 Chapter 22 of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 22, I, Mary, let me have him to sit under. He's like to be a cold soldier, false staff. Barn stable lingered on the sands for a few minutes until the footsteps of Dylan and the coxswain were no longer audible when he ordered his men to launch their boat once more into the surf. While the sea men pulled leisurely towards the place he had designated as the point where he would await the return of Tom, the lieutenant first began to entertain serious apprehensions concerning the good faith of his prisoner. Now that Dylan was beyond his control, his imagination presented in very vivid colors several little circumstances in the other's conduct which might readily excuse some doubts of his good faith, and by the time they had reached the place of rendezvous and had cast a light grapple into the sea, his fears had rendered him excessively uncomfortable. Leaving the lieutenant to his reflections on this unpleasant subject, we shall follow Dylan and his fearless and unsuspecting companion in their progress towards St. Ruth. The mist to which Tom had alluded in his discussion with his commander on the state of the weather appeared to be settling nearer to the earth and, assuming more decidedly, the appearance of a fog hanging above them in sluggish volumes, but little agitated by the air. The consequent obscurity added deeply to the gloom of the night, and it would have been difficult for one less acquainted than Dylan with the surrounding localities to find the path which led to the dwelling of Colonel Howard. After some little search, this desirable object was effected and the civilian led the way with rapid strides towards the abbey. I said, Tom, who followed his steps and equalled his paces without any apparent effort, you sure people have an easy way to find your course in distance when you get into the track. I was once left by the craft I belonged to in Boston to find my way to Plymouth, which is a matter of 15 leagues or there away, and so finding nothing was bound up the bay. After lying by for a week, I concluded to haul aboard my land tax. I spent the better part of another week in a search for some hooker on board, which I might work my passage across the country, for money was as scarce then with old Tom Coffin as it is now, and is likely to be unless the fisheries get a good love soon. But it seems that nothing but your horse flesh and horned cattle and jackasses are privileged to do the pulling and hauling in your shore hookers. And I was forced to pay weeks wages for a birth besides keeping a banyan on a mouth full of bread and cheese from the time we hoeve up in Boston till we came to in Plymouth town. It was certainly an unreasonable exaction on the part of the wagoners from a man in your situation, said Dylan, an up friendly soothing tone of voice that denoted a willingness to pursue the conversation. My situation was that of a cabin passenger returned the coxswain for there was but one hand forward besides the cattle I mentioned. That was he who steered and an easy birth he had of it for there his course lay between walls of stone and fences. And as far as reckoning why they had stuck up bits of stone on an end with his day's work footed up ready to his hand every half-league or so besides the landmarks were so plenty that a man with half an eye might steer her and no fear of getting too leeward. You must have found yourself as it were in a new world, observed Dylan, why to me it was pretty much the same as if I'd been set afloat in a strange country though I may be said to be a native of those parts being born on the coast. I'd often heard shoremen say that there was as much earth as water in the world which I always sat down as a rank lie for I've sailed without flowing sheet months an end without falling in with as much land or rock as would answer a gall to lay its eggs on. But I will own that between Boston and Plymouth we were out of sight of water for as much as two full watches. Dylan pursued this interesting subject with great diligence and by the time they reached the wall which enclosed the large paddock that surrounded the abbey the coxswain was deeply involved in a discussion of the comparative magnitude of the Atlantic ocean and the continent of America. Avoiding the principal entrance to the building through the great gates which communicated with the court in front, Dylan followed the windings of the wall until it led them to a wicked which he knew was seldom closed for the night until the hour for general rest had arrived. Their way now lay in the rear of the principal edifice and soon conducted them to the confused pile which contained the offices. The coxswain followed his companion with a confiding reliance on his knowledge and good faith that was somewhat increased by the freedom of communication that had been maintained during their walk from the cliffs. He did not perceive anything extraordinary in the others stopping at the room which had been provided as a sort of barracks for the soldiers of Captain Burrow cliff. A conference which took place between Dylan and the sergeant was soon ended when the former beckoned to the coxswain to follow and taking a circuit round the whole of the offices they entered the abbey together by the door through which the ladies had issued wind in quest of the three prisoners as has been already related. After a turn or two among the narrow passages of that part of the edifice Tom whose faith in the facilities of land navigation began to be a little shaken found himself following his guide through a long dark gallery that was terminated at the end toward which they were approaching by a half open door that admitted a glimpse into a well-lighted and comfortable apartment. To this door Dylan hastily advanced and throwing it open the coxswain enjoyed a full view of the very scene that we described in introducing Colonel Howard to the acquaintance of the reader and under circumstances of great similitude. The cheerful fire of coal the strong and glaring lights the tables of polished mahogany and the blushing fluids were still the same in appearance while the only perceptible change was in the number of those who part took of the cheer the master of the mansion and borough cliff were seated opposite to each other employed in discussing the events of the day and diligently pushing to and fro the glittering vessel that contained a portion of the generous liquor they both loved so well a task which each moment rendered lighter. If Kit would but return exclaimed the veteran whose back was to the opening door bringing with him his honest brows encircled as they will be or ought to be with law I should be the happiest old fool for a cliff in his majesty's realm of great Britain. The captain who felt the necessity for the unnatural restraint he had imposed on his thirst to be removed by the capture of his enemies pointed towards the door with one hand while he grasped the sparkling reservoir of the south side with the other and answered lo the casique himself his brow inviting the diadem ha who have we in his heinous strain by the lord sir casique if you travel with a bodyguard of such grenadiers old Frederick of pressure himself will have occasion to envy you the core a clear six footer in nature stockings and the arms as unique as the armed the colonel did not however attend to half of his companion's exclamations but turning he beheld the individual he had so much desired and received him with a delight proportion to the unexpectedness of the pleasure for several minutes Dylan was compelled to listen to the rapid questions of his venerable relative to all of which he answered with a prudent reserve that might in some measure have been governed by the presence of the coxswain tom stood with infinite composure leaning on his harpoon and surveying with accountants where wonder was singularly blended with contempt the furniture and arrangements of an apartment that was far more splendid than any he had before seen in the meantime borough cliff entirely disregarded the private communications that passed between his host and Dylan which gradually became more deeply interesting and finally drew them to a distant corner of the apartment but taking a most undue advantage of the absence of the gentleman who had so lately been his boon companion he swallowed one quotation after another as if a double duty had devolved on him in consequence of the desertion of the veteran we never as I did wonder from the ruby tints of his glass it was to survey with unrepressed admiration the inches of the coxswain about whose stature and frame there were a numberless excellent points to attract the gaze of a recruiting officer from this double pleasure the captain was however at last summoned to participate in the council's of his friends Dylan was spared the disagreeable duty of repeating the artful tale he had found it necessary to palm on the colonel by the ardor of the veteran himself who executed the task in a manner that gave to the treachery of his kinsmen every appearance of a justifiable artifice and of unshaken zeal in the cause of his prince in substance tom was to be detained as a prisoner and the party of barn stable were to be entrapped and of course to share a similar fate the sunken eyed Dylan cowered before the steady gaze which burrow cliff fastened on him has the letter listened to the plotters the colonel lavished on his cousin's ingenuity but the hesitation that lingered in the soldier's manner vanished when he turned to examine their unsuspecting prisoner who was continuing his survey of the apartment while he innocently imagined the consultations he witnessed were merely the proper and preparatory steps to his admission into the presence of mr. Griffith drill said burrow cliff allowed advance and receive your orders the coxswain turned quickly at this sudden mandate and for the first time perceived that he had been followed into the gallery by the orderly and two files of the recruits armed take this man to the guard room and feed him and see that he dies not of thirst there was nothing alarming in this order and tom was following the soldiers and obedience to a gesture from their captain when their steps were arrested in the gallery by the cry of halt on recollection drill said burrow cliff in a tone from which all dictatorial sounds rabbinic show the gentleman into my own room and see him properly supplied the orderly gave such an intimation of his comprehending the meaning of his officer as the latter was accustomed to receive when burrow cliff returned to his bottle and the coxswain followed his guide with an alacrity and goodwill that were not a little increased by the repeated mention of the cheer that awaited him luckily for the impatience of time the quarters of the captain were at hand in the promised entertainment by no means slow in making its appearance the former was an apartment that opened from a lesser gallery which communicated with the principal passage already mentioned and the latter was a bountiful but ungarnished supply of that staple of the british isles called roast beef of which the kitchen of colonel howard was never without a due and loyal provision the sergeant who certainly understood one of the signs of his captain to imply an attack on the citadel of the coxswain's brain mingle with his own hands a quotation that he styled a rumor of grog and which he thought would have felt the animal itself that tom was so diligently masticating had it been alive and in its vigor every calculation that was made on the infirmity of the coxswain's intellect under the stimulus of jamaica was however futile he swallowed glass after glass with prodigious relish but at the same time with immovable steadiness and the eyes of the sergeant who felt it incumbent to do honor to his own cheer were already glistening in his head when happily for the credit of his heart a tap at the door announced the presence of his captain and relieved him from the impending disgrace of being drunk blind by a recruit as burrow cliff entered the apartment he commanded his orderly to retire adding mr. dillon will give you instructions which you are implicitly to obey drill who had sense enough remaining to apprehend the displeasure of his officer should the latter discover his condition quickened his departure and the coxswain soon found himself alone with the captain the bigger of tom's attacks on the remnant of the sore loin were now much abated leaving in its stead that placid quiet which is apt to linger about the palette long after the cravings of the appetite have been appeased he had seated himself on one of the trunks of burrow cliff utterly disdaining the use of a chair and with the trencher in his lap was using his own jackknife on the dilapidated fragment of the ox with something of that nicety with which the female ghoul of the arabian tales might be supposed to pick her rice with the pointer for a bodkin captain drew a seat night the coxswain and with a familiarity and kindness infinitely condescending when the difference in their several conditions is considered he commenced the following dialogue i hope you have found your entertainment your liking mr uh i must own my ignorance of your name tom said the coxswain keeping his eyes roaming over the contents of the trencher commonly called long tom by my shipmates you've sailed with discreet men and able navigators it will seem as they understood longitude so well rejoin the captain that you have a patronemic i would say another name coffin return the coxswain i'm called tom when there is any hurry such as letting go the hall yards or a sheep long tom when they want to get to winward of an old seamen by fair weather and long tom coffin when they wish to hail me so that none of my cousins of the same name about the island shall answer for i believe the best man among them can't measure much over a fathom taking him from his headworks to his heel you are a most deserving fellow quiet borough cliff and it is painful to think to what a fate the treachery of mr dylan has consigned you the suspicions of tom if he ever entertained any for a long to rest to effectually by the kindness he received to be awakened by this equivocal lament he therefore after renewing his intimacy with the rumour contented himself by saying without satisfied simplicity i'm consigned to no one carrying no cargo but this mr dylan who is to give me mr griffith in exchange or go back to the ariel himself as my prisoner oh my good friend i fear you will find when the time comes to make this exchange that he will refuse to do either but i'll be darned if he don't do one of them my orders are to see it done and back he goes or mr griffith who is as good a seaman for his years has ever tried a deck slips his cable from this here anchorage borough cliff affected his companion with great commissuration an exhibition of compassion that was however completely lost on the coxswain whose nerves were strung to their happiest tension by his repeated libations while his wit was if anything quickened by the same cause though his own want of god rendered him slow to comprehensive existence and others perceiving it necessary to speak plainly the captain renewed the attack in a more direct manner i'm sorry to say that you will not be permitted to return to the ariel and that your commander mr barn stable will be a prisoner within the hour and in fact that your schooner will be taken before the morning breaks who will take her as the coxswain with a grim smile on whose feelings however this combination of threatened calamities was beginning to make some impression you must remember that she lies immediately under the heavy guns of a battery that can sink her in a few minutes and express has already been sent to acquaint the commander of the work with the ariel's true character and as the wind has already begun to blow from the ocean her escape is impossible the truth together with its portentous consequences now began to glare across the faculties of the coxswain he remembered his own prognostics on the weather and the helpless situation of the schooner deprived of more than half her crew and left to the keeping of a boy while her commander himself was on the eve of captivity the trencher fell from his lap to the floor his head sunk on his niece his face was concealed between his broad palms and in spite of every effort the old seaman could make to conceal his emotion he fairly groaned aloud for a moment the better feelings of burrow cliff prevailed and he paused as he witnessed this exhibition of suffering in one whose head was already sprinkled with the marks of time but his habits and the impressions left by many years past in collecting victims for the wars soon resumed their ascendancy and the recruiting officer diligently addressed himself to an improvement of his advantage a pity for my heart the poor lads whom artifice or mistaken notions of duty may have led astray and who will thus be taken in arms against their sovereign but as they are found in the very island of britain they must be made examples to deter others i fear that unless they can make their peace with government they will all be condemned to death let them make their peace with god then your government can do but little to clear the log account of a man whose watch is up for this world but by making their peace with those who have the power their lives may be spared said the captain watching with king and eyes the effect his words produced on the coxswain it matters but little when a man hears the messenger pipe is hammocked down for the last time he keeps his watch in another world though he goes below in this but to see wooden iron that has been put together after such moles as the aerials go into strange hands says a blow that a man may remember long after the purses books have been squared against his name forever i would rather that 20 shots should strike my old carcass than one should haul the schooner that didn't pass out above her waterline burlcliffe replied somewhat carelessly i may be mistaken after all and instead of putting any of you to death they may place you all on board the prison ships where you may yet have a merry time of it these 10 or 15 years to come how's that ship may cry the coxswain with a start a prison ship do you say you may tell them they can save the expense of one man's rations by hanging him if they please and that is old tom coffin there is no answering for their caprice today they may order a dozen of you to be shot for rebels tomorrow they may choose to consider you as prisoners of war and send you to the hawks for a dozen years tell them brother that i am a rebel will you and you'll tell them no lie one that says fought them since manly's time in boston bay to the south i hope the boy will blow her up it would be the death of poor richard's barn stable to see her in the hands of the english i know of one way several cliff affecting to muse and but one that will certainly avert the prison ship for on second thoughts they will hardly put you to death name it friend cry the coxswain rising from a seed and evident perturbation individualized in the power of man it shall be done nay so the captain dropping his hand familiarly on the shoulder of the other who listened with the most eager attention to his easily done and no dreadful thing in itself you are used to gun powder and know its smell from auto of roses i i cried the impatient old seaman i have had it flashing under my nose by the hour what then what then what i have to propose will be nothing to a man like you you found the beef wholesome and the grog mellow i i all well enough but what is that to an old sailor as the coxswain unconsciously grasping the color of borough cliff's coat in his agitation what then the captain manifested no displeasure at this unexpected familiarity but with suavity as he unmasked the battery from behind which he had hitherto carried on his attacks why then you have only to serve your king as you have before served the congress and let me be the man to show you your colors the coxswain stared at the speaker intently but it was evident he did not clearly comprehend the nature of the proposition and the captain pursued the subject in plain english enlisting my company my fine fellow and your life and liberty are both safe tom did not laugh a lot for that was a burst of feeling in which he was seldom known to indulge but every feature of his weather beaten visage contracted into an expression of bitter ironical contempt borough cliff felt the arm fingers that still grasped his collar gradually tightening about his throat like a vice and as the arm slowly contracted his body was drawn by a power that it was in vain to resist close to that of the coxswain who in their faces were within a foot of each other gave vent to his emotions and words a mess made before a shipmate a ship made before a stranger a stranger before a dog but a dog before a soldier as tom concluded his nervous arm was suddenly extended to the upmost the fingers relinquishing their grasp at the same time and remember cliff recovered his disordered faculties he found himself in a distant corner of the apartment prospered among a confused pile of chairs tables and wearing a pair of in endeavoring to rise from this humble posture the hand of the captain fell on the hilt of his sword which had been included in the confused assemblage of articles produced by his overthrow how now scoundrel he cried bearing the glittering weapon and springing on his feet he must be taught your distance I perceive the coxswain sees the harpoon which leaned against the wall and dropped its barbed extremity within a foot of the breast of his assentment with an expression of the eye that denoted the danger of a nearer approach the captain however wanted not for courage and stung to the quick by the insult he had received he made a desperate parry and attempted to pass within the point of the novel weapon of his adversary the slight shock was followed by a sweeping whirl of the harpoon and burrow click found himself without arms completely at the mercy of his foe the bloody intentions of tom vanished with his success for laying aside his weapon he advanced upon his antagonist and seized him with an open palm one more struggle in which the captain discovered his incompetency to make any defense against the strength of a man who managed him as if he had been a child decided to matter when the captain was passive in the hands of his foe the coxswain produced some pieces of senate marlin and ratlin stuff from his pockets which appeared to contain as great a variety of small courtage as a boat's in storeroom and proceeded to lash the arms of the conquered soldier to the posts of his bed with the coolness that had not been disturbed since the commencement of hostilities a silence that seemed inflexible and a dexterity that none but a seaman could equal when this part of his plan was executed tom paused a moment and gazed around him as if in quest of something the naked sword caught his eye and with this weapon in his hand he deliberately approached his captive whose alarm prevented his observing that the coxswain had snapped the blade asunder from the handle and that he had already encircled the ladder with marlin for god's sake exclaimed burcliffe murder me not in cold blood the silver hilt entered his mouth as the words issued from it and the captain found while the line was passed and repassed and repeated involutions across the back of his neck that he was in a condition to which he often subjected his own men when unruly in which is universally called being gag the coxswain now appeared to think himself entitled to all the privileges of a conqueror for taking the light in his hand he commenced his scrutiny into the nature and quality of the worldly effects that lay at his mercy sundry articles that belong to the equipments of a soldier were examined and cast aside with great contempt and diverse garments of plain or exterior were rejected as unsuited to the frame of the victor he however soon encountered two articles of a medal that is universally understood but uncertainty as to their use appeared greatly to embarrass him the circular prongs of these curiosities were applied to either hand to the wrist and even to the nose and the little wheels that their opposite extremity returned and examined with as much curiosity and care as a savage would expend on a watch until the idea seemed to cross the mind of the honest seamen that they form part of the useless trappings of a military man and he cast them aside also as a late worthless burlcliffe who watched every movement of his conqueror with a good humor that would have restored perfect harmony between them could he but have expressed half what he felt witnessed the safety of a favorite pair of spurs with much pleasure though nearly suffocated by the mirth that was unnaturally repressed i think the coxswain found a pair of handsomely mounted pistols a sort of weapon with which he seemed quite familiar they were loaded and the knowledge of that fact appeared to remind tom of the necessity of departing by bringing to his recollection the danger of his commander end of the aerial he thrust the weapons into the canvas belt that encircled his body and grasping his harpoon approached the bed where burlcliffe was seated in duress harkey friend said the coxswain made the lord forgive you as i do for wishing to make a soldier of a seafaring man and one who has followed the water since he was an hour old and one who hopes to die off soundings and to be buried in brine i wish you no harm friend but you'll have to keep a stopper on your conversation till such time as some of your mess mates call in this way which i hope will be as soon after i get an offering as may be with these amicable wishes the coxswain departed leaving burlcliffe the light and they undisturbed possession of his department though not in the most easy or the most enviable situation imaginable the captain heard the bolt of his locked turn and the key rattle as the coxswain withdrew it from the door to precautionary steps which clearly indicated that the vanquisher deemed it prudent to secure his retreat by ensuring the detention of the vanquished for at least a time end of chapter 22 chapter 23 of the pilot by james fenimore cooper this lever box recording is in the public domain chapter 23 wilds vengeance in the lured air lifts her red arm exposed and bare who fear this ghastly train can see and look not madly wild like the colons it is certain that tom coffin had devised no subtle plan of operations when he issued from the apartment of burlcliffe if we accept a most resolute determination to make the best of his way to the aerial and to share her fate let it be either to sink or swim but this was a resolution much easier formed by the honest seamen then executed in his present situation he would have found it less difficult to extricate a vessel from the dangerous shoals of the devil's grip than to thread the mazes of the labyrinth of passages galleries and apartments in which he found himself involved he remembered as he expressed it to himself in a low soliloquy to have run into a narrow passage from the main channel but whether he had sheared to the starboard or larbored hand was a material fact that had entirely escaped his memory tom was in that part of the building that colonel howard had designated as the cloisters in which luckily for him he was but little liable to encounter any foe the room occupied bar burlcliffe being the only one in the entire wing that was not exclusively devoted to the service of the ladies the circumstance of the soldiers being permitted to invade this sanctuary was owing to the necessity on the part of colonel howard of placing either Griffith manual or the recruiting officer in the vicinity of his wards or of subjecting his prisoners to a treatment that the veteran would have thought unworthy of his name and character this recent change in the quarters of burlcliffe operated doubly to the advantage of tom by lessening the chance of the speedy release of his uneasy captive as well as by diminishing his own danger of the former circumstance he was however not aware and the consideration of the latter was a sort of reflection to which the coxswain was in no degree addicted following necessarily the line of the wall he soon emerged from the dark and narrow passage in which he had first found himself and entered the principal gallery that communicated with all the lower apartments of that wing as well as with the main body of the edifice an open door through which a strong light was glaring at a distant end of this gallery instantly caught his eye and the old seaman had not advanced many steps towards it before he discovered that he was approaching the very room which had so much excited his curiosity and by the identical passage through which he had entered the abbey to turn and retrace his steps was the most obvious course for any man to take who felt anxious to escape but the sounds of high conviviality bursting from the cheerful apartment among which the coxswain thought he distinguished the name of Griffith determined Tom to advance and reconnoitre the scene more closely the reader will anticipate that when he paused in the shadow the doubting old seaman stood once more near the threshold which he had so lately crossed when conducted to the room of Burrowcliff the seat of that gentleman was now occupied by Dillon and Colonel Howard had resumed his wanted station at the foot of the table the noise was chiefly made by the latter who had evidently been enjoying a more minute relation of the means by which his kinsman had entrapped his unwary enemy a noble roost cried the veteran as Tom assumed his post in ambush a most noble and ingenious roost and such a one as would have baffled Caesar he must have been a cunning dog that Caesar but I do think it you would have been too much for him hang me if I don't think you would have puzzled Wolf himself as you held Quebec instead of Moncombe ah boy we want you in the colonies with the ermine over your shoulders such many as you cousin Christopher are sadly sadly wanted there to defend his majesty's rights indeed dear sir your partiality gives me credit for qualities I do not possess said Dillon dropping his eyes perhaps with a feeling of conscious unworthiness but with an air of much humility the little justifiable artifice I there lies the beauty of the transaction interrupted the Colonel shoving the bottle from him with the free open air of a man who never harbored disguise you told no lie no mean deception that any dog however base and unworthy might invent but you practiced a neat a military yes classical deception on your enemy a classical deception that is the very term for it such a deception as Pompey or Mark Anthony or or you know those old fellow's names better than I do kid but name the cleverest fellow that ever lived in Greece or Rome and I shall say he is a dunce compared to you it was a real Spartan trick both simple and honest it was extremely fortunate for Dillon that the animation of his aged kinsman kept his head and body in such constant motion during this apostrophe as to intercept the aim that the coxswain was deliberately taking at his head with one of burlcliffe's pistols and perhaps the sense of shame which induced him to sink his face on his hands was another means of saving his life by giving the indignant old seaman time for reflection but you have not spoken of the lady said Dillon after a moment's pause I should hope they have borne the alarm of the day like kinswomen of the family of Howard the Colonel glanced his eyes around him as if to assure himself they were alone and dropped his voice as he answered ah kid they have come to since this rebel scoundrel Griffith has been brought into the abbey we were favored with the company of even miss Howard in the dining room today there was a good deal of dear uncle lean and fears that my life might be exposed by the corals and skirmishes of these desperados who have landed as if an old fellow who served through the whole war from 50 60 63 was afraid to let his nose smell gunpowder anymore and if it were snuff but it will be a hard matter to weedle and the old soldier out of his allegiance this Griffith goes to the tower at least Mr Dillon it would be advisable to commit his person to this civil authority without delay to the constable of the tower the Earl Cornwallis a good and loyal nobleman who is at this moment fighting the rebels in my own native province Christopher interrupted the Colonel that will be what I call retributive justice but continue the veteran rising with an air of gentlemanly dignity it will not do to permit even the constable of the Tower of London to surpass the master of st. Ruth in hospitality and kindness to his prisoners I've ordered suitable refreshments to their apartments and it is incumbent on me to see that my commands have been properly obeyed arrangements must also be made for the reception of this captain barn stable who will doubt will soon be here within the hour at Father St. Dillon looking uneasily at his watch we must be stirring boy continue the Colonel moving towards the door that led to the apartments of his prisoners but there is a courtesy due to the ladies as well as to those unfortunate violators of the laws go Christopher convey my kindest wishes to Cecilia she don't deserve them the obstinate vixen but then she is my brother Harry's child and while there you arch dog plead your own cause Mark Antony was a fool to you at Ruth's and yet Mark was one of your successful suitors too there was that queen of the pyramids the door closed on the excited veteran at these words and Dillon was left standing by himself at the side of the table musing as if in doubt whether to venture on the step that his ginsmen had proposed or not the greater part of the preceding discourse was unintelligible to the coxswain who had waited its termination with extraordinary patience in hopes he might obtain some information that he could render of service to the captives before he had time to decide on what was now best for him to do Dillon suddenly determined to venture himself into the cloisters and swallowing a couple of glasses of wine in a breath he passed the hesitating coxswain who was concealed by the opening door so closely as to brush his person and moved down the gallery with those rapid strides which men who act under the impulse are forced resolutions are very apt to assume as if to conceal their weakness from themselves Tom hesitated no longer but aiding the impulse given to the door by Dillon as he passed so as to darken the passage he followed the sounds of the others footsteps while he tried in that manner already described the stone pavement of the gallery Dillon paused an instant at the turning that led to the room of burlklift but whether irresolute which way to urge his steps or listening to the unconscious and heavy tread of the coxswain is not known if the latter he mistook them for the echoes of his own footsteps and moved forward again without making any discovery the light tab which Dillon gave on the door of the withdrawing room of the cloisters was answered by the soft voice of Cecilia Howard herself who bid the applicant enter there was a slight confusion evident in the manner of the gentleman as he complied with the bidding and in its hesitancy the door was for an instant neglected I come Miss Howard said Dillon by the commands of your uncle and permitted me to add by my own may heaven shield us exclaim Cecilia clasping her hands in a fright and rising involuntarily from her couch are we too to be imprisoned and murdered surely Miss Howard will not impute to me Dillon paused observing that the wild looks not only of Cecilia but of Catherine and Alice Dunn's comb also were directed at some other object and turning to his manifest terror he beheld a gigantic frame of the coxswain surmounted by an iron visage fixed in settled hostility in possession of the only passage from the apartment if there's murder to be done said Tom after surveying the astonished group with a stern eye it's as likely this here liar will be the one to do it as another but you have nothing to fear from a man who was swallowed the seas too long and has grappled with too many monsters both fish and flesh not to know how to treat a helpless woman none who know him will say that Thomas Kauffman ever used uncivil language or unseemly conduct to any of his mother's kind Kauffman exclaimed Catherine advancing with a more confident air from the corner into which Tara had driven her with her companions eye Kauffman continued the old sailor his grim features gradually relaxing as he gazed on her bright looks dessert solemn word but it's a word that passes over the shoals among the islands and along the Cape often than any other my father was a coffin and my mother was a joy and the two names can count more flukes than all the rest in the island together though the worse and the garners and the swains dart better harpoons and set through her lances than any men who come from the weather side of the Atlantic Catherine listened to this digression in honor of the whalers of Nantuck with marked complacency and when he concluded she repeated slowly Kauffman this then is long time a long time and no sham in the name either return the coxswain suffering the stern indignation that had lowered around his heart this is to relax into a low laugh as he gazed on her animated features the lord bless your smiling face and bright black eyes young madam you've heard of a long time then most likely it was something about the blow he strikes at the fish I'm old and I'm stiff now young madam but a four I was 19 I stood at the head of the dance at a ball on the cape and that was a partner almost as handsome as yourself I and this was after I had three broad flukes logged against my name no said Catherine advancing and her eagerness a step or two nair to the old tar her cheeks blushing while she spoke I'd heard of you as an instructor in a seaman's duty as the faithful coxswain nay I may say as the devoted companion and friend of Mr. Richard Barnstable but perhaps you come now as the bearer of some message or letter from that gentleman the sound of his commander's name suddenly revived the recollection of coffin and with it all the fierce sternness of its manner returned bending his eyes keenly on the cowering form of Dillon he said in those deep harsh tones that seemed peculiar to men who have braved the elements until they appear to have invited some of their roughest qualities liar how now what brought all Tom coffin into these shoals and narrow channels was it a letter ah but by the Lord that maketh the winds to blow and teacheth the lost man or how to steer over the wide waters you shall sleep this night Dillon on the planks of the aerial and if it be the will of God that beautiful piece of handicraft is to sink at her moorings like a worthless hawk he shall still sleep in her eye and asleep that shall not end till they call all hands to foot up the day's work of this life at the close of man's longest voyage the extraordinary vehemence the language the attitude of the old seaman commanding in its energy and the honest indignation that's shown in every look of his keen eyes together with the nature of the address and its paralyzing effect on Dillon who quailed before it like the stricken deer united to keep the female listeners for many moments silent through amazement during this brief period Tom advanced upon his nervous victim and lashing his arms together behind his back he fastened him by a strong cord to the broad canvas belt that he constantly wore around his own body leaving to himself by this arrangement the free use of his arms and weapons of events while he secured his captive surely said Cecilia recovering her recollection the first of the astonished group mr barn stable has not commissioned you to offer this violence to my uncle's kinsman under the roof of colonel Howard miss plowden your friend has strangely forgotten himself in this transaction if this man acts in obedience to his order my friend my cousin Howard returned Catherine would never commission his coxswain or anyone to do an unworthy deed speak on a sailor why do you commit this outrage on the worthy mr Dillon colonel howards kinsman and a cupboard cousin of saint roose abbey nay Catherine naysa see you be patient and let the stranger have utterance he may solve the difficulty altogether the coxswain understanding that an explanation was expected from his lips addressed himself to the task with an energy suitable both to the subject and to his own feelings in a very few words though a little obscured by his peculiar addiction he made his listeners understand the confidence that barn stable had reposed in Dillon and the treachery of the ladder they hurt him with increased astonishment and so say you hardly allowed him time to conclude before she exclaimed and did colonel Howard could colonel Howard listen to this treacherous project I they spliced it together among them returned Tom though one part of this cruise will turn out but badly even borough cliff cold and hardened as he appears to be by habit would spurn at such dishonor added miss Howard but mr barn stable at length Catherine succeeded in saying when her feelings permitted her utterance said you not that soldiers were in quest of him I young madam the coxswain replied smiling with grim ferocity they are in chase but he has shifted his anchorage and even if they should find him his long spikes would make short work of a dozen red coats the lord of tempest and calms have mercy though on the schooner ah young madam she is as lovely to the eyes of an old seafaring man as any of your kind can be to human nature but why this delay away then honest Tom and reveal the treachery to your commander you may not yet be too late why delay a moment there's ship tears for want of a pilot I could carry the three thousand over the shores of Nantucket the darkest night that ever shut the windows of heaven but I should be likely to run upon breakers in this navigation as it was I was near getting into company that I should have had to fight my way out of if that be all follow me cried the ardent Catherine I will conduct you to a path that leads to the ocean without approaching the sentinels until this moment Dylan had entertained a secret expectation of a rescue but when he heard this proposal he felt his blood retreating to his heart from every part of his agitated frame and his last hope seemed rested from him raising himself from the abject shrinking attitude in which both shame and dread had conspired to keep him as though he had been fettered to the spot he approached to see and cried in tones of horror do not do not consent miss Howard to abandon me to the fury of this man your uncle your honorable uncle even now applauded and united with me in my enterprise which is no more than a common artifice in war my uncle would unite Mr. Dylan in no project of deliberate treachery like this said to see you coldly he did I swear by lyre interrupted the deep tones of the coxswain Dylan shivered with agony and terror while the sounds of this appalling voice sunk into his inmost soul but as the gloom of the night the secret ravines of the cliffs and the turbulence of the ocean flashed across his imagination he again yielded to a dread of the horse to which he should be exposed and encountering them at the mercy of his powerful enemy and he continued his solicitations hear me once more hear me miss Howard I beseech you hear me am I not of your own blood and country will you see me abandoned to the wild merciless legnett fury of this man who will transfix me with that oh god if you had but seen the sight I beheld in the alacrity hear me miss Howard for the love you bear your maker intercede for me mr. Gifford shall be released liar again interrupt the coxswain what promises he has to see it turning her averted face once more at the miserable captive nothing at all that will be fulfilled said Catherine follow honest Tom and I at least will conduct you in good faith cruel obdurate miss plowden gentle kind miss Alice you will not refuse to raise your voice in my favor your heart is not hardened by any imaginary dangers to those you love nay address not me said Alice bending her meek eyes to the floor I trust your life is in no danger and I pray that he who has the power will have the mercy to see you unharmed away said Tom grasping the collar of the helpless Dylan and rather caring than leading him into the gallery if a sound one quarter as loud as a young porous makes when he draws his first breath comes from a villain you shall see the sight of the alacrity over again my harpoon keeps its edge well and the old arm can yet drive it to the season this menace the factually silent Stephen the hard perturbed breathings of the captive who with his conductor followed the light steps of Catherine through some of the secret mazes of the building until in a few minutes they issued through a small door into the open air without pausing to deliberate miss plowden led the coxswain through the grounds to a different wicket from the one by which he had entered the paddock and pointing to the path which might be dimly traced along the faded herbage she bade god bless him in a voice that discovered her interest in his safety and vanished from his sight like an aerial being Tom needed no incentive to his speed now that his course lay so plainly before him but loosening his pistols in his belt and poising his harpoon he crossed the fields at a gate that compelled his companion to exert his utmost powers in the way of walking to equal once or twice still in venture to utter a word or two but a stern silence and the coxswain warned him to cease until perceiving that they were approaching the cliffs he made a final effort to obtain his liberty by hurriedly promising a large bribe the coxswain made no reply and the captive was secretly hoping that his scheme was producing its wanted effects when he unexpectedly felt the keen cold edge of the barbed iron of the harpoon pressing against his breast through the opening of his ruffles and even raising the skin liar said tom another word and i'll drive it through your heart from that moment Dylan was as sound as the grave they reached the edge of the cliffs without encountering the party that had been sent in quest of barn stable and at a point near where they had landed the old seaman paused an instant on the verge of the precipice and cast his experienced eyes along the wide expanse of water that lay before him the sea was no longer sleeping but already in heavy motion and rolling its early waves against the base of the rocks in which he stood scattering their white crests high in foam the coxswain after bending his looks along the whole line of the eastern horizon gave utterance to a low and stifled groan and then striking the staff of his harpoon violently against the earth he pursued his way along the very edge of the cliffs muttering certain dreadful denunciations which the conscience of the appalled listener did not fail to apply to himself it appeared to the latter that is angry and excited leader sought the giddy verge of the precipice with a sort of wanton recklessness so daring were the steps that he took along its brow notwithstanding the darkness of the hour and the violence of the blasts that occasionally rushed by them leaving behind a kind of reaction that more than once brought the life of the manacle captain in imminent jeopardy but it would seem the rary coxswain had a motive for this apparently inconsiderate desperation when they when they had made good quite half the distance between the point where barn stable had landed and that where he had appointed to meet his coxswain the sounds of voices were brought indistinctly to their ears in one of the momentary pauses of the russian winds and caused the coxswain to make a dead stand in his progress he listened intently for a single minute when his resolution appeared to be taken he turned to dylan and spoke though his voice was suppressed and low it was deep and resolute when word and you die over the cliffs you must take a seaman's ladder there is footing on the rocks and crags for your hands over the cliff i bid you or i'll cast you into the sea as i would a dead enemy mercy mercy implored dylan i could not do it in the day by this light i shall surely perish over with ye said tom or dylan waited for no more but descended with trembling steps the dangerous precipice that lay before him he was followed by the coxswain with a haste that unavoidably dislodged his captain from the trembling stand he had taken on the shelf of a rock who to his increased horror found himself dangling in the air his body impending over the sullen surf that was tumbling in with violence upon the rocks beneath him an involuntary shriek burst from dylan as he felt his person thrust from the mirror shelf and his cry sounded amidst the tempest like the screechings of the spirit of the storm another such a call and i cut your toe line villain said the determined seaman when nothing short of eternity will bring you up the sounds of fritz tips and voices were now distinctly audible and presently a party of armed men appeared on the edges of the rocks directly above them it was a human voice said one of them and like a man in distress it cannot be the men we are sent in search of returned sergeant drill for no watchword that i ever heard sounded like that cry they say that such cries are often heard in storms along this coast set a voice that was uttered with less of military confidence than the two others and they are thought to come from drowned semen a feeble laugh arose among the listeners and one or two forced jokes were made at the expense of their superstitious comrade but the scene did not fail to produce its effect on even the most sturdy among the unbelievers in the marvellous for after a few more similar remarks the whole party retired from the cliffs at a pace that might have been accelerated by the nature of their discourse the coxswain who had stood all this time firm as the rock which supported him bearing up not only his own weight but the person of dylan also raised his head above the brow of the precipice as they withdrew to reconorder and then drawing up that nearly insensible captive and placing him in safety on the bank he followed himself not a moment was wasted in unnecessary explanations but dylan found himself again urged forward with the same velocity as before in a few minutes they gained the desired mervine down which tom plunged with his semen's nerve dragging his prisoner after him and directly they stood where the waves rose to their feet as they flowed far and foaming across the sands the coxswain stooped so low as to bring the crest of the billows in a line with the horizon when he discovered the dark boat playing in the outer edge of the surf what oh aerials there shouted tom in a voice that the growing tempest carried to the ears of the retreating soldiers who quicken their footsteps as they listened to sounds which their fears taught them to believe supernatural who hails quite the well-known voice of barn stable once your master now your servant answered the coxswain with a watchword of his own invention to see return the lieutenant bear away boys bear away you must wait into the surf tom caught dylan in his arms and throwing him like a cork across his shoulder he dashed into the streak of foam that was bearing the boat on its crest and before his companion had time for a monstrance or entreaty found himself once more by the side of barn stable who have we here as lieutenant this is not grifted all out and wait your grapnel said the excited coxswain and then boys if you love the aerial pull wild the life and the wheel is left in you barn stable knew his man and not another question was asked until the boat was without the breakers now skimming the rounded summits of the waves or settling into the hollows of the seas but always cutting the waters asunder as she urged her course with amazing velocity towards the haven where the schooner had been left at anchor then in a few but bitter sentences the coxswain explained to his commander the treachery of dylan and the danger of the schooner the soldiers are slow at a night muster tom concluded and from what i overheard the express will have to make a crooked course to double the head of the bay so that but for this northeaster we might weather upon them yet but it's a matter that lies altogether in the will of providence pull my heart is pulled everything depends on your oars tonight barn stable listened in deep silence to this unexpected narration which sounded in the ears of dylan like his funeral now the blink the suppressed voice of the lieutenant was heard also uttering wretch if i should cast you into the sea as food for the fishes who could blame me but if my schooner goes to the bottom she shall prove your coffin end of chapter 23 chapter 24 of the pilot by james fenimore cooper this lever vox recording is in the public domain chapter 24 had i been any god of power i would have sunk the sea within the earth errant should the good ship so have swallowed tempest the arms of dylan were released from their confinement by the coxson as a measure of humane caution against accidents when they entered the surf and the captive now availed himself of the circumstance to bury his features in the folds of his attire when he brooded over the events of the last few hours with that mixture of malignant passion and pusillanimous dread of the future that formed the chief ingredients in his character from the state of apparent quietude neither barn stable nor tom seemed disposed to rouse him by their remarks for both were too much engaged with their own gloomy forebodings to indulge in any unnecessary words an occasional ejaculation from the former as if to propitiate the spirit of the storm as he gazed on the troubled appearance of the elements or a cheering cry from the latter to animate his crew alone were heard amid the sullen roaring of the waters and the mournful whistling of the winds that swept heavily across the broad waste of the german ocean there might have been an hour consumed thus in a vigorous struggle between the seaman and the growing billows when the boat doubled the northern headland of the desired haven and shot at once from its boisterous passage along the margin of the breakers into the placid waters of the sequestered bay the passing blasts were still heard rushing above the high lands that surrounded and in fact formed the estuary but the profound stillness of deep night pervaded the secret recesses along the unruffled surface of its waters the shadows of the hills seem to have accumulated like a mass of gloom in the center of the basin and though every eye involuntarily turned to search it was in vain that the anxious seaman endeavored to discover their little vessel through its density while the boat glided into this quiet scene barn stable anxiously observed everything is as still as death god said it is not the stillness of death ejaculated the coxswain here here he continued speaking in a lower tone as a fearful of being overheard here she lies sir moored a port look into the streak of clear sky above the marsh on the starboard hand of the wood there that long black line is her main top mast i know it by the rake and there is her night pendant fluttering about that bright star aye sir there go our own stars aloft yet dancing among the stars in the heavens god bless her god bless her she rides as easy and as quiet as a gall asleep i believe all in her sleep too returned his commander hop by heaven we have arrived in good time the soldiers are moving the quick guy barn stable had detected the glimmering of passing lanterns as they flitted across the embrasures of the battery and at the next moment the guarded but distinct sounds of an active bustle on the decks of the schooner were plainly audible the lieutenant was rubbing his hands together with a sort of ecstasy that probably will not be understood by the great majority of our readers while long tom was actually indulging in a paroxysm of his low spiritless laughter as these certain intimations of the safety of the aerial and of the vigilance of her crew were conveyed to their ears when the whole hall and taper spars of their floating home became unexpectedly visible and the sky the placid basin and the adjacent hills were illuminated by a flash as sudden and as vivid as the keenest lightning both barn stable and his coxswain seemed instinctively to strain their eyes towards the schooner with an effort to surpass human vision but air the rolling berberations of the report of a heavy piece of ordinance from the heights had commenced the dull whistling rush of the shots swept over their heads like the moaning of a hurricane and was succeeded by the plage of the waters which was followed in a breath by the rattling of the massive iron as it bounded the violent fury from rock to rock shivering and tearing the fragments that lined the margin of the bay a bad aim with the first gun generally leaves your enemy clean decks said the coxswain with his deliberate sort of philosophy smoke makes but dim spectacles besides the night always grows darkest as you call off the morning watch that boy is a miracle for his years rejoined the delighted lieutenant see tom the yanker has shifted his birth in the dark and the english men have fired by the day range they must have taken for we left him in a direct line between the battery and yon hummock what would have become of us if that heavy fellow had plunged upon our decks and gone out below the water line we should have sunk into english mud for eternity as sure as our metal and kent ledge would have taken us down respond to tom such a point blanker would have torn off a streak of our whales outboard and not even left the marines time to say a prayer tend bow there it is not to be supposed that the crew of the whale boat continued idle during this interchange of opinions between the lieutenant and his coxswain on the contrary the sight of their vessel acted on them like a charm and believing that all necessity for caution was now over they had expended their utmost strength and efforts that had already brought them as the last words of tom indicated to the side of the aerial though every nerve of barn stable was thrilling with the excitement produced by his feelings passing from a state of the most doubtful apprehension to that of a revived and almost confident hope of affecting his escape he assumed the command of his vessel with all that stern but calm authority that seamen find is most necessary to exert in the moments of extremist danger any one of the heavy shot that their enemies continued to hurl from their heights into the darkness of the hay then he well knew must prove fatal to them as it would unavoidably pass through the slight fabric of the aerial and open a passage to the water that no means he possessed could remedy his mandates were therefore issued with a full perception of the critical nature of the emergency but with that collectiveness of manner and intonation of voice that were best adapted to enforce already and animated obedience under the simpulse the crew of the schooner soon got their anchor freed from the bottom and seizing their sweeps they forced her back their united efforts directly in the face of the battery under that shore whose summit was now crowned with a canopy of smoke that every discharge of the ordinance tinged with them colors like the faintest tints that are reflected from the clouds towards a setting sun so long as the seamen were unable to keep their little bark under the cover of the hill they were of course safe but barn stable perceived as they emerged from its shadow and were drawing nigh the passage which led into the ocean that the action of his sweeps would no longer avail them against the currents of air they encountered neither would the darkness conceal their movements from his enemy who had already employed men on their shore to discern the position of the schooner throwing off it once therefore all appearance of disguise he gave forth the word to spread the canvas of his vessel in his ordinary cheerful manner let them do their worst now mary he had it we have brought them to a distance that i think will keep their iron above water and we have no dodge about as yanker it must be keener marksman then the militia or volunteers or fensibles or whatever they call themselves behind yon grass bank to frighten the saucy aerial from the wind return the reckless boy but why have you brought jonah aboard us again sir look at him by the light of the cabin lamp he winks at every gun as if he expected the shot would haul his own ugly yellow physiognomy and what tidings have we served from mr. griffith and the marine name him not said barn stable pressing the shoulder in which he lightly leaned with the convulsed grasp that caused the boy to yield with pain name him not mary i want my temper and my faculties at this moment undisturbed and thinking of the wretch unfits me for my duty but there will come a time go forward sir we feel the wind and have a narrow passage to work through the boy obeyed a mandate which was given in the usual prompt manner of their profession and which he well understood was intended to intimate that the distance which years in rank had created between them but which barn stable often shows to forget while communing with mary was now to be resumed the sails have been loosened and set and as the vessel approached the throat of the passage the gaia which was blowing with increasing violence began to make a very sensible impression on the light bark the coxswain who in the absence of most of the inferior officers had been acting on the forecast so the part of one who felt from his years and experience that he had some right to advise if not to command at such a juncture now walk to the station which his commander had taken near the helmsman as if willing to place himself in the way of being seen well master coffin said barn stable who well understood the propensity his old shipmate had to commune with him on all important occasions but thank you of the crews now those gentlemen on the hill make a great noise but i have lost even the whistling of their shot one would think they could see our sails against the broad band of light which is opening to seawood i sir they see us i mean to hit us too but we are running across their fire and that with a ten knot breeze but when we heave and stays and get in the line with their guns we shall see and it may be feel more of their work than we do now a 32 ant trained as easily as a falling piece or a ducking gun barn stable was struck with the truth of this observation but as there existed an immediate necessity for placing the schooner in the very situation to which the other alluded he gave his orders at once and the vessel came about and ran with her head pointing towards the sea in as short a time as we have taken to record it there they have us now or never cried the lieutenant when the evolution was completed if we fetched to when we're off the northern point we shall lay out into the offing and in 10 minutes we might laugh at queen an's pocket piece which you know oh boy sent a ball from dover to calais i sir i've heard of the gun returned the grave seaman and a lively piece it must have been if the straits were always of the same width they are now but i see the campton barn stable which is more dangerous than a dozen of the heaviest cannon that wherever cast can be at half a league's distance the water is bubbling through our lee scuppers already sir and what of that haven't i buried her guns often and yet kept every spar in her without crack or splinter ii sir you have done it and can do it again where there is searum which is all that a man wants for comfort in this life but when we are out of these chops we shall be imbued with a heavy northeaster setting dead into the bite it is that which i fear captain barn stable more than all the powder and ball in the whole island and yet tom the balls are not to be despised either those fellas have found out their range and send their iron within hail again we walk pretty fast mr coffin but at 32 can cut travel us with the best wind that ever blew tom threw a cursory glance towards the battery which had renewed its fire with a spirit that denoted they saw their object as he answered it is never worth the man's while to strive to dodge a shot for they are all commissioned to do their work the same as a ship is commissioned to cruise in certain latitudes before the winds and the weather they are given for a seafaring man to guard against by making or shortening sail as the case may be now the headland to the southward stretches full three leagues to windward and the shoals lie to the north among which god keep us from ever running this craft again we will beat her out of the bite oh fellow cried the lieutenant we shall have a leg of three leagues in length to do it in i've known longer legs too short return the coxswain shaking his head a tumbling sea with a lee tide on a lee shore makes us sad leeway the lieutenant was in the act of replying to this saying with a cheerful laugh when the whistling of a passing shot was instantly succeeded by a crash of splintered wood and at the next moment the head of the main mast after tottering for an instant in the gale fell towards the deck bringing with it the mainsail and the long line of top mast that had been bearing the emblems of america as the coxswain had expressed among the stars of the heavens that was a most unlucky hit barn stable suffered to escape him in the concern of the moment but instantly resuming all his collectiveness of manner and voice he gave his orders to clear the wreck and secure the fluttering canvas the mournful forebodings of tom seemed to vanish with the appearance of a necessity for his exertions and he was foremost among the crew in executing the orders of their commander the loss of all the sail on the main mast forced the aerial so much from her course as to render it difficult to weather the point that jutted under her lee for some distance into the ocean this desirable object was however affected by the skill of barn stable aided by the excellent properties of his vessel and the schooner born down by the power of the gale from whose fury she had now no protection passed heavily along the land heading as far as possible from the breakers while the seamen were engaged in making their preparations to display as much of their mainsail as the stump of the mast would allow them to spread the firing from the battery seized as the aerial rounded the little promontory the barn stable whose gaze was now bent intently on the ocean soon perceived that as his coxswain had predicted he had a much more threatening danger to encounter in the elements when their damages were repaired so far as circumstances would permit the coxswain returned to his wanted station near the lieutenant and after a momentary pause during which his eyes roved over the rigging with a seamen scrutiny he resumed the discourse he would have been better for us that the best man in the schooner should have been dubbed of a limb by that shot than that the aerial should have lost her best leg a mainsail close reef may be prudent canvas as the wind blows but it holds a poor luff to keep a craft to winward what would you have tom coven retorted his commander you see she draws ahead and offshore do you expect a vessel to fly in the very teeth of the gale or would you have me wear and be sure at once i would have nothing nothing captain barn stable returned the old seamen sensibly touched at his commander's displeasure you are as able as any man that ever tried a plank to work her into an offing but sir when that soldier officer told me of the scheme to sink the aerial at her anchor there were such feelings come a thwart my philosophy has never crossed to the fore i thought i saw her erect as plainly i as plainly as you may see the stump of that mast and i will own it for it's as natural to love the craft you sail in as it is to love oneself i will own that my man who fetched a heavy lee lurch at the site away with you you see croaker forward with you and see that the head sheets are trim flat behold come at the time if you have sights of wrecks and sharks and other beautiful objects keep them stowed in your own silly brain don't make a ghost parlor of my forecastle the lads begin to look to leeward now oftener than i would have them go sir i'll go and take example for mr mary who is seated on your namesake there and is singing as if he were a chorister in his father's church ah captain barn stable mr mary is a boy and knows nothing so fears nothing but i shall obey your orders sir and if the men fall a star in this gale it shan't be for anything they'll hear from old tom coffin the coxswain lingered a moment notwithstanding his promised obedience and then ventured to request that captain barn stable would please call mr mary from the gun for i know from having followed the seas my natural life that singing in a gale is sure to bring the wind down upon a vessel the heavier for he who rules the tempest is displeased that man's voice shall be heard when he chooses to send his own breath on the water barn stable was at a loss whether to laugh at his coxswain's infirmity or to yield to the impression which is earnest and solemn manner had a powerful tendency to produce amid such a scene for making an effort to shake off the superstitious awe that he felt creeping around his own heart the lieutenant relieved the mind of the worthy old seamen so far as to call the careless boy from his perch to his own side we respect for the sacred character of the quarter deck instantly put an end to the lively air he had been humming tom walked slowly forward apparently much relieved by the reflection that he had affected so important and object the aerial continued to struggle against the winds and ocean for several hours longer before the day broke on the tempestuous scene and the anxious mariners were unable to form a more accurate estimate of their real danger as the violence of the gale increase the canvas of the schooner had been gradually reduced until she was unable to show more than was absolutely necessary to prevent her driving helplessly on the land barn stable watched the appearance of the weather as the light slowly opened upon them with an intense anxiety which denoted that the presentiments of the coxswain were no longer deemed idle on looking to winward he beheld the green masses of water that were rolling in towards the land with the violence that seemed irresistible crowned with ridges of foam and there were moments when the air appeared filled with sparkling gems as the rays of the rising sun fell upon the spray that was swept from wave to wave towards the land the view was still more appalling the cliffs but a short half leak under the lee of the schooner were at all times nearly hid from the eye by the pyramids of water which the furious element so suddenly restrained in its violence cast high into the air as if seeking to overleap the boundaries that nature had fixed to its dominion the whole coast from the distant headland at the south to the well-known shoals that stretched far beyond their course in the opposite direction displayed a broad belt of foam into which it would have been certain destruction for the proudest ship that ever swam to enter still the aerial floated on the bellows lightly and in safety though yielding to the impulses of the water and at times appearing to be engulfed in that yawning chasm which apparently opened beneath her to receive the little fabric the low rumor of acknowledged danger had found its way through the schooner and the seamen after fastening their hopeless looks on that small spot of canvas that they were still able to show to the tempest would turn to view the dreary line of coast that seemed to offer so gloomy an alternative even Dylan to whom the report of their danger had found its way crept from his place of concealment in the cabin and moved about the decks unheeded devouring with greedy ears such opinions as fell from the lips of the sullen mariners at this moment of appalling apprehension the coxswain exhibited the calmest resignation he knew all had been done that lay in the power of man to urge their little vessel from the land and it was now too evident to his experienced eyes that it had been done in vain but considering himself as a sort of fixture in the schooner he was quite prepared to abide her fate be it for better or for worse the subtle look of gloom that gathered around the frank brawl the barn stable was in no degree connected with any considerations of himself but proceeded from that sort of parental responsibility from which the sea commander is never exempt the discipline of the crew however still continued perfect and unyielding there had it is true been a slight movement made by one or two of the older seamen which indicated an intention to drown the apprehensions of death in a ebriety but barn stable had called for his pistols in a tone that checked the procedure instantly and although the fatal weapons were untouched by him left a lie exposed on the capstan where they had been placed by his servant not another symptom of insubordination appeared among the devoted crew there was even what to a landsman might seem an appalling affectation of attention to the most trifling duties of the vessel and the men who it should seem ought to be devoting the brief moments of their existence to the mighty business of the hour were constantly called to attend to the most trivial details of their profession ropes were coiled and the slightest damages occasioned by the waves which at short intervals swept across the low decks of the aerial were repaired with the same precision and order as if she yet lay imbade in the haven from which she had just been driven in this manner the arm of authority was kept extended over the silent crew not with the vain desire to preserve a lingering though useless exercise of power but with a view to maintain that unity of action that now could alone afford them even a ray of hope she can make no head against the sea under that rag of canvas said barn stable gloomily addressing the coxswain who with folded arms and an air of cool resignation was balancing his body on the verge of the quarter-deck while the schooner was plunging madly into waves that nearly buried her in their bosom the poor little thing trembles like a frightened child as she meets the water tom sighed heavily and shook his head before he answered if we could have kept the head of the main mast an hour longer we might have got an offering and fetched to inward of the shoals but as it is sir mortal man can't drive a craft to windward she sets bodily in to land and will be in the breakers in less than an hour unless god wills that the wind shall cease to blow we have no hope left us but to anchor our ground tackle may yet bring her up tom turned to his commander and replied solemnly and with that assurance of manner that long experience only can give a man in moments of great danger if our sheet cable was bent to our heaviest anchor this sea would bring it home though nothing but her launch was riding by it a northeaster in that german ocean must and will blow itself out nor shall we get the crown of the gale until the sun falls over the land then indeed it may lull for the winds do often seem to reverence the glory of the heavens too much to blow their might in its very face we must do our duty to ourselves and the country return barn stable go get the two powers spliced and have a cage bent to a hosel we'll back our two anchors together and veer to the better end of 240 fathoms it may yet bring her up see all clear therefore anchoring and cutting away the mast we'll leave the wind nothing but a naked hull to whistle over I if there was nothing but the wind we might yet live to see the sun sink behind them hills said the coxswain but what hemp can stand the strain of a craft that is buried half the time to her formast in the water the order was however executed by the crew with a sort of desperate submission to the will of their commander and when the preparations were completed the anchors and cage were dropped to the bottom and the instant that the aerial tended to the wind the axe was applied to the little that was left of her long raking mass the crash of the falling spars as they came in succession across the decks of the vessel appeared to produce no sensation amid that scene of complicated danger but the semen proceeded in silence to their hopeless duty of clearing the wrecks every eye followed the floating timbers as the waves swept them away from the vessel with a sort of feverish curiosity to witness the effect produced by their collision with those rocks that lay so fearfully near them but long before the spars entered the white border or foam they were hid from view by the furious element in which they floated it was now felt by the whole crew of the aerial that their last means of safety had been adopted and at each desperate and headlong plunge the vessel took him to the bosom of the seas that rolled upon her forecastle the anxious semen thought that they could perceive the yielding of the iron that yet clung to the bottom or could hear the violent surge of the parting strands of the cable that still held them to their anchors while the minds of the sailors were agitated with the vain hopes that had been excited by the movements of their schooner dylan had been permitted to wonder about the deck unnoticed his rolling eyes hard breathing and clenched hands excited no observation among the men whose thoughts were yet dwelling on the means of safety but now when with a sort of frenzy desperation he would follow the retiring waters along the decks and venture his person knife the group that had collected around and on the gun of the coxswain glances of fierce or of sullen vengeance were cast at him that conveyed threats of a nature that he was too much agitated to understand if you're tired of this world though your time like my own is probably but short in it set time to him as he passed the coxswain in one of his turns you can go forward among the men but if you have need of the moments to foot up the reckoning of your doings among men before a year brought to face your maker in here the logbook of heaven i would advise you to keep as nigh as possible to captain barn staple or myself will you promise to save me if the vessel is wrecked exclaimed dylan catching at the first sounds of friendly interest that have reached to zero since he had been recaptured oh if you will i can secure your future ease yes well for the remainder of your days your promises have been too ill kept for this for the peace of your soul return the coxswain without bitterness though sternly but it is not in me to strike even a whale that is already spouting blood the intercessions of dylan were interrupted by a dreadful cry that arose among the men forward and which sounded with increased horror amid the roaring of the tempest the schooner rose on the breast of a wave at that instant and falling off with her broadside to the sea she drove in towards the cliffs like a bubble on the rapids of a cataract our ground tackle has parted said tom with his resigned patients of manner undisturbed she shall die as easy as man can make her while he yet spoke he seized the tiller and gave to the vessel such a direction as would be most likely to cause her to strike the rocks with her bowels foremost there was for one moment an expression of exquisite anguish portrayed in the dark countenance of barn stable but at the next it passed away and he spoke cheerfully to his men be ready my lads be calm there's yet a hope of life for you our light draft will let us run in close to the cliffs and it is still falling water see your boats clear and be steady the crew of the whale boat aroused by this speech from a sort of stupor sprang into their light vessel which was quickly lowered into the sea and kept riding on the foam free from the sides of the schooner by the powerful exertions of the men the cry for the coxswain was earnest and repeated but tom shook his head without replying still grasping the tiller and keeping his eyes steadily bent on the chaos of waters into which they were driving the launch the largest boat of the two was cut loose from the grips and the bustle and exertion of the moment rendered the crew insensible to the horror of the scene that surrounded them but the loud horse call of the coxswain to look out secure yourselves suspended even their efforts and at that instant the aerial settled on a wave that melted from under her heavily on the rocks the shock was so violent as to throw all who disregarded the warning cry from their feet and the universal quiver that pervaded the vessel was like the last shudder of animated nature for a time long enough to breathe the least experienced among the men suppose the danger to be passed but a wave of great height followed the one that had deserted them and raising the vessel again through her roughly still farther on the bed of rocks and at the same time its crest broke over her quarter sweeping the length of her decks with a fury that was almost resistless the shuddering seamen beheld their loosened boat driven from their grasp and dashed against the base of the cliffs where no fragment of her wreck could be traced at the receding of the waters but the passing below had thrown the vessel into a position which in some measure protected her decks from the violence of those that succeeded it go my boys go said barn stable as the moment of dreadful uncertainty passed you have still the whale boat and she at least will take you nigh the shore go into her my boys god bless you god bless you all you've been faithful and honest fellows and i believe he will not yet desert you go my friends while there is a lull the seamen threw themselves in a mass into the light vessel which nearly sank under the unusual burden but when they looked around them barn stable and mary dylan and the coxswain were yet to be seen on the decks of the aerial the former was pacing and deep and perhaps bitter melancholy the wet planks of the schooner while the boy hung unheeded on his arm uttering disregarded petitions to his commander to desert the wreck dylan approached the side where the boat lay again and again but the threatening countenances of the seamen has often drove him back in despair tom had seated himself on the heel of the bow sprit where he continued in an attitude of quiet resignation returning no other answers to the love and repeated calls of his shipmates then by waving his hand towards the shore now hear me said the boy urging his request to tears if not for my sake or for your own sake mr barn stable or for the hope of god's mercy go into the boat for the love of my cousin katharine the young lieutenant paused in his troubled walk and for a moment he cast a glance of hesitation at the cliffs but at the next instant his eyes fell on the ruin of his vessel and he answered never boy never if my hour has come i will not shrink from my fate listen to the men dear sir the boat will be swamped alongside the wreck and their cry is that without you they will not let her go barn stable motion to the boat to bid the boy enter it and turned away in silence well said mary with firmness if it be right that a lieutenant shall stay by the wreck it must also be right for a midshipman chaval neither mr barn stable nor myself will quit the vessel boy your life has been entrusted to my keeping and that my hands will it be required said his commander lifting the struggling youth and tossing him into the arms of the seaman away with ye and god be with you there is more weight in you now than can go safe to land still the seaman hesitated for they perceived the cox of moving with a steady tread along the deck and they hoped he had relented and would yet persuade the lieutenant to join his crew but tom imitating the example of his commander seized the letter suddenly in his powerful grasp and threw him over the bulwarks with an irresistible force at the same moment he cast the fast of the boat from the pin that held it and lifting his broad hands high into the air his voice was heard in the tempest gods will be done with me he cried i saw the first timber of the aerial late and shall live just long enough to see it turn out of her bottom after which i wish to live no longer but his shipmates were swept far beyond the sounds of his voice before half these words were uttered all command of the boat was rendered impossible by the numbers it contained as well as the raging of the surf and as it rose on the white crest of a wave tom saw his beloved little craft for the last time it fell into a trough of the sea and in a few moments more its fragments were ground into splinters on the adjacent rocks the coxswans still remained where he had cast off the rope and beheld the numerous heads and arms that appeared rising at short intervals on the waves some making powerful and well-directed efforts to gain the sands that were becoming visible as the tide fell and others wildly tossed in the frantic movements of helpless despair the honest old seaman gave a cry of joy as he saw barn stable issue from the surf bearing the form of merry in safety to the sands where one by one several seamen soon appeared also dripping and exhausted many others of the crew were carried in a similar manner to places of safety though as tom returned to his seat on the bowsprit he could not conceal from his reluctant eyes the lifeless forms that were in other spots driven against the rocks with a fury that soon left them but few of the outward vestiges of humanity dylan and the coxswain were now the sole occupants of their dreadful station the former stood in a kind of stupid despair a witness of the scene we have related but as his curdle blood began again to float more warmly through his heart he crept close to the side of tom with that sort of selfish feeling that makes even hopeless misery more tolerable when endured in participation with another when the tide falls he said in a voice that portrayed the agony of fear though his words expressed the renewal of hope we shall be able to walk to land there was one and only one to whose feet the waters were the same as a dry dock returned the coxswain and none but such as half his power will ever be able to walk from these rocks to the sands the old semen paused and turning his eyes which exhibited a mingled expression of disgust and compassion on his companion he added with reverence had you thought more of him in fair weather your case would be less to be pitted in this tempest you still think there is much danger ask dylan to them that have reason to fear death listen do you hear the holler noise beneath you tis the wind driving by the vessel tis the poor thing herself said the affected coxswain giving her last groans the waters breaking up her decks and in a few minutes more the handsomest model that ever cut away will be like the chips that fell from her timbers in framing why then did you remain here cried dylan while to die in my coffin if it should be the will of god return tom these waves to me are what the land is to you i was born on them and i've always meant that they should be my grave but i i shriek dylan i'm not ready to die i cannot die i will not die poor rich muttered his companion you must go like the rest of us when the death watch is called none can sculpt from the muster i can swim dylan continued rushing with frantic eagerness to the side of the wreck is there no billet of wood no rope that i can take with me none everything has been cut away or carried off by the sea if you are about to strive for your life take with you a stout heart and a clean conscience and trust the rest to god god echoed dylan in the madness of his frenzy i know no god there is no god that knows me peace of the deep tones of the coxswain in the voice that seemed to speak in the elements blasphemer peace they have a groaning produced by the water in the timbers of the ariel at that moment added its impulse to the raging beatings of dylan and he cast himself headlong into the sea the water thrown by the rolling of the surf on the beach was necessarily returned to the ocean in eddies in different places favorable to such an action of the element into the edge of one of these countercurrents that was produced by the very rocks in which the schooner lay in which the waterman called the undertow dylan had unknowingly thrown his person and when the waves had driven him a short distance from the wreck he was met by a stream that his most desperate efforts could not overcome he was a light and powerful swimmer and the struggle was hard and protracted with the shore immediately before his eyes and at no great distance he was led as by a false phantom to continue his efforts although they did not advance him afoot the old seaman who at first had watched his motions with careless indifference understood the danger of his situation at a glance and forgetful of his own fate he shouted aloud in a voice that was driven over the struggling victim to the ears of his shipmates on the sands sheared a port and cleared the undertow sheared to the south where dylan heard the sounds but his faculties were too much obscured by terror to distinguish their object he however blindly yielded to the call and gradually changed his direction until his face was once more turned towards the vessel the currents swept him diagonally by the rocks and he was forced into an eddy where he had nothing to contend against but the waves whose violence was much broken by the wreck in this state he continued still to struggle but with a force that was too much weakened to overcome the resistance he met tom looked around him for a rope but all had gone over with the spars or been swept away by the waves at this moment of disappointment his eyes met those of the desperate dylan calm and enured to horse as was the veteran seamen he involuntarily passed his hand before his bra to exclude the look of despair he encountered and when a moment afterwards he removed the rigid member he beheld the sinking form of the victim as he gradually settled in the ocean still struggling with regular but impotent strokes of the arms and feet to gain the wreck and to preserve an existence that had been so much abused in its hour of allotted probation he will soon know his god and learn that his god knows him murmured the coxswain to himself and as he yet spoke the wreck of the aerial yielded to an overwhelming sea and after an universal shutter her timbers and planks gave way and were swept towards the cliffs bearing the body of the simple hearted coxswain among the ruins end of chapter 24 chapter 25 of the pilot by james fenimore cooper this liberg vox recording is in the public domain chapter 25 letters think of them that sleep full many a thousand deep by the wild and stormy steep elsinore gamble long and dreary did the hours appear to barn stable before the falling tide had so far receded as to leave the sands entirely exposed to his search for the bodies of his lost shipmates several had been rescued from the wild fury of the waves themselves and one by one as the melancholy conviction that life had ceased was forced on the survivors they had been decently interred in graves dug on the very margin of that element on which they had passed their lives but still the form longest known and most beloved was missing and lieutenant paced the broad space that was now left between the foot of the cliffs and the raging ocean with hurried strides and a feverish eye watching and following those fragments of the wreck that the sea still continued to cast on the beach living and dead he now found that of those who had lately been in the aerial only two were missing of the former he could muster but 12 besides mary and himself and his men had already interred more than half that number of the latter which together embraced all who had trusted their lives to the frail keeping of the whale boat tell me not boy of the impossibility of his being safe said barn stable in deep agitation which he in vain struggled to conceal from the anxious youth who thought it unnecessary to follow the uneasy motions of his commander as he strode along the sands how often have men been found floating on pieces of wreck days after the loss of their vessel and you can see with your own eyes that the falling water has swept the planks this distance I a good half league from where she struck does the lookout from the top of the cliffs make no signal of seeing him yet none sir none we shall never see him again the men say that he always thought it sinful to desert a wreck and that he did not even strike out once for his life though he has been known to swim an hour when a whale has stowed his boat god knows sir added the boy hastily dashing a tear from his eye by a stolen movement of his hand I loved Tom Kaufman better than any foremost man in either vessel you seldom came aboard the frigate but we had him in the steerage among us reefers to hear his long yarns and share our cheer we all loved him mr barn stable but love cannot bring the dead to life again I know it I know it said barn stable with a huskiness in his voice that betrayed the depth of his emotion I'm not so foolish as to believe in impossibilities but while there is a hope of his living I will never abandon poor Tom Kaufman to such a dreadful fate think boy he may at this moment be looking at us and praying to his maker that he return our eyes upon him I praying to his god for Tom often prayed that we did it in his watch standing and in silence if he had clung to life so strongly return the midshipman he would have struggled harder to preserve it barn stable stopped short in his hurried walk and fastened a look of opening conviction on his companion but as he was about to speak in reply the shouts of the seaman reached his ears and turning they saw the whole party running along the beach and motioning with violent gestures to an intermediate point in the ocean the lieutenant and Mary hurried back and as they approached the men they distinctly observed a human figure born along by the waves at moments seeming to rise above them and already floating in the last of the breakers they had hardly ascertained so much when a heavy swell carried the inanimate body far upon the sands where it was left by the retiring waters tits my cocks and quad barn stable rushing to the spot he stopped suddenly however as he came with a view of the features and it was some little time before he appeared to have collected his faculties sufficiently to add in tones of deep horror what wretches this boy his form is unmutilated and yet observe the eyes they seem as if the sockets would not contain them and they gaze as wildly as if their owner yet had life the hands are open and spread as though they would still buffered the waves the Jonah the Jonah shouted the seaman with savage exaltation as they successively approached the corpse away with his carrion into the sea again give him to the sharks let him tell his lies in the cause of the lobsters barn stable had turned away from the revolting sight in disgust but when he discovered these indications of impotent revenge in the remnant of his crew he said in that voice which all respected and still obeyed stand back back with ye fellows would you disgrace your manhood and seamanship by wreaking your vengeance on him whom God has already in judgment a silent but significant gesture towards the earth succeeded his words and he walked slowly away bury him in the sands boy said Mary when his commander was at some little distance the next tide will unearth him the seaman obeyed his orders well that Mitchamon rejoined his commander who continued to pace along the beach occasionally halting to throw his uneasy glances over the water and then hurrying onward at a rate that caused his youthful companion to exert his greatest power to maintain the post he had taken at his side every effort to discover the lost coxswain was however after two hours more search abandoned as fruitless and with reason for the sea was never known to give up the body of the man who might be emphatically called its own dead there goes the sun already dropping behind the cliffs said the lieutenant throwing himself on a rock and the hour will soon arrive to set the dog watches but we have nothing left to watch over boy the serpent rocks have not even left us a whole plank that we may lay our heads on for the night the men have gathered many articles on yon beach sir return the lad they have found arms to defend ourselves with and food to give us strength to use them and who shall be our enemy as barn stable bitterly shall we shoulder our dozen pikes and carry England by boarding we may not lay the whole island under contribution continued the boy anxiously watching the expression of his commander's eye but we may still keep ourselves in work until the cutter returns from the frigate I hope sir you do not think our case so desperate as to intend yielding as prisoners exclaimed the lieutenant no no lead it has not got to that yet England has been able to wreck my craft I must concede but she has as yet obtained no other advantage over us she was a precious model Mary the cleanest run and the neatest entrance that art ever united on that stem and stern of the same vessel do you remember the time yonker when I gave the frigate my top sails and beating out of the chesapeake I could always do it in smooth water with a whole sail breeze but she was a frail thing a frail thing boy and could bear but little a mortar catch would have thumped to pieces where she lay return the midshipman I was asking too much of her to expect she could hold together on a bed of rocks Mary I loved her dearly did I love her she was my first command and I knew and loved every timber and bolt in her beautiful frame I believe it is as natural so for a seamen to love the wooden iron in which he has floated over the depths of the ocean for so many days and nights rejoined the boy as it is for a father to love the members of his own family quite quite I more so said barn stable speaking as if he were choked by emotion Mary felt a heavy grasp of that lieutenant on his slight arm while his commander continued in a voice that gradually increased in power as his feelings predominated and yet boy a human being cannot love the creature of his own formation as he does the works of God a man can never regard his ship as he does his shipmates I sailed with him boy when everything seemed bright and happy as at your age when as he often expressed it I knew nothing and feared nothing I was then a truant from an old father and a kind mother and he did that for me which no parents could have done in my situation he was my father and mother on the deep hours days even months as he passed in teaching me the art of our profession and now in my manhood he has followed me from ship to ship from sea to sea and has only quitted me to die where I should have died as if he felt the disgrace of abandoning the poor aerial to her fate by herself no no no twice his superstitious pride interrupted Mary by perceiving that the head of barn stable had sunk between his hands as if he would conceal his emotion the boy added no more but he sat respectfully watching the display of feeling that his officer in vain endeavored to suppress Mary felt his own form quiver with sympathy at the shuttering which passed through barn stable's ring and the relief experienced by the lieutenant himself was not greater than that which the midshipman felt as the letter beheld large tears forcing their way through the other's fingers and falling on the sands at his feet they were followed by a violent burst of emotion such as his seldom exhibited in the meridian of life but which when it conquers the nature of one who is buffeted the chances of the world with the loftiness of his sex and character breaks down every barrier and seems to sweep before it like a Russian torn all the factitious defenses which habit and education have created to protect the pride of manhood Mary had often beheld the commanding severity of the lieutenant's manner in moments of danger with deep respect he had been drawn towards him by kindness and affection in times of guillotine recklessness but he now set for many minutes profoundly silent regarding his office with sensations that were nearly allied to all the struggle with himself was long and severe in the bosom of barn stable but it linked the calm of relieve passions succeeded to his emotion when he rose from the rock and removed his hands from his features his eye was hard and proud his brow lightly contracted and he spoke in a voice so harsh that it startled his companion come sir why are we here in idle are not young poor fellows looking up to us for advice and orders how to proceed in this exigency away away mr. Mary it is not a time to be drawing figures in the sand with your dirt the flood tide will soon be in and we may be glad to hide our heads in some cavern among these rocks let us be stirring sir while we have the sun and muster enough food and arms to keep life in us and our enemy's office until we can once more get a float the wandering boy whose experience had not taught him to appreciate the reaction of the passion started at this unexpected summons to his duty and followed barn stable towards the group of distant semen the lieutenant who was instantly conscious how far pride had rendered him unjust soon moderated his long strides and continued in mild tones which were quickly converted into his usual frank communications though they still remain tinged with a melancholy that time only could entirely remove we've been unlucky mr. Mary but we need not despair these lads have gotten together abundance of supplies i see and with our arms we can easily make ourselves masters of some of the enemy's smaller craft and find our way back to the frigate when this gale has blown itself out we must keep ourselves close though or we shall have the red coats coming down upon us like so many sharks around a wreck ah god bless her mary there is not such a sight to be seen on the whole beach as two of her planks holding together in the jim and without a birdie to this sudden allusion to their vessel prudently pursued the train of ideas in which his commander had started there is an opening into the country but a short distance south of us where a brook empties into the sea he said we might find a cover in it or in the wood above into which it leads until we can have a survey of the coast or can seize some vessel to carry us all there would be a satisfaction in waiting to the morning watch and then carrying that accursed battery which took off the better leg of the poor aerial said the lieutenant the thing might be done boy and we could hold the work to until the alacrity and the frigate draw into land if you prefer storming works to boarding vessels there is a fortress of stone mr barn stable which lies directly on our beam i could see it through the haze when i was on the cliff stationing the lookout and and what boy speak without a fear this is a time for free consultation why sir the gyrson might not all be hostile we should liberate mr griffith and the marines besides besides what sir i should have an opportunity perhaps of seeing my cousin says see my cousin kathlin the countenance of barn stable goo animated as he listened and he answered with something of his usual cheerful manner i that indeed would be a work worth carrying and the rescuing of our shipmates and the marines would read like a thing of military discretion ah boy all the rest would be incidental yonker like the capture of the fleet after you have whipped the convoy i do suppose sir that if the abbey be taken colonel howard will own himself a prisoner of war and colonel howards wards now there is good sense in this scheme of mine master mary and i will give it proper reflection but here are our poor fellows speak cheerily to them so that we may hold them in temper for our enterprise barn stable in the midshipmen joint their shipwrecked companions with that air of authority which is seldom wanting between the superior and the inferior in nautical intercourse but at the same time with the kindness of speech and looks that might have been a little increased by their critical situation after partaking of the food which have been selected from among the fragments that still lay scattered for more than a mile along the beach the lieutenant directed the seaman to arm themselves with such weapons as offered and also to make sufficient provision from the schooner stores to last them for four and twenty hours longer these orders were soon executed and the whole party led by barn stable and mary proceeded along the foot of the cliffs in quest of the opening in the rocks through which the little rivulet found a passage to the ocean the weather contributed as much as the seclusion of the spot to prevent any discovery of the small party which pursued its object with a disregard of caution that might under other circumstances have proved fatal to its safety barn stable paused in his march when they had all entered the deep ravine and ascended nearly to the brow of the precipice that formed one of its sides to take a last and more scrutinizing survey of the sea his countenance exhibited the abandonment of all hope as his eye moved slowly from the northern to the southern boundary of the horizon and he prepared to pursue his march by moving reluctantly up the stream when the boy who still clung to his side exclaimed joyously sail hoe it must be the frigate in the offering a sail repeated his commander where away do you see a sail in this tempest can there be another as hardy and unfortunate as ourselves look to the starboard hand of the point of rock to winward cried the boy now you lose it ah now the sun falls upon it is a sail sir as sure as canvats can be spread in such a gale i see what you mean returned the other but it seems a gall skimming the sea nay now it rises indeed and shows itself like a belling top sail pass up that glass lads here is a fellow in the offering who may prove a friend mary waited the result of the lieutenant's examination with youthful impatience and did not fail to ask immediately can you make it out sir is it the ship with the cutter come there seem with yet some hope left for us boy returned barn stable closing the glass does that ship line to under her main top sail if one might but dare to show himself on these heights he would raise her hull and make sure of her character but i think i know her spars though even her top sail dips at times when there was nothing to be seen by her bare poles and they shortened by her top gallant masts one would swear said mary laughing as much through the excitement produced by this intelligence as at his conceit they captain munson would never carry would aloft when he can't carry canvas i remember one night mr griffith was a little vexed and sit around the cap stand he believed the next order would be to rig in the bowsprit and house lower mass i i griffith is a lazy dog and sometimes gets lost in the fogs of his own thoughts at barn stable and i suppose old moderate was in a breeze however this looks as if he were in earnest he must have kept the ship away or she would never have been where she is i do barely believe the old gentleman remembers that he has a few of his officers a min on this accursed island this is well mary for should we take the abbey we have a place at hand in which to put up prisoners we must have patience till the morning added the boy for no boat would attempt to land in such a sea no boat could land the best boat that ever floated boy has sunk in these breakers but the wind lessons and before morning the sea will fall let us on and find a birth for our poor lads where they can be made more comfortable the two officers now descended from their elevation and led the way still farther up the deep and narrow dell until as the ground rose gradually before them they found themselves in a dense wood on a level with the adjacent country here should be a ruin at hand if i have a true reckoning and know my courses and distances said barn stable have a chart about me that speaks of such a landmark the lieutenant turned away from the laughing expression of the boy's eye as the latter archly inquired was it made by one who knows the coast well sir or was it done by some schoolboy to learn his maps as the girls work samplers come yalker no sampler of your impudence but look ahead can you see any habitation that has been deserted aye sir here is a pile of stones before us that looks as dirty and ragged as if it was a soldier's barrack can this be what you see faith this has been a whole town in its day we should call it a city in america in partnership with a mayor alderman named recorder you might stow old vanuja hall in one of its lockers with this sort of careless dialogue which barn stable engaged in that is men might discover no alteration in his manner they approached the motoring walls that had proved so frail of protection to the party under griffith a short time was passed in examining the premises when the weary seaman took possession of one of the dilapidated apartments and disposed themselves to seek that rest of which they have been deprived by the momentous occurrences of the past night barn stable waited until the loud breathing of the seaman assured him that they slept when he aroused the drowsy boy who was fast losing his senses in the same sort of oblivion and motioned him to follow mary arouse and they stole together from the apartment with guarded steps and penetrated more deeply into the gloomy recesses of the place into chapter 25