
look-out to the starboard and larboard, the north and the
south, at the same instant. They were bright, watchful, and
eager as a serpent’s,—but there ended the resemblance ; for poor
little Adoo, far from wile and guile, was the truest and most
faithful handmaiden that ever dedicated herself to a mistress,
hand and heart. I was so partial to this little savage, that to

26
402 ADVENTURES OF

keep her about my person, I installed her in the high and
important office of Tchibookdgee ; and she was matchless in
compounding a chilan for a hooka, preparing a callian, or
filling a Turkish pipe,—aceomplishments not to be despised.

To return to my story. We continued our route by the side
of the river for about four miles, when, after ascending an
abrupt and rocky eminence, our Javanese leader proposed to
stop at two or three small cane-huts, and refresh ourselves
with coffee and mangosteens, till some of the people he had
sent forward should return to inform us where the game lay.
To this I gladly acceded. My suspicions were in a great
measure dissipated, seeing no further symptoms to corroborate
those which had been lurking in my mind. Milk, fruit, and
coffee, which last is of excellent quality in this island, were
brought. Adoo, for I was a great epicure in coffee, super-
intended the making of mine. We were seated in one of the
empty huts, to screen us from the sun; and whilst I was
smoking my callian, the men were eating and drinking. The
chief was sitting on a mat close by me, between me and the
door, which was blocked up by Javanese. I was on the point
of putting the coffee-cup to my lips with my left hand, as I
leaned on my right, and lolled at the full stretch of my limbs,
with my head resting against one of the bamboo-supporters of
the hut, when my attention was directed to something touching
my hand. Turning to see what it was, a low voice on the out-
side, but close to my ear, said,—‘‘ Hush! hush! do not move!”
in such accents as evidently indicated terror. Without moving,
I glanced my eye in the direction of the voice, and it fell on
the keen glance of Adoo, through the matting. I leaned my
head close to the spot, when she whispered in my ear,—‘‘ Do
not drink the coffee ;—come out; bad people!”’

Some of our men had complained of sickness immediately
after they had drank the coffee ; and I recollected the officious-
ness of the chief in serving me with it. Instantly it struck
me it was poisoned. Happily I had been detained from
drinking it, awaiting the somewhat tedious process of pre-
paring, filling, and lighting my Persian water-pipe. The chief,
now at the door, was significantly exchanging glances with his
men, or every eye was fixed on me; their savage and malign
A YOUNGER SON. 403

aspects plainly intimated their intentions. There was neither
time nor opportunity to form plans or communicate with my
men. Suspecting, which was the case, that the chief was
waiting for a reinforcement to attack us, and fearing, from the
rising commotion withoutside, they had already arrived, and
would, whilst my men were under the paralysing effect of
the poison, rush in and butcher us, or fire the huts, and
slaughter us as we attempted to escape, I drew a pistol, sprang
up, and attempted to gain the entrance. The chief drew his
creese, and essayed to detain me. I shot him through the
body, and yelled the Arab wayr-cry, calling out to the men,—
“« We are betrayed !—follow me!”

So sudden had been my movement that the panic-struck
natives rushed down the bank into the jungle. Restraining
my men from pursuing them, my orders were to examine if
their arms were ready for service, and to fix their bayonets.
Adoo told me, from what she had overheard, some fatal or
stupefying drug had been administered to the men in their
coffee ; and that the chief was waiting for a reinforcement.
Many of the men were affected, complaining of sickness.

CHAPTER C.

Not the eagle more
Loves to beat up against a tyrannous blast
Than I to meet the torrent of my foes.
This is a brag !—be it so ; but, if I fall,
Carve it upon my ’scutcheon’d sepulchre.
Keats’ MS.

HE first danger was over, yet was our situation most
perilous. We set off, in double quick time, to regain the
boats, or to get in sight of the schooner, and give signals of
our distress. We regained the river and crossed it. Naturally
concluding the natives would lurk in ambush to cut us off, I
carefully avoided the route by which we had advanced in the
morning, and kept on the highest and the clearest ground. By
these precautions we succeeded in retreating three parts of the
404 ADVENTURES OF

distance unimpeded, but not unobserved; as, from time to
time, we heard the wild war-whoops of the enemy, hanging on
our rear. As long as they remained there we had little to fear.
Adoo, who ran close at my heels, kept a look-out on both sides,
continually pointing at the direction the natives were taking, °
with extraordinary precision. As we proceeded, in addition
to the danger of becoming embogged, was the probability of
being attacked at such a disadvantage. At length arriving at
an angle of the river, with a swampy morass before us, we
were compelled to cross. Whether the strong stimulant of
fear, or uncommon physical exertion had neutralized or re-
tarded the effect of the poison, or the inefficacy of the drug
itself, was the cause of its effects having disappeared, I know
not; but, after the first half-hour, I heard no more about it.

Bent ou the one momentous object of regaining our vessel,
I led the party across the river, feeling my way and supporting
myself with a boar-spear. We secured our cartridges in our
caps. The water was shallow, but varying in depth, and the
passage difficult from its treacherous coatings of soft, black,
and slippery mud. Happily myself and five others achieved a
firmer footing and shallower water, after having with difficulty
toiled along up to the hips, when Adoo said—* Malik, they are
coming!’ I lowered my carbine to my shoulder, and called
to the remainder of the men to hasten on. The natives,
emerging from: their ambush, gave a loud yell, fired their
matchlocks, and ran tumultuously down to the river’s brink.
In all savage warfare, the first shout and the first volley are to
give themselyes courage to advance, and to intimidate and
panic-strike their opponents; like yelping dogs, which pursue
what flies, but sneak from the sturdy; therefore if the first
aimless discharge and war-cry are unshrinkingly replied to
and defied, the attack is rendered weak and .wavering. The
Javanese, seeing we stood firm, and prepared to fire on them,
paused on the river’s brink. Observing their hesitation we,
that were in front, gave them a volley; and, the other men
coming up, we shouted, and advanced rapidly to the shore to
charge them. They retreated into the jungle, and we suc-
ceeded in crossing the ford without the loss of a man.

We hurried down the margin of the stream, the natives
A YOUNGER SON. 405

following close in our rear, or flanking us, occasionally throw-
ing spears, firing their matchlocks, and yelling obscure curses
and threats; to which we replied by a prompt shot the instant
any of them became visible. The number of our pursuers was
increasing, and, as we approached the sea, the jungle became
thinner, when Adoo told me she saw horsemen advancing in
our front. At that moment the odour of the sea-beach, im-
pregnated as it was with dead weeds, rotten fish, and briny
air, was inhaled by me with far greater rapture than ever fell
to the lot of tobacco, or my favourite wines, hock, Bourdeaux,
and Tokay. I called out to my men,—* Freshen your way,
my boys,—the sea a-head!” and they sped along to the bank
on which I stood, with more alacrity than I ever saw them fly
up the rigging to catch a view of land after a tedious voyage.
When we espied the silken, swallow-tailed vanes, glittering on
the trucks of our dark-hulled schooner, although the hull was
not visible, we gave a loud hurrah, with a volley of musquetry
to our pursuers, and considered, somewhat prematurely, our
difficulties over.

On the long line of sandy plain, bordering the sea, a dingy
and confused mass stained its surface. A loud shout from
the natives, dogging our heels, confirmed what Adoo’s hawk’s
eyes had first descried, and which soon became distinct
to us all. A body of native, and nearly naked, horsemen
approached us at speed, armed with spears, and mounted on
small, but swift and active horses. Their number was not
great, but, backed by those who were already nearly surround-
ing us, they were enough to annihilate the hopes of the wisest,
and to turn the thoughts of the best towards Heaven. But I
was neither of the wise nor good; all my thoughts were occu-
pied in how best to meet the coming danger.

A bank or bar was formed across the river, of mud and
sand; where the salt and fresh water met, and where, in
storms, torrents from the mountains and the wild waves joined
in conflict, depositing their spoils. Old trunks of trees, and
pieces of wrecked canoes were firmly imbedded in this bank,
through which the current ebbed and flowed in narrow
channels, the bottoms of which were deep on both sides of
the river. There was a sandy level, a desert waste on our
406 ADVENTURES OF

left; close to the sea was the village, interspersed with clumps
of the sea-loving cocoa-nut tree; and two or three clumps of
these were dotted on our right, intercepting our view of the
schooner. We had not time to occupy one of these groves, as
the horsemen were rapidly approaching; I therefore promptly
took possession of the before-mentioned bar in the river. We
accordingly retreated into the water, and, with some difficulty,
succeeded in establishing ourselves on the sandy ridges, having
a good footing, and the water not deeper than the knees. The
bank itself, with the rubbish on it, made a breast-work. I
would have also occupied the opposite side, but our party was
too small to be divided. I had still my fourteen men, two or
three indeed slightly wounded, but not incapacitated from using
their fire-arms. Besides other arms, each man had a musquet
and bayonet, and our cartouch-boxes were nearly full; for I
had economised our ammunition, on which, I knew, every
thing depended.

CHAPTER CI.

That Saracenic meteor of the fight
Keats’ MS.

’Tis a gallant enemy,
How like a comet he goes streaming on.
Lid.

HRIEKING and yelling, our foes advanced. We crouched

down in silence. These wild and savage-looking horse-
men were led on by their prince; mounted on a little fiery
courser of a bright red colour, with a mane and tail flying in
the air like streamers in a gale. The rider was the only one
of the band turbaned, clothed, and armed from head to heel.
His tattooed and stained features seemed on fire with im-
patience to begin the slaughter. The energetic ferocity with
which he glanced at our small numbers reminded me of our
Borneo friend running a-muck. The horse, inspired by the
fiend on his back, kept in perpetual and rapid motion. The
prince dashed in the water, fired a pistol at one, threw a lance
A YOUNGER SON, 407

at another, sprang to the shore, led on the horsemen, whecled
round, yelled at those skulking on shore, drove those on foot
with his sword into the river, crossed it himself, recrossed,
headed the natives on foot, and then resumed his place, lead-
ing, urging, and forcing the horsemen on us, while his horse,
foaming and panting, did not for an instant slacken his rapid,
springy, and mazy motions. Following him with my eye, and
with my carbine resting on the bulk of a tree, behind which I
was screened, I fired several shots at him; but in vain,—a
swallow in the air, or a sea-gull riding on a wave, tempest-
rocked, would have been as difficult a mark. Yet so favour-
able was the position we held fer defence, and so cool and well
directed the fire we kept up, that all the efforts of the natives,
impelled on by their meteor-like prince, were unable to dis«
lodge us. But our ammunition was nearly expended, two men
were killed, and others of our little band incapacitated by
wounds. On the other hand, we had made great havoc
amongst the natives, whose exposed situation gave us great
advantage. The cavalry, who acted with the highest intre-
pidity, dashing into the river both above and below us, suffered
severely from our fire, but more from the heavy mud on one
side, and the deep holes, sunken trees, and spars on the other.
Besides, except their prince, they had no fire-arms; but his
devil’s spirit seemed to be infused in them, and their screams
were terrific. However, they could not reach us with their
spears, and we slaughtered them in security. It was only by
destroying them, or thinning their number, that we could hope
to escape.

The time at which it was indispensable to make a desperate
effort to land, and endeavour to regain the beach, was at hand.
Luckily for us, the only passable ford at this point was where
‘the horsemen could not, from the nature of the ground, oppose
us, though a host of villagers withstood our passage. In this
predicament, worn with toil, and almost exhausted, I cautiously,
one by one, drew my men to the opposite bank, which, when
perceived by the natives, they gathered down, and closed on
us. The horsemen, whose number was greatly diminished,
galloped off towards the sea, as I concluded, to cross and cut
off our retreat. We were under the painful necessity of leav-
408 ADVENTURES OF

ing two of the wounded. The first man who landed was killed
by a stone from a sling, which was driven into the skull; so
that our party was now reduced to nine, including myself. To:
quench their burning thirst, the men had drank freely of the
brackish water of the stream, which had made them sick; and
their standing in the water, under the piercing rays of the
sun, had so affected them, that, on their landing, they
staggered about as if they were drunk.

It was still about a mile to the sea. Keeping close together,
we left the ford, and, skirting the river's bank, proceeded
onwards. The natives crossed and dogged our heels in multi-
tudes, which obliged us occasionally to halt, and check their
advance by a volley. At last we opened a view of the
schooner’s hull, and the drooping and staggering men breathed
a new life. Our hopes were now sanguine, when a cloud of
sand uprose before us, which, partially withdrawn by the wind,
exhibited to our view the vampyre-prince, and his bright-red,
fiery, and foaming horse, looming through the vapoury mirage
of the dazzling white sand, like a centaur.

A small cluster of palms, shadowing the roofless ruins of a
mud hut, stood to our left: all around was a sandy waste. To
reach this spot was our only hope: thither we ran for our lives,
panting as if our hearts would burst, and threw ourselves over
the walls of the hut. One of our wounded fell from exhaustion
on the road. Hearing a yell, I looked behind, and saw the ma-
lignant prince riding over his body, and endeavouring to trample
him to death. He then jumped from his horse, and, as if dis-
daining to use his sword, smashed the man’s skull with the butt
of his match-lock or musket, sprang on his horse, yelled to his
men, and rode to within a hundred yards of us. The horsemen
then separated, and galloped round and round the hut, till,
nearing us, they hurled their lances, which we returned with a
volley. Two or three of the best shots, with myself, singled
out the prince, when I observed his horse swerve round, and
go off with a staggering gait, while a plume of the bird of
Paradise in his turban was scattered in the air. I thought
our comrade’s death avenged; but no such thing: the prince
pulled up, dismounted, shook himself, and after surveying his
steed, remounted, and was again in motion; but his ardour
appeared to be somewhat cooled.
A YOUNGER SON. 409

We now had but a cartridge or two apiece, and were com-
pletely surrounded. Desponding and well-nigh exhausted, we
prepared to sell our lives dearly, by desperately sallying out.
I thought of death—it seemed inevitable. De Ruyter crossed
my mind; but Zela’s image drove him away, and _ totally
engrossed all my thoughts, which were sad, for I believed they
were my last.

The back of the hut was high, and, under its shelter, the
natives had approached close to us. We smelt fire, and drove
a hole in the wall with our bayonets, when we beheld they had
gathered dry reeds and bushes, and had fired it. We drove
them off; but to extinguish the flames was out of our power.
In the front of the hut there were palm-trees, surrounded by a
hedge of vacoua, a strong, prickly, impervious fence. I had
several times reproached myself for not having occupied this
spot in preference to the hut, being equally secure against the
horse, and giving us room to act, with a better view of the
proceedings of the natives. Luckily, the front of the hut
formed one side of this enclosure, to which it opened as to a
court-yard, and had therefore prevented the natives from
entering it. The Javanese prince was impelling the savages to
close in, and oppose our leaving the hut. My men had been
murmuring at the predicament into which I had led them, and
followed my injunctions hesitatingly and tardily to form them-
selves outside the hut in line, to drive the enemy, now close
upon us, back with the bayonet.

CHAPTER CII.

Because I think, my lord, he is no man,
But a fierce demon ’nointed safe from harm.
Keats’ MS.

T that moment the low thundering sound of a heavy gun
sea-wards saluted our ears,—it was the schooner’s! Its
effect was magical; my glowing and desponding men brightened
up, threw their caps in the air, and wildly gave tongue like a
410 ADVENTURES OF

pack of hounds. It was the signal of succour nigh,—a sound
that restored the dead to life. Another gun was fired; and
while the natives were astounded at its echo from the jungle
and the hills, we rushed out amongst them, drove them panic-
struck before us, and threw ourselves under cover of the
palms. With a busy and cheerful alacrity the men took up
their appointed stations, and, shaking hands, swore to defend
themselves against all odds. Yet still the foiled barbarians
were forced upon us by their prince and leader, who, with
unslackened courage, urged on his reeking horse from point to
point. We had but five or six cartridges remaining amongst
us, and trusted alone to our bayonets. The natives, observing
that no succour was near us, and that our fire was discontinued,
advanced close to the prickly hedge, and wounded several of
our men through the branches. In reality our situation was
more hopeless than ever ; but most of the horsemen had gone
towards the sea, and the prince could not induce his followers
to assault us, so much had they already suffered, or we should
have fallen an easy prey. I began to imagine, what all my
men had long believed, that the prince was the evil spirit, and
invulnerable.

Thus encircled like a scorpion girt with fire, we had passed
nearly an hour,—it seemed a thousand !—when my attention
was directed to the margin of the sea by the Javanese, who all
turned that way, and simultaneously yelled. Instantly I heard
a fire of musquetry, and a cloud of doubt, hanging over my
mind, was dispelled. They were my crew, coming to our
rescue. Our first impulse was to rush out and join them ; but
we could not abandon the wounded. We shouted, and when
I saw, by the crowd of natives collected in front of us, that
our men were approaching in the right point, up the bank of
the river, and as seon as we caught a glimpse of the scarlet-
capped Arabs, I gave signal of our position by firing my
carbine; upon which I distinctly heard the war-cry of my
Arabs. The prince, with his now diminished troopers, was
galloping and wheeling about them; but I knew, by the con-
tinued and heavy fire, there was a force sufficient to repel any
effort he might make. Yet did this undaunted leader, who,
by the swarms gathered around him, seemed to have been
A YOUNGER SON. 411

reinforced, dispute with wonderful pertinacity their advance, so
that they were frequently compelled to halt and fire. At
length they approached the bank of the river on our flank,
and, spreading in two bodies, advanced to our position. The
natives retreated; and in my impatience, I sprung over the
enclosure, cap in hand, cheering my gallant crew; when, ere I
had proceeded half way to them, a light and bounding figure,
with her loose vest and streaming hair flying in the wind, and
in speed like a swallow,—(but oh! how infinitely more weleome
than that harbinger of spring and flowers !)—came all my joy,
my hope, my happiness, my Zela! She sprung into my arms,
we clasped each other in speechless ecstasy, and there thrilled
through my frame a rapture that swelled my heart and veins
almost to bursting. The rude seamen forgot their danger, and
looked on not unmoved. This, in an instant, was followed by,
—‘‘ What cheer, captain ?’’—‘‘ Where are our messmates ?’—
and more vociferous cries and questions from Zela’s Arabs,
mingled, from a multitude of voices, with shouts and blas-
pheming threats against the Javanese.

Assisting our wounded along, we regained the bank of the
river, and continued our march to the shore in good order,
small bodies of the natives hovering about us, but not impeding
our progress. The prince and the main body of the armed
natives were in advance of us, seemingly with the purpose of
disputing our embarkation, or attacking the boats previously
to our arrival. This urged us on, for I knew the schooner lay
too far out to cover the boats with her guns; but my second
mate told me he had ordered the boats to lie out at their
grapnels, and that the long-boat had a carronade in it. We
were worn out with hardship, suffering from hunger, and more
from thirst. Zela alone, as a child of the desert, had thought
of bringing water, which had been given to the wounded. The
boats were evidently kept from the shore by the armed natives
on the beach. The schooner was in sight, and getting under
weigh to run nearer in. As we approached the beach, I drew
up my men, broke the throng before us with a volley, and drove
through them with the bayonet; when the boats pushed in to
the mouth of the river, and we succeeded in getting the
wounded into them. But, as the men were following, the
412 ADVENTURES OF

natives renewed their attack, and several of our men were
killed in disorderly skirmishes in the water. The long-boat,
full of men, was fast grounded in the mud, and the mélée was.
hand to hand. The creeses of the natives were better weapons.
than our musquets; besides, our cartridge-boxes were full of
water, and the confusion was so great, there being neither
order nor command, that we were in imminent peril. We
could not stand on the slimy bottom of the water, stained with
mud, and incrimsoned with blood, and, in struggling, the men
fell, when the natives stabbed them under water. Having
placed Zela in the long boat, aided by two or three steady
men, the natives crowding round and holding on the gunwale,
we discharged the carronade loaded with grape-shot. This.
made them pause, and gave our men time to rally. A second
discharge cleared a space on the beach, and enabled us to get:
the boats afloat.

Iwas standing in the bow of the boat, with the match in
my hand; the bow was hanging on a sand bank, whence the
men were shoving her. The natives were scattered, and flying
in terror of the cannon, and the beach was strewed with dead
and dying, when the invulnerable prince, with unabated fury,
headed and led on half-a-dozen horsemen, who stopped on
seeing the engine, whose roar they so much dreaded, pointed
directly on them. Turning round, the prince spoke some
energetic words to them; then, with a shout, and an expres-
sion of scorn and daring, he forced his bright red horse along
the sand bank, up to the bow of the boat, point-blank before:
the gun. I blew the match, and touched the priming,—it did
not ignite. The prince dashed his turban in my face, and dis-:
charged a pistol at me. Whilst I was staggering from the
shock, Zela promptly grasped the match, which had dropped
from my hand, and fired the gun. A wailing scream arose:
along the beach from the Javanese. A wounded horse was.
madly plunging and trampling on his now prostrate rider,—
but that was not the prince. Further on, just on the margin
of the red surge, lay a mass of mutilated remains, huddled
darkly together ;—a human leg and a horse’s, hands and hoofs,
the garments of a man and the garniture of a horse, blackened.
with powder, and red with blood. Yet was there enough to-
A YOUNGER SON. £13

identify the best horse that warrior ever mounted, and the
most heroic warrior that ever led to battle.

CHAPTER CIII.

A little shallop, floating there hard by,

Pointed its beak over the fringed bank;

And soon it lightly dipt, and rose, and sank,

And dipt again with the young couple’s weight.
Keats.

FELT myself severely wounded, without knowing where
the ball had entered. Unable to move my lower ex-
tremities, a dull and torpid sensation crept throughout my
frame. On looking downwards, I saw that my garments, from
the right side to the hip, were rent and stained with powder,
and that my loose cotton trowsers were on fire. No bleeding
could be discerned. I lay down on the thwarts of the boat,
now afloat, and, the natives having entirely discontinued their
opposition, we left the shore. The schooner was standing in,
keeping up a desultory fire over the beach. With returning
sensibility, the heavy and benumbing torpor was succeeded by
excruciating agony. They laid me in the after-part of the
boat. Zela bent over me, and tried, with gentle words and
soothing attentions, to assuage my agony. ‘‘ Zela!’’ I said,—
“‘my good spirit !—tell me, was that our evil fate that struck
at my life?—was it Azrael, the red angel of death?—has he
wounded me mortally?”

“Bis Allah!” she answered, ‘‘ the good spirit paralysed the
warrior’s arm, when he aimed at your life. God is strong,
and we are weak. Death strikes the trunk, and not the
limbs.”

The ball had entered just below my right groin, inclining
downwards, the prince having been considerably above me
when he fired. The pain augmented, but the wound did not
bleed; and it was not a consolatory reflection at the time that
we had no surgeon on board. I was hoisted on the schooner’s
deck, carried down into the cabin, and laid on the couch. The
414 ADVENTURES OF

prince had been so close to me that a large portion of the
powder had apparently entered with the ball, and torn and
scearified the surrounding flesh, which was black and livid.
Zela applied the yolks of raw eggs over the wound to draw out
the powder ;—an Eastern remedy, and certainly effectual.
Nothing was done after this but washing with hot wine and
laying on poultices. For four or five days and nights the pain
was immitigable; except, which I have always experienced
with gun-shot wounds, that it was more severe from noon till
sun-rise ; and no Raypoot ever watched and worshipped the
first ray of the rising luminary of day so devoutly as I did.
For twelve days I ate nothing, living, like the whale, on suction.
What is the strongest impressed on my memory is the un-
paralleled devotion and unwearied attention of Zela, who, I
really believe, suffered mentally more than I did bodily. A
friend of our own sex cannot pass through the ordeal of attend-
ance ona sick couch. Friends shrink from the trial; they will
share danger,—nay, more, their purses,—they may give their
aid, their counsel, and their pity ; but they cannot sympathise
with one in sorrow or sickness. No, it is the woman who
loves,—she alone can soothe, watch with exhaustless affection
and patience, endure the waywardness of mind and the vexatious
absurdity which arise from sickness or sorrow. Can the friend-
ship of man, however ardent and sincere, be compared with
the idolatry with which women give up soul and body to the
man consecrated by their virgin affections? Friendship is
founded on necessity ; it must be planted and cultured with
care; it flourishes only on particular soils; whilst love is
indigenous throughout the world. Friendship, like bread, is.
the staff of our existence; but love is the origin and perpetuator
of existence itself. Can I think of Zela’s care and watchfulness
during my sufferings, without digressing on the matchless
love of women? If there is a portion I would snatch from the
gloomy abyss of my past life to live over again, it should be
that month in which I lay wounded, pained, and helpless,
nursed with far deeper love than that of the fondest mother
when she watches the symptoms of disease, or returning health,
over her first-born child.

It should have been remarked that when we got on board,
A YOUNGER SON. 415

we lost no time in hoisting in the boats and moving directly
out to sea, keeping a north-east course, anxious to hasten our
junction with the grab, and to have the advantage of Van
Scolpvelt’s surgical skill. At that time I had not learnt, what
experience has since convinced me of, that, in nine cases out of
ten, in gun-shot wounds, a surgeon, however skilful, is of little
advantage. The probe and plug are discarded; blood enough
to avert inflammation generally proceeds from the wound; a
few poultices, cleanliness, and bandages are all that nature
requires, With healthy and uncorrupted constitutions, nature
must be left to use her own inscrutable and wondrous power
of healing, recruiting, joining, dove-tailing, and glueing. As I
recovered I cannot forget the wolf-like greediness with which I
ravenously preyed on a piece of lamb. No words can express
the relish with which I gnawed and crunched, with keen eye
and sharp tooth, the very bones. The day after, Zela brought
me the shoulder of a small kid roasted. It was at noon, and
my imagination had been gloated all the morning exclusively
on the dinner hour. On its being placed before me, I exclaimed,
“My God! is this all? Now TI find the loss of poor Louis!
He would not have given me the fragment of a starved kid,—
he would have roasted the entire mother, with the kid as a
garnish |”

As my appetite returned, my strength was gradually re-
stored; and, with the dignified addition of crutches, I resumed
my duty on deck. One of our wounded died, certainly not
from the effect of his wound, which was but a scratch, but
from the lingering effects of the drug in the coffee, with which
he had greedily drenched himself. His comrades, for a long
time, complained of the Javanese poison ; but their disorder, I
believe, arose from their taking the medicine I had prescribed
for the sick,—wine. A steady sea-breeze, a moderate tempera-
ture, and the methodical regularity of a sea-life, dispelled
fever and dysentery, and restored my men to health.

A few words will explain the cause of our receiving the
timely succour in Java. Zela, with her younger hand-maiden,
had embarked in a small canoe, fancifully denominated her
barge, and had pulled along the shore to a sheltered nook,
where she might indulge in her favourite recreation of
416 ADVENTURES OF

swimming. This had been our diurnal habit, and we were
almost amphibious. De Ruyter, at the Isle of France, used to
compare me to a shark, and Zela, clothed in striped cotton, to
the little blue and white pilot-fish, while she was preceding me
in the water, or floating on the surface. At this time, as she
was swimming, she caught the sound of musquetry, borne by
the land-wind, and conveyed along the sheltered and unbroken
surface of the sea; it was distant, low, and indistinct. At
first she naturally concluded we were at our sport; but, she
said, an indefinable presentiment of evil had crept on her mind.
She dressed herself hurriedly; her first impulse was to land,
and trace the noise to its source; but reflection forbad her
following her inclination, and she paddled the canoe along the
beach, towards the mouth of the river, where she had observed
the boats were lying, but they were not there. The report of
guns then became more distinct; and her exquisite sense of
hearing enabled her to distinguish the sound of my carbine,
by its sharp and ringing report. Soon after she faintly
distinguished the shouts of the natives, which she discovered
to be those of war, not of hunting. Hastening on board, she
told the mate her fears. He went up to the mast-head, and
there caught a glimpse both of the advancing cavalry, and the
detached parties of Javanese hurrying from the village. The
boats were luckily alongside, the long-boat having the gun in it
for the protection of the wood-cutters when on shore; they were
quickly manned and armed. In spite of every remonstrance,
Zela peremptorily insisted an accompanying them ; and, by
being conversant in savage warfare, with unerring sagacity
directed the party, which otherwise would not have arrived in
time ; so that I may justly call her the angel of my fate.
A YOUNGER SON. 417

CHAPTER CIV.

Here the earth's breath is pestilence, and few

But things whose nature is at war with life—

Snakes and ill worms—endure its mortal dew.
SHELLEY.

HAT with calms and squalls treading on each others

heels, pursuing the vessels of all nations which awakened
the smallest hope of proving lawful prizes, and flying from
those for which we were no match, ours was no idle life,—nor
was it unprofitable. In India I had always seen those in
power make that power subservient to their interests and
passions; and thus is it ever with men, unless they are muzzled
and chained like dogs, as is wisely enacted in some parts of
Europe. I had acquired these rabid propensities, and my
power to do wrong was only limited by my means. The Gulf
of Siam and the Chinese seas long resounded with the depreda-
tions of the schooner; and the approach of the horrid hurricanes
and water-spouts, so prevalent there, were less dreaded than
the sight of our long, low hull; yet, like the devil, we were not
of quite so murky a hue as represented. Having faithfully
narrated, in my previous history, particular instances of our
acts and manner of life, selected from my private journals, I
shall add wings to my story, by avoiding henceforth minute
details, leading to endless repetition, and the methodical
dulness contained in that book of lead,—I mean, a ship’s log-
book.

We first touched at the island of Caramata for water. Our
stowage being principally occupied by plunder, leaving but a
narrow space for water, our avarice was often bitterly punished
by the severest torture human nature can sustain, when we
have been severally limited to a daily modicum of three half
pints, or less, of foul and fermenting water ; yet, nauseous as
it was, the most avaricious among us would have freely ex-
changed his share of the booty for an unlimited draught. My
idea then of perfect happiness was a plunge in a lake of clear,
cold water ;—a river seemed too small to satisfy my insatiable
thirst. We were in this horrible state of drought when we put

27
418 ADVENTURES OF

into Caramata, where we obtained a plentiful supply of water,
fruit, and poultry, upon which we renewed our course.

One of the rendezvous for meeting with the grab was in the
vicinity of the Philippine Islands. Keeping along the north-
east coast of Borneo, we boarded a large Chinese junk, off two
burning islands. One of these islands was very small, and
shaped like an inverted cone; the smooth edges of the crater
were gilded with fire, whence arose a steady column of thin
vapour, with occasional sparks. This seemed to be connected
by a shoal, probably formed by the lava, to the larger island,
which had no fire on its shaggy summit, was of the colour and
form of a Persian’s cap, and, from a jagged mouth below its
top, thick volumes of black smoke were puffed out at intervals.
The quarter-master said, ‘‘ Look at that ‘lubberly, lazy Turk !
what a cool berth he has got, squatting in the sea, to smoke his
water-pipe!’’ I laughed at the fanciful, and not inapplicable
comparison. The junk was densely crowded with Chinese,
migrating to Borneo as settlers. I bartered some birds’-nests
for fresh provisions, ducks, hogs, and fruit, and left the living
cargo unmolested to proceed on their voyage.

Some nights after this we were dreadfully alarmed at grazing
on a sandbank. Luckily, there was little wind, and we escaped
without any apparent damage; for, had it been blowing
weather, we should have been wrecked. We made the Island
of Palawan, and brought up in tolerable anchorage off
Bookelooyant Point, under the shelter of a group of small
islands. Here we remained for two days, and, seeing nothing
of De Ruyter, I got under weigh, and steered a northerly
course, till I made our second rendezvous, at an island called
the Sea-horse. It was uninhabited; and in a certain spot, the
situation of which De Ruyter had particularly described, after
considerable trouble in searching, I found a letter which he had
promised to leave for me, with his further instructions, in the
event of his not meeting me there. By this I was directed to
run in a parallel line of latitude, therein set down, till I got
sight of the coast of Cochin China. I acted accordingly.

Hitherto every thing went on well on board: the weather
was remarkably clear and fine, with nights so shining and
delightfully cool, that I generally passed them on deck, reading
A YOUNGER SON. 419

with Zela, or listening to Arab tales. We had been some days
becalmed off an island called Andradas, to the westward of
which we were slowly drifting, from an under-current, when
we observed indications of an approaching change of weather.
There was a breathless stillness in the atmosphere, which was
thick with heavy dew: the island became veiled, its outline
shadowy and indistinct, the sun seemed blood-shot, and its
dimensions considerably augmented; it had lost its wonted
fire, and the eye might gaze on it undazzled: the stars were
visible long before their hour ; they appeared nearer to the sea,
and resembled moons, but lustreless. This dismal and melan-
choly prelude was frightfully reflected in the water, and on the
dark faces of my native crew. It was with difficulty that I
aroused them from their torpor, to prepare for the battle which
it was evident we should soon be compelled to fight with the
wild winds and waves.

CHAPTER CY.

Whilst above the sunless sky,

Big with clouds, hangs heavily,

And behind the tempest fleet

Hurries on with lightning-feet,

Riving sail, and cord and plank,

Till the ship has almost drank

Death from the o’er-brimming deep.
SHELLEY.

HE men aloft were sending down the light masts and
yards; we on deck were clewing up the sails, and the
Arabs and natives drowned their fears in noise and bustle. I
watched eagerly all around the horizon: its grey, misty hues
were every instant denser and darker. Casting my eyes up-
wards, a ball of fire, which I thought was a shooting-star,
descended perpendicularly from above us, as we lay becalmed
and motionless, into the sea, close to our quarter, making the
same sort of noise in the water as a red-hot cannon-ball. At
the same moment the skies were rent asunder with an appal-
ling crash: our vessel shook as if she had struck upon a rock :
420 ADVENTURES OF

rain, wind, lightning and thunder burst over our heads all
together, and the sea was lashed up into huge dark billows.
The storm, happily, took us right aft; and, under bare poles,
with wild and resistless force, rapid as lightning, it drove us
before it. Having weathered the first shock, and there being
gea-room, we soon recovered from our consternation, and the
gale settled in the north-east. We got the storm-sails up, that
we might be enabled to bring her to the wind, when the first
fury of the gale was spent. Ours was a matchless sea-boat ;
and, having secured every thing snugly on board, we carefully
luffed her up to the wind, and lay to, with a close-reefed
fore-storm-staysail. The sky was of a pitchy darkness, the sea
white with foam.

I went down in the cabin to see by the chart, as well as,
under such circumstances, it was possible, where we were,
when I heard a general shout on deck. Wondering what it
could mean, I jumped up the hatchway, and, speechless with
astonishment, beheld a large ship coming up slap on our
weather quarter. She was scudding under bare poles. It was
evident she had seen us; and I distinguished the face of a man
holding a lanthorn over her bow, when we were asked, through
a speaking trumpet, what we were, and then we heard,—
“Schooner, ahoy !—strike, or we will sink you!” Instantly
all was in commotion on the deck of the frigate, for such I
made her out to be, getting her guns out, and preparing to use
them. My surprise prevented my replying, and it was not till
her long tier of heavy cannon swept by us, so near that she
actually with her main-shrouds grazed our jib-boom, and till a
voice again bellowed out,—‘‘ Do you strike?’’—that I gained
my presence of mind, and, calling out,—‘‘ Put the helm up!”
—we bore away, till I got the wind on my quarter. Several
guns were fired at us. Our only hope was in more canvas on
the schooner; and as soon as she felt it, and found herself
released from the restraint under which she had laboured, with
her head to the sea, groaning and staggering from the tremen-
dous blows of the waves, she flew like a greyhound, when let
slip at its prey. She dashed madly through the crests of the
foaming billows, which hissed and fumed as if boiling, and left
in her wake a line of sparkling light like a meteor in the-
A YOUNGER SON. 421

heavens, brighter from being contrasted with the blackness of
the night.

While congratulating myself on our escape, the man, looking
out on our fore-rigging, (for the fore-part of the deck was swept
clean by every sea), called out,—‘‘ The frigate a-head!” We
had just time to put the helm up again, when we swept by a
ship, which I saw, by a dim lanthorn on her poop, was not the
frigate, but a larger vessel. We had scarcely cleared her
before we crossed the bow of another, and then another. I

was bewildered. The mate said wildly and fearfully,—‘ These
be no real ships, Sir,—but the ‘Flying Dutchman!’” To
which the quarter-master answered,—“ I’ll be damned if it be,

—it be a China fleet.” The truth of this instantly flashed
across my mind ;—it was the homeward bound Canton fleet.

When well to leeward of them, we again hauled our wind,
and lay to, till daylight should appear. After a dreadful night
of anxiety, perplexity, and peril, the darkness, which I thought
had lasted an eternity, slowly disappeared; and lurid streaks
of light, betokening a tempestuous day, barely enabled me to
take a survey of the dim and narrow circle of the horizon.
What a change a single day had made! On the previous
morning a child’s paper boat might have swum securely, and
now these English ships of colossean size, compared to which
we must have appeared a nut-shell, were madly tossed about.
Every wave, like a mountain, threatewed to overwhelm them.
Lashed up by the wind, the sea seemed boiling ; and the frothy
scum, formed on its surface, filled the air like a snow-storm.
The old weather-beaten quarter-master, who had hold of the
helm, as with his horny hand he wiped off the spray which
was flying over him, and mingled with the tobacco juice down
his grisly beard, said,—‘‘ Mayhap old Neptune’s Mis’ess wants
@ cup of tea this morning, and has boiled the water, and belike
will sarve herself out of those three tea-chests. Three !—ay,
—my wife always turned in three spoonsful,—one for I, one
for her, and t’other for the pot.”

The three East-Indiamen, which were from twelve to fifteen
hundred tons, seemed to have suffered considerable damage.
They were lying to, awaiting, as I conjectured, the coming up
of their consorts; for it was evident they were part of the
422 ADVENTURES OF

convoy I had encountered in the night: consequently con-
cluding I was now both ahead and to leeward of them all, it
was necessary I should get the weather-gage before the men-
of-war came up, in order to be safe from their pursuit when the
violence of the storm should abate. Accordingly, taking
advantage of the lull, which generally occurs at break of day,
under our storm-sails, we hauled our wind. I have said a
better sea-boat never floated than ours: all our light spars
were secured on deck, the hatchways and ports were battened
down, and, being free from lumber, and in the best trim, we
floated on the wild seas in comparative ease as well as security ;
whilst the huge and unwieldy Indiamen, high out of water, and
lumbered up within and without, looked like any thing but
swans on a lake. As the light became stronger, the horizon
was enlarged; the sun, though at times obscured by dark
masses of rapidly-passing clouds, pierced with its wandering
beams the vapours hanging over the sea, and I was enabled,
with a powerful telescope, to count seven other vessels, among
which the most prominent was a line-of-battle ship, distin-
guished by her broad pennant as the Commodore. She was
making signals, as I apprehended, to the frigate from which I
had so miraculously escaped—thanks to the gale. Sweeping
my glass round the horizon to windward, I observed the frigate
bearing down to the leeward ships, seemingly to assist those
which had suffered most, the weather ships having borne up
and congregated to leeward, except one solitary bark, whose
white and reduced main-topsail could alone be distinguished,
in the very eye of the wind, or, as sailors say, dead to wind-
ward. She, too, altered her course, but not in the track of the
others, her object appearing to be to keep near them, but not
to go amongst them. I watched her intently: the cut of her
sails, her taunt-masts, the celerity of her mancuvres, and the
velocity with which she moved, proved her a ship of war, yet
every thing denoted she was not English.

“Take the glass,” I said to the old quarter-master, ‘I can’t
make out what the devil craft that is. She is altering her
course, and coming down on us: we must wear round, and
shew her our stern. Well, what do you make her out to be,
quarter-master ?”’
A YOUNGER SON. 423

‘Why, Sir,” replied the old seaman, ‘“ did you never see in
the Indies three fore-and-aft sails such as she carries? I
larnt that cut when I sarved in a New York pilot-boat, and
I cut that there canvas, as sartain as my name be Bill
Thompson ! ’’

“What!” I exclaimed, ‘‘is it the grab?”

“ Sartainly it be,” says Bill.

CHAPTER CVI.

Blow, swiftly blow, thou keel-compelling gale !
Till the broad sun withdraws its lessening ray ;
Then must the pennant-bearer slacken sail,

That lagging barks may make their lazy way.
Byron.

HE welcome news spread through the schooner, and joy

beamed from every eye. In an hour she came up along-
side of us, when we gave a simultaneous cheer that arose above
the noise of the still undiminished gale. My pleasure was
indescribable, heightened at its being unexpected and oppor-
tune. As no boat could live in the sea, we could only
communicate by our private code of signals, by which I was
directed to keep close to the grab, and follow her motions.

The gale continued steadily blowing out of the Gulf of Siam,
drifting the convoy down towards Borneo. We followed De
Ruyter, as he edged down on them. I observed that most of
the merchant-ships had suffered more or less damage: one of
them had lost her foremast, which, as we afterwards were
informed, had been struck by lightning, when twelve or four-
teen men were killed—the Commodore had her in tow. Another
had lost her topmast and jib-boom: being a heavy sailer, she
was a long way to leeward, and the frigate, under much
canvas, considering the weather, was towing her. The other
ships were uniting their efforts to keep together, and assist
each other: while De Ruyter practised successively every
nautical expedient to harass and divide them, in which, with
reckless effrontery, I aided and abetted. Day and night we
i224 ADVENTURES OF

hung on them, like wolves on a sheep-fold, kept at, bay by the
watch-dogs. Our superiority in sailing gave us the power of
annoyance ; but, besides the men-of-war, the greater portion
of the merchant-company’s ships overmatched us in number
of men and weight of metal, carrying from thirty to forty guns,
and from a hundred and fifty to three hundred men. Never-
theless, we impeded their progress so much by day with both
feigned and veal attacks, and deceived them so much at night
by false signals with guns and lights, that they made every
effort to destroy or get rid of us. The frigate gave chase to
us alternately; but though she was a strong ship, and was
handled in the most masterly and seaman-like manner, all her
attempts were vain. My temerity frequently put the schooner
in jeopardy: once, as she pursued me, out-carrying me with
sail, I should inevitably have fallen into her hands, if her jib-
boom and fore-topmast had not gone by the board, as she had
opened a fire on me from her bow-chasers. Thus we succeeded
in embarrassing and impeding the convoy, in despite of their
strenuous and unwearied exertions to keep together, we being
favoured by the islands, banks, and rocks scattered on their
lee, towards which the continuance of the gale, aided by the
swell and current, combined to drive them. The ship which
the frigate had occasionally in tow, when deprived of that aid,
by our keeping her incessantly on the alert, had drifted far
astern and to leeward. As the sun set, De Ruyter was along-
side of us, considerably ahead of the fleet. He said—

“In twenty-four hours this gale will have expended its
strength, not the less violent, in the mean time, on that
account. To-night we will make our last effort, which shall
be to cut off that sternmost ship. I will prevent the frigate
from succouring her till sunset: then she can be of no avail.
I will come to windward of you. At nightfall, do you get in
her wake, and you shall find me near you.”

With words to this effect De Ruyter left me; and, with
even more than his wonted audacity, ran in among the convoy,
undauntedly exchanging shots with several of the largest. By
the rapidity of his movements he kept the frigate continually
on the alert, The Indiamen looked like Chinese junks; and,
for the most part, were manned with those outcast, miserable
A YOUNGER SON. 425

wretches, Lascars. Such an one was the dismasted ship, that
De Ruyter and myself, having successfully detached her from
the convoy, doubted not would be our prize.

England may be justly proud of her gallant seamen, hardy,
fearless, and weather-beaten as the rocks on her own iron-
bound coast. The wealth of a single island, paltry and insig-
nificant in itself, maintains more effective ships of war at sea
than all Europe combined. To this, however, every thing is
sacrificed. Yet it isa singular fact that her vessels engaged
in commerce are, without exception, from those employed in
the most distant parts to the coasters, the most unsightly,
dirtiest, and heaviest sailers in the world, and, during the
war, the worst manned, for then the navy impressed all the
able seamen. Owing to the injudicious law by which the
tonnage-duties are levied, from the measurement of the length
of kelston and breadth of beam, not by the tonnage a ship
may actually contain, the merchant-ship-builder’s study is to
diminish the weight of the duty. This they accomplish by
‘continuing the breadth, with little diminution, from the stem
to the stern, by projecting the upper works, and sinking the
hold to the depth of the well on the desert; so that, by the
absurd measurement of our Government, a ship, registered at
seven hundred and fifty tons, frequently carries a thousand or
eleven hundred tons freight. This absurd system can only be
equalled by that of the Chinese, which, like other idiotic edicts,
they defend on the score of antiquity. They measure the
length from the centre of the foremast to the centre of the
mizenmast, and the breadth is taken close abaft the main-
mast; the length is then multiplied by the breadth, and the
product, divided by ten, gives the measurement of the ship.
By this method a brig often pays more than a ship, and a ship
-of one hundred tons half as much as one of a thousand. Yet
the English and the Chinese are, in their way, both called wise
nations.
426 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER CVII.

But that sad ship is as a miracle

Of sudden ruin, for it drives so fast,

It seems as if it had arrayed its form

With the headlong storm.

It strikes—I almost feel the shock, —

It stumbles on a jagged rock,—

Sparkles of blood on the white foam are cast.
SHELLEY.

CHANGE in the weather was apparent. The small
curled clouds, which hitherto had all scudded one way,
congregating to windward, where they remained stationary,
arranged in horizontal lines, till incorporated in the dark and
rugged bank, as if to supply the laboratory of the tempest with
fuel, now no longer hurried on to a particular point, while their
hues and forms were changed, being grey and evanescent.
Night came on, with occasional showers of rain; and the
obscurity was such that I could only at times catch a glimpse
of the Indiaman, directed to where she lay by the signals of
distress she made to those who could not possibly hear or see
her, and, if seen, could not assist her. The gale, though
broken, blew fiercely in squalls; and in the intervening lulls,
when relieved from the pressure of the gale on the little
canvas it was safe to carry, the sullen and tumultuous waves
hurled us about, and the water fell on our deck with the noise
and shock of an avalanche, every wave threatening to annihi-
late us. To add to our peril there were shoals and an extensive
range of sunken rocks immediately under our lee.

We saw nothing of the grab till towards morning. The
weather was then moderated; and De Ruyter informed me
that he feared the Indiaman was wrecked; that when he had
last seen her she was bound in by sunken rocks; that he had
approached to warn her of her danger, and advised her to
wear round, and haul her wind, but she had borne away before
it, not knowing where she was. ‘‘ Now,”’ said he, ‘ they must
all inevitably perish. Ay, they are firing guns for aid, but it
is too late!”

De Ruyter’s conjectures, as to her loss, were verified with
A YOUNGER SON. 427

the earliest break of day. The first object my eye rested on
was the huge wreck of the ship, lying along a bed of rocks,
fixed within its jagged points as in a cyclopean vice ; while the
immense waves, lashed into fury by the opposition of the low
reef of scattered rocks, assumed their wildest and most
destructive forms. Some arose like pyramids, others came
sweeping along in continued columns, till, checked by the
sheals, their crests flew upwards clear and transparent as
glass; then, curling inwards, they hissed and rolled on, till,
encountered by the reaction of the eddying swell from other
quarters, they successively disappeared in spray and foam.
In the very midst of this horrific whirlpool, with the surf
thundering on her, as if ejected by the force of a voleano, the
doomed wreck lay, like a stranded leviathan.

Not a vestige of the convoy could be descried through the
dim veil of misty clouds which hung on the verge of the
horizon. The gale, after drawing round to the east, expended
its last efforts, and died away at the first ray of the sun. We
lay pitching and rolling so heavily that our masts bent like
rattans, the knees and timbers of the vessel groaned and
shrieked as if torn asunder, and the bulk-heads and deck
opened and closed with the violence of the motion. We were
already so near the rocks as to fill us with dread. To think
‘of succouring the crew of the wrecked vessel, (should indeed
any of them still exist,) was at that period out of the question.
With a telescope I could make out that the main-mast with
the main-yard, and the stump of the mizen-mast were the only
parts of the wreck, over which the sea did not continually
break. The fore part of the vessel was bilged, and occasion-
ally under water; so that I knew the decks must have blown
up, and her cargo been washed out. Her poop was high out
of the water, but the surf played over it like a fountain. It
was evident, if any of her crew had escaped, they must be on
the weather main-yard-arm, which was topped considerably
up, the lee side drooping, and the swell striking against it.
Had any sought refuge on the weather side of the yard, it was
barely possible they could maintain their hold against the con-
tinued shocks to which they were liable.

At nine a.m. the swell had so far abated that, seeing De
428 ADVENTURES OF

Ruyter prepare to get a boat out, I followed his example ; and
succeeded with a light and particularly buoyant whale-boat,
with the second-mate and four of my best seamen—my wound
confining me on board. De Ruyter having spoken my boat
they proceeded together, making a long sweep round the shoals
to leeward, as I readily conjectured, to make the desperate
attempt at approaching the wreck ;—the gallant De Ruyter,
the first of seamen, and the first in danger, whether to save or
slay !—while I, impotent as a bed-ridden hag, could only curse
the paralysed limb, which withheld me from following his noble
example.

It was past noon ere I observed the two boats returning
round the reef towards the grab. I had been able to dis-
tinguish men moving on the main-yard of the wreck, and that
the boats had succeeded in getting near enough to induce them
to lower themselves by ropes into the sea. Some, I concluded,
were saved. The schooner being the lighter vessel, I got her
nearer to the boats; and, the swell continuing to go down,
they reached us in safety. De Ruyter swung himself on board
with a rope ; and, as he wrung my hand, his face beamed with
joy brighter than I had ever beheld it. ‘‘ Had that lubberly
ship,’ said he, ‘“‘kept clear of the rocks, she would have been
ours, and I should have cleared forty thousand dollars; yet, I
know not why, the rescuing four of her people gives me greater °
pleasure than if I had made a prize of her, or of tea-chests
piled high as the Himmalayan mountains. Poor fellows! they
must be endued with the hardiness of otters to have lived
through such a night, on such a perch. Hoist them on board,
my lads !—but first the father and his son.”

The words were scarcely uttered when a man, with a rent
jacket of red camlet and yellow facings, embroidered with silver
cord, and the other parts of his dress stained and dripping,
came feebly staggering towards me, evidently unable to sup-
port himself. A dark stripling, naked to the waist, of a light
and muscular form, held him up by the arm. The former was
between forty and fifty years of age, a captain in a Bengal
regiment, returning to Kurope, on leave, after five-and-twenty
years’ service in India; by which he had acquired a right to
full pay for the remainder of his life, amounting to a hundred
A YOUNGER SON. 429

and eighty pounds per annum. This beggarly stipend, had his

habits or the climate been more temperate, he might have lived © ©

many years to claim; but incarcerated in the oven-like atmo-
sphere of Calcutta, his liver had enlarged to the same un-
natural proportions as that of a Strasburg goose, and by the
same means,—heat and stuffing. Bile, not blood, seemed to
circulate, or rather to be stagnated throughout his body, dye-
ing his skin with the slimy green and yellow hue of encrusting
standing water. His annuity was not worth half a year’s
purchase. The boy was from sixteen to seventeen, his son by
a native woman. Grafted on an indigenous stock he had
grown well, and gave promise of goodly fruit. These and
other particulars I learnt afterwards, for instantly on their
arrival on board I gave them a separate cabin, and had all
their wants supplied. Of the other two men saved, one was
the third mate, a square athletic north-countryman, inured to
wreck and storm, having been brought up in a collier on his
own dangerous coast. The other was the serang, or native
boatswain ; he was the finest looking fellow I ever saw, as
good a seaman as he was a brave man—the more remarkable
from his caste being stigmatised for dastardly conduct. The
gallant youth, who had preserved his father through all the
dangers I have described, these men spoke of with wonder and
admiration.

CHAPTER CVIII.

Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell ;

Then shriek’d the timid, and stood still the brave ;

Then some leap’d overboard with dreadful yell,

As eager to anticipate their grave ;

And the sea yawned around her like a hell.
Byron.

‘ HEN refreshed by sleep and food, the third mate told

his story of the wreck. His ship, one of the largest,
had lost her topmasts, and was otherwise greatly damaged by
being taken aback, when first struck by the gale. The frigate
had occasionally taken her in tow. She was a very heavy
430 ADVENTURES OF

sailer, hardly seaworthy. Her cargo consisted of tea, silk,
and sundries. With women, children, black servants, and
others, there were above three hundred souls in her. In the
early part of the night she laboured so much from the heavy
swell as to become generally leaky ; many of the chain-bolts
were drawn, and the chain-plates gave way. In bearing up to
ease her, two of the guns of the main-deck had broken loose ;
one of them had stove in a port-hole, which let in the water ;
upon this the pumps became choked from the tea getting into
the well. When the grab had hailed her, and told her of the
rocks, she had attempted to wear round, but, for want of head-
sail, became ungovernable. Ultimately the wind, swell, and
indraught drifted her bodily towards, and then by force through,
a narrow channel of the reefs. There, brought up stern-fore-
most on a sunken ledge of rocks, in the very midst of the
breakers, all the Lascars instantly betook themselves to the
rigging and masts. The wailing and screaming were so loud
as to drown the uproar of the winds and waves. The spray,
sometimes the waves, covered the ship; all thought they were
already under water; most of those on the decks were so
bewildered that they were washed overboard, before they could
take any measures to save themselves. Nothing was visible
but the white foam bubbling all around. They were entirely
ignorant of where they were, or what they were todo. ‘ At
that moment,” continued the third mate, ‘I knew not a single
person on board. IJ swung myself into the main-rigging by a
rope; many Lascars and some of the officers were there. I
went on the main-top; that also was crowded; none could be
heard to speak, from the spray which even reached them there.
Soon after I saw the foremast go by the board ;—from the
noise on it I thought it was covered with men ;—they were all
lost! Hardly did I know the deck of my own ship; her fore-
castle seemed entirely under water. Iheard acrash; I thought
it was the sea working its way between decks, having entered
by the hatchways. By a loud report, like thunder, I knew the
decks were blown up, and the ship water-logged. Some time
afterwards, towards morning, she made a sudden lurch, and
fell on her beam-ends to port ;—the shock was so sudden and
violent that it carried away the mizen mast, on which was the
A YOUNGER SON. 431

greater part of the Europeans; and it threw most of the men
out of the maintop, and the lee mainyard arm ;—being in the
water, all were swept from it! I and the serang, who had
held fast, seeing the top was going to pieces, no longer tenable,
crawled out on the weather main-yard, which we found almost
abandoned ; for the braces, which steadied it, being carried
away, and the mainsail, having got loose, had shaken off those
which were on it; yet, though the sail was blown away, the
yard was swinging about see-saw fashion. I then first came
athwart the old captain, clinging like a lobster to a rock, with
the young half-caste sticking fast as a barnacle alongside him,
both of them lashed on the yard by the gaskins, which the
lubbers had cast loose for that purpose, not knowing the sail
would get adrift, which had caused so much mischief. Day-
light appeared, when I could only count six alive. We were
almost exhausted, and without hope, till we saw your boats:
but when we looked round, we thought it impossible that any
one could near us ; for we were shut in by breakers, on which
the sea burst so violently that we could scarcely hear each
other’s voices. Besides, we knew you were French privateers ;
and when we did observe the boats shove off, pulling towards
us, we thought they came to see what plunder they could pick
up, not to save us.” Here the mate’s hard north-country
visage brightened, and his small blue eye glistened from under
his high cheek-bones. ‘‘I have seen many brave and good
boatmen come off in life-boats, and other shore-boats on our
coast, in gales when no ship could shew a rag of canvas, but
no man ever saw such a devil’s bay as we lay in. The eddying
swell whirling round and round, flying up like waterspouts,
dead men, tea-chests, casks, bales of silk and cotton, ship-sails,
spare boats and oars, men’s hammocks, chests, were all tossed
topsy-turvy about together. It made me, Sir, very queer to
look at it; for they all seemed alive, and the men moved their
arms and legs about as if they were drunk. There was in par-
ticular an old black nurse holding a white child in her arms,
which she seemed trying to re-ship on board us, and then she
spun round and round the rocks; and I thought I heard the
body squealing, every time they were dashed against the rocks.
A man near me on the yard never took his eyes off her; and,
432 ADVENTURES OF

all at once, he called out, as if he were stark mad,—‘ Ay, ay,
old devil, I am coming! I am coming! ’—and dashed head
foremost amongst ‘em; he didn’t strike out a stroke, but went
down like lead. The old captain told me not to look below ;
and I did feel my head going round, as if I were top-heavy. A
fish or a cork could not float steadily for an instant in that
roaring whirlpool, and yet the American captain got near
enough, after a number of trials, to throw a lead line on board,
when the first man who tried to get hold of it was washed off
and drowned. Then it was again thrown, and that young lad,
the officer’s son, who was as active as a monkey, got hold of it,
and I secured the end of a rope to it, which the captain hauled
on board. One by one we lowered ourselves down, and were
hauled into the boat; and, thank God! though you don’t carry
English colours, there are some of my countrymen on board,—
and that’s all I care for. And I must say, though this be a
Yankee, I never saw better craft, or better seamen, or kinder
to brother tars in distress.”

In the English accounts of this loss it was stated, and never
contradicted, that, in a dismasted and leaky state, she had
been seen in the dusk of the evening, bearing away, and firing
guns of distress. That the men-of-war, convoying the fleet,
could not assist her, as the Commodore had already a ship in
tow, which, but for his aid, must have been wrecked, being
completely dismasted ; and the frigate was engaged in keeping
off two fast-sailing French privateers, which had been hanging
on the convoy during the heaviest gale the oldest seaman had
ever witnessed in the China seas; and that the ship missing
was supposed to have foundered, or been wrecked on the
sunken rocks and sand-banks, which bind the north-east coast
of the island of Borneo.

National pride, like the pride of individuals, requires to be
well oiled in order to work smoothly ; and John Bull, with all
his vaunted plainness and honesty, is, in reality, as vain and
gullible as the strutting gander after it is stuffed with oil-cake.
His dignity would have been compromised at any allusion to
the East Indiaman’s having been cut off from her convoy,
guarded by his omnipotent and invincible ships of war, by a
couple of French Lettres de marque, and during a tremendous
A YOUNGER SON. 433

gale, when British tars flatter themselves that they alone have
the hardihood at once to contend against its fury, and to act
offensively against an enemy.

CHAPTER CIX.

Trust not for freedom to the Franks—

They have a king who buys and sells.

In native swords, and native ranks,

The only hope of courage dwells ;

But Turkish force and Latin fraud

Would break your shield, however broad.
Byron.

So from that cry over the boundless hills,
Sudden was caught one universal sound,
Like a voleano’s voice, whose thunder fills

Remotest skies.
, SHELLEY.

S soon as the weather permitted, we steered a north-east
course, till we made those small islands off the coast of
Borneo, where we had anchored on a former occasion. Here
we brought up, repaired our damage, landed our sick, and
refreshed ourselves.

I had given De Ruyter an account of every thing I had seen,
heard, or done. He was much moved at the account of Louis’s
death ; for Louis, though with an exterior as rough and hard
as that of the cocoa-nut, had the genuine stamp of worth, not
to be forged or effaced ; and he possessed as many good quali-
ties as he was generally useful. ‘I do not know,” said De
Ruyter, ‘‘ how we shall manage without him. He has long
had entire control over our money-affairs,—an admirable
accountant; and to find another honest man, that is so, to
fill his place, will be difficult. There is contagion in the
handling of money, and in the knowledge of the science of
numbers, which gives too great a facility in the subtracting
from others to add to ourselves. It makes the mind sordid ;
the rapacity of money-mongers, commissaries, and pursers is
proverbial. We must therefore, despairing to fill his place by
any other, share his duty between us.”

28
434 ADVENTURES OF

After attentively listening to my affair with the Javanese, he
exclaimed,—‘ So, you went a wild goose, or a boar chase,
excited, I suppose, by its perilous absurdity! It is true, no
one could have extricated himself with greater judgment ; but
who else would have been guilty of such folly? You are as
rash and headstrong as our Malay friend, the hero of Sambas.”’

“ By the by, De Ruyter,”’ I replied, ‘“‘ your alliance with that
predatory tribe of Malays appears to me as gratuitous an act
of unknightly errantry as my Quixotic expedition at Java.”

He rubbed his hands with glee, his eye brightened, and on
his dark and manly features was legibly traced the satisfaction
swelling at his heart. His lips curled, and his breast dilated,
as he said—‘‘ No, my lad ;—to harass, burn, sink, and destroy
their enemies is a duty I owe to the flag I sail under. I confess
I should not so gladly engage in these profitless expeditions,
but that I loathe and detest the English-merchant Company,—
and all companies, for they are bound together by narrow views
and selfish ties. Revenge, or rather retribution, is to me what
the Sultan of Borneo says of that matchless diamond he pos-
sesses,—like the sun, above all price. A parson-poet of yours
exclaims,

‘** What is revenge, but courage to call in
Our honour's debts ?’

—and debts of honour, you know, must be scrupulously paid.
I think, for every dollar they once took from me, they have
subsequently lost, and by my means, as many thousands. The
Company had long sought to obtain a secure footing on that
side of Borneo ; but the almost total want of harbours, and the
opposition everywhere met with from the noble and chivalrous
Malays continued to frustrate their attempts. At last they
fixed their greedy eyes on the town of Sambas, which has a
river, good anchorage, not very distant, and is defended by a
fort, besides being situated in the best part of the island for
commerce and culture. Perfidious in design as atrocious in
act, they gave out that the purpose of their expedition was
exclusively to destroy that piratical settlement ; when the fact
was they had determined to settle there themselves, and lay
the foundation-stone of their old system, by which they first
A YOUNGER SON. 435

take all the produce and trade of the country, and then the
country itself.

“The grab being in a secure berth, and our heroic Malay
chieftain having pledged himself and people to be under my
guidance, I, after completing the necessary arrangements,
directed him to embark his followers in their war-proas, when,
with a strong party in my boats, we proceeded together along
the coast, till we arrived at Tangong point, where we dis-
embarked, and where I left my boats. We then marched
overland ; the heavy guns and other bulky articles being sent
round in the proas. After a very long and distressing journey
through forests, over rugged and gigantic mountains, across
pathless and almost endless plains, rivers, torrents, and
morasses, we came to the banks of the river of Sambas. On
one side was a swamp, and on the other an inextricable and
interminable jungle. Through intricate paths, guided by the
natives, we at last arrived at the town of Sambas, marked out
for destruction by the English. Its inhabitants were huddled
together in many miserable rattan huts, under cover of a
shapeless mass of mud and timber, dignified with the appella-
tion of tower, or fort. Here and there were scattered basket-
like habitations, supported, as you are, on crutches, and
apparently ready to move to the town, when tempted by
business or necessity. Journeying along, I had observed a
very capacious, a magnificent bay, shut in by islands, to the
eastward of the Malay town, in which, it was evident, the
invaders would anchor their vessels, and disembark their troops.
I likewise found the native inhabitants were moving their
goods, chattels, and war-boats to recesses and fastnesses,
prepared to avoid, as it looked, rather than oppose, the
threatened invasion of which I had given them notice. At my
instigation the chieftain went with his people into the jungle
and morasses, ascended to the mountain caverns, to harangue
the grey-bearded leaders of the private coast, and rally
together. At the sound of battle and plunder, the hidden
warriors started out like packs of jackals from their retreats ;
the enterprising spirit of the chieftain inspired every heart, and
spread like fire up a mountain in the dry season. Detestation
of the Europeans, and emulation of each other, conspired to
436 ADVENTURES OF

multiply their numbers, and collect them together. On the
second day, while I was putting the fortress into a defensible
state, and sinking trees to obstruct the passage of the river, I
was startled at the wild war-cry of thousands of these noblest
of barbarians. They came pouring down the mountain like a
deluge, and I was well pleased to be in possession of the mud-
fortress during the first paroxysm of their inflammatory fever.
The violence of their gestures, their piercing shrieks, the dis-
charging of their fire-arms, the shaking and clashing of swords
and spears, the blasts of their conch-shell trumpets reverber-
ating from rock and ravine,—it seemed as if all the natives of
that savage land were running a-muck. My friend, the chief-
tain, soon came to me, accompanied by the most potent leaders
of the various tribes. To these he made me knowi ; and,
after the prelude of a plentiful, but not a splendid feast, we
proceeded to business. The chieftain, who was a great orator,
made a long harangue, in which he magnified my services, and
concluded with proposing me as their general director, being
best acquainted with European warfare. I separated the respec-
tive tribes, and allotted them particular stations, where they
were to lie concealed till the enemy had entered the river, and
landed the troops. Then they were to be permitted to advance
a certain distance, on which a large body of Malays, by shew-
ing themselves on the side of the jungle, should compel them to.
keep on that side leading to the marshes. When arrived there,
they were to be opposed by the natives of the town, who were
the best acquainted with its localities. But you may see, in
my journal, a map of the place, and a plan of its defence,
which was only partially acted on, their sanguinary impetuosity
breaking frantically through every restraint.

‘When every thing was prepared, we waited the arrival of
the flotilla from Bombay. We had placed look-outs all along the.
coast, and sent fast-sailing proas into the offing. It was so:
long ere they came, and, when we had sight of them, they
were so tardy in their movements, that we well nigh despaired
of slacking our unquenchable thirst for vengeance. The soil of
India has been crimsoned with the blood of her children; her
sultans, her princes, and her warrior-chieftains have been
exterminated. India has been subverted by the,adventurers of
A YOUNGER SON. 437

Europe, in their search for gold. To pay off the accumulated
arrears of blood, by exacting life for life, is as impossible as to
pay off the debt of bankrupt Europe. However, they talk of
liquidating that, and India may yet exact a fraction, in the
way of dividend, for the myriads of lives so wantonly expended
by her prodigal Christian invaders. Would that I might live
to behold the eastern ocean red with blood, as was the paltry
stream of Sambas, on the day we broke through the marshalled
ranks of the Christians, when the fierce and ungovernable
Malays breasted the renegade Sepoys’ bayonets, with irresistible
fury drove them from the muddy banks of the river into its
dark waters, and left an ample feast for its swarms of alligators
and dog-fish, and for the jackals and vultures on shore! No
quarter was given ; little plunder acquired. We pursued the
fugitives, destroying them as they endeavoured to regain their
vessels. Some boats from their shipping were still landing
stores, guns, and a few remaining troops; which, by making a
stand, facilitated their escape. Yet the slain far outnumbered
the rescued,—at least of those who landed. But stop,—I hear
our Malay chieftain coming alongside. Let us go up and
welcome him.”

The Malays from their proa were soon on board of us. The
chieftain rushed towards De Ruyter, knelt and kissed his hand,
and then placed it on his heart and head. Afterwards he made
a speech, with a voice and action not studied from the school
of Demosthenes, but of such violence that the limbs ‘and

-muscles of his native auditory were set in motion as if by the
power of galvanism; which proved, that passionate and un-
taught eloquence can move the heart of man, as much as, or
perhaps more than ever did the learned and commanding
diction of that time-serving, subtle Greek philosopher. *The
purport of his speech was to reiterate their thanks for the
repeated services De Ruyter had rendered to their nation, and
to express their admiration of him, his courage, and his
wisdom ;—his words were, ‘‘ greater than a lion in fight, and
in wisdom a prophet.’’ They conjured him to stay with them
as their prince. They would build him a house on the gold
mountain, at the foot of which runs the river of diamonds ;—
this was no oratorical flourish, for a great quantity of gold is
438 ADVENTURES OF

yearly dug from the mountain, and very fine diamonds are
fished from the river. They would give him all they had, and
he should be their father. They only besought of him one
small boon; which was that he would use his influence with
the great warriors of his nation, to go to the little island of
great ships, (meaning England,) and, while the ships were in
its ports, awaiting the monsoon to blow over, that he and his
warriors should then burn all the ships, lay waste the island,
and drown all the people. ‘‘Thy son,” (meaning me,) continued
the chieftain, ‘can stay with us, whilst thou dost go and do
this. Every old man shall be his father, and thy voice shall
be heard and obeyed through him. For is he not of thy
blood ?”

De Ruyter, perceiving me smile, said, ‘‘ Well, who knows ?
Wilder words than these have been spoken ere now, and
scoffed at; yet, in after ages, they have been called prophecies,
when proved, or believed in,—no matter which.’’

During our greetings and conversation, a feast had been
prepared, of which the chieftain partook, and then told De
Ruyter that every sort of provision should be sent down to him
on the ensuing day, and his wishes complied with, whatever
they might be. He concluded with,—‘‘ Thou lovest my people,
for thou hast done more than their fathers and mothers for
them ;—they gave them life, but thou hast given them freedom.
But my people are poor, and like presents; I have, however,
told them if any accept the smallest trifle from thy people,
I will—” (and here he glanced fiercely round his own men)—
‘kill him, even though we had both come from the same
womb, and been suckled by the same bosom.” They then
descended into their proa, and went on shore.
A YOUNGER SON. 439

CHAPTER CX.

The world is full of woodmen, who expel

Love’s gentle dryads from the trees of life,

And vex the nightingales in every dell,

With harsh, rude voices, and unseemly strife.
SHELLEY.

ea of confinement, and anxious to see my old
friends in the grab, I went on board of her, accompanied
by my little nurse, Zela, and De Ruyter, who loved her as his
child. There we passed a jovial night, supping and carousing
till daylight under the awning, while the grab’s crew danced
and sung; for, with permission, I had brought them a barrel
of Java arrack, which is the best in India.

I must not forget Van Scolpvelt, whom I found nearly the
same as when I left him. My first sight of him was through
the skylight into his pigeon-house-looking dispensary. Near
the chinks and crevices of the beams were several long cen-
tipedes crawling about; and all the cockroaches in the ship
sought refuge there. Van cared not for them, provided they
did not, which cockroaches are liable to do, when hard pushed
for water, creep into his mouth as he slept. He was perfectly
indifferent to their dropping into his soup, or his tea; perhaps
indeed he took the same pleasure in seeing them scalded to
death as did Domitian in viewing the struggles of the flies,
which, for pastime, he cast into spiders’ webs. There sat Van,
smoking his meersham, and lugging by its hairy leg, a particular
fine, large cockroach out of his tea-cup. The tea not being hot,
the huge beetle was no more than refreshed by its warm bath.
Van, either struck by its extraordinary size, or merely to while
away the time, after holding it up to the light, spitted it
scientifically, and began to scrutinize it through a magnifying
glass. I was now about to hail him, but De Ruyter put his
hand on my mouth. After Van had satisfied his curiosity, he
threw the insect out of the scuttle, and sipped his beverage.
His anatomical propensities being thus awakened, I saw him
fix his eye on the beam, then with a sudden dash of his long
skinny thumb, and with a pressure which proved him to be na
440 ADVENTURES OF

tyro in the art, he pinned the head of a centipede firmly against
the timber, the body being concealed in a rent. The thumb-
screw pressure prevented the reptile from using its venom; and
the long writhing body, with its hundred quivering legs, fell
into the open palm of Van, who forthwith projecting his fore-
finger, so as to form a natural forceps, clutched the crushed
head. It was the longest and largest I had ever seen. Van,
after an alternative examination, put it into a bottle, which
contained many more preserved in spirits, where it long
writhed about ; for it is curious that a centipede, even in that
state, will continue wriggling for hours.

De Ruyter now hailed the doctor, who replenished his pipe,
put his jacket on, and shuffled up the hatchway. He held out
his defiled fin, which, notwithstanding the venom on it, I shook
heartily. He then inquired into the particulars of my sick-list,
and devoured my discourse as I narrated the ravages of the
Java fever. As he heard of the death of poor Louis, he ex-
pressed great sorrow, apostrophising, however, on his obduracy
with regard to medicine, and eagerly demanded if he had not,
during his sufferings, called on his name. To this I answered,
“No.”

“No!” echoed Scolpvelt— then he died an impious un-
believer ! I alone could have saved him!”

When I recounted the death of one of my Arabs from poison,
he asked if there was nothing else the matter with him. I
mentioned he had been slightly wounded; and, upon his
desiring to be informed of the appearance of the wound,
I told him the fellow complained it was painful, and it looked
reddish.

‘“What!” said he, ‘was it a phagedcenic sloughing sore ?—
or do you mean an erysipelatous inflammation? Were not
the chylopetic viscera disordered? What did you apply?”

‘Apply, Van?—why, I told the fellow to drink congee-water
with lemon in it, and to wash his leg with brandy; but
he washed his gullet with the brandy, and the sore with the
lemon drink.”

‘Did he ?—then he proved he knew more of medicine than
you did. That fellow should have lived, and you died! ”

Scolpvelt vehemently cursed the surgeon who had deserted
A YOUNGER SON. 44]

his post during the battle with an enemy against whom, for
the benefit of science, he should have gloried in contending.
He then insisted on examining my wound, and observed that,
from its appearance, surgeons in general would believe some
portion of my garments had entered with the ball, and would
prevent the cicatrization by forcing a probe to sound the
passage of the ball. ‘ Now,” he said, “I know, from a long
series of practical experience, which few like me have had,
in gun-shot wounds, that, whatever clothing may be shot
through, the ball enters the flesh without ever conveying a
fibre of it into the wound; unless, indeed, it ig a ball almost
spent, which can consequently but inflict a superficial wound.”

He wound up his discourse by telling me he saw decided
symptoms of jaundice in my eyes and skin.

My old quarter-master, standing by me open-mouthed with
-astonishment at the puzzling scientific language, from time
to time drawled out, ‘I wonder what rate that ship may be

he is launching now !’’—“ Thirty years in the navy, and never
heard of the Hajademee and the Chylopottic !—I suppose they
be first-raters, Dutch.”—‘‘ The Cockatrice sloop-of-war I have
heard of.”

At last Van turned round with—

“What is the old dog mumbling, eh ?—he is rotting with
the scurvy—look here !’’—at which he applied his hard thumb
to the seaman’s red and hairy arm: then, pressing on it, he
removed his claw, and pointed to the place.

“ Look,” said he, ‘the indented stamp remains—the col-
lapsed muscles have lost their power and elasticity, from the
transudation of the blood in the veins.”

The quarter-master, without noticing the impression on his
wiry arm, perhaps because it had no more sensibility than my
-erutch, said—

‘“« Collapse—why, he means the Colossus seventy-four, or the
Cyclops. As to Ticity and Ansudation, I suppose they too be
Dutch craft.”

Van toddled off to see what citric-acid he could spare, saying
he should visit the schooner’s sick in the morning.
442, ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER CXI.

I love all waste
And solitary places; where we taste
The pleasure of believing what we see
Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be.
SHELLEY.

HE hard features of the old Rais relaxed as he greeted

me; and Zela, who loved him for his former kindness,
kissed his hand, and, sitting down by him, talked of their
country and their tribes. On this topic alone the old Arab:
was loquacious. They continued, with little intermission, in
animated discussion on the matchless beauties of their native
countries, till the grey light of morning shone on his dusky
form, and illuminated Zela’s pallid brow. She dwelt on the:
magnificence of the town and river of Yedana, its dark moun-
tains, bright waters, and perpetual verdure ; the cool breezes.
from the Persian gulf, and the blue islands of Sohar, of one
of which her father had been Schaich. The Rais admitted
all this, but warmly protested against their being compared
to the riches of Kalat, or the splendour of Rasalhad ; then the
summits of the Tor mountains touched heaven, and the desert,.
where he spent his youth, was large as the sea,—but unfor-
tunately there the similarity ended, for it had not a drop
of water within its vast circumference. He endeavoured to.
convince Zela what a paradise was this desert without water
or wells, and how peacefully and patriarchally they lived by
supplying themselves from the caravans, and exacting tribute
from all that passed the inhospitable ocean-bed of sand. By
some queries from her he was, indeed, compelled to admit the
horrid tortures they sometimes suffered from the want of
water; that, it was true, by the parched and shrivelled corpses.
of perished travellers they used to trace. the caravans, which
more than compensated them for what they endured—God
knew what was best for his children! As he was fondly
dwelling on these horrors, I capsized a bucket of water, in
which we had cooled our claret, over his head, took Zela by
the hand, got into the boat, and returned aboard.
A YOUNGER SON. 443,

Soon after the schooner was surrounded by country boats,
laden with live stock, fish, fruit, and vegetables, enough to
have provisioned a frigate. At the same time the four persons
whom De Ruyter had redeemed from the wreck, went on
board the grab, where there was better accommodation, he
promising to embrace the first opportunity of shipping them
to the English settlements. The bilious captain of the
Bengal army continued to suffer from the hardships he had
endured during the wreck of his ship. While I think of it,
I will conclude their history. We shortly after shipped them
for Bombay in a prize we had made, plundered, and liberated.
The captain and his son took their passage for England.
De Ruyter and myself, unknown to the father, had insinuated
a purse of gold mores into a trunk of necessaries which they
had been compelled, in their utter destitution of clothing, to
accept. Hither at the Cape of Good Hope, or at St. Helena,
the father died, and thereby relieved the Company from the
burthen of his annuity. Of the youth, a lad of noble feelings,
and an incomparable son, I never could gain the slightest
intelligence; though I fulfilled my promise, made to his father
at parting, of doing my utmost to find him out and serve him.
Neither did the mate return to England; for, as I heard, he
had a command in the country coasting-trade, and, probably,
the serang continued with him.

During our stay here we hove the schooner down, to examine
if she had sustained any damage by striking on the sand-bank.
There was nothing the matter with her, except that a few
sheets of copper were rubbed off. We then put our vessels
into their best sailing trim, completed our water, cut some
spare spars, and painted both the hulls. The grab was again
metamorphosed into a clumsy, country-looking Arab, with
a raised poop and forecastle of painted canvas. The schooner
resumed her original Yankee-cut with broad streaks of bright
yellow rosin.

De Ruyter made several excursions. into the interior, under
the guidance of the Malay chieftain, being anxious to explore
a country then totally unknown to Huropeans. I paddled
about the coast and the islands with Zela in her canoe. We
’ revisited our old haunts; and, after having designed the plan of
444 ADVENTURES OF

a bungalow, I marked out a garden, calculated the labour of
clearing land enough to yield us corn, rice, and wine, and most
methodically made in my mind every necessary arrangement
for establishing a colony, far surpassing Paradise in purity and
bliss, in which we, the happy founders, were to pass the
rest of our days in unruffled tranquillity. Meanwhile with
our own hands we had erected a hut, consisting of four upright
bamboos, thatched with palm-leaves; and, one day, as Zela
was, with matchless culinary skill, roasting fish over the live
embers, the iron ramrod of my carbine serving as a spit, I,
elated at my newly acquired importance as householder, and
freeholder of land sans limit, stalked over my domain, and
said—

‘Sweet Zela, under our own wild vine and fig-tree, how
much happier we shall be than sweltering in that coffin-like
schooner, jammed together, and pitching and tossing, like
packed dates on the back of a lame dromedary! How
happ c

Here I was interrupted by the pushing aside of the thick
foliage. Hearing some one advance, I began to imagine that
the resurrection of my old friend the orang, from the dead,
was appearing to dispute my title-deeds to his property; for
it was on the ruins of his former dwelling that I had erected
mine, which, I must honestly confess, in architectural design,
as well as solidity of structure, was far inferior to his. But,
instead of the orang’s apparition, it was De Ruyter, laughing
as if his heart would burst, who thus, for the second time,
disturbed my imaginary rural plans, calling out, “Come along,
my lad! The Malay has sent me word that, from their look-
out station on the mountain, there is a strange sail in the offing
to the north Come along,—get on board the lame dromedary
—ha! ha! ha! The grab is not quite ready for sea. If you
once get sight of the stranger, she cannot escape; and if
detainable, which she must be, bring her in here.”

In ten minutes I was on board; in five more I was under
weigh. With a press of canvas, and with a favourable breeze,
we made a clear offing, and, before sunset, were in sight of the
stranger. She sailed remarkably well. We lost her during
the night, but luckily there was little wind. We regained

 
A YOUNGER SON. 445

sight of her next morning; and, a breeze coming out of the
gulf, we brought her to, after a hard chase of nine hours.
She proved to be a country trader from Bombay, bound to
China. Having heard that a French cruizer was off the Cochin
China coast, she had, with extreme precaution, kept along the
opposite one of Borneo, and thus fell into our hands. She
was a beautiful copper-fastened brig, built of Malabar teak by
the Parsees of Bombay, freighted with cotton-wool, a few cases
of opium, gums, pearls from Arabia, sharks’ fins, birds’ nests,
and oil from the Lackadive islands, with four or five sacks
of rupees. This valuable prize consoled us for the failure
of our plans on the China fleet, and created general satisfaction
amongst the men.

We returned to our anchorage elated with success. A day
or two after De Ruyter despatched his Malay friend to Pon-
tiana, a large and wealthy province on the western coast, not
long founded by a powerful and wise Arab prince. The capital
is situated on the banks of a wide navigable river; there was
a branch of the Dutch factory, with which our Malay had
extensive dealings. Thither he went for an agent, that we
might dispose of the Bombay cargo, as it was adapted for that
market ; for we could not spare hands to send the prize to a
distance. We did not well know how to dispose of the vessel.
Her captain, who was part-owner of her, as well as being
interested in the cargo, was so fond of her, that he proposed
to ransom the hull, While all this was arranging, I rejoiced
in the delay, as it enabled me to continue my building and
idling on shore with Zela.
446 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER CXII.

And I
Plied him cup after cup, until the drink
Had warmed his entrails, and he sang aloud,
In concert with my wailing fellow-seamen,
A hideous discord.
SHELLEY.— Translation.

Ha! ha! ha! I’m full of wine,
Heavy with the joy divine,
With the young feast oversated :
Like a merchant-vessel freighted
To the water’s edge, my crop
Is laden to the gullet’s top.
SHELLEY, from Euripides.

S it was necessary that a considerable portion of time
should elapse before the disposal of our prize could be
accomplished, De Ruyter, leaving instructions for my guidance
during his absence, took his departure in the grab to glean the
China seas.

I gladly remained. My time was fully occupied in superin-
tending our multifarious occupations. The first mate was
placed in charge of the prize, with a party of men, who
removed her crew to the small island on which the Malays had
built huts for us. The second mate was occupied with a gang
of men in curing jerked buffalo and deer-flesh, and salting wild
hogs and ducks. I purchased a plentiful supply of rice and
maize. What leisure time I had was devoted to my rural
occupations, which I pursued with all the zest of novelty, and
the zeal of a migrated settler. The little cove, in which I used
to bathe with Zela, and where we had encountered the Jungle
Admee, or wild man, I constituted my naval arsenal; and
spent much of my time there in a tent. This spot was com-
pletely barricadoed from the rest of the island by a living wall
of jungle. From a high pinnacle of rock, on the east side, we
commanded an extensive view to seaward, and overlooked the
schooner and her Bombay prize. By a flag-staff placed on its
summit I could at all times communicate with the schooner.
Towards sunset I always returned to sup and sleep on board,
that I might entertain my prize-guests, and be at my post.
A YOUNGER SON. 447

One night we were all more than ordinarily disposed for
enjoyment, and the deck was thickly strewed with bowls of
arrack punch, brandy, Hollands, Bourdeaux, Curagoa, and
various other genial fluids—potent elixirs which prevent the
heart from ossifying, and close up the cracks and rents in our
clay, laid open by the scorching heat of the sun. The Indians
say the sap of the mimosa is an antidote to sorrow; and so it
is,—when fermented ; and wine can medicine the mind, and
‘pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,” as was exemplified
in the person of our captive commander. In the early part of
the evening he had been groaning over the loss of his highly
prized vessel, and told me that, had it pleased providence to
deprive him of his wife and six children, he could have sub-
mitted to its heavy dispensation ;—

“ But there, where he had garner’d up his heart,
Where either he must live, or bear no life,—
To be discarded thence! ’’

—meaning from his copper-bottomed brig, not his copper-
coloured wife. Yet now that the subtle vinous spirit had
touched his soul with its talisman, sorrow fled from him, and
his stagnant blood, before jellying into jaundice, flowed from
his heart like a fountain. He talked and sung without inter-
mission, wrung my hand, and swore I was the best friend and
the best fellow in the world.

Our orgies were interrupted by the old quarter-master’s
hailing,—“‘ Boat ahoy!’”’ when the answer “ Hadjee,” (pilgrim,)
which was our watchword, gave token of the approach of a
friend. A large proa, impelled rapidly by paddles, shot up
alongside, and the Malay chieftain appeared on the gangway.
Whilst he laboured to explain to me the reason, aided by his
powerful gesticulation, for his having so soon returned, alto-
gether inaudible owing to the boatswain-like roar with which
the captain was chaunting ‘‘ Rule, Britannia,” a short, squat,
business-like looking man made his appearance, and the Malay
shoved him towards me. I arose to receive him. The gravity
of his square, flat countenance, with a paunch swelling out
like a lowered top-sail bagging-out with the wind, made me
laugh. His limbs were preposterously short; or, as the
448 ADVENTURES OF

quarter-master said, ‘he sailed under jury-masts.” Indeed if
that theory is true, which asserts we have all more or less
affinity to some bird, beast, or other animal, he was indis-
putably of the order ‘‘sheep-tick.’”” With measured step and
leaden gravity, he saluted me with,— I am, Sir, Bartholomew
Zachariah Jans, an accredited factor of the Dutch Company’s
establishment at Pontiana, and agent of Van Olaus Swammer-
dam. Understanding you have a prize to dispose of, I am
here to treat and negotiate for the same.”

The captain, I suppose, caught the subject of conversation ;
for he abruptly stopped his ‘‘ Britannia rule the waves!” stared
with distended jaw at the accredited agent, and changed his
note to the drawling and melancholy tune of ‘‘ Poor Tom
Bowling!”

Our Dutch factor seated himself on the hatchway without
any apparent diminution of altitude. After he had washed
his ivories with a cup of skedam, (that would have surprised
even Louis,) swallowed, as he observed, to dislodge the night
air which he had inhaled, he protested he had never met with
such excellent stuff, and, with the addition of a bite of biscuit,
would take another toothful. I directed the quarter-master to
see the factor’s wants supplied, and he went to rouse up the
cabin-boy, muttering,—‘‘ Never see’d or heard tell of such a
queer-shaped craft as this,—all stowage room! Why, the
Temeraire, three-decker, hadn’t such a bread-room! Bite of
biscuit !-—why, a bag of biscuit would float about in his wet
dock like peas in the ship’s coppers! Why, boy,—turn out!”
When he had roused the boy with a kick, I heard an order
given to bring on deck all the grub in the locker.

Forthwith appeared a piece of cold pork, one of the immense
fat ducks of the island, and half a Dutch pine-apple cheese.
I conversed with the Malay, while the factor, with immovable
taciturnity, battened on the food, and filled up the vacuum in
his portentous belly. When he had cleared the platters, and
emptied a stone-bottle of gin, he said, ‘ Captain, it is late.
There is no good in talking on business after supper. The
night is close ;—I will repose here.”

As he spoke this he lay down, not without difficulty, on the
main-sail, which was unbent and lying aft to be repaired,
A YOUNGER SON. 449

covered himself up with a flag, and told the boy to fill his
pipe. We soon heard him snoring and puffing away as he
slept. Our bacchanalian party followed his example, stretching
their relaxed limbs amidst the empty bottles and glasses, and
reclining their heavy heads, when slumber soon closed their
dizzy eyes.

In the morning, after Bartholomew Zachariah Jans had
supplied his loss in animal heat and moisture with salt pork
and Hollands, we proceeded together on board the prize. I
soon discovered I had a cool, calculating, subtle merchant tc
contend with. This put me on my mettle; for although I was
ignorant and prodigal in money transactions, as far as they
affected myself, (for the love of money, like that of olives, is a
taste to be acquired, not instinctive,) yet I felt, what many
besides Hotspur have expressed, that, in the way of bargain,
I could cavil on the ninth part of a hair. In addition to his
country’s characteristic traits of industry, craft, and patience,
this fellow combined the slily-grasping character of the Low-
land Scotch. When the Bombay captain, with a sailor’s
frankness, came to treat with the factor about redeeming the
hull of his vessel, and talked of the peculiar hardship of his
case, reduced, in an instant, from wealth to extreme want, he
assumed an impenetrability to human suffering, worse than
that of a Hollander, Scot, or the devil himself,—I mean that
anomaly in nature, an Irish landlord, with heart of granite,
and head of wood. He stared at the bankrupt captain with
the blank, remorseless, withering apathy, which, in after-years,
was recalled to my memory by one of the aforesaid ruffianly
gasconading bullies, as he doggedly listened to the petitions of
his squalid and famished tenants; and then our factor re-
sumed his scrutiny of the prize-papers, invoices, and bills of
loading. Seeing the captain despair, I comforted him with
assurances that he should not be forgotten in the sale. Upon
this the. factor said, ‘‘ I protest against all stipulations. If the
captain gives a good price, backed by good security, his tender
will be considered; that is, if the factory become the pur-
chasers, or Iam the agent; always providing that Van Olaus
Swammerdam approves.”

I was then young, and not knowing that such characters are

29
450 ADVENTURES OF

common ones, I felt so disgusted with the tallowy brute, that
I not only refused to treat with him, but was about to treat
him with a keelhale, or to throw him overboard, and there
harpoon him. But, dissuaded from this, I dismissed the wretch
with revilings and contempt; which, since then, I have oftener
seen merited than inflicted.

CHAPTER CXIII.

And she began to moan and sigh,
Because he mused beyond her, knowing well
That but a moment’s thought is passion’s passing bell.
Keats.

And her, the homicide and husband-killer.
Byron,

E RUYTER returned, having in tow a small schooner he

had picked up; when, without loss of time, we embarked

every thing belonging to the vessels, got under weigh, and pro-

ceeded to sea. Without any occurrence of moment we anchored

at Batavia in the island of Java. The fever had subsided there ;

and De Ruyter, besides having the prizes to dispose of, had a

great deal of business to transact, left unfinished by Louis, and
took up his quarters on shore.

We cleared the vessels out, and took in an ample supply of
provisions, far superior to what we had been for a long period
accustomed to. The vessels being in excellent order, we had,
in other respects, little to do; and I made, with Zela, frequent
excursions into the mountainous part of this exceedingly rich
and populous island. Its productions, timber, grain, and fruit,
were of a finer quality than at any of the islands I had visited,
with the exception of some portion of Borneo. General
Jansens, the governor, an old friend of De Ruyter’s, was very
civil to me, as he had also been on my former visit. "We spent
much of our time at his country-house.

In Europe there is or was a rage for golden-haired virgins ;
but here the mania was for golden complexions. At the same
merchant’s house where De Ruyter lodged, there lived a very
A YOUNGER SON. 451

rich widow, a native of the capital of Yug, which was situated
on that part of the island still governed by its native princes.
She was much admired at Batavia, and had, by the beauties
of her person, attracted the beaux of the place, who revolved
diurnally about her doors. She was nearly four feet and a half
in stature, with a skin so brightly yellow that, when burnished
with oil, it reflected the sun’s rays like a gilded ball on a
cupola, which her rich rotundity resembled. Her little jetty
eyes sparkled in a face round and plump as an orange; her
nose was minute as the bill of a humming bird; her lips, both
in substance and dimensions, betokened her African descent ;
and the hairs on her globular head, if collected together, would
hardly have amounted to the cherished number sprouting from
my upper lip. Yet, such as I have described her, she was the
beau-ideal of beauty at Java; and suitors from the four quarters
of the island thronged to do her homage. In that favoured
portion of the world the women enjoy the inestimable privilege
of divorcing themselves from their husbands—a law in no
danger of becoming obsolete ; for the rich and peerless widow,
now in her twenty-fourth year, had already been lawfully
married to ten different men,—one dead, two killed, six
cashiered for neglect of duty, and one missing.

The Javanese are a remarkably dwarfish race, the men
seldom exceeding five feet, and the women four and a half.
De Ruyter and myself respectively measuring six feet, and of
proportionate brawn and bone, looked Titanic, as, with the
loose and rolling gait of sailors, we forced our way through the
bazaar or crowded lanes, scattering the small human fry right
and left, like a couple of benetas among a shoal of flying fish.
This manly bearing made a deep impression on the sensibility
of the widow. Henceforth she treated the island imps with
scorn ; and avowed her intention of uniting herself to a man,
—no more to fragments of men, as she termed them, fit only
for beggars. After a minute scrutiny, and mature deliberation
as to which she should take, De Ruyter or me, the golden
apple was allotted to me, both as I was younger, and, thanks
to the remains of jaundice, far yellower. Nothing doubting
my rapturous assent, she, therefore, made a formal proposal in
my behalf to De Ruyter, with the offer of an unconditional
452 ADVENTURES OF

surrender of her charms, and large possessions of coffee-
grounds, sugar, rice and tobacco plantations, houses and tene-
ments, slaves and personals, enough to put me on an equality
with the most powerful princes in the province of Yug. De
Ruyter, with a suitable and complimentary address, acknow-
ledging the lustre and honour of so condescending a mark of
her favour, merely hinted at the trifling impediment of my
being already married. This she could not comprehend. A
little white-faced, slimly-formed sickly girl she had indeed
seen with me, with hair wound round her head like a turban,
great eyes, and lips, and mouth ridiculously small, all which
every man must hold in abhorrence. Faugh! Truly for a sea-
wife she might do; she looked like a fish; and what else can
live in water? She then unveiled her dazzling beauties, and
said, ‘“‘ Look at me!” De Ruyter avowed she was the reverse
of the sea-girl; but he observed that men had strange and
capricious tastes with regard to eating and loving. However,
he would inform me of her determination in my favour. ‘‘ Ah!”
she exclaimed, ‘‘send him tome! Let his eyes judge of me!
Let him come and behold beauty, that his soul may be pleased,
and his heart scorched!”

A lover of mirth, and delighting in so fair an occasion for its
full indulgence, De Ruyter bantered me about this Princéss of
Yug, and Royal Highnessed me unceasingly. He constituted
himself the agent of the widow, and directed her proceedings ;
he even offered to marry her as proxy forme; and added fuel
to her fires by deseanting on my merits. The schooner was
encumbered with bags of coffee, tobacco, and sugar-candy,
besides daily and ample supplies of fresh and preserved fruits,
flowers, and provisions, all enforced on my acceptance by the
widow of Yug. Meantime our interviews were frequent; for
although the Javanese are Mahometans, they conform only to
one portion of their religion,—that which in all superstitions
is the most attended to,—the external. As to their acts, they
have no other limit than the extent of their desires; the
women piously fulfilling that precept engraven on their nature,
—increase and multiply. I was almost angry with Zela, who,
instead of being jealous, was as much amused as De Ruyter,
and aided and abetted his practical jokes. In her simple
A YOUNGER SON. 453

nature and true heart, suspicion could never enter. The torrid
blood of her Arabian father was made to keep temperate time
in her veins by being mingled with her Abassien mother’s:
who was born and bred in the chilly valleys of Mount Ellbrus,
the highest of that gigantic range, called the Caucasian Moun-
tains, which extend from the Caspian to the Black Sea, and
uprear their hoary heads amidst the clouds.

CHAPTER CXIV.

While the ship’s
Great form is in a watery eclipse,
Obliterated from the ocean’s page,
And round the wreck the huge sea-monsters sit,
A horrid conclave, and the whistling wave
Is heaped over its carcase, like a grave.
SHELLEY.—Translation.

MONG the innumerable little islands, scattered in the
Gulf of Sunda, De Ruyter had, in one of his former
cruises, been becalmed; and, while exploring and sounding,
had accidentally espied, foundered on a bed of rocks, the hull
of a small vessel, apparently of European build. He carefully
marked on his chart the spot, and took the most minute
bearings of the compass and nautical observations, with the
design, at a future period, of making an attempt to get her up.
The weather, which was now settled, clear and calm, prompted
him to proceed in the affair ; particularly as he must be still
some time detained at Batavia, and the crews were growing
rusty and unruly from idleness. Having prepared what was
necessary, and provided a gang of the most expert divers,
fellows kept in practice by diving under the ships’ bottoms at
night, to rip off the copper sheets, we got under weigh with
the land-wind, and, the ensuing day, lay becalmed off the little
group of five islands, which was our destination.
We now got out our boats; after pulling about all day, under
a sun so hot that our brains seemed undergoing the process of
frying, we happily, before the night set in, hit on the very spot
454 ADVENTURES OF

marked by De Ruyter; but, the day closing, we were com-
pelled to desist till daylight. We ran the boats on shore on a
pretty island, supped and slept; then, with the earliest dawn,
we pushed on our discovery, till we came on the identical
foundered wreck. The water was transparent as glass. By
sounding on the hull of the wreck, we found there was not
more than twenty feet water from her deck ; and that, lying on
rocks, but little sand had collected near her. We laid down
a buoy to indicate the spot, and returned to the vessels, which
were drawing near to take us on board, impelled by sweeps ;
for so still was the wind, that the feathered vanes above the
lofty truck drooped motionless.

With lines, halsers, grapnels, and the other necessary
materials, not forgetting the divers, we again went towards
the submerged vessel. As I gazed below, long and steadily,
so perfectly was every portion of her visible, that she forcibly
reminded me of those models of ships enclosed in glass-cases
—the rough and jagged bed on which she lay resembling the
mimic waves which sometimes surround them. Even the heaps
of shell-fish that now incrusted and peopled her deck with
marine life, and the living sea-verdure of weeds and mosses,
might have been as distinctly noted and classed as if exhibited
ona table. When the dark divers descended on her decks,
the glass-like element, as in a broken mirror, multiplied their
forms, till they seemed to be the demons, hidden in her hold,
rushing up in multitudes to defend their vessel, assaulted
even under the sanctuary of the mighty ocean.

After many fruitless efforts and long-continued toil, we suc-
ceeded in getting a purchase on her. Then by sinking butts
of water, carefully securing them to the tackle affixed to the
wreck, and restoring their buoyancy by pumping out the water
from them, at length we moved her, and passed strong halsers
under her. On the second day the grab and schooner were
placed on each side of her, the number of casks was increased,
and we hove on many and complicated purchases, till she was
fairly suspended, and, at length, her almost shapeless hull
reluctantly arose to the surface. It looked like a huge coffin,
in which some antediluvian sea-colossus had been entombed.
The light of day shone strangely on her encrusted, hoary, and
A YOUNGER SON. 455

slimy hull. Sea-stars, crabs, crayfish, and all sorts of shell-
fish crawled and clung in and about her, amazed at the tran-
sition from the bottom of the cool element, in which they had
dwelt, to a fiery death from the sun, whose rays, darting on
their scaled armour, transfixed them as with a spear. We
turned to, and, by baling, partially cleared her of water; so
that it was evident, although she leaked considerably, she was
not bilged. The deck and main-hold had been cleared, either
by the water or by the people of Sumatra, whose fishing-boats
might possibly have come athwart her; but the after-hold,
which was battened securely down, protected by a double deck,
and bulkheaded off, was untouched. I forgot to mention that,
as we were baling, we disturbed a huge water-snake at the
bottom of the hold, which the men had mistaken for the bite
of a cable, and that he speedily cleared the decks. Hither he
had a taste for shell-fish, or preferred a wooden kennel to a
coral cave. We made a simultaneous and vigorous attack on
him with pikes and fire-arms; yet it was not till he was gashed
like a crimped cod that he struck his flag, and permitted us to
continue our work. The divers said he might have eaten them
when they were under water ;—I know not that, but can aver
that the men, more ferocious and greedy than the snake, did
incontinently, now that he was out of water, eat him.

Having towed the wreck towards the island; we grounded
her in shoal water, and forced a passage into the after-hold.
It was of course filled with water: kegs and casks were
floating in it: these were hoisted out, and having baled it dry,
we got at the movables, consisting of sacks of damaged grain,
powder-barrels, and a heap of other articles difficult to define,
all jammed up together. In poking and raking amongst this
mass, according to De Ruyter’s prognostication, two small
boxes, carefully lashed and sealed, were hauled out, which, on
being opened, lightened and repaid us for our toil—they con-
tained above eight thousand Spanish dollars, dyed black with
the salt water, as were, more or less, the vessel and every
article on board of her. After ransacking every hole and
corner, we could find nothing else wcrth the taking away but
five or six brass swivels, not of much value. We abandoned
the wreck, and returned to Batavia.
456 ADVENTURES OF

I should observe that the vessel was apparently of Spanish
construction, and built of cedar or teak, which, notwithstand-
ing it had lain submerged certainly half a century, and probably
much longer, was still of so hard a texture that it turned the
edges of the axes. What I considered the best portion of the
prize was, not the dollars, but two barrels of Spanish and
other wine, and two of arrack. Give me the sea for a cellar!
Such delectable fluid never till then moistened the lips, de-
lighted the palate, warmed the heart, and entranced the
senses! All grew panegyrical and eloquent on the excellence
of this liquor. The old Rais declared the wine resembled the
balsam of Koireish, brought from Mecca by the Hajjis—that
the shrubs from which the gum exuded sprung from the blood
of the prophet’s tribe, slain in battle—and that it not only
cured every malady, and subdued every evil, but had restored
true believers to life!

CHAPTER CXV.

Fierce, wan,
And tyrannizing was the lady’s look,
And over them a gnarled staff she shook.
Keats,
The ghost of folly haunting my sweet dreams.
Ibid.

UMOUB having arrived at Batavia that we had discovered

a bank of Spanish dollars, by running aground on them,

from which we had loaded our vessels, and that we had fished
casks of wine out of the sea, with the date 1550 marked on
them, hooped with living serpents, the grab was crowded with
visitors, all anxious to drink the wine or arrack. Had either
of them been the real elixir of immortality, it could not have
been more devoutly hallowed, or more greedily swallowed.
The greasy Dutch merchants congregated on board, and spent
the night in chaunting hallelujahs to express their delight ; so
that, had we not at the commencement substituted other wines
and spirits, we should have expended the real stuff at one bout.
As it was, it consoled us afterwards, during many a weary
A YOUNGER SON. 457

night of storm and toil, and suppled our joints when they had
become rigid and brittle from heat and drought.

Our prizes were disposed of, and De Ruyter did not neglect
the interests of the Bombay captain, his prisoner. His much-
cherished vessel was once more made over to him at a price
below the lowest estimate, and himself and crew were liberated.
This, and what else was needful, being concluded, we again
weighed anchor, and took our departure from Java.

The widow of Yug was astounded at the intelligence of our
going out of port for an indefinite period. Love overcoming
her antipathy to the sea, she followed us in a row-boat, scream-
ing, making signals, and scratching—thank Heaven, not me,
but herself! Her melo-dramatic fury augmented to such a
pitch, when she found I did not heave-to for her, that the
devilish breeze she kicked up astern of us seemed to freshen
the land-wind. With my telescope I could observe her venting
a portion of her wrath on the slaves who rowed the boat, keep-
ing time with the lusty strokes of a bamboo on their naked
backs. Aware that a man has no more chance with a woman,
armed with the offensive and defensive weapons of tongue,
tears, nails, and bamboo, than in a river with an alligator,
I, for the first time in my life, acted prudently, and fled the
fight. The widow of Yug, had her spirit not been clogged with
clay, might possibly have pursued me round the world; but as
soon as the boat got into the swell outside the port, and began
to pitch and toss, I discovered my princess—or rather, I did
not, for she had sunk down in the bottom of the boat, which
was slued to the right-about, and without delay vigorously im-
pelled towards the shore; so that I may say of her—

“She loved, and she rowed away.”’

I had been so pestered and persecuted by this she-dragon,
who one day crammed me with kisses and cakes, and the next
would have tattooed me with her nails, that I vowed hence-
forth never to be lured into a widow’s den ; for the malignant
ferocity of a tiger-cat in a gin, is nothing to a veteran widow
balked of her will.

I cannot tell why it was, but as we left the harbour of
458 ADVENTURES OF

Batavia and its begrimed water, the clear, pure, deep blue of
the Indian Ocean, which, since I had commanded the schooner,
had always filled my heart with delight, now, on the contrary,
overwhelmed me with sadness, that I could neither shake off
nor repress. Doubt and dread clouded my mind for the first
time. Yet I was well in health, and Zela (for I questioned
her) was perfectly well; and this was authenticated by the
regularity of her pulse, the brightness of her eye, her coral lip,
and her breath sweeter than the odour from May flowers on 4
spring morning. What then could it be? not the widow !—
her love and her parting curses were forgotten ere her boat was
out of sight. Did her spirit cling to me like a vampire? I
remembered afterwards that, in her maledictions, she had so
threatened to haunt me if I abandoned her; and there were
rumours, which I laughed at, of her having dealt foully with
others. Human life is held cheap in the East; and, at Java,
a few rupees sufficed to hire an assassin to stab or poison,—
and poison was there indigenous, it flowed from trees and
shrubs, nor were the natives inexpert in its application.
It did not, however, appear to have been employed on
me; and now I was out of its reach. Once, I remember,
in the early part of the evening, dosing on the couch, I
was awakened by frightful visions. At first the widow
was caressing me, and I shrinking from her embraces with
repugnance. She faded away, when the wrinkled and withered
form of an old yellow hag seized me by the throat, griped me
hard, and attempted to force through my clenched teeth a fruit
she held in her hand. I struggled to free myself by wrenching
back the fiend’s icy fingers; but my strength abandoned me,
and the fruit was at my lips, when the faithful Adoo appeared,
plucked it from me, and exclaimed, ‘It is poison!” Then
came the fiery Javanese Prince mounted on his blood-red
horse; his hoofs were on my head and heart; when Zela,
clothed in bright, glittering, white robes, led by a dim
spectral figure, black as night, threw herself on me, and
said,— ‘I will die!—you shall live!” At this the dark
spectre unveiled herself, and I recognized the livid and ghastly
features of old Kamalia. With witch-like solemnity she thus
addressed me:—‘ Stranger, you are foresworn! The best
A YOUNGER SON. 459

blood of Arabia you have polluted! Your heart is bruised,—
my child’s you have broken !”’

Struggling to rise, I awoke. My head was dizzy, my heart
sick at the dreadful vision, which has haunted me through life,
and it is in vain I strive to forget it. In my sleep it pursues
me, and, ever as it recurs, it is the more frightful, as it assures
me of some horrible change. Often since then have I arisen
from my bed, haggard, sick, and suffering agonies, such as
none but devils or inquisitors can inflict.

On the second day of our leaving port, steering a south-east
course, we fell in with two fine French frigates and a three-
masted schooner, returning to Batavia from a eruise. The
lubberly fellows were elated at having chased an English
frigate and brig of war; which, by the by, from what I observed
of their sickly, weak, and unsoldier-like case, and disorderly
condition, might have advantageously brought them to action.
By their description of the English vessels I knew the frigate
to be the one I had abandoned ; and old Hoofs, I had always
thought, was fonder of farming than fighting. Like a bluster-
ing bully, the French commodore, now that the enemy was out
of sight, talked valiantly of what he would have done, had he
come up with the Englishmen ; adding, ‘‘ When we saw you, I
thought we had got hold of the John Bulls.”

De Ruytev’s curled lip indicated his contempt of the vaunter ;
and he observed, as we returned on board our craft, that the
fellow had been so accustomed to run away, the having chased,
for once in his life, had capsized his brains. ‘‘ What a pity,”
he said, ‘‘ that the French, who excel all other mations in the
theory of seamanship, and in practical naval architecture,
cannot find men to fight at sea. They are like flying-fish, a
prey for every fish that swims, and for every bird that flies.
From the oldest records we trace that all other nations, power-
ful enough to organise a naval force, have produced men able
and worthy to command with honour and glory. The naval
annals of barbarians, then of Greece, Rome, and Carthage,
down to the modern history of Spain, Portugal, Holland,
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and England, have severally
teemed with naval heroes, who shed a bright lustre on the
countries which gave them birth. France exhibits a solitary
460 ADVENTURES OF

exception, a dull obscurity, unenlightened by a single bright
page ; a blotted chapter in history, a waste log-book ; the eye
in vain seeks for one spot to rest on, a single star, as a beacon
or sea-mark, to guide the lonely pilot, or stimulate to emulation
the aspiring sailor-boy !”

I may here remark, that this large and beautiful French
frigate was afterwards captured in an action with one of the
smallest English frigates, and now carries the British jack.
In her first cruise, under the victorious flag of England, she
again added to our naval force, by taking, after a very san-
guinary and gallant action, another of France’s finest frigates
in the Indian seas.

We stood along the eastern coast of Java, towards the Sunda
Islands, and fell in with nothing but the small vessels bound or
belonging to that archipelago, burthened with cargoes of coir,
oil, jaggeree, ghee, and cocoanuts, richer to them than Spanish
galleons of gold and silver, but in our eyes, too worthless to
waste a thought on.

CHAPTER CXVI.

And their baked lips, with many a bloody crack,
Suck’d in the moisture, which like nectar stream’d ;
Their throats were ovens, their swolu tongues were black
As the rich man’s in hell, who vainly scream’d
To beg the beggar, who could not rain back
A drop of dew, when every drop had seem’d
To taste of heaven ;—if this be true, indeed,
Some Christians have a comfortable creed.
Bynon.

Hence shalt thou quickly to the watery vast ;

And there, ere many days be overpast,

Disabled age shall seize thee; and even then

Thou shalt not go the way of aged men,

But live and wither, cripple, and still breathe.
Keats.

LONG-CONTINUED gale of wind drove us down to-
wards the coast of New Holland. When it had broken,
and while we were labouring in the heavy swell which
followed, we discerned a small boat, evidently in distress, and
A YOUNGER SON. 461

we wore down to her aid. Owing to the swell, and the wind
having moderated, it was some time ere the grab succeeded in
getting alongside of her, to take her crew on board, which
consisted of four sailors, and a master’s-mate. They belonged
to an English frigate, which, having captured a small brigantine,
had put them on board to take charge of her. The prize had
been separated from the frigate by a white squall in the straits
of Sunda, damaged in her masts and rigging. A north-wester,
against which they could make no head, had driven them a
long way to the south-east. In this hapless state, their frail
and crazy bark had been struck abaft by a heavy sea, which
had loosened her stern-post, and shattered the frame-work
of her stern. The water poured in so fast, that it was only by
the greatest promptitude and dexterity they had succeeded in
getting a clumsy boat, which lay amidship, afloat, just as their
vessel foundered. They had no time to secure anything but
themselves ; a boy and two men were drowned, probably in
attempting to save something. The boat was as old and
worthless as the vessel to which she belonged; and, till she
was somewhat seasoned in the water, they were all occupied in
baling with their caps, and in stuffing, with rags and coir-
oakum, the crevices and rents which the sun had made.
Fortunately the boat, as she lay on board, had been used as a
receptacle for old spare canvas, oars, light sails, the fag-ends of
ropes, and, what was now of far greater importance, a coop
with six ducks, an old, grisly he-goat, and a hen, that had
demurely laid its egg, as an offering, for its undisturbed
sanctuary in the sheltered part of the bow, where it had
probably roosted for years in solitary security. The seamen
thanked Providence as they beheld their live-stock. Being up
to their knees in water, dripping with water, water having
destroyed their vessel,.and now threatening to overwhelm
them in its foaming billows, and with an ocean of water all
around them, some time elapsed ere the awful words were
uttered, ‘‘ There is no fresh water in the boat!” Every voice
echoed, in preternatural sounds, ‘‘ There is no fresh water!”
Byery eye wildly glanced at the boat, and around the sea, and
again was despondingly muttered, ‘‘ There is no water! Oh,
God! we must perish !”’
462 ADVENTURES OF

Anticipated thirst soon parched their lips, and their stout
hearts quailed. Other dangers, past and present, were for-
gotten. A leaky, rent, misshapen boat, hardly big enough to
contain their diminished crew, as it lay floundering in the
trough of the sea, like a harpooned porpoise, was nothing,—
if they had but water. Fortunately their officer, though the.
youngest among them, was the ablest and manliest, at least in
mind; by which boon nature had amply compensated him for
a somewhat slender and delicate form. He had a spirit greater
than was contained in the broad breasts of the brawniest and
the bulkiest. Evil fortune had persecuted him in many shapes ;
she kept him at the bottom of her wheel, but could not crush
him. He rallied the sunken spirits of his men; he told them
they were near land; they had sails; there was wind enough
to fill them; the boat, though broken, was buoyant; they were
few in number ; thirst could be borne for days; besides, they
had live-stock, and their blood was nearly as refreshing as
water; and the clouds gave promise of rain. The men knew
their officer, and had confidence in him. His calmness and
fearless bearing did more than his words. The hopes he had
so confidently expressed seemed realised. They grew calm,
and their reason and obedience were restored.

The mate having succeeded, if not in rendering his boat
water-tight, yet in diminishing the leaks, so that it required
but occasional baling, next set about putting sail on the boat.
For this purpose he selected an old flying jib, and, with a
broken studding-sail-boom for a mast, contrived the best and
safest form of carrying canvas that could possibly be con-
trived, representing, what sailors call, a shoulder-of-mutton
rig, the larger part (or the body of the sail) being’ in the body
of the boat. To be driven into the South Indian Ocean, a
desert world of waters, was certain and inevitable destruction.
In order to avoid this, it was necessary, at all risks, to haul
his wind as much as possible to the eastward, with an oar for
arudder. With consummate skill he, in some degree, effected
this ; but it required an unerring eye and steady hand to keep
his rickety and rudderless boat from being buried beneath the
threatening waves, or capsized by the furious blasts which
Swept over it. They had neither compass, chart, nor instru-
A YOUNGER SON. 463

ments to guide them on their lonely way; nothing but the
stars and sun—the latter, glaring and fiery, they hardly dared
to look at. Their only hope was to make one of the Sunda
islands, or, failing in that, the coast of New Holland, or to be
met by some wandering bark.

» Thus day and night they toiled on, laving, at long intervals,
their white and parched lips with the blood of the panting
goat, which was itself expiring for want of moisture. Every
glazed eye scrutinized, with horrible precision, the accuracy of
the measured allowance, apparently numbering the red drops,
as doled out by the officers in scanty portions. The animal
was then cut up, and its interior, which still contained jellied
blood and some moisture, was balanced and divided with the
care and exactitude with which a miser weighs his gold. The
mate said he merely extracted the fluid, chewing, but not
swallowing the substance, and endeavoured to impress on his
comrades the advantage of following his example. A few did,
but the greater part could not control the fierceness of famine
raging in their vitals. ‘ At this,” the mate added, “from the
torture I experienced, I did not wonder; but the event proved
I was in the right. For, by not eating, I endured thirst
better ; and, after a few days, I had no inclination to eat,
feeling a relief by keeping some substance in my mouth, no
matter what, to chew ;—tobacco, of which there was a little,
was the best. We all watched with painful and intense
anxiety the formation and changes of the clouds. Every speck
in the heavens was commented on and scrutinized—its form,
density, and altitude. At last, after successive hopes and
disappointments, our eyes dim and our hearts sick, we beheld
a dark and heavy cloud, evidently surcharged with rain, coming
towards us. Those who have seen, or can conceive, the ex-
hausted pilgrim, parched and perishing on a desert, wading
through shifting mounds of scorching sands, with feeble gait,
and maddening brain, when his wistful and eager eyes catch a
first glimpse of the distant well, may faintly imagine what
were our sensations. When the first drops touched our
shrivelled lips, and fell on our throbbing temples, every gasping
mouth was distended wide to heaven for the falling manna ;
our parched throats heaved and swelled like the waves. Fer-
464 ADVENTURES OF

vent prayers were muttered by men, who would have died in
battle blaspheming ;—but they availed not; the watery cloud,
on which their lives were suspended, mockingly displayed its
riches, niggardly sprinkled them with a few scanty drops, as
a sample of the inestimable treasure it contained, and fleeted
onwards, till they beheld it mingle its waters in waste,—in the
briny ocean! They covered, in despair, their inflamed eyes
with their cracked and spongy hands, and groaned in agony!”

But who can go on describing tortures such as these men
endured, every instant augmenting, comprising an eternity of
immitigable suffering, though marked in the calendar but as
seven days and seven hours ?—a space so fleeting, to the free
and happy, that it passes by and is scarcely noted, while on
these forlorn seamen seven days did the work of seventy years.
With rheumed, glassy, blood-shot eyes, haggard, wrinkled,
and hollow cheeks, sunken mouth, swollen, slaty, and cracked

‘lips, contracted nostrils, thinned and whitened hair, collapsed
muscles, feeble and tottering gait, sepulchral and inarticulate
voices, gabbling more like brutes than men; can the extremest
age to which human existence has yet been stretched, with all
its withering palsy and impotency, do more? In seven days
and a few hours, youth, intellect, strength, were thus blasted !
Let me be scorched to death in a volcano, blown into the air
from a cannon, buried alive in the earth, drowned in water,
but let me not die by wanting it !

Two, in their frenzy, threw themselves in the sea, slaked
their thirst in its briny waters, and died under its cool canopy.
One, after lying in idiotic insensibility, burst into fierce, yelling
madness, tore the living flesh from his limbs, sucked his own
blood, lay down, slept, and awoke no more. Four, besides the
officer, remained on the seventh day. The sky, the ocean, the
boat, every thing looked burning red and fiery. They had no
hope when, on the morning of the eighth day, we rescued them
from their shattered boat. What a crazed, wild, and ghastly
band were they !—more like corpses uncharnelled, than living
men. The weakest of the party, the mate, seemed alone to
have retained his senses. After he was hoisted on the deck,
and had collectedly looked around, he said, ‘‘ We are dying the
death of the damned !—Give my men water!” Then, as if
A YOUNGER SON. 465

his last duty was performed, he pointed to his frothy lip, but
could not speak; and the spirit, which had borne him up
whilst contending with danger, now released from its post of
duty, seemed to flee away, and his body sunk down lifeless.
Certainly he would have died, calm and unshaken as he had
lived, but for the skill of De Ruyter and Van Scolpvelt, who
arrested the flight of life while hovering on his lips. After
long struggles, lying convulsed with pain, his strength slowly
returned, when the first intelligible and connected words he
uttered were, ‘‘ Who are you? the devil?’—(this was to Van
the doctor)—‘“ where am I?” Another long interval elapsed,
during which his intellect was besieging its abandoned citadel,
when consciousness was restored, and he said, ‘‘ Where are
my men? Have they got water? Let me see them,—poor
fellows!” On reiterated assurances that all their wants were
supplied, he asked for water for himself. A small portion was
put to his lips. Like all the fluids which had been admin-
istered to him and his men, a very small quantity was
swallowed ; the larger portion came up again tinctured with
blood, the swollen and inflamed glands having nearly stopped
up the windpipe. His breast and temples were kept con-
tinually moistened with vinegar and water, which diminished
his pain. He constantly repeated, ‘‘ This is not hell, for in hell
there is no water.” Bleeding and bathing proved to be the
most efficacious remedies; but for these De Ruyter thought
they could not have been saved. Yet, after all, and with the
whole skill of Van, we were only successful in preserving the
mate and two of the men. One died raving mad; and it may
be observed that he had drunk of sea-water, and partaken of
the blood of the man who had died mad in the boat. The
other had secretly and voraciously seized on the old hen,
which he had appropriated to himself. The inflammation in
his throat completely closed up the passage, and, bursting a
blood-vessel, he too died. The remaining three were long
subject to violent retchings and convulsive fits, to which, it
was believed, they would be always subject.

The mate’s recovery was the most decisive and rapid. This
young man, whose name was Darvell, remained long on board
with us, and I commenced a friendship with him, in the off-

30
466 ADVENTURES OF

hand way of sailors. We liked each other, and, without say-
ing a word on the subject, became friends for life. His was a’
short one; as it has been with all those to whom I have linked
myself, and they are many,—or rather, they were many. At
the age of thirty not one was left me. Friendship is dead to
me; nothing is left but its memory. Never more will friend-
ship’s balm refresh my withered heart. Meaner things have
had their mausoleums, their columns, and their pyramids; on
me devolves the task to write the epitaphs of my departed
friends, and it shall be done by narrating their deeds. I have
said Darvell’s life was short; his restless and daring spirit
forced him on from danger to danger, ever the leader of that
devoted band, called the forlorn hope, but no longer of the
pretorian phalanxes of kings. His riper judgment shook off,
with disdain, the fetters which had manacled .him in boyhood.
Darvell, on his return to Europe, became a leader of the for-
lorn hope of the heroic few, who are to be found in the van of
those fighting for liberty. No sooner was the flag of freedom
unfurled in the New World by spirits like his own, than he
hastened to join their ranks. His bleached bones may still
glitter on the yellow sands of Peru; where the small vessel he
commanded was driven on shore and wrecked, in a chivalrous
action he fought with a Spanish force ten times his superior.

CHAPTER CXVII.

This Paphian army took its march
Into the outer courts of Neptune’s state.
KEATs.

Whence came ye, merry damsels! whence came ye?
So many, and so many, and such glee ?
Ibid.

HE gale, having for some days abated, was followed by a
calm, in which we lay pitching and tossing, owing to the
heavy swell, without advancing, like a rocked cradle, or the
beating time of soldiers with their feet. The elements, like
those who live in them, rest after toil; and, in tranquil waters
A YOUNGER SON. 467

and balmy breezes, we regained the lee-way we had lost,
keeping a north-east course, till we soon found ourselves
amongst the Sunda islands, which spangle the eastern ocean,
thick, bright, and countless as the fleecy clouds of a mackerel
sky in summer, defying the patient and indefatigable toil of
successive navigators to designate or number. They were of
all forms and sizes, beginning from the embryo coral reef,
over which swept the yet unwrinkled wave, where nature’s
minutest architect was at work, carrying on her mightiest
designs ; that little dark artificer laying its foundations under
the ocean, where mariner’s plummet-line could never sound,
and uprearing islands and uniting them into vast continents.
Those already completed were fair and beautiful, with moun-
tain, stream, and valley; lawns, and deep dells, covered with
forests, fruits, and flowers; Iidens where nature spontaneously
yielded all that man should want. The listless islanders, as
we approached them in our boats, seemed to gaze on us with
wonder at the folly of the strange people, who could wander
restless about on the desert waste of waters, in barks built of
trees, under groves of which they dosingly lay, pampered by
their fruits, never thinned to form even a canoe. By signs we
made known our want of water and fruit; they pointed to the
stream and the trees. They neither aided nor opposed our
landing, and procuring what we wanted.

Many lovely islands were uninhabited; others might be
considered as civilized, for they had commerce, vessels, and
arms, with their never-failing attendants, war, vice, and rob-
bery. At some distance from the large island of Cumbava we
fell in with two large fleets of proas, engaged in desperate
conflict. There being scarcely any wind stirring at the time,
the night was closing in ere we approached them near enough
to interrupt their naval contention. When I observed to De
Ruyter that I supposed the navies of these islanders were
contending for supremacy over the sea, he replied, ‘‘ Or fighting
for a cocoanut! ”—for he perceived they were our friends, the
warlike Malays, whose proas were attacking the cocoanut-
trading proas of CGumbava, and the Celebes, whose merchant-
fleets had combined against the men-of-war of the former. He
added, ‘The Malays have met their match; for both these
468 ADVENTURES OF

islanders are heroically addicted to fighting, and will perhaps
unite together and attack us—so clear your decks.”

During the night it was calm, and at daybreak the Malay
fleet paddled towards us: the traders, keeping an opposite
course, were soon out of sight. The Malays evidently were
deceived by our appearance, and mistook us for traders, as a
few shots from our heavy guns changed their war-whoops to
shrieking cries, and they fled in disorder. Shortly after, we
brought-to on the easternmost side of the island of Cumbava,
continuing to seize every opportunity of supplying our vessels
with fresh provisions, and most of the islands furnishing us
with an abundance of bananas, shaddock, cocoanuts, cabbage-
palm, jams, and sweet potatoes, and many with wild hogs,
fowls, and fish; so that we lived well, and had little sick-
ness.

While we lay at Cumbava bartering for what we wanted at
a small village, we had all supped on board the grab. I was
returning to the schooner with Zela, the night being, as was
usual, exceedingly clear and calm, when I heard a blowing and
splashing in the water near the shore, as from a shoal of
walrusses, and its calm surface was broken and glittering with
sparks of light, bright as fire-flies. Zela said—

‘“‘ Hasten on board !—the natives are swimming off from the
shore; and I have heard my father say they often attack
vessels by this mode of quietly surprising them.”

I hailed the grab, which was just ahead of me, gave them
warning, hastened on board, and roused up the men to arm
themselves. Then, standing on the gangway, I clearly distin-
guished a multitude of dark heads, with long black hair floating
on the water, rapidly nearing us. We hailed them in half a
dozen languages, but received no other answer than a loud
flapping in the water, and a shrill chirping sound, more like a
flock of those birds, by sailors called Mother Carey’s Chickens,
getting on the wing, than the approach of warriors. Some of
my men wanted to fire on them; but I, observing that, what-
ever they were, they were unarmed, forbad it. Zela and her
little Adoo cried out—

‘‘ Why, they are all women!—what do they want?” And
so they were.
A YOUNGER SON. 469

A loud and simultaneous laugh burst from the grab, and my
quarter-master, holding a night-glass, exclaimed—

“ Look, captain, there be a shoal of mermaids a-boarding the
grab!”

Still not knowing what to make of it, I ordered our fierce
and armed sailors to stand back, and waved my hand, making
signs for the floating visitors to come on board. This was
quickly understood, and, in a few minutes, we were boarded
in all directions by these aquatic ladies, who clambered up by
the chains, the gangway, the bow, and the stern, till our deck
was covered. There was no doubt as to the sex of these our
unexpected assailants; and our men, with their pistols, cut-
lasses, and boarding-pikes, cut a ridiculous figure enough as
they confronted women, who, so far from having arms of
offence, or being sealed in armour of defence, had no other
weapons than what nature had furnished them with, and no
other covering than an immensity of jetty long hair. Yet, in
Justice to the ladies, I must say that many of them, if not fair,
were young, sleek-skinned, and of pretty Moorish features ;
but I was so entirely devoted to Zela, that my thoughts never
veered for an instant to any other. True it was, I had been
boyishly indiscreet enough to give in to the joke of bantering
and playing pranks on the widow of Yug. I had better have
played them on the stealthy and malignant panther ; for what
is so relentlessly and dastardly eruel as a vicious and dis-
appointed woman? But, vanish, accursed retrospection!
Keep aloof from me, memory, thou subtle and intruding
devil !

With the dawn of day the amphibious females assembled,
like a flock of teal, on deck, having gleaned the sailors’ offerings
of buttons, nails, beads, old shirts, waistcoats, jackets, and
other discarded clothing, with which they had ridiculously
bedizened themselves. The vanity of the sex was now in high
excitation ; for I observed, as they strutted about in their
motley-coloured attire, partially covering their persons, one in
a check shirt, another with a white jacket, some with only a
solitary stocking or shoe, and others with gaudy handkerchiefs
instinctively applied to their heads, that they scanned with
watchful eyes, which among them had got what they con-
470 ADVENTURES OF

sidered the most valuable present. At length they all became
fixed in astonishment and jealousy, at beholding a frightful
squaw, who had successfully insinuated herself into the good
graces of the quarter-master, whom she had so bewitched, that
he, with princely prodigality, bestowed on her a robe of honour,
an ancient scarlet waistcoat! This was the identical vest that,
sparkling on his broad chest, had caused such devastation in
the hearts of the fair damsels at Plymouth, and to which he
confessedly owed much of his good fortune, having won the
heart and hand of a celebrated west-country belle from a host
of suitors. All the water-nymphs, at the sight of this brilliant
squaw proudly stalking among them, like a queen pre-eminent,
clapped their hands with a divided feeling of envy and delight ;
then shrieked, and, eager to avoid comparison, hastened to hide
their inferior decorations by plumping headlong into the water,
chattering and clattering like sea-mews till they reached the
land,

CHAPTER CXVIII.

The earth, whose mine was on its face, unsold,
The glowing sun and produce all its gold;
The freedom which can call each grot a home ;
The general garden where all steps may roam ;
Where nature owns a nation as her child,
Exulting in the enjoyments of the wild;
Their shells, their fruits, the only wealth they know,
Their unexploring navy the canoe ;
Their sport the dashing breakers and the chase ;
Their strangest sight an European face.
Byron.

O avoid a repetition of these nocturnal orgies, we got

under weigh, threading cautiously, and with difficulty,
the groups of islands; many of which were unknown, or un-
marked on any chart. At some we landed, while our vessels
lay off and on, awaiting us; and, in calm weather, we anchored
at others, where we generally found fruits and water. Although
De Ruyter, besides his being an able navigator, had the ad-
vantage of much personal knowledge of the Indian archipelago,
A YOUNGER SON. 471

yet we had much to contend with; for the multitude of local
currents, in the space of a few leagues, ran to every point in
the compass; and often were so impetuous that our vessels,
even with favourable breezes, were hurried along in contrary
directions to each other, and to the courses we were steering.
Sometimes we were driven through channels of coral reefs,
embayed by shoals, out of which we had infinite difficulty in
groping our way with the lead. Many times we thus parted
company, and, more than once, jostled together. Besides the
momentary fear of being wrecked, the toil and hardship we
endured is not to be described; although our vessels were
admirably adapted for the intricacy of the navigation.

At sea, scudding fast in a fine vessel, or, on the desert,
galloping on a fleet horse, I have felt my blood, hurrying
through its channels, tingling with pleasure; but, like all
pleasures of strong excitement, they are short-lived, and dearly
purchased by the painful lassitude which follows such enjoy-
ment. On the other hand, I have felt my soul thrilled with
rapture, unalloyed by retrospection or deadened by satiety, in
wandering over and exploring unknown, or at least unmarked,
and uninhabited islands, in the Indian archipelago, accompanied
by my Zela. Gazing in mute astonishment at every fruit, herb,
tree, and flower, our very ignorance of their names and proper-
ties enhanced our admiration. Even those we were familiar
with seemed of a more exquisite description. The formation
and hues of the rocks, sands, shells, and weeds, to our enthu-
siastic and untaught eyes, resembled nothing we had previously
seen. The very sea around, the noise of the surf, the sky, the
clouds above, the untainted atmosphere we breathed, the birds,
the lizards, the insects, and larger animals, appeared new and
strange. In that awful solemnity of nature, undisturbed by
human innovation, carrying on her works in beautiful grandeur,
Zela scrutinized, with girlish delight, some little unknown
floweret, whilst I stood entranced, gazing on a titanic tree, on
whose widespreading branches monkeys and parrots had formed
their kingdoms, and under whose broad shade an army might
have stood sheltered. We often thought ourselves to be, and
perhaps we were, the first intruders on these hallowed solitudes.
The birds and beasts viewed us with wonder, but fled not,
472 ADVENTURES OF

They thought, or rather I thought for them, ‘‘ What, is man at
last come here? Not satisfied with, what he calls, usurping
the four portions of the globe, must his dominion spread over
the fifth, some space of which is yet untenanted by him? Has
Providence, like a step-father abandoned his first children,
robbing us of our birthright, leaving us no place where we may
rest our weary wings? Why is life given us to be taken away
for man’s pastime, to be tortured to pamper his insatiable
appetites? He is a monster, endowed with sovereignty over
Nature’s works, only to mar and destroy them!”

As I am not writing a history of discovery, I leave to be
described, by more systematic circumnavigators, with all the
honour and profit thereunto accruing, every one of these islands,
now comprehended in the fifth division of the world ; limiting
myself, as at starting, to simply the history of my own life, and
that which is immediately connected with it.

After a long and circuitous navigation we made the Aroo
islands, one of which none that has seen can ever forget. It
lies in the centre of the group, and far surpasses all that the
most imaginative of eastern poets has conceived. The birds of
the sun (or, as they are usually called, birds ef Paradise) are
natives of this paradise; as is the lory, whose varied and
distinctly marked colours exceed in brightness the rarest tulips.
Then there are the mina, of deeper blue than the sky, with
crest, beak, and legs out-glittering gold, the wild peacock, and
an infinity of little scarlet humming-birds, dazzling the sight
with their extreme beauty; while the spices on which they
live fill the air with sweet smells. Zela screamed with joy, and
wept to go on shore; but the wild islanders forbad it. —

Getting a distant view of Papua, or New Guinea, we kept a
northerly course for a few days; but our salt provisions be-
coming scanty, we changed our course to the westward, and
returned by a parallel line, till we arrived at the Dutch spice-
island of Amboyna. Here we found them in all the bustle of
an expected attack by the English, to which, however, the
governor did not give credit: and De Ruyter was too politic to
give him his real opinion on the subject, lest efforts might
have been made to detain us, in order to assist in their defence,
or, at least, our supplies would not have been attainable. We
A YOUNGER SON. 473

therefore hastily purchased what was necessary, or rather what
we could get, took our departure, and soon after captured a
small vessel, being the third prize we had made on this cruise.
She was freighted—or as the quarter-master, who prided him-
self on correct orthoépy, persisted in saying, frighted—with
cloves, mace, and nutmegs. We transhipped the spicery, and
let the vessel go.

Our next destination was the island of Celebes, which we
made without encountering any event worth recording, and
anchored off Fort Rotterdam, at Macassar, a Dutch settle-
ment, as the name of the fort indicates. This island lies
between Java and Borneo ; it is shaped like a huge tarantula,
a small body with four disproportionately long legs, which
stretch into the sea in narrow and lengthened peninsulas.

CHAPTER CXIX.

But feast to-night ! to-morrow we depart!

Strike up the dance, the festal bow] fill high,

Drain every drop! to-morrow we may die.
BYRon.

EK were all delighted, after our long, fatiguing, and
anxious navigation among the islands, to find ourselves
securely moored in a beautiful harbour near to a very pretty
European town, which supplied all our wants. For some days
the discipline on board was relaxed, and we revelled in the
enjoyment of abundance, and the luxury of undisturbed rest ;
which can only be duly appreciated by those who have hungered
and toiled. Several Dutch vessels were lying here, bound to
the spice-islands ; from these we replenished our stores of
European articles, such as wine, cheese, biscuits, and an ample
supply of genuine skedam, which poor Louis used to say was
indispensable as the rudder and compass.

As a neutral vessel lay in the port, we shipped Darvell, and
the men we had rescued, on board her. Both De Ruyter and
myself parted from that gallant young officer with deep regret.
In those days of my youth my heart was glowing with feeling,
474 ADVENTURES OF

and, as has [been seen, readily formed alliances with noble
minds like Darvell’s. Such men as he, (though I cannot
believe there are many,) may still live; and perhaps, occasion-
ally, I may come unknowingly in contact with them ; but my
heart is chilled, and my affections almost extinguished. I no
longer feel myself moved to claim kindred with them; my soul
is absorbed in selfish and vain regret for those I have loved and
lost, and shrinks from new ties, if not with loathing, yet with
cold indifference. I am become ascetic and morbid; so I will
not slander human nature by contrasting Darvell and the
friends of my youth, such as they were to me, with the world-
lings among whom I now associate, and whom, with sneering
mockery, I designate as ‘‘dear,” on every scrap of paper which
necessity compels me to address to them, either for the purpose
of an invitation to dinner, or an appointment for a duel. Let
me, however, although no verbal critic, protest against the
profanation of the word friend. In this my history I must be
honest, make a distinction between the oriental diamond and
its worthless imitation of paste, and separate the grain from
the chaff—gossamer words, that weigh nothing, from sub-
stantial realities heavier than gold. With heartfelt reluctance
I parted with Darvell, and it is painful for me now to dismiss
him with so faint an outline as I have traced on this paper.
De Ruyter having discovered the grab’s bowsprit to be
sprung, and both vessels being in want of spars, we got under
weigh, and went round to the bay of Bonny on the southern
coast. In this most spacious and magnificent of bays we
anchored close to the shore; and, after De Ruyter had com-
municated with the Rajah, who issued orders to his subjects,
the Bonnians, not to molest nor interfere with us, we sent the
carpenter and a party of men to select the timber. While De
Ruyter was employed in striking his masts and unshipping his
bowsprit, we overhauled the schooner’s rigging, and set about
destroying the rats and other vermin; which, by the by, (I
mean the rats,) in some measure compensated for the damage
they had done to the ship and provisions, by furnishing, in
their own persons, to hungry mariners, a not unpalatable relish,
besides many an hour’s excellent sport, in which we used to
hunt and spear them. At one period, I remember, we had run
A YOUNGER SON. 475

so short of provisions, and what we had was so salt, hard, and
unsavoury, that the price of a brace of rats on board of us
rose to a quarter dollar; while the Borneo breed, long bodied,
short legged, round quartered, sleek skinned, and fine eared,
were readily disposed of at a fraction more. When skinned,
split open, sprinkled with pepper and salt, and nicely broiled,
they furnish a salubrious and piquant relish for breakfast.
The hind quarters were then as exquisite to my palate, as the
thighs of woodecocks, and the tainted haunches of venison,
are to shore-going grand gourmands. But the daintiest viands
soonest pall on the palate; I had been surfeited with turtle,
and, revelling on the bountiful supplies we got from the shore,
rat-diet became nauseous, and we cleared out the schooner to
be rid of them—-centipedes, scorpions, cockroaches, and other
intruders. Doctor Van Scolpvelt provided a villainous compo-
sition, the smoking fumes of which, he averred, would smother
all the devils in hell, if he could hermetically seal its gates.
We distributed this kill-devil hell-paste in several parts of the
vessel, ignited it, and battened down the hatchways, destroying,
“at one fell swoop,” all the reptiles which infested and annoyed
us. This, and clearing and restoring the schooner’s hull and
rigging to that nice order on which sailors pride themselves—
for no eye is so fastidious and critical as a sailor’s—stowing
the holds, cutting wood, getting water, sending the sick on
shore, repairing the sails, and casks, setting up the standing
rigging, and other matters, kept all hands at work for a con-
siderable time.

While this was going on I made frequent excursions on
shore, and maintained a friendly intercourse with the Bonnians,
who, next to the warlike Malays, were the people I best liked ;
they were friendly, frank, hospitable, honest, enterprising, and
brave. The Dutch policy here, was the same as that employed
by the English on the continent of India—the exciting and
fomenting intestine wars among the native princes, in order to
secure and augment their own possessions; besides, on the
part of the Dutch, reaping the collateral, and indeed principal
advantage of being furnished with the prisoners of war for
slaves, whom they exported to Java and the spice-islands. In
other respects their settlement on this island was convenient,
476 ADVENTURES OF

as maintaining open a line of communication with their other
residencies in the east. In the great bay of Bonny there was
a fine river, leading to a large lake in the interior, which the
Rajah wisely forbad the Europeans from surveying, well
knowing the covetousness of their eyes, as he said, was only to
be exceeded by the rapacity of their hands.

In one of my excursions around the great bay, I had pro-
vided myself with a sean for fishing, and weapons for the
chase. As we were pulling along the shore of the southernmost
point, we opened, through a somewhat narrow entrance, to a
smaller bay. It was perfectly calm, but the ground-swell
rolled in heavily, and we heard the surf breaking on the
shelving-beach at its extremity or bottom ; above which arose
a small, but rocky and rugged hill, bare on the sides, but
crowned with majestic timber and patches of underwood. On
each side of the bay the land was high, broken, and shelving,
with jagged and rent rocks, whose sharp points continued in
successive lines, bearing a most forbidding and inhospitable
aspect. The prolific and rife vegetation of the east appeared
vainly struggling for existence on its arid surface. Only those
low and creeping plants thrived well, with wiry roots to
insinuate themselves into the fissures of the hardest stone, till,
swelling into wedges they break through them, and enter the
hard crust of the earth. Around the entire margin of this bay,
formed like a horse-shoe, was laid, I suppose by the waves, a
carpet of the finest and smoothest sand; its yellow surface
here and there strewn with glittering shells, and bones bleached
by the salt-water and the sun, but without a single pebble.
The general transparent blueness of the water, indicative of its
depth, and the absence of rocks and shoals, was the more
remarkable as contrasted with the peculiar abruptness and
ruggedness of its shores, on which there did not appear enough
of level surface for the foundation of a fisherman’s cot, nor
were there any signs of human habitation.

Impressed with the idea that this bay must be an excellent
place to haul the sean in, I determined to try it; and putting
the helm up, impelled by the swell, we ran the boat directly
in. I luffed to, about midway down, and, running the boat,
on the weather or sea-side, slap on the beach, the sides of
A YOUNGER SON. 477

which were nearly as steep as a washing-basin, we landed our
tackle, and a small tent I always carried with me for Zela.
We again launched the boat with the sean, the men pulling
deeper into the bay for a shallower and more favourable place
for hauling it. Zela and myself strolled along the beach,
collecting specimens of the finest shells I had seen. On the
first cast of the sean, near the bottom of the bay, where the
water was shallow, and the tide just turned, coming in, we had
the heaviest haul of fish I ever saw or heard of, and of the
most varied and finest kind. We literally heaped them up on
the beach like hay-cocks; and continued, in sheer wantonness,
to cast and draw, so highly were the men excited, till our eyes
became satiated. In spite of the truism that the eye is a
thousand times more insatiable than the mouth, for we had no
more than seven mouths to fill, we toiled on, robbing the ocean
of enough to cram the maws of a famished fleet. At last the
greediest imagination was surfeited; and every man selecting
what he thought it possible to carry, not eat, each bearing
more than would have sufficed the party, we retraced our steps
to where we first landed, lighted fires, and then man might
truly have been designated a cooking animal, for all were cooks.
The sportsman’s brag that he don’t toil to fill the pot was here
belied ; for we devoured the produce of our sport with a greedi-
ness that begot a general surfeit.

CHAPTER CXX.

And under the caves,

Where the shadowy waves
Are as green as the forest night ;

Outspeeding the shark,

And the sword-fish dark,

Under the ocean foam.
SHELLEY,

LEFT Zela with her Malay handmaidens, and, aided by a
boar-spear, ascended, with one of the men, an Arab, the
rough rocks to overlook the bay. In my youth I loved climbing
and scrambling up rocks and mountains ; now I seldom intrude
478 ADVENTURES OF

on the dweller of a second story, and my greatest enemy or
friend may avoid me altogether on the third; so humbled is
the aspiring spirit of my youth. We wound our way along
the precipitous sides of the rude barrier, which encompassed
us, towards the bite, or bottom of the bay ; and, rather wearied,
gained a rude and jutting ledge of rocks, forming a small plat-
form, nearly half-way to the summit. There I seated myself
lighted my pipe, and looked down on the entire bay, which lay
under my feet; and further onwards, the bay of Bonny, which,
banked in by islands on the sea-side, appeared an extensive
lake. Looking down on the water, its aspect was flat and
unruffled; many of the picturesque proas of the natives were
scudding in with the last of the sea-breeze. On the narrow
strip of bright sand, which lay round the water like a golden
frame to a dark, oval Venetian picture, lay our little boat, the
fishing-net drawn over, and its ends spreading along the beach,
like a black spider veiled in its grey web.

My hawk-eyed Arab now pointed out to me a line of dark
spots, moving rapidly in the water, rounding the arm of the
sea, and entering the great bay. At first I thought they were
canoes capsized, coming in keel uppermost; but the Arab
declared they were sharks, and said, ‘‘The bay is called Shark’s
Bay; and their coming in from the sea is an infallible sign of
bad weather.” A small pocket-telescope convinced me they
were large blue sharks. I counted eight; their fins and sharp
backs were out of the water. After sailing majestically up the
great bay till they came opposite the mouth of a smaller one,
they turned towards it in a regular line; one, the largest I had
seen any where, taking the lead, like an admiral. He had
attained the entrance, with the other seven following, when
some monsters arose from the bottom, near the shore, where
he had been lurking, opposed his further progress, and a con-
flict instantly ensued. The daring assailant I distinguished to
be a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, the knight-errant of the sea,
attacking every thing in its domain; his head is as hard and
as rough as a rock, out of the centre of which grows horizon-
tally an ivory spear, longer and far tougher than any warrior’s
lance; with this weapon he fights. The shark, with a jaw
larger and stronger than a crocodile’s, with a mouth deeper
A YOUNGER SON.. 479

and more capacious, strikes also with his tail, in tremendous
force and rapidity, enabling him to repel any sudden attack by
confusing or stunning his foe, till he can turn on his back,
which he is obliged to do ere he can use his mouth. This wily
and experienced shark, not daring to turn and expose his more
vulnerable parts to the formidable sword of his enemy, lashed
at him with his heavy tail, as a man uses a flail, working the
water into a syllabub. Meanwhile, in honour, I suppose, or in
the love of fair play, his seven compatriot sharks stood aloof,
lying-to with their fins, in no degree interfering in the fray.
Frequently I could observe, by the water’s eddying in concen-
tric ripples, that the great shark had sunk to the bottom, to
seek refuge there, or elude his enemy by beating up the sand;
or, what is more probable, by this manceuvre to lure the sword-
fish downwards, which, when enraged, will blindly plunge its
armed head against a rock, in which case its horn is broken ;
or, if the bottom is soft, it becomes transfixed, and then would
fall an easy prey. De Ruyter, while in a country vessel, had
her struck by one of these fish, (perhaps mistaking her for a
whale, which, though of the same species, it often attacks,)
with such velocity and force, that its sword passed completely
through the bow of the vessel; and, having been broken by
the shock, it was with great difficulty extracted. It measured
seven feet; about one foot of it, the part attached to the head,
was hollow, and the size of my wrist; the remainder was
solid, and very heavy, being indeed the exquisite ivory of
which the eastern people manufacture their beautiful chess-
men. But to return to our sea-combat, which continued a
long time, the shark evidently getting worsted. Possibly the
bottom, which was clear, was favourable for his enemy ; whose
blow, if he succeeds in striking while the shark is descending,
is fatal. I think he had struck him, for the blue shark is
seldom seen in shoal or discoloured water; yet now he
floundered on towards the bottom of the bay, madly lashing
the water into foam, and rolling and pitching like a vessel
dismasted. For a few minutes his conqueror pursued him,
then wheeled round and disappeared ; while the shark grounded
himself on the sand, where he lay writhing and lashing the
shore feebly with his tail. His seven companions, with seeming
480 ADVENTURES OF

unconcern, wore round, and, slowly moving down the bay,
returned by the outlet at which they had entered. Hastening
down to the scene of action, I saw no more of them. My
boat’s crew were assembled at the bottom of the bay, firing
muskets at the huge monster as he lay aground ; before I could
join them, he was despatched, and his dead carcase laid on the
beach like a stranded vessel. Leaving him and them, I ran
along the beach for half a mile to regain Zela’s tent.

CHAPTER CXXI.

And all my knowledge is that joy is gone,
And this thing woe crept in among our hearts,

There to remain for ever, as I fear.
Keats.

HEN close upon the tent, I caught the sounds of

moaning and wailing within. Stooping down at the
low entrance, I saw the sand spotted with blood. I burst
through the canvas screen, and stood motionless as marble ;
and my heart felt as heavy and cold. My eyes dizzy, my
senses bewildered, I gazed on what I thought the lifeless
remains of Zela, stretched out like a corpse. Her black and
dripping hair, in bloody and tangled masses, over her pallid
bosom, looked like a dark shroud. Her eyes and mouth were
half closed; she was unconscious, insensible. The Malay girls
knelt by her on each side in despair, sobbing, tearing their
hair, and rending their garments. They made signs to me as
I entered, but Zela absorbed every faculty. I made an effort
to approach ; I tried to speak, but, heart-struck, I staggered,
and should have fallen, had I not grasped the stancheon which
supported the tent. With my eyes fast riveted on Zela, I
thought I saw her eyelids move; then the sound of her voice
thrilled through my frame, and recalled my fleeting faculties,
though her words were inarticulate. Kneeling by her side, I
loosened her vest, put my hand on her heart, and felt it
moving. I pressed my lips to hers; they were white, but still
warm with life. I raised her head, and rubbed her hands;
A YOUNGER SON. 481

the blue veins on her beautiful eyelids, forehead, and neck
swelled out, and a slight flush of crimson spread over her.
She opened wildly her large dark eyes, reminding me forcibly
of the first time I had encountered their magic fascina-
tion. ‘Dearest Zela,’ I stammered out, “what is the
matter?”

She gazed on me, as if with an effort to collect her powers
of mind, and, in her low musical voice, answered slowly and
distinetly,—‘‘ Nothing, love, if you are here. I am well,—
very well. But you are ill,—you appear very ill.”

She then made an effort to turn on her side, but groaned
with pain, and fell back powerless. After closing her eyes for
a minute, she again opened them, and said, “Oh, yes! I
remember I have had a fall, and hurt myself a little,—nothing
more. Oh! where is Adoo?—she fell too,—do, dear, see to
her! I shall soon be well.”

T looked at the Malayan girl, who was supporting her on the
opposite side. Her face and hands were streaming with
blood; but without wasting a thought on herself, she was
watching Zela as eagerly as I had done. She dried her eyes
with her hair, and her dark features brightened as her mistress
gave her a look of recognition. I interrogated her as to Zela’s
hurts ; she pointed to her head, and several parts of her body.
Angry at my folly in having, for an instant, neglected that on
which so much depended, and, inspired by the overwhelming
reaction of hope, with a hand, that had never trembled till
then, I examined her wounds. After having persuaded her to
drink some wine and water, she in vain besought me, (never
till then in vain,) to first attend to Adoo. Even had I
consented, the true-hearted little barbarian, although bleeding
to death, would have died uncomplainingly, ere she would have
permitted me to stanch her blood while her mistress’s was
flowing. The wounds on Zela’s body, head, legs, and arms
were many; yet, (and I had some skill in surgery,) they did
not appear to me dangerous. Her insensibility had been
occasioned by the blows on her head, and by logs of blood.
There were severe bruises on her side and back, which gave
her the greatest pain; and their consequences filled me with
dread. But now that animation was restored, and with it her

3l
482 ADVENTURES OF

presence of mind, she contrived to lull my fears, and strengthen
my hopes.

My attention was then directed to Adoo, at whom Zela
shriekingly pointed. The poor little girl, whom I had hardly
noticed, the instant her fears for her mistress had in some
degree subsided, fell senseless on the sand. Her legs and one
of her hands were almost cut through, and the sand, where she
had been seated, was in a puddle from the quantity of blood
she had lost. I tore the remainder of my shirt into bandages,
stanched and bound up her wounds; but, with every care, it
was long ere she gave indications of returning life.

The sailors had been for some time assembled round the
tent, anxious to ascertain the fate of those within: they were
ignorant of the circumstance, having been drawn down the bay
watching the sharks. I went out, and ordered them instantly
to prepare the boat for returning on board. The cockswain
pointed to the sea, and said—

“The boat can’t live, Sir, in such weather.”

‘Weather !—why it is a calm!”

T looked at the great bay, and beheld with dismay that one
of those squalls, so frequent in tropical climates, had suddenly
come on. Savage at this new evil, and the dreadful conse-
quences of delay, which might be fatal to Zela, I ran to the
point, and, ascending the rocks, the first blast of the gale,
which caught me, would have borne me over them, had I not
held on with my hands. It was blowing a complete hurricane
—the sun had disappeared in the gloom—night prematurely
was setting in—the sky was black and lowering, and the sea
was an entire sheet of foam.

It did not require an instant’s thought as to the total
impossibility of venturing out in such weather. The clouds
too seemed surcharged with thunder and water; I therefore
hastened back with the men, and we all turned to, hauling the
boat up high and dry, and securing the tent by every possible
means. The boat-sails and tackle were added—the sand was
channelled all round—rocks were placed on the tent-pegs, and
dry wood collected for firing. Luckily, we had a keg of water
and bread in the boat, with some other necessaries I never left
the ship without, and, what was of the utmost importance, a
A YOUNGER SON. 483

lantern. With the darkness the storm increased, and in
eddying gusts roared up the bay with a force that seemed to
‘rock the hills.

During the night we were all kept on the alert, first to
prevent the tent from being blown away, and then from being
washed into the sea by the floods or rain which followed. So
loud and continued was the thunder, reverberating among the
hills, that it was like the deafening explosions when rocks are
blasted in a tunnel, or in a deep mine. As I walked to and
fro on the beach, in melancholy forebodings, I wished the
lightning would rend the rocks on each side, till, crumbling
down, they filled up the bay beneath, and buried us all
together. The invocation I made then, I have never revoked
—would that it had heen accomplished.

CHAPTER CXXII.

Thy cheek is pale
For one whose cheek is pale: thou dost bewail

His tears who weeps for thee. = ae =

* * * if ’Tis she, but lo!

How changed, how full of ache, how gone in woe!
Keats,

HE rain having lulled the wind, to keep Zela as much as

possible from the wet sand, I sat down, leaning against

the tent-pole, and supported her in my arms. On the morning
I learnt the following particulars. She said—

“Two hours after your departure—Oh, would you had never
left me! for I feel it is not your fate that hangs on me, as you
have often told me, but mine on yours! Why, then, did you
not let me go with you to the mountain ? You have seen me
climb, and have said nothing but the lizard could follow me.”

I answered, ‘‘ Yes, but remember you were then as light as a
bird ; now your weight is increased by the burthen you have
within you. Our first child prematurely lost its life by your
rash exertions in saving its father.”

“ Could I hesitate to sacrifice my child to rescue its father ?
A child’s life, weighed in the balance by a wife’s hand, is but a
484 ADVENTURES OF

feather against the heavy loss of a husband. Besides, who,
that is an orphan, would willingly bring into this cruel world a
being so helpless and wretched as itself?”

After giving vent to her feelings, she proceeded to satisfy my
first inquiries regarding her present situation, and said, “I
strolled along the beach to the point of rocks at the entrance
of the bay, and, coming to a sheltered and shady place, I
determined to bathe with Adoo; the water looked so smooth
and cool. The other little girl was posted to prevent intrusion.
Then, knowing you admire the coral trees, which grow under
the water, and seeing some very beautiful ones, I told Adoo to
dive and bring me up a branch. It was of the deep crimson,
which you said was the best. Owing to its brittleness, it was
a long time before we could get an entire one. While we were
still looking about, we heard a great noise in the water near
us; and Adoo, who you know, has good eyes, saw something
coming in from the sea, and told me there were benetas jump-
ing about in play, a sign of bad weather at hand. She then
told me she saw you coming along the beach, and added, ‘I
can swim better than you, and will be the first on shore to
welcome him.’

“She swam faster than a fish, and I scolded her for her ill-
natured exertions to shame her mistress, for I had vowed to be
the first on land. She continued to jeer and mock me, until
she landed on a rock, difficult to ascend, high out of the water,
and slippery with weeds and moss. At that instant I heard
the other girl, whom I had left as sentinel, shriek out,—
‘Sharks !—sharks!’ I thought she was bantering, and was still
hesitating, when I knew by her face she spoke the truth, and
endeavoured to get up as Adoo had done. She stood on the
verge of a ledge of rocks. The loud flapping of the sharks was
behind me, and I heard the seamen shouting. Adoo stooped
down, and gave me her hand ; hastily I caught hold of it, and
tried, with all my strength to climb up. Adoo held my right
hand ; with my left I seized on some sea-weed. My alarm
added to my weight, already too heavy to be supported by
such helps, and the sea-weeds gave way. Adoo would not let
me go, nor could her feet cling to the slimy sea-grass, so that
we both fell. Yet she did not fall upon me, or I must have
A YOUNGER SON. 485

then died ;—poor girl! she threw herself headlong on the low
rocks, and I fell on my side. The coral rocks are sharp, and I
must have lain there, had not Adoo and her companion got me
out of the water,—I know not how. I knew nothing more till
I awoke, and found myself here in great pain. Then you
came; and since that I have been better, much better!”

Continuing to repeat, “much better!” Zela sunk into a
restless sleep, exhausted by loss of blood and intense pain. I
knew, by experience, that such unquiet slumber is not refresh-
ment; it is but depriving us of the consciousness of where and
how we are afflicted. The brain is then crowded with horrid
shapes, and imagined tortures, far worse than realities, such as
the most cunning of human tyrants could never devise. I
sponged the dewy drops from her throbbing temples; her
groans smote my heart. It was evident that the internal
injuries she had received were worse than I had apprehended ;
exterior wounds could not so convulse her. Gloomy fore-
bodings filled my mind, and almost tempted me to antedate,
what I dared not contemplate, her loss, by ending my fears at
once, and our lives together. My pistols lay by my side, and
my eyes were fixed on them, when one of the seamen came to
the door of the tent, and told me the squall had blown over,
and the weather was clearing.

We waited another hour for the swell to be moderate, during
which time we made the boat as commodious as possible. The
tent was struck, and every thing being in readiness, I carried
Zela on board ; and afterwards Adoo, who would allow no one
to touch her but myself. The men, to shew they felt for one
who never spoke but in kindness, and never appeared amongst
them but to confer some favour, exerted their utmost strength
at the oars to expedite our passage. Still the waves were
rolling in heavily from the sea; but that was in our favour ;
and the boat, constructed for whale-fishing, floated lightly, and
moved almost as rapidly as a sea-swallow; though, at that
time, I did not think so. I relieved the men alternately at the
oars ; and my intense anxiety and impatience was assuaged by
physical labour. We pulled the distance, which was little less
than three leagues, within two hours. The grab’s deck was
crowded as we flew past her; the men perceived by our
486 ADVENTURES OF

rapidity that something had happened, and De Ruyter inquired
what was the matter. Without replying to his question, I
begged he would lose no time in coming on board the schooner
with the doctor. In the schooner also I saw the men ranged
along the gangway ; and, in another instant, we shot up along-
side of her. A chair was soon slung, lowered from the main-
yard into the boat, and Zela was hoisted on the deck. With-
out speaking a word, indeed I could hardly distinguish the
features of the crowd of familiar faces gazing on us, I bore her
directly into the cabin.

The doctor and De Ruyter were quickly on board. When
they entered the cabin, and beheld the change which four-and-
twenty hours had made in Zela’s beautiful face and form, De
Ruyter, involuntarily shuddering, closed his eyes, and pressed
his hands over his face; while the hitherto impenetrable
doctor, who, except on hearing of Louis’ death, had never
shewn the least sympathy with human woe, now took the
glasses from his eyes, and wiped them. Then, with a tender-
ness foreign to his usual practice, he proceeded to unbind and
examine the wounds of his gentle patient. Not a question
was asked by either of them; and, during the whole process,
no other words were spoken than the brief account I was
compelled to give for the instruction and guidance of the
doctor.

The most learned in human physiognomy might have gazed
for ever on Van’s unchanging features without a chance of
reading his thoughts. After dressing her wounds, he care-
fully examined the bruises on her body, and, giving her a
preparation of opium, left her. I followed, and warmly essayed
to fathom his thoughts. He was struck by the alteration in
my beariag towards him; for, when suffering in my own
person from wounds or sickness, I had still maintained my
bantering and jeering manner, and often vexed him beyond
endurance. But now my pride was humbled; for I had faith
in Van’s skill, on which all my hopes depended, and was
meek and obedient as the most abject slave to the most
imperious and powerful of masters. It is almost needless
to say that the poor faithful attendant, Adoo, lacked little
of the care that was bestowed on her mistress. She was
A YOUNGER SON. 487

laid on the opposite couch; and it was evident her strength
was greater, or her sufferings infinitely less acute; for her
features had undergone but a slight and nearly imperceptible
change, whilst Zela’s were so contracted by spasms, that she
was scarcely to be recognized.

CHAPTER CXXIII.

Thy voice was a sweet tremble in mine ear,}

Made tuneable by every sweetest vow,

And those sad eyes were spiritual and clear :

How changed thou art! how pallid, chill, and drear!
Keats.

Save thine, ‘‘incomparable oil,’’ Macassar !
BYRON.

FTER watching Zela till she slept, I went on deck, where

I found De Ruyter waiting for me. IJ gave him a de-
tailed account of all that had led to this fatal calamity; for I
could not divest myself of a conviction that it would terminate
fatally. His arguments to the contrary, although they were
rational and wise, could not shake my belief. Firmly fixed
was the presentiment that the spring-tide, which had borne
me on triumphantly to the attainment of perfect happiness,
was turned, ebbing back to the sea, and that mine and my
happiness would be left a stranded wreck. To relax the
tense cords, strainingly drawn from heart to brain, De Ruyter
endeavoured to divert my thoughts to the discussion of other
topics. He told me he had, on the previous evening, received
intelligence, coming through an infallible channel, that the
Governor General of India had, at length, determined on
fitting out an expedition (with the details of which he was
in possession), for the wresting of the Isle of France out of
the hands of the French.

“Tt has been made known to me,” said De Ruyter, “through
my correspondent, an Armenian merchant, who resides at the
seat of government, and has found means of diving to the very
bottom of every council held there. This enterprise has been
488 ADVENTURES OF

long, very long in contemplation; but now they have resolved
to carry it into execution. This will materially alter my plans.
We have no time to lose; we must exert ourselves to the
utmost in expediting the refitment and equipment of our
vessels.”

At another time this would have aroused me, had I been
bed-ridden with a jungle-fever; but now, in the most ani-
mating part of his discourse, while detailing the naval and
military force to be employed, and the names of their respec-
tive commanders, a death-like torpor, which had stolen up
my limbs, and weighed on my body like lead, at length
ascended to my eyelids, which it sealed, and I fell into the
profoundest sleep I can remember. De Ruyter, as I after-
wards discovered, had carefully covered me with flags, and
placed a sentinel over me to prevent my being disturbed.
Since Zela’s accident, I had not taken food; and De Ruyter
artfully induced me to drink a cup of strong coffee, under the
plea of keeping me awake. This he had drugged with opium,
to enforce that rest, without which he foresaw my strength of
body and mind would be prostrated. I did not awake till the
evening, and wondered how I could have enjoyed such a long
and undisturbed sleep at such a time.

I hastily descended to the cabin, and found the doctor
examining his patients. They were both sitting up, sup-
ported by cushions. The Malay girl was considerably better ;
but Zela’s mind only seemed to have benefited: her bodily
sufferings had undergone no change. Her face, which before
was rosy, bright, and pure as the first tints of morning, was
now shaded with the dim hue of sickness: her eyes were
dull, and her lips without colour. De Ruyter and the doctor
remained on board us during the wearisome night, the greater
part of which I passed in the cabin, supporting Zela in my
arms, where alone she seemed to find relief.

The next day, in compliance with De Ruyter’s wish to
prepare for sea, I returned to my duties. He kindly offered
to relieve me from them; but I mechanically resumed my
business, as formerly, and active employment was of the
utmost service in preserving the strength of my body, which
otherwise would have sunk under the weight of my tortured
A YOUNGER SON. 489

mind. No longer, as before, was I above fate and circum-
stance, therefore happy—but full of evil forebodings. My
heart was swollen by painful emotions, rendered still more
trying by the necessity of repressing them. On the third
day, when Zela’s sufferings became so gnawingly acute as
to threaten a speedy termination, scarcely was I sensible; I
possessed only a half kind of feeling that death was a most
desirable end; and when those violent throes and writhings
ceased to convulse her frame, when she sunk into a helpless,
senseless torpor, when she lay so motionless that I thought
she was dead, I stood over her with a fierce firmness, startling
the iron-nerved doctor, and exclaimed, ‘‘ She is then dead !”’

Van was then holding her tiny wrist between her gaunt
finger and thumb, and answered, ‘“‘ You are ignorant. She
lives. The crisis of her danger is past. She is no more dead
that I am ;—she is asleep.”

His words were as balsamic oil. The stern, the painful
rigidity of fortitude, to which I had worked myself, relaxed
into softness, with the same feeling of composure, as when
our fibres are released from the grasp of a spasm, and are
lulled into repose; and such was the relief Zela then ex-
perienced. Satisfied with the truth of this, I went on deck as
one revived, and beheld the scene shining beautifully under
that magic light, in which it is the privilege of joy to clothe
the world. My spirits became, as it were, embalmed in bliss.
I hastened on board the grab to communicate my happiness to
De Ruyter and the old Rais. Every man participated in my
joy for the restoration of her, whose kindness, courage, and
gentleness had penetrated the breasts of the roughest, and im-
pressed their stubborn hearts with admiration.

Once more was I alert in my duty, no longer an indifferent
spectator. The news De Ruyter had heard he now retold me;
and, having completed our repairs, we weighed our anchors
and put to sea. The Rajah, with whom De Ruyter was on
friendly footing, gave him, at taking leave, a large quantity of
different oils and balsams, for which this island is as celebrated
as Java for its poisons. Among the rest was a large proportion
of kiapootee and colalava oil, and the oleaginous extract from
a fruit-tree, since that period become so notorious in Hurope,
490 ADVENTURES OF

(by name I mean,)—Macassar oil. I may mention here that
it was some of this very oil, given by the Rajah to medicine
Zela’s hurts, that, on my return to England, through the means
of a servant, found its way into the hands of a perfumer ; it
was a quart bottle, and must have possessed the miraculous
properties of the widow’s cruse of oil. Certainly the pure
vegetable, gelatinous oils, of this island and the Moluccas, are
beneficial both to the skin and hair; for the natives, in the two
essential articles of beauty, surpass all the world, and retain
them even in extreme age. Indeed I never remember to have
there seen grey hair or bald heads; and even the aged retain
their suppleness of limb andsoftnessof skin. This I should have
attributed to their fine climate, simplicity of diet, and absti-
nence from ardent spirits, were it not that many other nations
participate in these advantages, without enjoying the same
results; therefore I think their balsamic oils must possess a
rare virtue. The bald head of Socrates may have added dignity
to his appearance; but the bald cocoanut-shaped skulls of
modern mortals are disgusting, and to them I commend the
liberal use of the oil of Macassar,—if they can get it.

In this voyage De Ruyter’s object being exclusively to re-
turn, as speedily as possible, to the Isle of France, it was
determined not to run out of our course, nor be diverted from
our main design, either by putting into any one of the islands,
near which we might pass, or by giving chase to any vessel,
except such as were steering in the same direction. In passing
the straits of Sunda, De Ruyter ran in near enough to com-
municate with the shore by a boat, but did not anchor. He
had an interview with the governor, General Jansens, at
Batavia, and received a confirmation of the news he had heard
at the Celebes. Taking in a few boatloads of fresh provisions,
we forthwith proceeded on eur voyage. De Ruyter’s wish was,
in our long run across the Indian ocean, from the straits of
Sunda to the Isle of France, that we should make the best of
our way, without the detention of keeping together. Besides,
as accidents might happen to one of us, either by falling in
with English men-of-war, (for intelligence had reached us that
a squadron of frigates was in those seas, bound, as was con-
jectured, for the Isle of France,) or by squalls, or calms, or by
A YOUNGER SON. 491

one of the thousand disasters attendant on a long voyage, the
risk would be lessened by our holding different courses, as then
one of us might be calculated on to reach his destination, on
which the fate of the French settlement seemed to hang. For
this purpose I had been furnished with duplicates of the de-
spatches, with full power to act in De Ruyter’s name in his own
particular affairs. But all these prudent and wise consider-
ations were overruled by my anxiety, indeed by the urgent
necessity for Doctor Van Scolpvelt’s attendance on Zela, who
continued in such a state of debility, that it was still doubtful
if she would not sink under it. Van’s skill had triumphed at
a moment of the utmost peril; in saving her life he had bound
me to him for ever; his medical knowledge, that had been
heretofore so lightly thought of by me, I now reverenced as a
superhuman attribute, belonging to him alone. It was there-
fore fixed that we should, running all chances, keep together ;
except in the event of our being pursued by an enemy of
superior force, when it would be indispensable for us to
separate and make our escape.

CHAPTER CXXIV.

O, vulture witch, hast thou never heard of mercy ?
Could not thy harshest vengeance be content,
But thou must nip this tender innocent}
Because I loved her ?;
Keats.

So, at last,
This nail is in my temple !
Keuats' MS.

RDINARY events during a voyage do not bear relating.

A man might as well seek to be amused by perusing a
merchant's ledger as a sea common-place journal. Yet had it
been otherwise, I must confess, such was my weakness, that I
was no longer capable of attending to, much less of recording
the scenes, which indeed passed before my eyes, but left no
impression on my mind, bright and vivid at the moment per-
492 ADVENTURES OF

haps, as the line of light shot by a star through the heavens at
night, yet as fading and transitory ; or like the sparkling fur-
row left by our vessel’s deep keel in the dark waters, expunged
as soon as made. The wings of my spirit would no longer
bear me up; my imagination remained hovering over the sick
couch of Zela; my mind was tinged with the melancholy hue
of the drooping object I contemplated. Ours were no common
ties ; she had been as a bird driven by the tempest from the
land, that sought refuge in my bosom; and like a darling bird,
too delicate to be entrusted in others’ hands, I alone fostered
and cherished her. Still the doctor, dividing his time between
the two vessels, continued to predict her ultimate restoration
to health; but he confessed the shock her delicate frame had
received required time and care.

We had been nearly a month at sea, and a certain change
for the better had taken place in her constitution. After sitting
up with her, as usual, all night, I lay slumbering uneasily on
the deck under the awning, my mind haunted by the horrible
dream of the poisonous hag of Java, when I was awakened by
Adoo, who had nearly recovered from her wounds. By the
agitation depicted on her strongly marked features, I saw that
something disastrous had taken place. Before she could utter
a connected sentence, I was by Zela’s couch. She was writh-
ing in extreme pain, and said that her stomach was burning. I
called to the mate on deck to make a signal to the grab for the
doctor, but she, unfortunately, was nearly out of sight ahead,
and it was almost a calm. Questioning Adoo as to the cause
of Zela’s present state, she pointed to a jar on the table, and
told me that, her mistress not having eaten anything for a long
time, she, with the other girl, had hunted in the store-room for
something that would tempt her to eat. They found that jar
of preserved fruit ; when her mistress, fond of sweetmeats, ate
a great deal, and gave some to the other little girl, who was
seized with the same pain after eating it. ‘Seeing my mis-
tress liked it,’’ said Adoo, “I did but taste one of the fruit,
and it has made me sick. I am sure there is poison in that
jar.”

The word poison pierced my brain like a barbed arrow.
Looking at the newly-opened jar, which had been closed with
A YOUNGER SON. 493

more than ordinary care by a resinous gum, I emptied out a
portion of the fruit. They were a very fine sort of the wild
green and yellow nutmegs, preserved in white sugar-candy.
Had the small green snake, a native of Java, whose venom is
the deadliest of all its tribe, erected its crest from out the
jar, it would not so have shaken my nerves. For I remembered
I had, at the widow’s, eaten many preserved nutmegs from a
jar, the counterpart of the one before me, and that they had
made me sick; when an old woman—a confidential slave of
the widow, whose heart I had won by giving her a small silver
box to fasten round the arm, containing a scrap of papyrus with
a hieroglyphic charm, brought from Mecca, telling her it was a
passport to admit her, alone of all the sex, into paradise ; then
she looked at me, long and steadily, and said, ‘‘Have you
angered my mistress already?” I laughed at the question.
At that moment the widow came into the room in high spirits,
patted my cheeks, and ran away to make me some coffee. As
soon as she was gone, the old woman again addressed me with,
‘“‘T was going to say, if my mistress is angry, and if you have
eaten nutmegs prepared by her hands, you had better keep to
yourself the talisman, which is to unlock the gates of paradise.
You are too young and too happy to go there. I once told a
husband of my mistress the same. He was a good man, and
gave my son his freedom. I told him not to eat nutmegs,
when,—ah !—when———”’

«And why not?” I inquired.

“He asked me the same question,” replied the old woman.
“But you men are all infidels ; you believe nothing that women
say if they are old, and, what is worse, everything if they are
young. My mistress saw another man she liked better ; and I
heard her one day say bitter things-of my master. The next
day I saw her give him those sweet things to eat, and he be-
came sick; when he was carried out of the house, and another
man came in, and put on his slippers and turban. But I can
read my mistress’s thoughts; as yet she loves you, and will do
younoharm. SoI shall keep the charm, for I shall want it
soon; but mind you do not make my mistress angry, for then
she is deadly as the poison of the cheetic-tree, which grows in
the jungle, on which the sun never shines.”
494 ADVENTURES OF

Our conversation was again interrupted by the widow, and
half a dozen slaves bringing coffee and cold water. This warn-
ing made some impression at the time, for I desisted from
eating the most delicious sweetmeats in the world; and it had
been strengthened, before I left the island, by many cor-
roborating stories from others. Often had I afterwards con-
gratulated myself on escaping from her fangs, when sweltering
with venom. Now the frightful belief flashed on my mind,
that the cunning strumpet, aided by the devil himself, had, as
it were, stretched her arm across the Indian ocean to ship the
poisoned jar; for by no investigation could I ascertain how or
when it came aboard.

While I stood pondering over the accursed fruit, half uncon-
scious where I was, I thought I could hear the fiendish laugh of
the widow mocking me. I thought I could see her, as she stood
in the stern of the boat, threatening and cursing me as I left
the harbour of Batavia, and began to repay her with loud and
savage imprecations, till Zela, alarmed at my looks and ges-
tures, believing me mad, forgot for a moment her own agony,
took hold of. my hand, pulled me on the bed, and soothed me
with the softest accents, assuring me she was getting better.

She bade me lay my head on her bosom, and she would rub it, « -

for she saw the veins were distended on it. She said, almost
playfully, “I can bear any pain but that of seeing you suffer.
Your looks, my love, affright me. Take this fruit,” (giving me
a pomegranate,) ‘“‘ which the poet Hafiz calls the pearl of fruits ;
and thus I imitate the example of the shell of the ocean, to fill
with pearls the hand which wounds it.”

The calmness with which she talked deceived me for a
moment; but this effort of her mind almost destroyed her frail
body: for then she talked wildly and incoherently, the subver-
sion of her intellect foretelling the fatal issue that was at hand.
Every muscle and nerve was writhing, as with a separate
agony ; her features were distorted ; and in vain I tried every
method I could think of to alleviate her pain. The poison was
working on her vitals, and her mental derangement was a
relief.

When at last the doctor came and saw her, it was evident
that even his science could not avail. He examined the jar, com-
A YOUNGER SON. 495

pared the symptoms of his patients, and confessed that my
suspicions were well grounded. But I am totally unequal to
the task of narrating, step by step, the ravages that the venom
worked on her. She wasted, day by day, till she became
almost a shadow. TI never left her; and in her lucid intervals,
which were few, she clung to me with more than her wonted
fondness ; and we mingled our tears, renewing our vows never
to part. The truest words of the poet are, ‘The love which is
born of sorrow, like it, is true.” Sorrow was the parent of our
attachment. I remembered she once said to me, when revelling
in health and happiness at our hut in Borneo, “I saw you
enter the tent where I was a prisoner. All others fled. It was
the house of death. You came, like an angel, to save. Though
you could not save my father, you avenged and consoled him
when dying. How then could I but admire you? When
afterwards you attached yourself to me (by what charm influ-
enced I am yet to learn), my admiration was, on the instant,
love. For you approached me, and offered those sympathies
which are the smaller links of that invisible chain love delights
to wear for ever; because our senses, says Hafiz, wait upon
our imagination like the most submissive slaves.”

My God! how shall I find words to tell the death of her who
had felt and spoken thus? If all were concentrated into one
word, that could express my feelings, to give it utterance would
destroy my reason !

Picking the seeds from a pomegranate, and making ruby-
coloured letters on the bed, such as, in our happy days, had
been the means of conveying our ideas when ignorant of each
other’s language, and singing fragments of Arabian songs, were
now her constant habits. One night she was startled, in the
midst of her wild notes, by a voice from the deck calling out
that the Isle of France was in sight. She screamed out, ‘Tam
glad of it, very glad, dearest husband. Only, love, take me in your
arms to carry me on shore; I am too weak to walk.” Then
throwing herself, with her last collected strength, in my arms,
as I knelt by her low couch, she clasped me round the neck
with her thin hands, and saying,—‘‘ Now I am well and happy !
T live in his heart !’”—-with her lips pressed to mine, she
yielded up her mortality !
496 ADVENTURES OF

CHAPTER CXXV.

Upon those pallid lips
So sweet even in their silence; on those eyes
That image sleep in death ; upon that form
Yet safe from the worm’s outrage, let no tear
Be shed—not even in thought.

SHELLEY.

Now let me borrow
For moments few, a temperament as stern
As Pluto’s sceptre, that my words not burn
These uttering lips, while I in calm speech tell
How specious heaven was changed to real hell.

Kzats.

O attempt to portray what I felt then, or even now feel,

when time and sorrow (though nothing like to this) have
almost dried up my heart, would be indeed walking in a vain
shadow, and disquieting myself in vain by it. The followers
of Mahomet are tutored, from their youth, to suppress from
the scrutiny of others all outward tokens of the secret counsels
of the heart. In the east this is imperative as the law of self-
preservation. In the west it is done far more effectually, if not
so generally, by those who a philosopher would suppose were
in derision misnamed noble, whose feelings, if they are im-
pregnated with any at their birth (which is doubtful, consider-
ing the seed they spring from), are eradicated with as much
care as is bestowed in Persia on the shoots and branches of
the cherry-tree, designed for pipe-sticks, every bud that
threatens to burst through the rind being instantly rubbed off,
to preserve the smoothness and polish of the exterior.
Whether I had lavished on Zela the last tear of sorrow, or
from the benumbing effects which follow grief, or intense
excitement, I do not know; but a torpor came over my mind,
encouraged by the liberal use of opium, which I then first
learned to use, like the Chinese, by smoking it through a reed,
and I rapidly acquired a stoical apathy of look, that the
gravest Turk, sitting in divan, or the most stick-like lords,

“Fellows of no merit,
Slight and puff’d souls, that walk like shadows by,
Leaving no print of what they are,”
A YOUNGER SON. 497

would have envied, and despaired of imitating. De Ruyter,
with all his knowledge of human nature, was perplexed to
account for so new and strange a transition of character. To
judge by my deportment, my years seemed trebled in a day.
He would have thought me mad, or fast verging on that
malady, but that all my actions demonstrated a methodical
regularity and precision, which I had shewn no signs of in my
days of happiness. I appeared not to mourn; and I never
wept, nor uttered a single complaint. My habits, which had
before been sufficiently abstemious, occasionally dashed by
extremes of the contrary, were now undeviatingly such as the
wisest would have applauded. The driest and most monotonous
duties, which I had hitherto neglected, were now fulfilled with
a scrupulous exactitude. What was most strange this change
took place the instant Zela’s spirit left me. Her body was still
on board.

But let me return to my story. Having informed De Ruyter
of my intentions regarding the remains of Zela, I drafted the
greater portion of my men on board the grab; and we then parted
company. She went directly into Port St. Louis, and I round
to Port Bourbon, on the south-east side of the island, where
we had anchored on my first visit to it. De Ruyter, after
delivering despatches, which he had brought from Java, and
conferring with the governor, was to ride over to me, accom-
panied by the doctor and the old Rais. I had retained on
board the schooner merely sufficient men to work her, prin-
cipally natives of the east, the faithful tribe of a now chieftain-
less house. On the same night I anchored in Port Bourbon.

During the short interval that, in such a climate, intervenes
between death and decomposition, I had pondered intensely on
the least repulsive mode by which it was practicable to dispose
of her remains. Death’s common receptacle, the earth,
naturally first engaged my thoughts ; and the arbour, made by
our united hands, in De Ruyter’s garden, fragrant with flowers,
seemed a fitting spot. But as I remembered, when digging in
the soil, the myriads of disgusting worms and beetles, 1
shudderingly banished that idea. The clear deep vault of the
beautiful element which I loved, and, floating on whose surface,
both of us had spent our lives, what could molest her there ?—

82
498 ADVENTURES OF

but my imagination reverted to the horrid scene that had
taken place after Louis’ interment. Then I thought I would
have the body embalmed, and treasure it with me through life ;
but there were so many insurmountable obstacles in the way, I
was compelled to deny myself that consolation. At last I
thought of the heathen ceremony of destroying the body by
fire, or rather not destroying, but restoring it into its primitive
state, by remingling it with the elements of which it is an atom.
The funeral-pile, the purification by fire, the simple, yet touch-
ing rites, the examples of the god-like heathen philosophers,
whose bodies had been thus immolated, all conspired to work
on my mind, and fix my determination to this point. De
Ruyter approved of it, and the doctor readily undertook to
provide every thing necessary, and gave his assistance in the
execution of what he was perfectly acquainted with by theory.
For this purpose I had anchored in Port Bourbon, as the most
secluded part of the island. There was no commerce there,
and no other habitations in or near it than three or four paltry
huts. The Dutch had, at some period, commenced the
foundation of a town there, but it had long been totally
abandoned, and its ruins were choked up with reeds and rushes.

At the earliest dawn of day I pointed out a spot, deep in the
bottom of the harbour, and sent a party of my Arab crew to
pitch a tent, and collect a large quantity of dry fuel. Then,
secluding myself in the cabin, I spent the entire day—the last.
in which I could contemplate her who had been to me what.
the sun is to the earth.

The little Malayan girl, who had partaken of the poisoned
fruit, was still suffering from its effects. She was removed
to another part of the vessel. Hither through the strength
of her constitution, unbroken by previous sickness, or from
the smaller quantity she had eaten, together with the anti-
dotes the doctor used, she not only lived, but hopes, though
faint, were entertained of her recovery ;—I had no feeling
left for her. Adoo had wept and moaned herself into a stupid
insensibility; and it was only by force she could be induced
to take nourishment :—yet I even gazed on her with apathy,
and her sighs and groans made no more impression on me,
than the wind howling amidst the shrouds in a gale.
A YOUNGER SON. 499

Tt was past midnight when my lonely contemplations were
interrupted, by a man on deck telling me there was a signal
from the shore.

This was the signal, concerted with De Ruyter, to apprise
me of his approach. The boats were in readiness; one I sent
for him and his party, and manned the Jong-boat of the grab,
which he had lent me for the occasion. I had robed Zela in
the richest costume of her country: her yellow vest was
spangled with little rubies, and her chemise and flowing
drawers, of sea-green Indian crape, were edged with gold; her
outer garments were of the finest muslin of India ; her slippers
and the embroidered kerchiefs which bound up her hair, and
concealed her bosom and the lower part of her face, were
beaded and embossed with pearls. I preserved but one braid
of her long, dark, silken hair, and, placing that in my breast, I
kissed her eyelids, cheeks, and lips. Carefully folding her in a
large Arab barican, or cloak of white camel’s hair, I conveyed
her into the boat. I wasamere machine. The blood in my
veins was stagnant. J remember only that when De Ruyter
came to me, the efforts I made to speak with composure had
nearly stifled me. When he told me they were all ready on
shore, I feared I could not walk along the boat, yet I sternly
refused to be assisted. I got over the boat’s quarter into the
sea; and, pressing my precious burthen closely to my breast,
and warily preventing the water from touching her, I walked
through the surf to the shore. Its coolness strengthened me,
and I was enabled to stagger on to the spot, where stood the
funeral pile. I could recognize no other object. The figures
that flitted about, and those who stopped to speak to me,
looked like spectres gliding in a dance of death. A black iron
furnace, like a coffin, was placed on the pile. After standing
for some time entranced at its side, my senses, by some means,
were sufficiently restored to make me aware of the necessity of
going through what I had undertaken. I placed the body
within the iron shell as delicately as a mother lays her sleeping
child in its eradle. Then De Ruyter, the old Rais, and others
withdrew me a short distance away, and held me there. Oils,
spices, musk, camphor, and ambereris, I was afterwards told,
were thrown in by baskets full. Dry bamboos and damped
500 ADVENTURES OF

reeds thickly covered all; so that, when ignited, I could see
nothing but a dark, impenetrable pyramid of smoke. I tried
to speak; then entreated by signs, for my throat was dry as
death, that they would unhand me; but they held me fast, and
my strength had totally fled. Owing to some confusion, the
cause of which I did not then ascertain,—(it was the rescuing
of Adoo, who had thrown herself into the flames,) I found
myself unfettered; and, with the intention of doing the same
thing, I sprung forward, but, stumbling from weakness, or over
some object in my way, I fell on the sand, so near the fire that
my outstretched hands were severely burnt. What followed I
know not, for I remained insensible. When restored to reason,
I was swinging in a cot on the deck of the schooner.

The utmost human nature can endure and survive, I suffered.
I cursed the strength of my body, harder and stronger than
steel, that retained, in despite of my ardent longing for death,
the spirit of life within me. De Ruyter’s urgent affairs kept
him at the town of Port St. Louis; but he frequently came
over to me in the night. A small case, containing Zela’s ashes,
was given me; it was ever near me. I had been strongly
urged to accompany De Ruyter to the town, or to his country-
house, but I would not leave the schooner.

CHAPTER CXXVI.

Am I to leave this haven of my rest,
This cradle of my glory, this soft clime,
This calm luxuriance of blissful light.
Kzarts.
But custom maketh blind and obdurate
The loftiest hearts ;—he had beheld the woe
In which mankind was bound, but deemed that fate,
Which made them abject, would preserve them so.
SHELLEY.

EARLY a month had elapsed, when De Ruyter, coming

on board one night, found me calmer and more attentive

to his discourse thari usual. He then told me he had been
strongly urged, nay, importuned by the governor of the island,
A YOUNGER SON. 501

to take despatches to Europe, conveying the information he had
brought ; and that information was now further corroborated
by unquestionable authority from several quarters. The word
Hurope at first startled me; for I had learnt to loathe it, and
consider the east as my country. But now the case was
altered. I wished to bid adieu to the objects which surrounded
me. I wished to remove myself to the opposite extremity of
the world,—I cared not where or how, so that I could, by
action and change, banish thoughts, and learn to forget the
past. De Ruyter, comprehending the workings of my mind,
gave me time for reflection. He then asked me what I thought
on the subject. I answered that I was unable to think, and
therefore could not advise; but I told him my wishes, and
urged him implicitly to follow his own judgment. ‘ What
judgment I have,’’ he said, ‘floats on the surface. My mind
is at all times ready to answer on the instant. It is plain
the English will be paramount in India for a while, and that
all other European nations will be driven from their settle-
ments on the Indian islands. Our stay here cannot arrest the
progress of events. A wise man, when he finds himself badly
placed in one spot, will remove to another. The weak and
timid, like silly birds, drop into the jaws of the rattlesnake.
I only hesitated to hear your wishes ; so you may prepare the
schooner for sea; to do which you must run her round to
Port St. Louis. As the grab is merely adapted for the Indian
seas, I shall sell or leave her; and we will proceed together in
the schooner. The business requires haste ; so you had better
turn the hands up, and get out with this land breeze.”

This I did, and externally resumed the stoical fortitude
which had left me for a time. Early on the next day I was at
Port St. Louis, and all the busy preparations of going to sea
for a long voyage commenced. The government stores, arti-
ficers, and seamen were severally put in requisition, by com-
mand of the governor-general, to expedite the equipment of the
schooner. As I had lost all relish for eating and sleeping, and
never left the schooner for an instant, at the expiration of a
few days every thing was completed, and we lay ready to put

to sea at an hour's notice.
Nor did my grief make me so selfish as to forget or neglect
502 ADVENTURES OF

those dependent on me. I consulted with De Ruyter on the
best means of providing for Adoo, and Zela’s other little girl,
who was still emaciated and wasting, and the remaining Arabs
of her house, now reduced to twelve. He first talked with the
old Rais on the subject; and, with his boundless liberality,
gave him the choice of an entire plantation on his estate on the
island, as a free gift to him and his, without stipulation; or
money to purchase a vessel, in which he might trade as a
merchant, or return to his country, and spend the remainder
of his life at ease, amidst his kindred and countrymen. It
would be a tedious recital to detail all that passed on the
occasion. The old Arab seaman, although of the desert, had a
heart and head that neither years nor hardships could render
insensible. Long debating on the matter with him, De Ruyter
ascertained that his wish was to return to the land of his
fathers. It was therefore decided that Zela’s Arabs and her
two attendants should return with him. The Arabs were, by
their own election, to become the followers of the Rais; and
the Malayan girls were to be formally adopted by him.

It is scarcely necessary to say that every individual was
amply rewarded, nor were their deserts so much considered as
their fidelity to their mistress. Had their avarice been as
great as that of priests, my prodigal gifts must have satisfied
them; if indeed the insatiable maws of priests can ever be
glutted, while aught remains to be extorted. But with these
simple-hearted people, whatever other vices they may have
had, avarice, the worst of all, though it had entered their dark
bosoms, had not usurped the first place there. For the loss of
the last blood of their race, the utter extinction of one of the
purest Arabian tribes, whose pedigree went back to thousands
of years, to the fathers of the human race, they gave vent to
their grief in loud and clamorous yells; whilst I, “a cannibal
of my own heart,” nourished mine in silence.

I well know it would be in vain to reason with Adoo on the
necessity of her leaving me; and it required all the influence
De Ruyter had over me to induce me to be separated from this
last link connecting me with the past. But his reasons were
so many and unanswerable, that at length I was compelled to
submit, and he undertook to effect our separation by stratagem.
A YOUNGER SON. 503

Although I continued to protest strongly and urgently against
this, to my sorrow it took place; and its sad result filled my
cup of misery to overflowing, and, like @ poisonous oil, it floats
on the surface.

The eastern portion of our crew was discharged the grab
was sold, and the Europeans on board of her were transhipped
to the schooner. We had no difficulty in completing our
number of hands, as so many seamen were anxious to return
to their country. De Ruyter provided for his eldest followers
in various modes ; some were rewarded by gifts of land on his
estate, a portion of which he disposed of, including the house ;
and he took care to register the freedom of those whom he had
emancipated.

At any other time the metamorphosis my body was com-
pelled to undergo, not from the caterpillar to the winged
butterfly, but from the butterfly to the caterpillar, would have
mortified me. In short I laid aside the free, graceful, and
pleasant garb of the east for the detestable and ludicrous
fashion of the west. I would rather my legs were in the
stocks, than my throat. The chains of a galley-slave do not
cramp a man’s limbs more than buckram, starch, and the
modern tightness of dress. My first transition to a sailor’s
jacket and trowsers I could have borne uncomplainingly, had
it ended there.

CHAPTER CXXVII.

A little shallow, fluating near the shore,
Caught the impatient wandering of his gaze ;
It had been long abandoned, for its sides
Gaped wide with many a rift, and its frail joints
Swayed with the undulations of the tide.
SHELLEY.

T was a year afterwards that I received the afflicting news

of Adoo. When she discovered that the schooner, bearing
the ashes of her mistress, had left the port, contrary to her
usual habits, but with the cunning and inflexible determination
504 ADVENTURES OF

of her nature, she listened to all the kind-hearted Rais could
say to soothe her, and appearing, if not satisfied, yet resigned
to circumstances, she succeeded in lulling her adopted father’s
suspicions. Then stealing out at night, she swam to a country
vessel; and, casting off the painter, by which her boat was
secured, with the rope held between her teeth, she floated out
of the harbour with the land-wind. When she believed herself
safe from discovery, she got on board the boat and paddled
directly out to sea, her mind bent on the single object of
escape, evidently in the vain hope of overtaking the schooner.
She had never perhaps reflected on its folly; as to the danger,
where her affections were, thither was she impelled, and no
impediment could arrest her steps.

The Rais, aware of her flight in the morning, with great
sagacity traced her to having taken the boat of the Arab vessel,
and, without a moment’s delay, engaged a large boat, manned
her with his Arabs, proceeded a long way to sea in our track,
and cruised about for two days, in hopes of falling in with her.
But not succeeding, he carefully marked the setting of the
swell and currents since the night of her escape, ran back to
the island, and coasted along its east side, questioning the
people in the fishing-boats and those on shore, but without
avail. There are two small islands at the eastern extremity of
the Isle of France, called Round Islands, when, going on to-
wards one of these, he discovered a small boat, which proved
to be the one taken from the Arab vessel. She was bilged,
filled with water, and lying on the rocks, on which the swell
of the breakers had washed and left her. The island was with-
out fresh water or inhabitants; every spot, rock, and hollow
crevice in it were examined, without discovering the slightest
vestige of Adoo. The neighbouring island, and the coast im-
mediately adjoining was also searched. Her death seemed
certain ; but the manner of it was, and is, involved in mystery.

This news I felt as a sword thrust through my body, or as a
probe forced into a newly cicatriced wound. It shewed at least.
that a portion of the sensibility of my heart was restored.
This event, of which I could not help thinking De Ruyter was
the origin, formed the only instance where I ever had to repent.
the having yielded up my strong impulses to his sound judg-
A YOUNGER SON. 505

ment. Henceforth I determined that whatever manacles
might bind my limbs, no fetters should incarcerate my mind.

‘“T have lived thus many years,
And run through all these follies men call fortunes,
Yet never fixed on any good and constant
But what I made myself: why should I grieve then
At what I may mould any way?”

I cannot recall an event worth recording previously to our
departure from the Isle of France, nor during our passage to
Europe. More than once we were chased; but few vessels
that ever floated could keep way with the schooner in any
weather. In the English channel the British cruisers lay
around us like the coral islands in the Sooloo archipelago; we
had escaped the peril of the one, so we managed to elude the
pursuit of the other. After an unprecedented quick passage
we anchored in the port of St. Malo in France, then full of
French privateers and ships of war.

Ere we had been an hour at anchor De Ruyter was posting
on his road to Paris, to deliver his despatches to the govern-
ment, whilst I remained in charge of the schooner.

We had a small cargo of the finest tea, coffee, spices, and,
by some accident or other, a few tons of white crystal sugar.
This last I mention, as, at that period, the price of sugar was
so high in France that it was sold at an enormous profit,
nearly clearing the expenses of the voyage. Our other Hast
Indian produce was sold at almost an equally high rate; and
I saw that trade, not war, was the most direct and only certain
road leading to wealth, though I was utterly indifferent to its
accumulation. My sentiments, changed on many things, have
remained, to the present hour, unaltered on this head.

The voyage, and more particularly the extreme hardships
we endured, with the privations attending so long a run in
so small a craft and many hands, all conspired, bracing my
collapsed muscles, to keep me alive. Yet I was still very weak
and emaciated; my body was so thin that the skin seemed
stretched to bursting over my gaunt and bony form; my face
was haggard and care-worn to a degree unexampled in one so
young ;—for I had hardly yet attained the age at which the
506 ADVENTURES OF

law, as if in mockery, tells us we are free agents, while it heaps
responsibility on us, and thrusts us forth to earn our bitter
bread by the sweat of our brows, like Cain, with every man’s
hand against us,—though Cain had, literally, the world for his
garden, while we find every spot pre-occupied. In this struggle

for existence, each is compelled to turn his hand against every
man.

CHAPTER CXXVIII.

Sylla was first of victors; but our own,
The sagest of usurpers, Cromwell, he

Too swept off senates, while he hew’d the throne
Down to a block.

BYRON.

Look to the east, where Ganges’ swarthy race
Shall shake its usurpation to its base ;
Lo! there rebellion rears her ghastly head,
And glares the Nemesis of native dead,
Till Indus rolls a deep purpureal flood,
And claims his long arrears of northern blood.
So may ye perish!
Lid.

EVEN or eight days had passed when De Ruyter returned
to St. Malo. Several long conferences had passed between
him and the French emperor. De Ruyter represented him as
so wrapt up in schemes for aggrandizing himself in Europe,
that he afforded little attention to things out of it; and he
asserted that if he could monopolize the East Indian trade, as
the English had done, he would not permit it; for it could
merely tend to enrich a few individuals, whilst it must ulti-
mately ruin the nation at large. ‘And so,” he added, “the
English will find it, if they continue it on the same footing.”
De Ruyter answered him that he was of the same opinion ;
but as the foundation of the political power of England was
her commerce, that was the vulnerable side to be assailed;
and as the Isle of France, having two excellent ports, St.
Louis and Bourbon, besides one at the Isle of Bourbon——”’
“What!” exclaimed Napoleon, ‘‘are the wealth and blood
of France to be expended to maintain islands in the Indian
A YOUNGER SON. 507

ocean, which are but idle pyramids to commemorate the name
of an accursed dynasty, that should be blotted from the page
of history altogether, and for ever?”

De Ruyter, with his usual fearless frankness, observed—

“ What signifies a name? It can be——”

‘‘A name!” interrupted Napoleon, hurriedly,—‘ a name !—
why it is every thing! The puny rocks, so designated, are
worthless—let the English have them !—they will value them
for the legitimacy of their appellations. Tell me, for I am
referred to you on the present state of India, can any thing be
done there? What is your opinion? We have heard of you,
and your name is a great one; it has long slept; but, by
report, its spirit lives revived in you. I will be your pioneer,
and put you in a way to add to its greatness. You have an
example,’’ he continued, after a pause, ‘“‘ you have an example
in your country, Holland, that a commercial nation may
rapidly become great; yet that is transitory, it never has
endured, it never can endure. <A nation, to be lasting, must
build on the foundation of its own soil. We have no difficulty
in finding leaders for our soldiers ; look at those men (pointing
to a regiment of his guards, drawn up outside the Tuilleries),
there is not among them but could, and many of them
assuredly will, be able generals. Yet I have searched in vain,
throughout the nation, for a single De Witt, De Ruyter, or Van
‘Tromp ; else would I hasten the downfall of a nation, whose
vaunted wooden ramparts are formidable only as the wall of
‘China, while neighbouring nations are less powerful. Our
‘Gallic nation are all bilious; this is a spur to them on shore ;
but on the water they are sea-sick, I had been a sailor, if my
liver would have allowed me. I never entered a boat but the
heaving of the sea made me feel helpless as a puling baby. Our
admirals are worse. I remember two of the oldest, with me at
Boulogne, looked qualmish at merely seeing the vessels pitch
and roll in the port. An Englishman, a twelvemonth at sea,
is sick of the shore after a week’s absence. But our empire is
on the land; and thirty millions of men in the very heart of
Europe, will and must endure firm as the centre of the earth
itself.”

Napoleon then questioned De Ruyter, in detail and
508 ADVENTURES OF

minutely, concerning the native princes of India, their
strength, the population of their countries, their divisions
among themselves, their religions, their revenues, and their
characters, and more particularly concerning their courage
and abilities. As De Ruyter went on, he made hasty remarks,
in a low tone, as if indifferent to what he said being heard or
not.

He concluded with, “It is strange that the Turks and
Chinese are the only people who, whether conquerors or
conquered, have attained the only useful end of conquest, a
real augmentation of their national strength. If intolerance
and bigotry enabled them to do this, the English ought also to
have succeeded ; for they are more intolerant and bigoted than
either. They cannot mingle or unite themselves with any
other people, not even with their nearest neighbours, the
Scotch and the Irish. They go forth with a bayonet in one
hand, and a halter in the other; never, for a moment will they
lay them aside; after a lapse of centuries they have not
advanced a single step in men’s minds or hearts. Therefore
the end must be that the natives of India, from the Him-
malayan mountains to the sea, with one voice giving vent to.
their long pent-up execrations, will arise, exterminating their’
haughty oppressors, and every record of their ignominious
slavery.”

In long and repeated audiences which De Ruyter had with
Napoleon, the emperor, when alone with him, spoke, openly
and unhesitatingly, his opinions ; and he was pleased with the
equal frankness of De Ruyter, his discriminating knowledge of
men teaching him that he had a man to deal with as strong-
minded as himself, not to be dazzled or daunted by the idle
parade of a court, or the insignia of arbitrary sovereignty.
Napoleon was the only monarch that De Ruyter did not
thoroughly despise, and him he hated for his selfish and in-
satiable ambition.

“He has, indeed,” said De Ruyter, ‘‘shaken some of the
palsied, old legitimate dotards from their mouldering, worm-
eaten thrones ; and, doffing their purple robes, held them up to
the derision of mankind. Yet, doing this, he vainly thought
to perpetuate tyranny by substituting military despots, by
A YOUNGER SON. 509

whom he hopes to secure himself, and bind the ambitious by
gratitude or interest, as if the ambitious could feel for any-
thing but themselves. Much good, on the whole, may and will
ensue ; but we owe him nothing, for he designed nothing but
evil. A rusty bolt is the most difficult to withdraw; but once
removed, though replaced, it will never hold securely. What
a master’s hand teaches his workmen for his own benefit, will
be, some day, turned to their own advantage. Napoleon has
taught our children to play the game of hocus-pocus with
popes, priests, kings, and other straw-stuffed scarecrows;
they, (for we, their fathers, still cling to the rocking-horse and
rattle,) despising the toys of our times, will cast them aside
for ever, and play a manlier game.”

De Ruyter moreover added, that the emperor had requested
to see him again, hinting he should employ him, and, as
bounty-money, tendered him less than the value of a shilling
—the ribbon of the legion of honour.

“They would have disgraced me,” he said, ‘‘ by creating me
a chevalier—I’d rather be a Chevalier d’Industrie. Let us
dispose of our cargo, and conclude the business which brought
us here. I never served but one man—Washington! I was
then a boy. In France, during a part of the revolution, I
sought to complete my apprenticeship to liberty: although, in
France, I found many men professing to teach, when I had
learnt enough from my first master to discover they were
empirics.

“Politics apart, my dear fellow, will you act wisely,—will
you return to your own country? See what changes have
taken place in your family. They are numerous and wealthy.
Surely some among them must be worthy of your love. It is
foolish to wantonly estrange yourself from human ties; and
your health and strength are woefully shattered. A winter’s
voyage to America will destroy you. Try a few months in your
own climate. At the expiration of that time I will return ; or,
if prevented by events not to be foreseen, you can rejoin me in
America, or elsewhere.”

I had a great deal of difficulty in bringing my mind to this
point, yet at last I determined on it; but not till De Ruyter
was leaving St. Malo. The period soon arrived; most of his
510 ADVENTURES OF

crew were now Americans, picked up in exchange for French
and other foreigners. Americans, which is not to be wondered
at, dislike being detained in any country but their own.

CHAPTER CXXIX.

“God save the king!”’ and kings,
For if he don’t, I doubt if men will longer ;
I think I hear a little bird who sings,
The people by and by will be the stronger :
The veriest jade will wince whose harness wrings
So much into the raw as quite to wrong her
Beyond the rules of posting ; and the mob
At last fall sick of imitating Job.

Byron.

For I will teach, if possible, the stones

To rise against earth’s tyrants. Never let it

Be said, that we still truckle unto thrones ;

But ye, our children’s children! think how we

Shew’d what things were before the world was free !
Lbid.

S England and France were then at war, De Ruyter in-
quired into the best means of my crossing the channel ;
and, at St. Malo, this was no insurmountable difficulty. The
islands of Jersey and Guernsey, belonging to England, are in-
habited, almost exclusively, by the French or their descendants ;
and, as they lie nearly in mid-channel of the broadest part of
the English and French coast, the people are perfectly neutral
in their politics. When ordinary communications are shut up:
by war, these islanders always contrive to keep theirs open.
During the last war they were notorious; both governments
were believed to have used them as channels by which they
acquired information of each other’s movements. The boat-
man, with whom I engaged to run me across, had certainly
been employed by the agents of France and England ; who had,
on those occasions, given him a sealed pass, which he was
directed to shew if stopped by any of the king’s officers, and
which he was always obliged to return before he was paid.
Tam totally unable to write what I felt when the moment
A YOUNGER SON. 511

arrived which was to separate me from the man I loved better,
a thousand times, than ever before one man could love another.
The sun was setting, and the night must have been cold, for
my limbs shook, and I could hardly support myself. I was
obliged to hold on the iron rail of the stone steps, leading from
the quay to the boat in which I was to embark. When we had
descended, to be in a line with the boat, I was insensible to
the water, which worked up to my knees. Exhausted as if I
had run a race, yet my movements were solemn as the chief
mourner at a funeral. De Ruyter also was touched; his
bronzed face was of a leaden hue; though I believe he talked
calmly and distinctly, I could not afterwards remember a word
he had said, but, ‘‘ Farewell, my dear boy!” Then, with an
effort to speak more cheerfully, he added the consolatory words,
‘In six months we meet again!”

His hand waved a last farewell! My heart—I thought
nothing more could move it—swelled to bursting ; and my eye-
lids which, since Zela’s death, had been dry and hot, became
moist. The heart is the organ of true wisdom, gifted with pro-
phetic power; it looks into futurity. Though De Ruyter’s
words were, ‘‘ We shall meet again,’ a prediction so rational
to the judgment that mine could not gainsay it; yet my heart,
never before doubting that what he averred must be, now re-
fused to register what he said—it added to his words, ‘ Fare-
well for ever!”

What could I but cling to De Ruyter? Like one suspended
over a cliff by a single rope, I held him ; and the feelings that
overcame me at parting were as seeing that rope giving way,
or as, with more appalling agony, a sailor fallen into the sea at
midnight, catching the last glimpse of his ship, his limbs
paralysed, his swelling heart bursts. T am one whose faith is,
that love and friendship, with ardent natures, are like those
trees of the torrid zone which yield fruit but once, and then
die.

On the night of our separation, De Ruyter returned to Paris.
Not only the minds of men, but often their associations, are
visibly charactered on their outside. It is a mystical book,
which all stare on, and many pretend to expound, but few are
the number who comprehend it. Cromwell and Napoleon, in
512 ADVENTURES OF

the west, were of the gifted few : by those means they ascended
thrones. In the east, the only “study of mankind is man.”
They have no Miss Edgeworth, nor any of those millinering
cutters-out of human nature into certain patterns of given rules
in education. They do not measure men by one common
standard; but those gifted with strong sight pry into the
individual characters of others, often with the precision and
truth with which a chemist investigates matter.

Napoleon, whose mind and conceptions took a wide range,
although his actions were guided by self-interest, reminds us
of Bacon’s words—‘‘ Wisdom for a man’s self is a depraved
thing; it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a
house before it falls: it is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts
out the badger: and whereas they have all their time sacrificed
to themselves, they have often, in the end, sacrificed them-
selves to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought,
by their self-wisdom, to have pinioned.’’ Surely this is ap-
plicable to Napoleon.

But to return to De Ruyter. The emperor, struck with his
noble mien and extensive information, determined to employ
him. He made him many offers—promotion in his navy, the
command of the coast, and the marine department bordering
the English Channel—a residency in a West Indian Island, or
a return to the Hast. Napoleon, unlike legitimate kingly block-
heads, not bound down in holy alliances to act as neighbours
act—(by the by, where is the Holy Alliance of God’s Anointed ?
I was told it was to last for ever!)—Napoleon thought and
acted for himself. All his proposals to De Ruyter were made
in the first person; and the rejection, unenvenomed by
ministers, was not offensive. By these conferences the
emperor learnt that De Ruyter had a spirit to be moved, but
not to be blindly hurried on by glory and ambition. He there-
fore gave him scope to act in his own way, bending his actions
to bear on the designs then in hand. De Ruyter was at length
induced to send the schooner to America under the charge of
his mate, taking the precaution to change her French papers
for those of America, through the American chargé d'affaires in
Paris.

De Ruyter’s first undertaking in the emperor’s service was
A YOUNGER SON. 513

@ secret mission to Italy. I only know its main design—
against him profanely denominated God’s Vicar, and the
blaspheming crew who say they are moved by the Spirit
of the Deity. Had Napoleon been sincere in his detes-
tation of these vermin, and fearless in act as De Ruyter,
he would not have clipped their wide-spreading branches,
merely altering their form, but have uprooted the huge upas
extending its baneful influence far and wide, and destroyed it
to its root for ever. Whilst, for the good of all mankind, De
Ruyter was investigating into the means of this uprooting, he
was struck in the back with a stiletto, at the dark angle of a
narrow street formed by the palace of a cardinal. This and
other circumstances were enough to fix the treachery on the
cowardly and atrocious priests, whose red stockings are em-
blematic of their sanguinary nature. His presence of mind
was seconded by promptitude of hand rapid as lightning,
and the assassin’s dagger was turned against his own heart.
with an aim that seldom erred. De Ruyter escaped with
a slight wound, completed his mission with increased zeal,
and returned to Paris.

I could then merely ascertain that soon afterwards he
embarked at Toulon in a French corvette, went to Corsica
and Sardinia, and thence to the coast of Barbary, in the
Gulf of Cabes. Beating up for Tunis, they fell in with an
English frigate. The officer of the corvette, which was
placed under De Ruyter’s control, not under his command,
was brave as he was inflexibly headstrong. He had per-
sisted, till the last moment, too late to correct his error, in
maintaining that the English vessel was a corvette, and not,
as De Ruyter averred, a frigate; besides stinging De Ruyter
by boasting allusions to his country, his duty, his reputation,
and the unsullied honours of the grand and invincible nation.

De Ruyter was standing in the most exposed situation, on
the taffrail, sinking his despatches over the stern, when the
halliards of the French ensign were shot away. He and the
French captain were in the act of re-hoisting it, when they
were both pierced by a hundred balls from a broadside of can-
nister shot, from the frigate’s carronades, which swept along
the corvette’s deck, almost clearing it.

33
514 ADVENTURES OF

His body was found enveloped in the folds of the
tri-coloured flag, under which he had fought so long vic-
toriously ;—it was then his winding-sheet. Let me borrow
the words of a Russian poet for his eulogy and epitaph ;
they are worthy of him, and far better than I can find in
my own mind :—

“He lived, he fought
For truth and wisdom ; foremost of the brave,
Him glory’s idle glances dazzled not ;
’Twas his ambition, generous and great,
A life to life’s great end to consecrate! ’”

CHAPTER CXXX.

A fisherman he had been in his youth,
And still a sort of fisherman was he ;
But other speculations were, in sooth,
Added to his connection with the sea.
BYRON.

Be still the unimaginable lodge
For solitary thinkings ; such as dodge
Conception to the very bourn of heaven.

Then leave the naked brain.
Kzats.

The world is full of orphans.
MS.—Bynon.

N six months we meet again!’ rung in my ears as the
boat was pulled round the pier, and beside the walls of

the town to windward. I lost sight-of the harbour; and the
voices of the men on board the schooner, cheering me as I
passed, died away. I was compelled to arouse myself to
steer the boat, which was indeed of the smallest description,
a mere punt of fifteen feet long, and five feet beam; a man
and a boy were my crew. During the night we made little
way. There was a light but steady breeze blowing from the
north-west, directly in our teeth. We hugged the shore,
pulling up to the southward, towards Cherbourg, making
little way with our two oars. After seven hours tugging
A YOUNGER SON. 515

against the breeze, we let go the grapnel, and the man
and his boy went to sleep. I kept a look-out, and saw
the fishing boats and a privateer lugger creeping out to sea,
and crawling along the coast; but they could not see an
object so low in the water and insignificant as our boat. A
thorough seaman never sleeps more than four hours at a spell ;
at the expiration of that time it was broad day-light, and the old
seaman arose, pulling off a water-proof, shaggy, pea-green jacket,
and shaking himself like an old mastiff. The young sea-whelp,
coiled up under the bow, in a space where a spaniel would
have turned and twisted for a long time ere he could have
stowed himself in comfort, endured many curses and some
kicks before he turned out of his kennel. The seaman then,
dipping a couple of his fingers in the water, rubbed his eyes
which is called a privateer’s wash; and lifting a small ten-
gallon keg, he placed it on his lap, and supported it like a
baby. At this, the boy handed him a wooden scoop, used for
baling the water out of the boat, when he drew the spigot till
it was about a third part full of brandy, first asked me if I
would take a sup of the doctor, then drank it off like new milk,
handed the boy a drop, and replaced the keg. Thus refreshed,
he fished out of his pocket a small telescope, took a survey all
round the compass, declared the coast was clear, and ordered
the boy to weigh the grapnel, whilst he shipped the boat’s
mast. Under a small sprit-sail and jib we made a stretch
over. We did not lay our course, but the tide was running up
Channel, and carried us to windward.

Associated with men of many different nations, I had
acquired a habit of studying their dissimilarities of character ;
and the man in the boat being unlike anything I had hitherto
seen, I, by degrees, turned the tide of my thoughts from brood-
ing on the past, to the fellow who was continually before my
eyes. Like all old seamen, he was remarkably taciturn.
Whether he was French or English it was impossible to tell
either by looks or language; for he used both languages indis-
criminately, and pronounced both equally badly. His visage
was hard and bluff as a rock, of which it seemed a fragment ;
his hair, never sophisticated by a comb, and matted together
with salt-water, resembled dark sea-weed, speckled with in-
516 ADVENTURES OF

crustations of salt; his chin and throat were covered with a
week’s growth of gristled stubble; his figure was short, par-
ticularly square, and, with his red cap, shaggy pea-green jacket
down to his knees, and tarpaulin trowsers, had he been seated
on a rock in India, I think I should have had a shot at him
for an ugly specimen of the walrus. By degrees, I gathered from
him that he was a native of Guernsey, but had, for some
reason or other, migrated to Jersey, where he had married the
widow of a drowned smuggler. She inherited from her de-
ceased husband a snug cabin, built in the bite of a sandy bay ;
and he was prouder than a lord of the rights and privileges of
this manor, although it consisted entirely of barren sand ; for on
that the sea, at every spring-tide, sported, and thence arose his
wealth. On the overflowing of the sea depended his livelihood,
like the Egyptians on the overflowing of the Nile, and the
people of India on that of the Ganges; for the high tides in the
Channel are frequently preludes to gales, and gales are followed
by wrecks, when, favoured by the tides, which swept directly
into the said bite, formed into a narrow bay by reefs, casks and
other buoyant articles were borne thither, of which his hawk-
eyed wife, always on the watch, made lawful prize. A few
days before, he had thus picked up two pipes of Lisbon wine,
which he called a god-send, and promised me as many gallons
as I chose, seeing I did not seem to like the other genuine stuff
he drank. He said, he sometimes, on shore, drank a tub or
two of wine, if it was strong; but it didn’t do to take to sea,
took up too much room, and didn’t make a man’s inside water-
proof, which good Nantz would. Besides smuggling in a retail
sort of way, he sometimes aided and abetted the wholesale
smugglers by acting as their pilot; for he had been five-and-
twenty years constantly at sea in the Channel, and knew every
bay, creek, and landmark. Nor was he very particular in his-
services ; as he often piloted the ships of war of France as well
as of England, being equally acquainted and friendly with both
coasts.

We turned to windward during the day, occasionally using
the oars, for the wind was light, the hardy boatman taking
advantage of the tides and currents, without which we should
have done nothing. Towards nightfall he said, ‘‘ We must now
A YOUNGER SON. 517

make those rochers to windward, before the tide shall turn —
moor the boat under their lee till three in the morning, demain
matin, when it shall again turn in our favour. To-morrow, at
night, you shall, sans étre appergu, run in my cove, and you
stay there as long as—comme tl vous plaira.’’

Accordingly we struck the mast of the boat, and pulled her
up to the rocks; they were four or five, about as big, above
water, as the mud barges used in the Thames. I climbed up
the largest, while the old pilot said, “I generally touches at
these rochers, to pick up a few red coats,” (lobsters,) “ par-
cegue ma chere femme has deucedly gout for him; and there be
plenty ici.”

He then began spinning me a long yarn about the habits of
eels and lobsters, which abounded among the rocks, and that
the eels went there purposely to eat lobsters. The way they
got them was by blockading the holes wherein the lobsters took
refuge, when casting off their old coats; if they ventured forth
ere the new shells were hardened, the eels attacked and
devoured them. He then went to work witha sort of harpoon,
and succeeded in striking and bringing up both eels and lobsters ;
while the boy, with a knife, dislodged oysters, mussels, limpets
and periwinkles. After a fishy supper, the pilot, having unlocked
his jaw by repeated applications to the brandy keg, told me
long and curious stories concerning his sea-adventures with
French and English, including the Flying Dutchman, which
marvel he plentifully vouched with oaths, about as true as a
common affidavit. At last, giving me the boat’s sail for a bed,
he stretched himself out on the jagged rocks, and slept soundly
as the unsanctified in a comfortable pew of a church ;—I wish
the benches were softer, and the cushions higher, as then more
people might be tempted to take a nap; it is my only reason
for never going.

It was not then the hardness of my couch, nor did it disturb
me that I was placed, like a bird, on a solitary rock in the sea.
It was a fit resting-place for an outcast and isolated being like
myself. Ere I entered on the new eta of life before me, my
thoughts naturally reverted to the past. Isat pondering on a
destiny so strange as mine, wondering how it would end.

There are more helpless beings in the world than orphans,
518 ADVENTURES OF

whose young affections sleep like frozen waterfalls, till love,
from some being, like the sun in spring, rises and awakens their
peaceful slumbers ; or rather their affections are created in that
moment, and the vacancy in their hearts is filled up in the most
harmonious manner. Far more cruel is the lot of those, (and
the world is full of them,) who have hard-hearted and unfeeling
parents; or, still worse, those who are selfish and indifferent,
exacting from their helpless and dependent offspring duty and
obedience, without giving, in return, a single glance of kindness,
chilling by frowns the spontaneous love which flows from
children in torrents. I was of this forlorn tribe. My parents
hard usage and abandonment had long gnawed at my heart,
till years of absence, in which both body and mind had ex-
panded, taught me that it was the worst of slavery to submit
the freedom of either to those whom we cannot esteem nor
love. The pride of my nature impelled me to shake off the
bondage. Ididso. I could not endure the weight of slavery ;
but I cheerfully put on the heaviest chains the foes of liberty
have to impose,—and they are heavy. I walked with an ele-
vated front. Alone I withstood a fate that would have over-
powered thousands, often defeated, it is true, but ever, in losing,
I have still won. In this hard struggle I had little refreshment
but from the fountains of my own soul. Had I not clung to
myself, the atrocity of others had made me a demon. In the
very onset of my freedom I gained, what neither wealth nor
rank can purchase, the friendship of the really noble ; and the
far dearer love of one, the gentlest child of nature, a being on
whom I might securely repose. My spirit basked in the
brightness of her presence. I could neither then, nor now,
conceive our love to be a childish passion, nor that it would not
cling to me throughout my life. For the union of two hearts,
formed to meet, nature had’strung our souls with the same
chord; and, whether together or apart, it vibrated the same
sound, the same aspiration, a sympathy so perfect that it was
a balsam poured on our hearts, leaving nothing on earth or in
heaven to desire. We had loved with an excess of affection,
which can alone justify excess. It happened to usas to a child,
who, seizing upon a branch and bending the whole tree over
him, becomes embowered amidst clusters of golden fruit. Alas!
A YOUNGER SON. 519

I imagined not that her sepulchre was placed by destiny so
near her cradle. The light, which love lent me for a moment,
was extinguished never more to be rekindled. Misfortune
threw her huge shadow across my path, and I was doomed to
walk benighted beneath the mid-day sun, never more to know
peace nor rest till my dust is mingled with Zela’s atom to atom.
What joy in this world for one who has drank misanthropy out
of the fulness of love? My being was an aching void. My
heart refused to give forth any fruit. The fulness of sorrow is
great, but how much greater is its emptiness? I thought, in
the sea around me, I could behold the fragments of my ship-
wrecked life floating. I stood up and, speaking aloud, said,
«When will the swell and storm die away, and the dead calm
of this great ocean come? When shall I be given up by its
depths, and be borne unresistingly upon its bosom to the
distant, still shores of eternity?”

CONCLUSION.

So on our heels a fresh protection treads,
A power more strong in beauty, born of us
And fated to excel us, as we pass
In glory that old darkness.
Keats,

AM continuing this history of my life. The sequel will

prove that I have not been a passive instrument of
arbitrary depotism, nor shall I be found consorting with
worldly slaves who crouch round the wealthy and powerful.
On my return to Europe, I found that earth’s despots had
gathered together all their gladiators to restore the accursed
dynasty of the Bourbons. The war-cry in Europe was, the
inviolability and omnipotency of legitimate tyrants, while
helots, bigots, and fools, were let loose to exterminate liberty.
I found everywhere a price set upon the heads of patriots ;
they were robbed, prosecuted, judicially murdered, or scoffed
at, and driven from the herd of society like the pariahs of
India; to associate with them was to lose caste. From my
520 ADVENTURES OF

soul, I, who had suffered so much from tyranny, abhorred
oppression. I sided with the weak against the strong; and
swore to dedicate myself, hand and heart, to war, even to the
knife, against the triple alliance of hoary-headed impostors,
their ministers, and priests. When tyranny had triumphed, I
followed the fortunes of those invincible spirits who wandered,
exiled outcasts, over the world, and lent my feeble aid to
unveil the frauds contained in worn-out legends which have so
long deluded mankind.

Alas! those noble beings are no more! They have fallen
martyrs to the noble cause they so ably advocated. But they
have left enduring monuments, and their names will live for
ever. Would they had lived to see the tree they had helped to
plant put forth its blossoms! Had they survived to the year
1830, and its glorious successor 1831, how would they have
rejoiced at beholding the leagued conspiracy of tyrants broken,
their bloodhound priests muzzled, and the confederacy of
nobles te domineer over the people paralysed by a blow, the
precursor of their overthrow! The world has a right to expect
that France, from her position and general information, will
take the lead and keep it. Liberal and enlightened opinions
have progressively manifested themselves in every part of
Europe. ‘There is a reflux in the tide of human things which
bears the shipwrecked hopes of men into a secure haven, after
the storms are past.”’

“The very darkness shook, as with a blast
Of subterranean thunder at the cry;
The hollow shore its thousand echoes cast
Into the night, as if the sea, the sky,
The earth, rejoiced with new-born liberty !”’
SHELLEY.

Yes, the sun of freedom is dawning on the pallid slaves of
Europe, awakening them from their long and death-like torpor.
The spirit of liberty, like an eagle, is hovering over the earth,
and the minds of men are tinged with its golden hues. Let
France, like the eagle it once assumed in mockery for its
emblem, now, in reality, teach her new-born offspring to soar
aloft, undazzled by the bright luminary, when it shall have
ascended to its meridian glory. Every eye and every hope of
A YOUNGER SON. 521

the good and wise are fixed on France; and with her every
bosom containing a single generous impulse, is vibrating in
sympathy. ‘‘ Methinks those who now live have survived an
age of despair: ”

‘For freedom’s battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffied oft, is ever won.”’

BYRon.

THE END.

34
The Gresham JPregs,
UNWIN BROTHERS,

CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
“ini Mie Lah bei! or yg

a nA Zz. Wie

ou tL path wih biel, pees Pins
ea yaya

poy ale el, ceracet , pt a Wn wlee fa TE 7h

bth. habe 6 he ha (epter Lated inn 2h

scp bf fap a Ace fing f tas
braces e eye fn

= ed Ad nek & ot ele

o¢ td’. few £0 a ae LOPE ee

Leh WE kbow—he Og Lote Bese.

ale od de, e Piers wD ee
Lage b ibe 1 fof late Lif bins BY Aik
oe ee yA LanekienG fu 4 Bi -
Vi Jee antl dun va "lege a <7 Ze
ie nel, a es hay b EL Aa Bonk fe

COS CP eye
(Autograph Letter of E. J. TRELAWNY.)
Me Hos eee a lo fa sa
Aewiwn fle Fo Aeoenat ays fod ff Hen had,
th FEawel for Tg wonder Ulmeny ~ Shag
(ete ¢ hy, tM, within bad fire ¢
Mlrnettio of a keg uy Athens
hl ty fitd by Alay hen Bites te
tutiar and pfplotay Al KE fangin, WE
pelted, wh wr bye hem —. Mir £8 i
tA burns, ~ He ofhka- a7 re pee ee oe
pu Jeon eh ny gh f play fe baatn,
ferva. 7 te Aw tha awe fora Vai lon, oe
erth pr SL of fit - fax
i Ht Kk La, A ag ML ae, Fae
hoot, wih afro fad Petele “a, Jikan 2
Pepe t Fhe. That vor i

for x fabecy pM SE ba fre, 2? LK, fan,

Ot er AR

(Autograph Letter of E. J. TRELAWNY.)

fern faLleers pwr é heree pf <9 BUA Foon, ob

Aofrl fo Ebpcaciol fpuen eA of tebrichs, iano,
LAME ye. Siete pec, Gaby SA (efi Tax ga ae >
lagomne- ee Fats AE Reon 7%)

CD BDL Ant a Aen seeming MD, mn
le iw A ill of oh any be dk Ab
Peele des deo is re ee a hb ase
A Bile GOD cs ca fre 4 He
Herith Jetty bohm forme, a panitlin, BA
[byeia prom Ai peta Bee

bow pen weer tuatt beth ucvhhowh Cave,

Let ae ae ee f
ule oe pL al wine Rie AG
a Lng Eh wfl etme ¢ Fo "7 |
Lo f Pann forte. F vt, nae
© shh aby HE fy OO
pm ES ed
Mee —
Celle »
hhy

(Autograph Letter of E. J. TRELAWNY.)
   
 
 
 
  
    

           
 

     

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