 Preface of the pilot. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. Preface. It is probable a true history of human events would show that a far larger proportion of our acts are the results of sudden impulses and accident than of that reason of which we so much boast. However true or false, this opinion may be in more important matters. It is certainly and strictly correct as relates to the conception and execution of this book. The pilot was published in 1823. This was not long after the appearance of the pirate, a work which it is hardly necessary to remind the reader has a direct connection with the sea. In a conversation with a friend, a man of polished taste and extensive reading, the authorship of the Scottish novels came under discussion. The claims of Sir Walter were a little distrusted on account of the peculiar and minute information that the romances were then very generally thought to display. The pirate was cited as a very marked instance of this universal knowledge and it was wondered where a man of Scots habits and associations could have become so familiar with the sea. The writer had frequently observed that there was much looseness in this universal knowledge and that the secret of its success was to be traced to the power of creating that resemblance, which is so remarkably exhibited in those world renowned fictions rather than to any very accurate information on the part of their author. It would have been hypercritical to object to the pirate that it was not strictly nautical or true in its details, but when the reverse was urged as a proof of what considering the character of other portions of the work would have been most extraordinary attainments. It was a sort of provocation to dispute the seamanship of the pirate, a quality to which the book has certainly very little just pretension. The result of this conversation was a sudden determination to produce a work which, if it had no other merit, might present truer pictures of the ocean and ships than any that are to be found in the pirate. To this unpremeditated decision, purely an impulse, is not only the pilot due but a tolerably numerous school of nautical romances that have succeeded it. The author had many misgivings concerning the success of the undertaking after he had made some progress in the work, the opinions of his different friends being anything but encouraging. One would declare that the sea could not be made interesting, that it was tame, monotonous, and without any other movement than unpleasant storms and that for his part, the less he got of it, the better. The women very generally protested that such a book would have the odor of bilge water and that it would give them the maladida mare. Not a single individual among all those who discussed the merits of the project within the range of the author's knowledge either spoke or looked encouragingly. It is probable that all these persons anticipated a signal failure. So very discouraging did these ominous opinions get to be that the writer was once or twice tempted to throw his manuscript aside and turn to something new. A favorable opinion, however, coming from a very unexpected quarter, put a new face on the matter and raised new hopes. Among the intimate friends of the writer was an Englishman who possessed most of the peculiar qualities of the educated of his country. He was learned even how to taste that was so just as always to command respect but was prejudiced and particularly so in all that related to this country and its literature. He could never be persuaded to admire Brian's waterfowl and this mainly because if it were accepted as good poetry, it must be placed at once amongst the finest fugitive pieces of the language. Of the Thanatopsis he thought better, though inclined to suspect it of being a plagiarism. To the tender mercies of this one-sided critic who had never affected to compliment the previous works of the author, the sheets of a volume of the pilot were committed with scarce an expectation of his liking them. The reverse proved to be the case. He expressed himself highly gratified and predicted a success for the book which it probably never attained. Thus encouraged, one more experiment was made, a semen being selected for the critic. A kinsman, a namesake and an old messmate of the author, one now in command on a foreign station was chosen and a considerable portion of the first volume was read to him. There is no wish to conceal the satisfaction with which the effect on this listener was observed. He treated the whole matter as fact and his criticisms were strictly professional and perfectly just, but the interest he betrayed could not be mistaken. It gave a perfect and most gratifying assurance that the work would be more likely to find favor with nautical men than with any other class of readers. The pilot could scarcely be a favorite with females. The story has little interest for them, nor was it much heated by the author of the book in the progress of his labors. His aim was to illustrate vessels and the ocean rather than to draw any pictures of sentiment and love. In this last respect, the book has small claims on the reader's attention. Though it is hoped that the story has sufficient interest to relieve the more strictly nautical features of the work, it would be affectation to deny that the pilot met with the most unlooked for success. The novelty of the design probably contributed a large share of this result. Perhaps in some small degree an interest has been awakened in behalf of a very numerous and what has hitherto been a sort of proscribed class of men that may directly tend to amelioration of their condition. It is easy to make the public comprehend all the necessities of a service afloat with several hundred rude beings confined within the narrow limits of a vesselmen of all nations and of the lowest habits. It would be to the last degree in discreet to commence their reformation by relaxing the bonds of discipline under the mistaken impulses of a false philanthropy. It has a lofty sound to be sure to talk about American citizens being too good to be brought under the latch upon the high seas. But he must have a very mistaken notion who does not see that tens of thousands of these pretending persons on shore even would be greatly benefited by a little judicious flogging. It is the judgment in administering and not the mode of punishment that requires to be looked into and in this respect there has certainly been a great improvement of late years. It is seldom indeed that any institution practice or system is improved by the blind interference of those who know nothing about it. Better would it be to trust to the experience of those who have long governed turbulent men than to the impulsive experiments of those who rarely regard more than one side of a question in that the most showy and glittering having quite half of the time some selfish personal and to answer. There is an uneasy desire among a vast many well-disposed persons to get the fruits of the Christian faith without troubling themselves about the faith itself. This is done under the sanction of peace societies, temperance and moral reform societies in which the end is too often mistaken for the means. When the Almighty sent his son on earth, it was to point out the way in which all this was to be brought about by means of the church. But men have so frittered away that body of divine organization through their divisions and subdivisions all arising from human conceit that it is no longer regarded as the agency it was so obviously intended to be. And various contrivances are to be employed as substitutes for that which proceeded directly from the Son of God. Among the efforts of the day, however, there is one connected with the moral improvement of the sailor that commands our profound respect cut off from most of the charities of life for so large a portion of his time, deprived altogether of association with the gentler and better portions of the other sex and living a man in a degree proscribed amid the many signs of advancement that distinguished the age. It was time that he should be remembered and singled out and become the subject of combined and Christian philanthropy. There is much reason to believe that the effort now making in the right direction and under proper auspices will be successful and that it will cause the lash to be laid aside in the best and most rational manner by rendering its use unnecessary. Cooper's Town, August 20, 1829. End of preface. Chapter one of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter one. Southern waves incessant rolling rudely dashed against her sides. A single glance at the map will make the reader acquainted with the position of the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain as connected with the shores of the opposite continent. Together they formed the boundaries of the small sea that has for ages been known to the world as the scene of maritime exploits. And as the Great Avenue through which commerce and war have conducted the fleets of the northern nations of Europe. Over the sea the islanders long asserted a jurisdiction exceeding that which reason concedes to any power on the highway of nations and which frequently led to conflicts that caused an expenditure of blood and treasure utterly disproportioned to the advantages that can ever arise from the maintenance of a useless and abstract right. It is across the waters of this disputed ocean that we shall attempt to conduct our readers selecting a period for our incidents that has a peculiar interest for every American, not only because it was the birthday of his nation, but because it was also the era when reason and common sense began to take the place of custom and feudal practices in the management of the affairs of nations. Soon after the events of the revolution had involved the kingdoms of France and Spain and the republics of Holland in our quarrel, a group of laborers was collected in a field that lay exposed to the winds of the ocean on the northeastern coast of England. These men were lightning their toil and cheering the gloom of a day in December by uttering their crude opinions on the political aspects of the times. The fact that England was engaged in a war with some of her dependencies on the other side of the Atlantic had long been known to them after the manner that faint rumors of distant and uninteresting events gained on the ear. But now that nations with whom she had been used to battle were armed against her in the quarrel, the den of war had disturbed the quiet even of the secluded and illiterate rustics. The principal speakers on the occasion were a scotch drover who was waiting the leisure of the occupant of the fields and an Irish laborer who had found his way across the channel and thus far over the island in quest of employment. The niggers wouldn't have been a job at all for old England, letting alone Ireland, said the latter, if these French and Spanishers hadn't been troubling themselves in the matter. I'm sure it's but little reason I have for thanking them if a man is too caped as sober as a praise that mass for fear he should find himself a soldier and he knowing nothing about the same. Who'd mind ye can but little of raising an army in Ireland if ye macadrama ya whiskey keg, said the drover winking to the listeners, knew in the North Bay car a gathering of the folk and father of the pipes as graciously as ye wide journey. Kirkward O. R. Sabbath Morn. I've seen of the names of a healing regiment on a small bit paper that ye might cover with a lader's hand. The war of Cameroons and McDonald's though they paraded sacs hundred men, but what have ye gotten here? That shield has an hour liking to the land for a seafaring body, and if the bottom of the sea be on a thing like the top of it, he's in great danger of a shipwreck. This unexpected change in the discourse drew all eyes on the object toward which the staff of the observant drover was pointed. To the utter amazement of every individual present, a small vessel was seen moving slowly round the point of land that formed one of the sides of the little bay to which the field the labors were in composed the other. There was something very peculiar in the externals of this unusual visitor, which added in no small degree to the surprise created by her appearance in that retired place. None but the smallest vessels, and those rarely, or at long intervals a desperate smuggler were ever known to ventures so close to the land amid the sandbars and sunken rocks with which that immediate coast abounded. The adventurous mariners who now attempted this dangerous navigation in so wanton and apparently so heedless a manner were in a low black schooner whose hull seemed utterly disproportion to the raking masts. It upheld which in their turn supported a lighter set of spars that tapered away until their upper extremities appeared no larger than the lazy pennant that in vain endeavored to display its length in the light breeze. A short day of that high northern latitude was already drawing to a close, and the sun was throwing its parting rays obliquely across the waters, touching the gloomy waves here and there with streaks of pale light. The stormy winds of the German ocean were apparently lulled to rest, and though the incessant rolling of the surge on the shore heightened, the gloomy character of the hour and the view the light ripple that ruffled the sleeping billows was produced by a gentle air that blew directly from the land. Notwithstanding this favorable circumstance, there was something threatening in the aspect of the ocean which was speaking in hollow but deep murmurs like a volcano on the eve of an eruption that greatly heightened the feelings of amazement and dread with which the peasants beheld this extraordinary interruption to the quiet of their little bay. With no other sail spread to the action of the air than her heavy main sail and one of those light jibs that projected far beyond her boughs, the vessel glided over the water with a grace and facility that seemed magical to the beholders who turned their wandering looks from the schooner to each other in silent amazement. At length the drover spoke in a low, solemn voice. He's a bold shield that steers her, and if that bitcraft has wood in her bottom like the brigandines that ply between London and the frith at least, he's in mere danger than a prudent man could wish. He's by the big rock that shows his head when the tide runs low, but it's no mortal man who can steer long in the road he's journeying and not speedily find land with water atop it. The little schooner however still held her way among the rocks and sand pits making such slight deviations in her course has proved her to be under the direction of one who knew his danger until she entered as far into the bay as prudence could at all justify. When her canvas was gathered into folds seemingly without the agency of hands and the vessel after rolling for a few minutes on the long billows that hoeve in from the ocean swung round in the currents of the tide and was held by her anchor. The peasants now began to make their conjectures more freely concerning the character and object of their visitor, some intimating that she was engaged in contraband trade and others that her views were hostile and her business war. A few dark hints were hazarded on the materiality of her construction for nothing of artificial formation it was urged would be ventured by men in such a dangerous place at a time when even the most inexperienced landsmen was unable to foretell the certain gale. The Scotchman who to all the sagacity of his countrymen added no small portion of their superstition leaned greatly to the latter conclusion and had begun to express the sentiment rarely with reverence when the child of Aaron who appeared not to possess any very definite ideas on the subject interrupted him by exclaiming, Faith there's two of them a big and a little sure the boggles of the say likes good company the same as any other Christians. Tway echoed the drover Tway ill luck bides a summer ye Tway craft is sailing without hand to guide them in sicker places this war eyesight is nay good enough to show the dangers both evil to that week there on who she's not yearling the tither. The week my week she's a gallant boat and a grat he paused raised his pack from the ground and first giving one searching look at the objects of his suspicions. He nodded with great sagacity to the listeners and continued as he moved slowly towards the interior of the country. I should not wonder if she carried King George's commission about her. We will have will journey upward to the town and higher crack we are the good man for they craft have a suspicious aspect and the small bit thing will not a month quite easy and the big game would hold us and no feel we were in her. This sagacious warning caused a general movement in the party for the intelligence of a hot press was among the rumors of the times the husband and collected their implements of labor and retired homewards. Though many are curious I was bent on the movements of the vessels from the distant hills the very few of those not immediately interested in the mysterious visitors ventured to approach the little rocky cliffs that lined the bay. The vessel that occasion these cautious movements was a gallant ship whose huge hall lofty mass and square yards loomed in the evening's haze above the sea like a distant mountain rising from the deep. She carried but little sail and though she rarely avoided the near approach to the land that the schooner had attempted the similarity of their movements was sufficiently apparent to warrant the conjecture that they were employed on the same duty. The frigate for the ship along to this class of vessels floated across the entrance of the little bay majestically in the tide with barely enough motion through the water to govern her movements until she arrived opposite to the place where her consort lay when she hove up heavily into the wind squared the enormous yards on her main mast and attempted in counteracting the power of her sails by each other to remain stationary. But the light air that had known time swelled her heavy canvas to the utmost began to fail and the long waves that rolled in from the ocean cease to be ruffled with the breeze from the land. The currents and the billows were fast sweeping the frigate towards one of the points of the estuary where the black heads of the rocks could be seen running far into the sea. And in their turn the mariners of the ship dropped an anchor to the bottom and drew her sails in festoons to the yards. As the vessel swung round to the tide, a heavy ensign was raised to her peak and a current of air opening for a moment its folds the white field and red cross that distinguished the flag of England were displayed to view. So much even the wary drover had loitered at a distance to behold but when a boat was launched from either vessel he quickened his steps observing to his wandering and amused companions that they craft were at the gither mere Bonnie to look on then to abide with. A numerous crew manned the barge that was lowered from the frigate which after receiving an officer with an attendant youth left the ship and moved with a measured stroke of its oars directly towards the head of the bay. As it passed at a short distance from the schooner a light whale boat pulled by four athletic men shot from her side and rather dancing over than cutting through the waves crossed her course with a wonderful velocity. As the boats approached each other the men in obedience to signals from their officers suspended their efforts and for a few minutes they floated at rest during which time there was the following dialogue. Is the old man mad exclaimed the young officer in the whale boat when his men had seized rowing does he think that the bottom of the aerial is made of iron and that a rock can't knock a hole in it or does he think she is manned with alligators who can't be drowned. A languid smile played for a moment round the handsome features of the young man who was rather reclining than sitting in the stern sheets of the barge as he replied he knows your prudence too well Captain Barnstable to fear either the wreck of your vessel or the drowning of her crew. How near the bottom does your keel lie I'm afraid to sound return Barnstable I've never the heart to touch a lead line when I see the rocks coming up to breathe like so many purposes you are afloat exclaim the other with the vehemence that denoted an abundance of latent fire afloat echoed his friend I the little aerial would float in air. As he spoke he rose in the boat and lifting his leavened sea cap from his head stroked back the thick clusters of black locks which shattered his sunburnt countenance while he viewed his little vessel with the complacency of a seaman who was proud of her qualities. But as close work Mr. Griffith when a man rides to a single anchor in a place like this and at such a nightfall what are the orders I shall pull into the surf and let go a grapple you will take Mr. Mary into your railroad and try to drive her through the breakers on the beach. Beach retorted Barnstable do you call a perpendicular rock of a hundred feet in height a beach we shall not dispute about terms said Griffith smiling but you must manage to get on the shore we have seen the signal from the land and know that the pilot whom we have so long expected is ready to come off. Barnstable shook his head with a grave air as he muttered to himself this is droll navigation first we run into an unfrequented bay that is full of rocks and sand pits and shoals and then we get off our pilot but how am I to know him. Mary will give you the password and tell you where to look for him. I would land myself of my orders forbidden. If you meet with difficulty show three or blades in a row and I will pull into your assistance. Three oars on end and a pistol will bring the fire of my muskets and the signal repeated from the barge will draw a shot from the ship. I thank you I thank you said barnstable carelessly. I believe I can fight my own battles against all the enemies we are likely to fall in with on this coast. But the old man is surely mad. I would you would obey his orders if he were here and you will now please do obey mine said Griffith in a tone that the friendly expression of his eye contradicted. Pull in and keep a lookout for a small man in a drab peak jacket. Mary will give you the word if he answered bring him off to the barge. The young men now nodded familiarly and kindly to each other and the boy who was called Mr. Mary having changed his place from the barge to the whale boat barn stable through himself into his seat and making a signal with his hand is men again then to their oars. The light vessel shot away from her companion and dashed in boldly towards the rocks after skirting the shore for some distance in quest of a favorable place. She was suddenly turned and dashing over the broken waves was run upon a spot where a landing could be affected in safety. In the meantime, the barge followed these movements at some distance with a more measured progress and when the whale boat was observed to be drawn up alongside a rock. The promise grapple was cast into the water and her crew deliberately proceeded to get their firearms in a state for immediate service. Everything appeared to be done in obedience to strict orders that must have been previously communicated for the young man who has been introduced to the reader by the name of Griffith seldom spoke and then only in the pithy expressions that are apt to fall from those who are sure of obedience. When the boat had brought up to her grapple he sunk back at his length on the cushioned seats of the barge and drawing his hat over his eyes in a listless manner he continued for many minutes apparently absorbed in thoughts altogether foreign to his present situation. Occasionally he rose and would first bend his looks in quest of his companions on the shore and then turning his expressive eyes toward the ocean. The abstracted and vacant air that so often usurped the place of animation and intelligence in his countenance would give place to the anxious and intelligent look of a seaman gifted with an experience beyond his years. His weather-beaten and hearty crew having made their dispositions for offense sat in profound silence with their hands thrust into the bosoms of their jackets but with their eyes earnestly regarding every cloud that was gathering in the threatening atmosphere and exchanging looks of deep care whenever the boat rose higher than usual on one of those long heavy ground swells that were heaving in from the ocean with increasing rapidity and magnitude. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of The Pilot by James Fenimore Cooper This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 2 A horseman's coat shall hide thy taper shape and comeliness of side and with a bolder stride and looser air mingled with men a man thou must appear. In the whaleboat obtained the position we have described, the young lieutenant, who in consequence of commanding a schooner, was usually addressed by the title of captain, stepped on the rocks, followed by the youthful med shipment, who had quitted the barge to aid in the hazardous duty of their expedition. This is at best but at Jacob's ladder we have to climb, said Barnstable, casting his eyes upward at the difficult ascent, and it's by no means certain that we shall be well received when we get up even though we should reach the top. We are under the guns of the frigate, return the boy, and you remember, sir, three warblades and a pistol repeated from the barge will draw her fire. Yes, on our own heads, boy, never be so foolish as to trust a long shot. It makes a great smoke and some noise, but it's a terrible, uncertain manner of throwing old iron about. In such a business as this I would sooner trust Tom Coffin and his harpoon to back me than the best broadside that ever rattled out of the three decks of a ninety-gun ship. Come gather your limbs together and try if you can walk on terra firma, Master Coffin. The seaman who was addressed by this dire appellation arose slowly from the place where he was stationed as coxswain of the boat and seemed to ascend high in air by the gradual evolution of numberless folds in his body. When erect he stood nearly six feet and as many inches in his shoes though when elevated in his perpendicular attitude there was a forward inclination about his head and shoulders that appeared to be the consequence of habitual confinement in limited lodgings. His whole frame was destitute of the rounded outlines of a well-formed man, though his enormous hands furnished a display of bones and sinews which gave indication of gigantic strength. On his head he wore a little low brown hat of wool with an arched top that threw an expression of peculiar solemnity and hardness over his hard visage, the sharp prominent features of which were completely encircled by a set of black whiskers that began to be grizzled a little with age. One of his hands grasped with a sort of instinct the staff of a bright harpoon, the lower end of which he placed firmly on the rock. As in obedience to the order of his commander he left the place where considering his vast dimensions he had been established in an incredibly small space. As soon as Captain Barnstable received this addition to his strength he gave a few precautionary orders to the men in the boat and proceeded to the difficult task of ascending the rocks, notwithstanding the great daring and personal agility of Barnstable he would have been completely baffled in this attempt, but for the assistance he occasionally received from his coxswain, whose prodigious strength and great length of limbs enabled him to make exertions which it would have been useless for most men to attempt. When within a few feet of the summit they availed themselves of a projecting rock to pause for consultation and breath, both of which seemed necessary for their further movements. This will be but a bad place for retreat if we should happen to fall in with enemies, said Barnstable, where are we to look for this pilot, Mr. Mary, or how are we to know him, and what certainty have you that he will not betray us? The question you are to put to him is written on this bit of paper, return the boy as he handed the other the word of recognition. We made the signal on the point of the rock that young Headland, but as he must have seen our boat he will follow us to this place. As to his betraying us he seems to have the confidence of Captain Munson who has kept a bright look out for him ever since we made the land. I, metter the Lieutenant, and I shall have a bright look out kept on him. Now we are on the land. I like not this business of hugging the shore so closely nor have I much faith in any traitor, but thank you of it, Master Kaufman. The hearty old seamen thus addressed turned his grave visage on his commander and replied with a becoming gravity. Give me a plenty of sea room and good canvas where there is no occasion for pilots at all, sir. For my part I was born on board a Chebacco man and never could see the use of more land than now and then a small island to raise a few vegetables and to dry your fish. I'm sure the sight of it always makes me feel uncomfortable unless we have the wind dead offshore. Ah, Tom, you are a sensible fellow, said Barnstable with an air, half comic, half serious, but we must be moving. The sun is just touching those clouds due seaward and God keep us from riding out this night at anchor in such a place as this. Laying his hand on a projection of the rock above him, Barnstable swung himself forward and following this movement with a desperate leap or two, he stood at once on the brow of the cliff. His coxswain very deliberately raised the midshipman after his officer and proceeding with more caution but less exertion, he soon placed himself by his side. When they reached the level land, that lay above the cliffs and began to inquire with curious and wary eyes into the surrounding scenery, the adventurers discovered a cultivated country divided in the usual manner by hedges and walls. Only one habitation for man, however, and that a small, dilapidated cottage, stood within a mile of them most of the dwellings being placed as far as convenience would permit from the fogs and dams of the ocean. Here seems to be neither anything to apprehend nor the object of our search, said Barnstable, when he had taken the whole view in his survey, I fear we have landed to no purpose, Mr. Mary. What say you, long Tom, see you what we want? I see no pilot, sir, return the coxswain, but it's an ill wind that blows luck to nobody. There is a mouthful of fresh meat stowed away under that row of bushes that would make a double ration to all hands in the aerial. The midshipman laughed as he pointed out to Barnstable the object of the coxswain's solicitude, which proved to be a fat ox quietly ruminating under a hedge near them. There's many a hungry fellow aboard of us, said the boy merrily, who would be glad to second long Tom's motion if the time and business would permit us to slay the animal. It is but a lover's blow, Mr. Mary returned the coxswain without a muscle of his hard face yielding as he struck the end of his harpoon violently against the earth and then made a motion toward poising the weapon. Let Captain Barnstable but say the word and I'll drive the iron through him to the quick. I've sent it to the seizing in many a whale that hadn't a jacket of such blubber as that fellow wears. For sure you are not on a wailing voyage where everything that offers is gain, said Barnstable, turning himself pettishly away from the beast as if he distrusted his own forbearance. But stand fast, I see someone approaching behind the hedge. Look to your arms, Mr. Mary, the first thing we hear may be a shot. Not from that cruiser, cried the thoughtless lad, he is a yonker like myself and would hardly dare run down upon such a formidable force as we muster. You say true, boy, return Barnstable, relinquishing the grasp he held on his pistol. He comes on with caution as if afraid. He is small and is in drab, though I should hardly call it a pea jacket, and yet he may be our man. Stand you both here while I go and hail him. As Barnstable walked rapidly towards the hedge that in part concealed the stranger, the latter stopped suddenly and seemed to be in doubt whether to advance or to retreat. Before he had decided on either, the active sailor was within a few feet of him. Pray, sir, said Barnstable, what water have we in this bay? The slight form of the stranger started with an extraordinary emotion at this question, and he shrunk aside involuntarily as if to conceal his features before he answered in a voice that was barely audible. I should think it would be the water of the German ocean. Indeed, you must have passed no small part of your short life in the study of geography to be so well informed. Return the lieutenant, perhaps, sir, your cunning is also equal to telling me how long we shall sojourn together if I make you a prisoner in order to enjoy the benefit of your wit. To this alarming intimation, the youth who was addressed made no reply, but as he averted his face and concealed it with both his hands, the offended semen believing that a salutary impression had been made upon the fears of his auditor was about to proceed with his interrogatories. The singular agitation of the stranger's frame, however, caused the lieutenant to continue silent a few moments longer when, to his utter amazement, he discovered that what he had mistaken for alarm was produced by an endeavor on the part of the youth to suppress a violent fit of laughter. Now, by all the wails in the sea clad barn stable, but you are merry out of season, young gentlemen, it's quite bad enough to be ordered to anchor in such a bay as this with a storm brewing before my eyes without landing to be laughed at by a stripling who has not strength to carry a beard if he had one when I ought to be getting on, offing for the safety of both body and soul. But I'll know more of you and your jokes if I take you into my own mess and am giggled out of my sleep for the rest of the cruise. As the commander of the schooner concluded, he approached the stranger with an air of offering some violence, but the other shrank back from his extended arm and exclaimed with a voice in which real terror had gotten the better of Merth. Barn stable, dear barn stable, would you harm me? The sailor recoiled several feet at this unexpected appeal, and rubbing his eyes he threw the cap from his head before he cried, what do I hear and what do I see? There lies the aerial and yonder is the frigate. Can this be Catherine Plowden? His doubts, if any doubts remained, were soon removed, for the stranger sank on the bank at her side in an attitude in which female bashfulness was beautifully contrasted with her attire and gave vent to her Merth in an uncontrollable burst of merriment. From that moment all thoughts of his duty and the pilot, or even of the aerial, appeared to be banished from the mind of the seamen who sprang to her side and joined in her Merth, though he hardly knew why or wherefore. When the diverted girl had in some degree recovered her composure, she turned to her companion, who had sat good-naturedly by her side, content to be laughed at, and said, but this is not only silly, but cruel to others. I owe you an explanation of my unexpected appearance, and perhaps also of my extraordinary attire. I can anticipate everything, cried Barnstable. You heard that we were on the coast and have flown to redeem the promises you made me in America. But I ask no more that Chaplain of the Frigate may preach as usual and to his little purpose interrupt the disguised female, but no nuptial benediction shall be pronounced over me until I have affected the object of this hazardous experiment. You are not usually selfish, Barnstable, would you have me forgetful of the happiness of others? Of whom do you speak? My poor, my devoted cousin. I heard that two vessels answering the description of the frigate and the aerial were seen hovering on the coast, and I determined it was to have a communication with you. I have followed your movements for a week in this dress, but have been unsuccessful till now. Today I observed you to approach nearer to the sure than usual, and happily by being adventurous, I have been successful. I, God knows we are near enough to the land, but does Captain Munson know of your wish to get on board his ship? Certainly not. None know of it but yourself. I thought that if Griffith and you could learn our situation, you might be tempted to hazard a little to redeem us from our thralldom. In this paper I have prepared such an account as will I trust, excite all your chivalry, and by which you may govern your movements. Our movements interrupted Barnstable. You will pilot us in person. Then there's two of them, set a horse voice near them. The alarmed female shrieked as she recovered her feet, but she still adhered with instinctive dependence through the side of her lover. Barnstable, who recognized the tones of his coxswain, bent an angry brow on the sober visage that was peering at them above the hedge and demanded the meaning of the interruption. Seeing you were hauled down, sir, not knowing but the chase might lead you ashore, Mr. Mary thought it best to have a lookout kept. I told him that you were overhauling the mailbags of the messenger for the news, but as he was in office, sir, and I, nothing but a common hand, I did as he ordered. Return, sir, where I commanded you to remain, said Barnstable, and desired Mr. Mary to wait my pleasure. The coxswain gave the usual reply of an obedient seamen, but before he left the hedge, he stretched out one of his brawny arms towards the ocean and set in tones of solemnity suited to his apprehensions and character. I showed you how to not a reef point and pass a gasket, Captain Barnstable, nor do I believe you could even take two half-hitches when you first came aboard of the Spalma City. These be things that a man has soon expert in, but it takes the time of his natural life to alarm to know the weather. There be streaked wind galls in the offing that speak as plainly to all that see them, and know God's language in the clouds as ever you spoke through a trumpet to shorten sail. Besides, sir, don't you hear the sea moaning as if it knew the hour was at hand when it was to wake up from its sleep? I, Tom, returned his officer, walking to the edge of the cliffs and throwing a seamen's glance at the gloomy ocean. It is a threatening night indeed, but this pilot must be had, and is that the man interrupted the coxswain pointing toward a man who was standing not far from them? An attentive observer of their proceedings, the same time that he was narrowly watched himself by the young midshipman. God send that he knows his trade well for the bottom of a ship will need eyes to find its road out of this wild anchorage. That must indeed be the man exclaimed barn stable. At once recalled to his duty he then held a short dialogue with his female companion whom he left concealed by the hedge and proceeded to address the stranger. When near enough to be heard the commander of the schooner demanded, what water have you in this bay? The stranger who seemed to expect this question answered without the least hesitation enough to take all out in safety who have entered with confidence. You are the man I seek, cried barn stable, are you ready to go off? Both ready and willing return the pilot, and there is need of haste I would give the best hundred guineas that ever were coined for two hours more use of that sun which has left us or for even the time of this fading twilight. Thank you our situation so bad, said the lieutenant, follow this gentleman to the boat then I will join you by the time you can descend the cliffs. I believe I can prevail on another hand to go off with us. Time is more precious now than any number of hands, said the pilot, throwing a glance of impatience from under his lowering brows and the consequences of delay must be visited on those who occasion it. And, sir, I will meet the consequences with those who have a right to inquire into my conduct, said barn stable, heartily. With his warning and retort they separated the young officer retracing his steps impatiently toward his mistress, muttering his indignation in suppressed execrations and the pilot drawing the leather belt of his P-jacket mechanically around his body as he followed the midshipman and coxswain to their boat in moody silence. Barn stable found the disguised female who had announced herself as Catherine plowed him, awaiting his return with intense anxiety depicted on every feature of her intelligent countenance. As he felt all the responsibility of his situation notwithstanding his cool reply to the pilot, the young man hastily drew an arm of the apparent boy forgetful of her disguise through his own and led her forward. Come, Catherine, he said, the time urges to be prompt. What pressing necessity is there for immediate departure? She inquired, checking his movements by withdrawing herself from his side. You heard the ominous prognostic of my coxswain on the weather and I am forced to add my own testimony to his opinion. It is a crazy night that threatens us, though I cannot repent of coming into the bay since it has led to this interview. God forbid that we, should either of us, have cause to repent of it, said Catherine, the paleness of anxiety chasing away the rich bloom that had mantled the animated face of the brunette, but you have the paper follow its directions and come to our rescue. You will find us willing captives if Griffith and yourself are our conquerors. What mean you, Catherine, exclaimed her lover, you at least are now in safety. It would be madness to tempt your fate again. My vessel cannon shall protect you until your cousin is redeemed and then remember I have a claim on you for life. And how would you dispose of me in the interval, said the young maiden, retreating slowly from his advances in the aerial by heaven you shall be her commander. I will bear that rank only in name. I thank you, thank you, Barnstable, but distrust my abilities to fill such a station, she said, laughing, though the color that again crossed her youthful features was like the glow of a summer sunset and even her mirthful eyes seemed to reflect their tints. Do not mistake me, saucy one, if I've done more than my sexual warrant remember it was through a holy motive and if I have more than a woman's enterprise it must be to lift you above the weakness of your sex, he cried, and to enable you to show your noble confidence in me, to fit me for and to keep me worthy of being one day your wife. As she uttered these words she turned and disappeared with a rapidity that eluded his attempts to detain her behind an angle of the hedge that was near them. For a moment Barnstable remained motionless through surprise and when he sprang forward and pursued he was able only to catch a glimpse of her light form in the gloom of the evening as she again vanished in a little thicket at some distance. Barnstable was about to pursue when the air lighted with a sudden flash and the bellowing report of a cannon rolled along the cliffs and was echoed among the hills far inland. I grumble away old doted the disappointed young sailor muttered to himself while he reluctantly obeyed the signal you are in as great a hurry to get out of your danger as you were to run into it. The quick reports of three muskets from the barge beneath where he stood urged him to quicken his pace and as he threw himself carelessly down the rugged and dangerous passes of the cliffs his experienced eye beheld the well-known lights displayed from the frigate which commanded the recall of all her boats. End of chapter two. Chapter three of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter three. In such a time as this it is not meat that every nice offense should bear its comment. Shakespeare. The cliffs through their dark shadows ride on the waters and the gloom of the evening had so far advanced as to conceal the discontent that brooded over the ordinarily open brow of Barnstable as he sprang from the rocks into the boat and took his seat by the side of the silent pilot. Shavov cried the lieutenant in tones that his men knew must be obeyed, a seamen's curse light on the folly that exposes planks and lives to such navigation and all to burn some old timberman or catch a Norway traitor asleep, give way men give way. Notwithstanding the heavy and dangerous surf that was beginning to tumble in upon the rocks and an alarming manner the startled seamen succeeded in urging their light boat over the waves and in a few seconds were without the point where danger was most to be apprehended. Barnstable had seemingly disregarded the breakers as they passed but sat sternly eyeing the foam that rolled by them in successive surges until the boat rose regularly on the long seas when he turned his looks around the bay in quest of the barge. Hi Griffith has tired of rocking in his pillow cradle, he muttered and will give us a pull to the frigate when we ought to be getting the schooner out of this hard featured landscape. This is just such a place as one of your sighing lovers would doad on a little land, a little water and a good deal of rock. Dammy long time but I am more than half of your mind that an island now and then is all the terra firma that a seamen needs. Its reason and philosophy sir return the sedate coxswain and what land there is should always be a soft mud or a sandy ooze in order that an anchor might hold and to make sounding certain. I've lost many a deep sea besides hand leads by the dozen on rocky bottoms but give me the roadstead where a lead comes up light and an anchor heavy. There's a boat pulling a fourth foot Captain Barnstable, shall I run her aboard or give her a berth sir? Does the barge cry the officer? Ned has not deserted me after all. A loud hail from the approaching boat confirmed this opinion and in a few seconds the barge and whale boat were again rolling by each other's side. Griffith was no longer reclining on the cushions of his seats but spoke earnestly and with a slight tone of reproach in his manner. Why have you wasted so many precious moments when every minute threatens us with new dangers? I was obeying the signal but I heard your oars and pull back to take out the pilot. Have you been successful? There he is and if he finds his way out through the shoals he will earn a right to his name. This bids fair to be a night when a man will need us by glass to find the moon. But when you hear what I have seen on those rascally cliffs you will be more ready to excuse my delay, Mr. Griffith. You have seen the true man I trust or we incur this hazard to an evil purpose. I have seen him that is a true man and him that is not replied barn stable bitterly. You have the boy with you Griffith, ask him what his young eyes have seen. Shall I cry the young midshipman laughing? Then I have seen a little clipper in disguise out sail an old man of war's man in a hard chase and I have seen a straggling rover in long tugs as much like my cousin. Please Gabbler exclaim barn stable in a voice of thunder would you detain the boats with your silly nonsense at a time like this away into the barge sir and if you find him willing to hear tell Mr. Griffith what your foolish conjecture is amount to at your leisure. The boy stepped lightly from the whale boat to the barge where the pilot had already preceded him and as he sunk with a mortified air by the side of Griffith he said in a low voice and that won't be long I know if Mr. Griffith thinks and feels on the coast of England as he thought and felt at home. A silent pressure of his hand was the only reply that the young lieutenant made before he paid the parting compliments to barn stable and directed his men to pull for their ship. The boats were separating and the plash of the oars was already heard when the voice of the pilot was for the first time raised in earnest. Hold he cried hold water I bid ye the men cease their efforts at the commanding tones of his voice and turning toward the whale boat he continued you will get your schooner underway immediately captain barn stable and sweep into the all thing with as little delay as possible keep the ship well open from the northern headland and as you pass says come within hail. This is a clean chart and plain sailing Mr. Pilot return barn stable for who is to justify my moving without orders to captain Munson I have it in black and white to run the aerial into this featherbed sort of a place and I must at least have it by signal or word of mouth from my bedders before my cutwater curls another wave. The road may be as hard to find going out as it was coming in and then I had daylight as well as your written directions to steer by would you lie there to perish on such a night said the pilot sternly two hours hence this heavy swell will break where your vessel now rides so quietly there we think exactly alike but if I get drowned now I'm drowned according to orders whereas if I knock a plank out of the schooner's bottom by following your directions there may be a hole to let a mutiny as well as seawater how do I know but the old man wants another pilot or two. That's philosophy mud of the coxswain of the whale boat in a voice that was audible but it's a hard strain on a man's conscience to hold on in such an anchorage then keep your anchor down and follow it to the bottom said the pilot to himself it's worse to contend with a fool than a gale of wind but if no no sir no fool neither interrupted Griffith barn stable does not deserve that epithet though he certainly carries the point of duty to the extreme eave up at once Mr barn stable and get out of this bay as fast as possible you don't give the order with half the pleasure with which I shall execute it pull away boys the aerial shall never lay her bones in such a hard bed if I can help it as the commander of the schooner uttered these words with a cheering voice is men spontaneously shouted and the whale boat darted away from her companion and was soon lost in the gloomy shadows cast from the cliffs in the meantime the oarsmen of the barge were not idle but by strenuous efforts they forced the heavy boat rapidly through the water and in a few minutes she ran alongside of the frigate during this period the pilot in a voice which had lost all the startling fierceness and authority it had manifested in his short dialogue with barn stable requested Griffith to repeat to him slowly the names of the officers that belong to his ship when the young lieutenant had complied with this request observed to his companion all good men and true Mr pilot and this business in which you are just now engaged may be hazardous to an Englishman there are none with us who will betray you we need your services and as we expect good faith from you so shall we offer it to you in exchange and how know you that I need its exercise asked the pilot in a manner that denoted a cold indifference to the subject why though you talk pretty good English for native return Griffith yet you have a small burr in your mouth that would prick the tongue of a man who was born on the other side of the Atlantic it is but a little moment where a man is born or how he speaks returned the pilot coldly so that he does his duty bravely and in good faith it was perhaps fortunate for the harmony of this dialogue that the gloom which had now increased to positive darkness completely concealed the look of scornful irony that crossed the handsome features of the young sailor as he replied true true so that he does his duty as you say in good faith but as barn stable observed you must know your road well to travel among these shores on such a night as this know you what water we draw tis a frigates draft and I shall endeavor to keep you in four fathoms less than that would be dangerous she's a sweet boat said Griffith and minds her helm as a marine watches the eye of his sergeant at a drill but you must give her room in stays for she for reaches as if she would put out the wind's eye the pilot attended with the practice ear to this description of the qualities of the ship that he was about to attempt extricating from an extremely dangerous situation not a syllable was lost on him and when Griffith had ended he remarked with the singular coldness that pervaded his manner that is both a good and a bad quality in a narrow channel I fear it will be the latter tonight when we shall require to have the ship in leading strings I suppose we must feel our way with the lead said Griffith we shall need both eyes and leads return the pilot recurring insensibly to his soliloquizing tone of voice I've been both in and out in darker nights than this though never with a heavier draft than a half tube then by heaven you are not fit to handle that ship among these rocks and breakers exclaimed Griffith your men of a light draft never know their water it is the deep keel only that finds a channel pilot pilot beware how you trifle with us ignorantly for it is a dangerous experiment to play at hazards with an enemy young man you know not what you threaten nor home said the pilot sternly though his quiet manner still remained undisturbed you forget that you have a superior here and that I have none that shall be as you discharge your duty said Griffith for if peace interrupted the pilot we approach the ship let us enter in harmony he threw himself back on the cushions when he had said this and Griffith though filled with the apprehensions of suffering either by great ignorance or a treachery on the part of his companion smothered his feelings so far as to be silent and they ascended the side of the vessel in apparent cordiality the frigate was already writing on lengthened seas that rolled in from the ocean at each successive moment with increasing violence though her top sails still hung supinely from her yards the air which continued to breathe occasionally from the land being unable to shake the heavy canvas of which they were composed the only sounds that were audible when Griffith and the pilot had ascended to the gangway of the frigate were produced by the sullen dashing of the sea against the massive bowels of the ship and the shrill whistle of the boatsons mate as he recalled the side boys who were placed on either side of the gangway to do honor to the entrance of the first lieutenant and his companion but though such a profound silence rained among the hundreds who inhabited the huge fabric the light produced by a dozen battle lanterns that were arranged in different parts of the decks served not only to exhibit faintly the persons of the crew but the mingled feeling of curiosity and care that dwelt on most of their countenances large groups of men were collected in the gangways around the main mast and on the booms of the vessel whose faces were distinctly visible while numerous figures lying along the lower yards or bending out of the tops might be dimly traced in the background all of whom expressed by their attitudes the interest they took in the arrival of the boat though such crowds were collected in other parts of the vessel the quarter deck was occupied only by the officers who were disposed according to their several ranks and were equally silent and attentive as the remainder of the crew in front stood a small collection of young men who by their similarity of dress were the equals and companions of Griffith though his juniors in rank on the opposite side of the vessel was a larger assemblage of youths who claim Mr. Mary as their fellow around the cab stand three or four figures were standing one of whom wore a coat of blue with the scarlet facings of a soldier and another of the black vestments of the ship's chaplain behind these and near the passage to the cabin from which he had just ascended stood the tall erect form of the commander of the vessel after a brief salutation between Griffith and the junior officers the former advanced followed slowly by the pilot to the place where he was expected by his veteran commander the young man removed his hat entirely as he bowed without little more than his usual ceremony and said we have succeeded sir though not without more difficulty and delay than were anticipated but you have not brought off the pilot said the captain and without him all our risk and trouble have been in vain he is here said Griffith stepping aside and extending his arm towards the man that stood behind him wrapped to the chin in his coarse p-jacket and his face shattered by the falling rims of a large hat that had seen much and hard service this exclaimed the captain then there is a sad mistake this is not the man would have seen nor can another supply his place I know not whom you expected Captain Munson said the stranger in a low quiet voice but if you have not forgotten the day when a very different flag from that emblem of tyranny that now hangs over Jan Taffrail was first spread to the wind you may remember the hand that raised it bring here the light exclaimed the commander hastily when the lantern was extended towards the pilot and the glare fell strong on his features Captain Munson started as he beheld the calm blue eye that met his gaze and the composed but pallid countenance of the other involuntarily raising his hat and bearing his silver locks the veteran cried it is he though so changed that his enemies did not know him interrupted the pilot quickly then touching the other by the arm as he let him aside he continued in a lower tone neither must his friends until the proper hour shall arrive Griffith had fallen back to answer the eager questions of his messmates and no part of this short dialogue was overheard by the officers though it was soon perceived that their commander had discovered his error and was satisfied that the proper man had been brought on board his vessel for many minutes the two continued to pace a part of the courted deck by themselves engaged in deep and earnest discourse as Griffith had but little to communicate the curiosity of his listeners was soon appeased and all eyes were directed toward that mysterious guide who was to conduct them from a situation already surrounded by perils which each moment not only magnified in appearance but increased in reality End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper This Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain Chapter 4 Behold the threatened sails born with the invisible and creeping winds draw the huge bottoms through the furrowed sea breasting the lofty surge Shakespeare It has been already explained to the reader that there were threatening symptoms in the appearance of the weather to create serious forebodings of evil in the breast of a semen When removed from the shadows of the cliffs the night was not so dark but objects could be discerned at some little distance and in the eastern horizon there was a streak of fearful light impending over the gloomy waters in which the swelling outline formed by the rising waves was becoming each moment more distinct and consequently more alarming Several dark clouds overhung the vessel whose towering masts apparently propped the black vapor while a few stars were seen twinkling with a sickly flame in the streak of clear sky that skirted the ocean still light currents of air occasionally swept across the bay bringing with them the fresh odor from the shore but their flitting irregularity too surely foretold them to be the expiring breath of the land breeze The roaring of the surf as it rolled on the margin of the bay produced a dull monotonous sound that was only interrupted at times by a hollow bellowing as a larger wave than usual broke violently against some cavity Everything in short united to render the scene gloomy and portentous without creating instant terror for the ship rose easily on the long bellows without even straightening the heavy cable that held her to her anchor The higher officers were collected around the capstan engaged in earnest discourse about their situation and prospects while some of the oldest and most favored seamen would extend their short walk to the hollow precincts of the quarter-deck to catch with greedy ears the opinions that fell from their superiors Numberless were the uneasy glances that were thrown from both officers and men at their commander and the pilot who still continued their secret communion in a distant part of the vessel The men, ungovernable curiosity or the heedlessness of his ears led one of the youthful midshipmen near them but a stern rebuke from his captain sent the boy abashed and cowering to hide his mortification among his fellows This reprimand was received by the elder officers as an intimation that the consultation which they beheld was to be strictly invalid and though it by no means suppressed the repeated expressions of their impatience, it effectively prevented an interruption to the communications which all, however, thought were unreasonably protracted for the occasion This is no time to be talking over bearings and distances observe the officer next in rank to Griffith He should call the hands up and try to catch her off while the sea will suffer a boat to live It would be a tedious and bootless job to attempt warping our ship for miles against the head-beating sea return the first lieutenant but the land breeze yet flutters aloft and if our light sails would draw with the aid of this ebb tide we might be able to feel the tops Griffith said the other and ask if they feel the air above it will be a hint at least to set the old man and that liberally pilot in motion Griffith laughed as he complied with the request and when he received the customary replied to his call he demanded in a loud voice which way have you the wind aloft we feel a light now and then from the land sir returned the sturdy captain of the top but our top sail hangs in the clue line sir without winking captain Munson and his companion suspended their discourse while this question and answer were exchanged and then resumed their dialogue as earnestly as if it had received no interruption the hint would be lost on our better said the officer of the marines whose ignorance of seamen ship added greatly to his perception of the danger but who from pure idleness made more jokes than any other man in the ship that pilot would not receive a delicate intimation through his ears Mr. Griffith suppose you try him by the nose faith there was a flash of gunpowder between us in the barge returned the first lieutenant and he does not seem a man to stomach such hints as you advise although he looks so meek and quiet I doubt whether he has paid much attention to the book of Job why should he exclaim the chapter whose apprehensions at least equal those of the marine and with a much more disheartening effect a great waste of time there are so many charts of the coast and books on the navigation of these seas for him to study that I sincerely hope he has been much better employed allowed laugh was created at this speech among the listeners and it apparently produced the effect that was so long anxiously desired by putting an end to the mysterious conference between their captain and the pilot as the former came forward towards his expecting crew he said is in the composed manner that formed the principal trait in his character get the anchor Mr. Griffith and make sail on the ship the hour has arrived when we must be moving the cheerful eyes sir of the young lieutenant was hardly uttered before the cries of half a dozen midshipman were heard summoning the boats and his mates to their duty there was a general movement in the living masses that clustered around the main mast on the booms and in the gang ways though their habits of discipline held the crew a moment longer in suspense the silence was first broken by the sound of the boat since whistle followed by the horse cry of all hands up anchor ahoy the former rising on the night air from its first low mellow notes to appear seeing shrillness that gradually died away on the waters and the latter bellowing through every cranny of the ship like the hollow murmurs of distant thunder the change produced by the customary summons was magical human beings sprang out from between the guns rushed up the hatches through themselves with careless activity from the booms and gathered from every quarter so rapidly that in an instant the deck of the frigate was alive with men the profound silence that had hitherto been only interrupted by the low dialogue of the officers was now changed for the stern orders of the lieutenants tangled with the shriller cries of the midshipmen and the horse balling of the boats and crew rising above the tumult of preparation and general bustle the captain and the pilot alone remained passive in the scene of general exertion for apprehension had even stimulated that class of officers which is called idlers to unusual activity though frequently reminded by their more experienced mess mates that instead of aiding they retarded the duty of the vessel the bustle however gradually ceased and in a few minutes the same silence pervaded the ship as before we are brought to serve said Griffith who stood overlooking the scene holding in one hand a short speaking trumpet and grasping with the other one of the shrouds of the ship to steady himself in the position he had taken on a gun Eve round sir was the calm reply Eve round repeated Griffith aloud Eve round echoed a dozen eager voices at once and the lively strains of a pipe struck up a brisk air to enliven the labor the cap stand was instantly set in motion and the measured tread of the seaman was heard as they stamped the deck in the circle of their march for a few minutes no other sounds were heard if we accept the voice of an officer occasionally cheering the sailors when it was announced that they were short or in other words that the ship was nearly over her anchor he then pulled cried Griffith when the quivering notes of the whistle were again succeeded by a general stillness in the vessel what is to be done now sir continued the lieutenant shall we trip the anchor seems not a breath of air and as the tide runs like I doubt whether the sea do not heed the ship or shore there was so much obvious truth in this conjecture that all eyes turned from the light and animation afforded by the decks of the frigate to look abroad on the waters in a vain desire to pierce the darkness as if to read the fate of their apparently devoted ship from the aspect of nature I leave all to the pilot said the captain after he stood a short time by the side of Griffith anxiously studying the heavens and the ocean what say you Mr. Gray the man who was thus first addressed by name was leaning over the bulwarks with his eyes bent in the same direction as the others but as he answered he turned his face towards the speaker and the light from the deck fell full upon his quiet features which exhibited a calmness bordering on the supernatural considering his station and responsibility there is much to fear from this heavy ground swell he said in the same unmoved tones as before but there is certain destruction to us if the gale that is brewing in the east finds us waiting its fury in this wild anchorage all the hemp that ever was spun into would not hold a ship an hour chafing on these rocks with a northeaster pouring its fury on her if the powers of man can compass it gentlemen we must get an offing and that speedily you say no more sir than the youngest boy in the ship can see for himself said Griffith ha here comes the schooner the dashing of the long sweeps in the water was now plainly audible and the little aerial was seen through the gloom moving heavily under their feeble impulse as she passed slowly under the stern of the frigate the cheerful voice of barn stable was first heard opening the communications between them here is a night for spectacles captain Munson he cried but I thought I heard your fives sir I trust in God you do not mean to write it out here till morning I like the birth as little as yourself barn stable returns a veteran seaman in his calm manner in which anxiety was however beginning to grow evident we are short but are afraid to let go our hold of the bottom lest the sea cast us ashore how make you out the wind wind echoed the other there is not enough to blow a ladies curl aside if you wait sir till the land restills your sails you will wait another moon I believe I've got my eggshell out of that nest of grey caps but how it has been done in the dark a better man than myself must explain take your directions from the pilot Mr barn stable returned his commanding officer and follow them strictly unto the letter a death like silence in both vessels succeeded this order for all seem to listen eagerly to catch the words that fell from the man on whom even the boys now felt depended their only hopes for safety a short time was suffered to elapsed before his voice was heard in the same low but distinct tones as before your sweeps will soon be of no service to you he said against the sea that begins to heave in but your light sails will help them to get you out so long as you can head east and by north you are doing well and you can stand on till you open the light from that northern headland when you can heave to and fire a gun but if as I dread you are struck back before you open the light you may trust your lead on the larbored tack but beware with your head to the southward for no lead will serve you there I can walk over the same ground on one tack as on the other said barn stable and make both legs of a length it will not do return the pilot if you fall off a point to starboard from east and by north in going large you will find both rocks and points of shoals to bring you up and beware as I tell you of the starboard tack and how shall I find my way you will let me trust you neither time lead nor log you must trust to a quick eye and a ready hand the breakers only will show you the dangers when you are not able to make out the bearings of the land tack in season sir and don't spare the lead when you head to port I I return barn stable in a low muttering voice this is a sort of blind navigation with a vengeance and all for no purpose that I can see see dammy eyesight is of about as much use now as a man's nose would be in reading the bible softly softly mr barn stable interrupted his commander for such was the anxious stillness in both vessels that even the rattling of the schooners rigging was heard as she rolled in the trough of the sea the duty on which congress has sent us must be performed at the hazard of our lives I don't mind my life captain munson said barn stable but there is a great want of conscience for trusting a vessel in such a place as this however it is a time to do and not to talk but if there be such danger to an easy draft of water what will become of the frigate had I not better play jackal and try and feel the way for you I thank you said the pilot the offer is generous but would avail us nothing I have the advantage of knowing the ground well and must trust to my memory and God's good favor may sail sir and if you succeed we will venture to break ground the order was promptly obeyed and in a very short time the aerial was covered with canvas though no air was perceptible on the decks of the frigate the little schooner was so light that she succeeded in stemming her way over the rising waves aided a little by the tide and in a few minutes her low hall was just discernible in the streak of light along the horizon with the dark outline of her sails rising above the sea until their fanciful summits were lost in the shadows of the clouds Griffith had listened to the foregoing dialogue like the rest of the junior officers in profound silence but when the aerial began to grow indistinct to the eye he jumped lightly from the gun to the deck and cried she slips off like a vessel from the stocks shall I trip the anchor sir and follow we have no choice replied his captain you hear the question Mr. Gray shall we let go the bottom it must be done Captain Munson we may want more drift than the rest of this tide to get us to a place of safety said the pilot I would give five years from a life that I know will be short if the ship lay one mile further seaward this remark was unheard by all except the commander of the frigate who again walked aside with the pilot where they resumed their mysterious communications the words of his scent were no sooner uttered however then Griffith gave forth from his trumpet the command to eave away again the strains of the fife were followed by the tread of the men at the cap stand at the same time that the anchor was heaving up the sails were loosened from the yards and opened to invite the breeze in effecting this duty orders were thundered through the trumpet of the first lieutenant and executed with the rapidity of thought men were to be seen like spots in the dim light from the heavens lying on every yard or hanging as in air while strange cries were heard issuing from every part of the rigging and each spar of the vessel ready the four royal quite a shrill voice as if from the clouds ready the four yard uttered the hoarser tones of a seaman beneath him already after quite a third from another quarter and in a few moments the order was given to let fall the little light which fell from the sky was now excluded by the falling canvas and a deeper gloom was cast to thwart the decks of the ship that served to render the brilliancy of the lanterns even vivid while it gave two objects outboard a more appalling and dreary appearance than before every individual accepting the commander and his associate was now earnestly engaged in getting the ship underway the sounds of we're away were repeated by a burst from 50 voices and the rapid evolutions of the cap stand announced that nothing but the weight of the anchor was to be lifted the hauling of cordage the rattling of blocks blended with the shrill calls of the boats and his mates succeeded and though to a landsman all would have appeared confusion and hurry long practiced and strict discipline enabled the crew to exhibit their ship under a cloud of canvas from her decks to the trucks in less time than we have consumed in relating it for a few minutes the officers were not disappointed by the result for though the heavy sails flopped lazily against the mass duck on the loftier sparse welled outwardly and the ship began sensibly to yield to their influence she travels she travels exclaimed Griffith joyously ah the hussy she has as much antipathy to the land as any fish that swims it blows a little gale aloft yet we feel its dime breath said the pilot in low soothing tones but in a manner so sudden as do startle Griffith at whose elbow they were unexpectedly uttered let us forget young men everything but the number of lives that depend this night on your exertions and my knowledge if you be but half as able to exhibit the one as I am willing to make the other we shall do well return the lieutenant in the same tone remember whatever may be your feelings that we are on an enemy's coast and love it not enough to wish to lay our bones there with this brief explanation they separated the vessel requiring the constant and close attention of the officer to her movements the exaltation produced in the crew by the progress of their ship through the water was a short duration for the breeze that had seemed to await their motions after forcing the vessel for a quarter of a mile flooded for a few minutes amid their light canvas and then left them entirely the quarter master whose duty it was to superintend the helm soon announced that he was losing the command of the vessel as she was no longer obedient to her rudder this ungrateful intelligence was promptly communicated to his commander by Griffith who suggested the propriety of again dropping an anchor I refer you to Mr. Gray return the captain he is the pilot sir and with him rest the safety of the vessel it sometimes lose ships as well as save them said Griffith know you the man well captain Munson who holds all our lives in his keeping and so coolly as if he cared but little for the venture Mr. Griffith I do know him he is in my opinion both competent and faithful thus much I tell you to relieve your anxiety more you must not ask but is there not a shift of wind God forbid exclaimed his lieutenant if that north Easter catches us within the shows our case will be desperate indeed the heavy rolling of the vessel caused an occasional expansion and a sudden a reaction in their sales which left the oldest seaman in the ship in doubt which way the currents of air were passing or whether there existed any that were not created by the flopping of their own canvas the head of the ship however began to fall off from the sea without withstanding the darkness it soon became apparent that she was driving in bodily towards the shore during these few minutes of gloomy doubt Griffith by one of those sudden revolutions of the mind that connect the opposite extremes of feeling lost his animated anxiety and elapsed into the listless apathy that so often came over him even in the most critical moments of trial and danger he was elbow resting on his cap stand shading his eyes from the light of the battle lantern that stood near him with one hand when he felt the gentle pressure of the other that recalled his recollection looking affectionately though still recklessly at the boy who stood at his side he said dull music Mr. Mary so dull sir that I can't dance to it return the midshipman nor do I believe there is a man in the ship who would not the girl I left behind me than those exequitable sounds what sounds boy the ship is as quiet as the quaker meeting in the jerseys before your good old grandfather used to break the charm of silence with his sonorous voice ah laugh at my peaceable blood if I will Mr. Gifford said the arch youngster but remember there is a mixture of it in all sorts of veins I wish I could hear one of the old gentleman's chants now sir we sleep to them like a gall in the surf but he that sleeps tonight without lullaby will make a nap of it sounds I hear no sounds boy but the flopping a lot even that pilot who struts the quarter deck like an admiral has nothing to say is not about a sound to open a seaman's ear it is in truth a heavy roll of the surf lad but the night air carries it heavily to our ears no you're not the sounds of the surf yet yanker I know it too well Mr. Griffith and do not wish to know it better how fast are we tumbling in towards that surf sir I think we hold our own said Griffith rousing again though we had better anchor love fellow love you are broadside to the sea the man at the wheel repeated his former intelligence adding a suggestion that he thought the ship was gathering stern way hall up your course is Mr. Griffith said captain Munson and let us feel the wind wiggling of the blocks was soon heard and the enormous sheets of canvas that hung from the lower yards were instantly suspended in the brails when this change was affected all on board stood silent and breathless as if expecting to learn their fate by the result several contradictory opinions were at length hazarded among the officers when Griffith seized the candle from the lantern and springing on one of the guns held it on high exposed to the action of the air the little flame waved with uncertain glimmering for a moment and then burned steadily in a line with the masks Griffith was about to lower his extended arm when feeling a slight sensation of coolness on his handy paws and the light turned slowly toward the land flared flickered and finally deserted the whip lose not a moment Mr. Griffith cried the piloted loud clue up and furrow everything but your three top sails and let them be doubled reefed now is the time to fulfill your promise the young man paused one moment in astonishment as the clear distinct tones of the stranger struck his ears so unexpectedly but turning his eyes to see what he sprang on the deck and proceeded to obey the order as if life and death depended on his dispatch End of Chapter 4