 Chapter 34 of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. This Libri Box recording is in the public domain. Chapter 34. Wither midst falling dew, while glow the heavens with the last steps of day. Far through their rosy depths, thus thou pursue thy solitary way. Bryant. When the young seaman, who now commanded the frigate, descended from the quartered deck in compliance with the often repeated summons, he found the vessel restored to the same neatness as if nothing had occurred to disturb its order. The gun deck had been cleansed of its horrid stains, and the smoke of the fight had long since ascended through the hatches and mingled with the clouds that flitted above the ship. As he walked along the silent batteries, even the urgency of his visit could not prevent him from glancing his eyes towards the splintered sides, those terrible vestiges by which the paths of the shot of their enemy might be traced. And by the time he tapped lightly at the door of the cabin, his quick look had embraced every material injury the vessel had sustained in her principal points of defense. The door was opened by the surgeon of the frigate who, as he stepped aside to permit Griffith to enter, shook his head with that air of meaning, which in one of his professions is understood to imply the abandonment of all hopes and then immediately quitted the apartment in order to attend to those who might profit by his services. The readers not to imagine that Griffith had lost sight of Cecilia and her cousin during the occurrences of that eventful day. On the contrary, his troubled fancy had presented her terror and distress even in the hottest moments of the fight. In the instant that the crew were called from their guns, he had issued an order to replace the bulkheads of the cabin and to arrange its furniture for their accommodation, though the higher and imperious duties of his station had precluded his attending to their comfort in person. He expected, therefore, to find the order of the rooms restored, but he was by no means prepared to encounter the scene he was now to witness. Between two of the sullen cannon, which gave such an air of singular wildness to the real comfort of the cabin, was placed a large couch on which the Colonel was lying evidently near his end. Cecilia was weeping by his side, her dark ringlets falling in, unheeded confusion around her pale features, and sweeping in their rich exuberance the deck on which she kneeled. Catherine leaned tenderly over the form of the dying veteran, while her dark, tearful eyes seemed to express self-accusation, blended with deep commiseration. A few attendants of both sexes surrounded the solemn scene, all of whom appeared to be under the influence of the hopeless intelligence which the medical officer had but that moment communicated. The servants of the ship had replaced the furniture with a care that mocked the dreadful struggle that so recently disfigured the war-like apartment and the stout square frame of bold trope, occupied the opposite, setee his head resting on the lap of the captain's steward and his hand gently held in the grasp of his friend the chaplain. Griffith had heard of the wound of the master, but his own eyes now conveyed the first intelligence of the situation of Colonel Howard. When the shock of this sudden discovery had a little subsided, the young man approached the couch of the ladder and attempted to express his regret and pity in a voice that afforded an assurance of his sincerity. Say no more, Edward Griffith interrupted the Colonel, waving his hand feebly for silence. It seemed to be the will of God that this rebellion should triumph, and it is not for vain man to impeach the acts of omnipotence. To my earring faculties it wears an appearance of mystery, but doubtless it is to answer the purpose of his own inscrutable providence. I've sent for you, Edward, on a business that I would vainly see accomplished before I die, that it may not be said that old George Howard neglected his duty even in his last moments. You see this weeping child at my side. Tell me young man, do you love the maiden? Am I to be asked such a question, exclaimed Griffith? And will you cherish her? Will you supply to her the places of father and mother? Will you become the fond guardian of her innocence and weakness? Griffith could give no other answer than a fervent pressure of the hand he had clasped. I believe you continued the dying man, for however he may have forgotten to inculcate his own loyalty, worthy Hugh Griffith could never neglect to make his son a man of honor. I had weak and perhaps evil wishes on behalf of my late unfortunate kinsman, Mr. Griffith's deferred Dylan, but they have told me that he was false to his faith. If this be true, I would refuse him the hand of the girl, though he claimed the fealty of the British realms. But he has passed away, and I'm about to follow him into a world where we shall but find but one lord to serve. It may have been better for us both had we more remembered our duty to him while serving the princes of the earth. One thing further, know you this officer of your congress well, this Mr. Barnes table. I've sailed with him for years, returned Griffith and can answer for him as myself. The veteran made an effort to rise, which in part succeeded, and he fastened on the youth a look of keen scrutiny that gave to his pallid features and expression of solemn meaning as he continued. Speak not now, sir, as the companion of his idol pleasures and as the unthinking associate commends his fellow, but remember that your opinion is given to a dying man who leans on your judgment for advice. The daughter of John Plowden is a trust not to be neglected, nor will my death prove easy if a doubt of her being worthily bestowed shall remain. He is a gentleman, return Griffith and one whose heart is not less kind than gallant. He loves your ward and great as maybe her merit he is deserving of it all. Like myself, he has also loved the land that gave him birth before the land of his ancestors, but that has now forgotten, interrupted the colonel after what I have to stay witnessed. I'm forced to believe that it is the pleasure of heaven that you are to prevail, but sir, a disobedient inferior will be apt to make an unreasonable commander. The recent contention between you, remember it not, dear sir, exclaimed Griffith with generous zeal, was unkindly provoked and it is already forgotten and pardoned. He has sustained me nobly throughout the day and my life on it that he knows how to treat a woman as a brave man should. Then am I content, said the veteran, sinking back on his couch, let him be summoned. The whispering message which Griffith gave requesting Mr. Barton, stable to enter the cabin, was quickly conveyed and he had appeared before his friend deemed it discreet to disturb the reflections of the veteran by again addressing him. When the entrance of the young sailor was announced, the colonel again roused himself and addressed his wondering listener, though in a manner much less confiding and familiar than that which he had adopted towards Griffith. The declarations you made last night relative to my ward, the daughter of the late Captain John Cloud and sir, have left me nothing to learn on the subject of your wishes. Here then, gentlemen, you both obtain the reward of your attentions, let that reverend divine. Here you pronounce the marriage vows while I have strength to listen that I may be a witness against thee in heaven, should ye forget their tenor. Not now, not now, murmured his CEO, ask it not now, my uncle Catherine spoke not but deeply touched by the tender interest her guardian manifested in her welfare. She bowed her face to her bosom and subdued feeling and suffered the tears that had been suffering her eyes to roll down her cheeks and large drops till they bathed the deck. Yes, now my love continued the colonel or I fail in my duty. I go shortly to stand face to face with your parents, my children, for the man who dying expects not to meet worthy Hugh Griffith. An honest Jack Poudin in heaven can have no clear view of the rewards that belong to lives of faithful service to the country or of gallant loyalty to the king. I trust no one can justly say that I ever forgot the delicacy due to your gentle sex, but it is no moment for idle ceremony when time is shortening into minutes and heavy duties remain to be discharged. I could not die in peace, children, were I to leave you here in the wide ocean. I had almost said in the wide world without that protection which becomes your tender years and still more tender characters. If it is please God to remove your guardian, let his place be supplied by those he wills to succeed him. Cecilia no longer hesitated, but she arose slowly from her knees and offered her hand to Griffith with an air of forced resignation. Catherine submitted to be led by Barnstable to her side and the chaplain who had been unaffected, listened to the dialogue in obedience to an expressive signal from the eye of Griffith, opened the prayer book from which she had been gleaning consolation for the dying master and commenced reading in trembling tones the marriage service. The vows were pronounced by the weeping brides and voices more distinct and audible than if they had been uttered amid the gay crowds that usually throng the bridle. For though they were the irreclaimable words that bound them forever to the men whose power over their feelings, they thus proclaimed to the world the reserve of maiden diffidence was lost in one engrossing emotion of solemnity created by the awful presence in which they stood. When the benediction was pronounced, the head of Cecilia dropped on the shoulder of her husband where she wept violently for a moment and then resuming her place at the couch. She once more knelt at the side of her uncle. Catherine received a warm kiss of Barnstable passively and returned to the spot when she had been led. Colonel Howard succeeded in raising his person to witness the ceremony and had answered to each prayer with a fervent amen. He fell back with the last words and a look of satisfaction shown in his aged and pallid features that declared the interest he had taken in this scene. I thank you, my children, he had length uttered. I thank you for I know how much you have sacrificed to my wishes. You will find all my papers relative to the estates of my wards, gentlemen, in the hands of my banker in London, and you will also find there my will, Edward, by which you will learn that Cecilia has not come to your arms and unportioned bride. What my wards are in persons and manners your eyes can witness, and I trust the vouchers in London will show that I have not been an unfaithful steward to their pecuniary affairs. Name it not, say no more, or you will break my heart, cried Catherine sobbing aloud in the violence of her remorse at having ever pained so true a friend. Oh, talk of yourself, think of yourself, we are unworthy, at least I am unworthy of another thought. The dying man extended a hand to her in kindness, and continued, though his voice grew feebler as he spoke, then to return to myself I would wish to lie, like my ancestors in the bosom of the earth and in consecrated ground. It shall be done, whispered Griffith, I will see it done myself. I thank thee, my son, said the veteran, for such thou art to me in being the husband of Cicely. You will find in my will that I have liberated and provided for all my slaves, except those ungrateful scoundrels who deserted their master. They have seized their own freedom, and they need not be indebted to me for the same. Here is Edward, also an unworthy legacy to the king, his majesty will deign to receive it from an old and faithful servant, and you will not miss the trifling gift. A long pause followed, as if he had been summing up the account of his earthly duties, and found them duly balanced. When he added, kiss me, Cicely, and you, Catherine, I find you have the general feelings of honours, Jack, your father, my eyes grow dim, which is the hand of Griffith, young gentleman. I have given you all that a fond old man had to bestow, deal tenderly with the precious child, we have not properly understood each other. I had mistaken both you and Mr. Christopher Dillon, I believe. Perhaps I may also have mistaken my duty to America. But I was too old to change my politics or my religion. I love the king, God bless him. His words became fainter and fainter as he proceeded, and the breath deserted his body with his benediction on his livid lips, which the proudest monarch might covet from so honest a man. The body was instantly borne into a state room by the attendants, and Griffith and Barnstable supported their brides into the after cabin, where they left them seated on the sofa that lined the stern of the ship, weeping bitterly in each other's arms. No part of the free-seating scene had been unobserved by bullcrope, whose small, hard eyes were observed by the young men to twinkle when they returned into the state apartment, and they approached their wounded comrade to apologize for the seeming neglect that their conduct had displayed. I heard you were hurt, bullcrope, said Griffith, taking him kindly by the hand, but as I know you are not unused to being marked by shot, I trust we shall soon see you again on deck. I returned the master. You will want no spy glasses to see the old hawk as you launch it into the sea. I've had shot, as you say before, now to tear up my running gear and even to knock a splinter out of some of my timbers, but this fellow has found his way into my bread room, and the cruise of life is up. Surely the case is not so bad, honest David, said Barnstable, you have kept the float to my knowledge, with a bigger hole in your skin than this unlucky hit has made. I returned the master. That was in my upper works, where the doctor could get at it with a plug, but this chap has knocked away the shifting boards, and I feel as if the whole cargo was broken up. You may say that tourniquet rates me all the same as a dead man, for after looking at the shot hole, he has turned me over to the parson here like a piece of old junk, which is only fit to be worked up into something new. Captain Munson had a lucky time of it, I think you said, Mr. Griffith, that the old gentleman was launched overboard with everything standing, and that death made but one wrap at his door before he took his leave. His end was indeed sudden, return Griffith, but it is what we seem and must expect, and for which there is so much the more occasion to be prepared, the chaplain ventured to add in a low humble and perhaps timid voice. The sailing master looked keenly from one to the other as they spoke, and after a short pause he continued with an air of great submission. It was his luck, and I suppose it is sinful to begrudge a man his lawful luck, as for being prepared parson, that is your business and not mine. Therefore, as there is but little time to spare, why the sooner you said about it the better, and to save unnecessary trouble I may as well tell you not to strive to make too much of me, for I must own it to my shame I never took learning kindly. If you can fit me for some middling berth in the other world, like the one I hold in this ship, it will suit me as well and perhaps be easier to all hands of us. If there was a shade of displeasure blended with the surprise that crossed the features of the divine at this extraordinary limitation of his duties, it entirely disappeared when he considered more closely the perfect expression of simplicity with which the dying master uttered his wishes. There was a long and melancholy pause which neither Griffith or his friend felt any inclination to interrupt the chaplain replied, it is not the province of man to determine on the decrees of the merciful dispensations of the deity, and nothing that I can do, Mr. Vulture will have any weight in making up the mighty in irrevocable decree. What I said to you last night in our conversation on this very subject must still be fresh in your memory, and there is no good reason why I should hold a different language to you now. I can't say that I logged all that passed, returned the master, and that which I do recollect felt chiefly from myself for the plain reason that a man remembers his own better than his neighbor's ideas. And this puts me in mind, Mr. Griffith, to tell you that one of the forty-twos from the three-decker traveled across the forecastle and cut the best power within a fathom of the clinch, as handily as an old woman would clip her rotten yarn with a pair of tailor's shears. If you won't be so good as to order one of my mates to shift the cable and for end and make a new bend of it, I'll do as much for you another time. Mention it not, said Griffith, rest assured that everything shall be done for the security of the ship in your department. I will superintend the whole duty in person, and I would have you release your mind from all anxiety on the subject to attend to your more important interests elsewhere. Why return bulk rope without little show of pertinacity? I have an opinion that the cleaner a man takes his hands into the other world. Of the matters of duty in this, the better he will be fitted to handle anything new. Now the person here undertook to lay down the doctrine last night that it was no matter how well or how ill a man behaved himself so that he squared his conscience by the lifts and braces of faith, which I take to be a doctrine that is not to be preached on shipboard. For it would play the devil with the best ship's company that was ever mustered. Oh no, no, dear Mr. Bulk rope, you mistook me and my doctrine altogether, exclaimed the captain. At least you mistook perhaps, sir, interrupted Griffith gently. Our honest friend will not be more fortunate now. Is there nothing earthly that hangs upon your mind, Bulk rope? No wish to be remembered to anyone or any request to make of your property. He has a mother I know, said Barnes Stable, in a low voice. He often spoke of her to me in the night watches. I think she must still be living. The master who distinctly heard his young shipmates continued for more than a minute, rolling the tobacco, which he still retained from one side of his mouth to the other, with an industry that denoted singular agitation for the man. And raising one of his broad hands with the other, he picked the worn skin from fingers which were already losing their brownish-yellow hue in the fading color of death before he answered. Why, yes, the old woman still keeps her grip upon life, which is more than can be said of her son David. The old man was lost the time the Susan and Dorothy was wrecked on the back of Cape Cod. You remember at Mr. Barnes Stable you were then a lad sailing on wailing voyages from the island? Well, ever since that gale, I've endeavored to make smooth water for the old woman myself, though she has had but a rough passage of it at the best. The voyage of life with her having been pretty much crossed by rugged weather and short stores. And you would have us carry some message to her, said Griffith kindly. Why, as do messages, continued the master whose voice was rapidly growing more husky and broken. There never has been many compliments passed between us for the reason that she is not more used to receive them than I am to make them. But if any one of you will overhaul the purser's books and see what there is standing here to my side of the lead and take a little pains to get it to the old woman, you will find her ward in the lee side of the house. Here it is, number 10, Corn Hill, Boston. I took care to get her a good warm birth, seeing that a woman of 80 once a snug anchorage. At her time of life, if ever, I will do it myself. David cried Barnes Stable, struggling to conceal his emotion. I will call on her at the instant we let go our anchor in Boston Harbor. And as your credit can't be large, I will divide my own purse with her. The sailing master was powerfully affected by this kind offer, the muscles of his heart, whether beaten face, working convulsively, and it was a moment before he could trust his voice and reply. I know you would, Dickie. I know you would. He had length uttered, grasping the hand of Barnes Stable with a portion of his former strength. I know you would give the old woman one of your own limbs if it would do her service to the mother of a messmate, which it would not, seeing that I am not the son of a cannibal. But you are out of your own father's books, and it's too often shoal water in your pockets to help anyone, more especially since you have just been spliced to a pretty young body that will want all your spare coppers. But I master my own fortune, said Griffith, and am rich. I have heard it said you could build a frigate and set her afloat, all a taunt of without thrust in your hand into any man's purse but your own. And I pledge you the honor of our naval officer, continue the young sailor that she shall want for nothing, not eyes, the care and tenderness of a dutiful son. Bullcrope appeared to be choking. He made an attempt to raise his exhausted frame on the couch. But fell back exhausted and dying perhaps a little prematurely through the powerful and unusual emotions that were struggling for. Bullcrope appeared to be choking. He made an attempt to raise his exhausted frame on the couch. But fell back exhausted and dying perhaps a little prematurely through the powerful and unusual emotions that were struggling for utterance. God forgive me, my misdeeds, he had length said, and chiefly forever speaking a word against your discipline, remember the best power, and look to the slings of the lower yards, and he'll do it, Dickie. He'll do it. I'm casting off the fasts of life. And so God bless you all, and give you good weather, going large or on a bold line. The tongue of the master failed him, but a look of heartfelt satisfaction gleamed across his rough visage, as its muscles suddenly contracted when that faded lineaments slowly settled into the appalling stiffness of death. Griffith directed the body to be removed to the apartment of the master, and proceeded with a heavy heart to the upper deck. The alacrity had been unnoticed during the arduous chase of the frigate, and favored by daylight. Draft of water, she had easily affected her escape also among the mazes of the shoals. She was called down to her consort by signal and received the necessary instructions how to steer during the approaching night. The British ships were now only to be faintly rediscovered, like white specks on a dark sea, and as it was known that a broad barrier of shallow water lay between them, the Americans no longer regarded their presence as at all dangerous. When the necessary orders had been given and the vessels were fully prepared, they were once more brought up to the wind and their heads pointed in the direction of the coast of Holland. The wind which freshened towards the decline of the day hauled round with the sun and wind that luminary retreated from the eye, so rapid had been the progress of the mariners that seemed to sink in the bosom of the ocean, the land having long before settled into its watery bed. All night the frigate continued to dash through the seas with a sort of silent silence that was soothing to the melancholy of Cecilia and Katharine, neither of whom closed an eye during that gloomy period. In addition to the scene that had witnessed their feelings were harrowed by the knowledge that in conformity to the necessary plans of Griffith and in compliance with the new duties he had assumed they were to separate in the morning for an indefinite period and possibly forever. With the appearance of light the boatsman sent his rough summons through the vessel and the crew were collected in solemn silence in her gangways to bury the dead. The bodies of bull trope of one or two of her inferior officers and of several common men who had died of their wounds in the night were with the usual formalities committed to the deep when the yards of the ship were again braced by the wind and she glided along the trackless waste leaving no memorial as to the ever rolling waters to mark the places of their sepulcher. When the sun had gained the meridian the vessels were once more hoved too and the preparations were made for a final separation. The body of Colonel Howard was transferred to the alacrity whether it was followed by Griffith and his jealous bride while Katharine hung fondly from that window of the ship suffering her own scalding tears to mingle with the blind of the ocean. After everything was arranged Griffith waved his hand to Barnstable who had now succeeded to the command of the frigate and the yards of the ladder were braced sharp to the wind when she proceeded to the dangerous experiment of forcing her way to the shores of America by attempting the pass of the Straits of Dover and running the gauntlet through the English ships that crowded their own channel and undertaking however for which she had the successful example of the Alliance frigate which had borne the stars of America along the same hazardous path but a few months previously. In the meanwhile the alacrity steering more to the west drew in swiftly towards the shores of Holland and about an hour before the setting of the sun had approached so now as to be once more hoved into the wind in obedience to the mandated Griffith. A small light boat was lowered into the sea when the young sailor and the pilot would found his way into the cutter unheated and almost unseen ascended from that small cabin together. The stranger glanced his eyes along the range of coast as if he would ascertain the exact position of the vessel and then turn them on the sea and the western horizon to scan the weather. Finding nothing in the appearance of the ladder to induce him to change his determination he offered his hand frankly to Griffith and said here we part as our acquaintance has not led to all we wish let it be your task so to forget we ever met. Griffith bowed respectfully but in silence when the other continued shaking his hand contemptuously towards the land had I bet a moiety of the navy of that degenerate republic the proudest among those haughty islanders should tremble in his castle and be made to feel there is no security against a foe that trusts his own strength and knows the weakness of his enemy but he muttered in a lower and more hurried voice this has been like Liverpool and Whitehaven and Edinburgh and fifty more it is past served let it be forgotten without heeding the wandering crew who were collected as curious spectators of his departure the stranger bowed hastily to Griffith and springing into the boat he spread her light sails with the readiness of one who had nothing to learn even in the smallest matters of his daring profession once more as the boat moved briskly away from the cutter he waved his hand in adieu and Griffith fancied that even through the distance he could trace a smile of bitter resignation lighting his calm features with a momentary gleam for a long time the young man stood a abstracted gazer at his solitary progress watching the small boat as he glided towards the open ocean but did he remember to order the head sheets of the alacrity drawn in order to put the vessel again in motion until the dark speck was lost in a strong glare that fell obliquely across the water from the setting sun many wild and extraordinary conjectures were titted among the crew of the cutter as she slowly drew in towards her friendly haven on the appearance of the mysterious pilot during their late hazardous visit to the coast of Britain and on a still more extraordinary disappearance as it were amid the stormy waste of the North Sea Griffith himself was not observed to smile nor to manifest any evidence of his being a listener to their rude discourse until it was loudly announced that a small boat was pressing for their own harbor across the forefoot of the cutter under a single lug sail then indeed the sudden and cheerful lighting of his troubled eye betrayed the vast relief that was imparted to his feeling spot the interesting discovery End of Chapter 34 Chapter 35 of the pilot by James Fenimore Cooper This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 35 Come all you kindred jeeftons of the deep in mighty phalanx round your brother bend hush every murmur that embades his sleep and guard the laurels that or shade your friend lines on trip here perhaps it would be wise to suffer the curtain of our imperfect drama to fall before the reader trusting that the imagination of every individual can readily supply the due proportions of health, wealth, and happiness that the rigid rules of poetic justice would award to the different characters of the legend but as we are not disposed to part so coldly from those with whom we have long held amicable intercourse and as there is no portion about in reservation which is not quite as true as all that has been already related we see no unanswerable reason for dismissing the dramatic persona so abruptly we shall therefore proceed to state briefly the outlines of that which befell them after life, regretting at the same time that the legitimate limits of a modern tale will not admit of such dilatation of many a merry or striking scene as might create the pleasing hope of beholding hereafter some more of our rude sketches quickened into life by the spirited pencil of Dunlap following the course of the frigate then towards those shores from which perhaps we never have suffered our truant pen to have wandered we shall commence the brief task with Barnstable and his laughing, weeping, gay but affectionate bride, the black-eyed Catherine the ship fought her way gallantly through swarms of the enemy's cruisers to the port of Boston where Barnstable was rewarded for his services by promotion and a more regular authority to command his vessel during the remainder of the war he continued to fill that station with ability and zeal nor did he return to the dwelling of his fathers which he soon inherited by regular descent until after peace had established not only the independence of his country but his own reputation as a brave and successful sea officer when the federal government laid the foundation of its present navy, Captain Barnstable was once more tempted by the offer of a new commission to desert his home and for many years he was employed among the band of gallant seamen who served their country so faithfully in times of trial and high daring happily however he was enabled to accomplish a great deal of the more peaceful part of his service accompanied by Catherine who having no children eagerly profited by his consent to share his privations and hardships on the ocean in this manner they passed thoroughly and we trust happily down the veil of life together Catherine entirely discrediting the ironical prediction of her former guardian by making everything considered a very obedient and certainly so far as attachment was concerned a most devoted wife the boy Mary who in due time became a man clung to Barnstable and Catherine so long as it was necessary to hold him in leading strings and when he received his regular promotion his first command was under the shadow of his kinsman's broad penance he proved to be in his meridian what his youth had so strongly indicated a fearless active and reckless sailor and his years might have extended to this hour had he not fallen untimely in a duel with a foreign officer the first act of Captain Manuel after landing what's more on his native soil was to make interest to be again restored to the line of the army he encountered but little difficulty in this attempt and was soon in possession of the complete enjoyment of that which his soul had so long pined after a steady drill he was in time to share in all the splendid successes which terminated the war and also to participate in his due proportion of the misery of the army his merits were not forgotten however in the reorganization of the forces and he followed both St. Clair and his more fortunate successor Wayne in the western campaigns about the close of the century when the British made their tardy relinquishment of the line of posts along the frontiers Captain Manuel was ordered to take charge with his company of a small stockade on our side of one of those mighty rivers that sets bounds to the territories of the republic in the north the British flag was waving over the ramparts about more regular fortress that had been recently built directly opposite within the new lines of the canadas Manuel was not a man to neglect the observances of military etiquette and understanding that the neighboring fort was commanded by a field officer he did not fail to wait on that gentleman in proper time with a view to cultivate the sort of acquaintance mutual situations would render not only agreeable but highly convenient the American martinet in ascertaining the rank of the other had not deemed it at all necessary to ask his name but when the red faced comical looking officer with one leg who met him was introduced as major burlcliff he had not the least difficulty in recalling to recollection his quantum acquaintance the intercourse between these were these was renewed with remarkable gusto and at length arrived to so regular a pass that a log cabin was erected on one of the islands in the river as a sort of neutral territory where their feastings and rebels might be held without any scandal to the discipline of their respective garrisons here the qualities of many a saddle of savory venison were discussed together with those of sundry pleasant fowls as well as of divers strange beasts that inhabit those western wilds but at the same time the secret places of the broad river were vexed that nothing might be wanting that could contribute to the pleasures of their banquets a most equitable levy was regularly made on their respective pockets to sustain the foreign expenses of this amicable warfare and a suitable division of labor was also imposed on the two common dance in order to procure such articles of comfort as were only to be obtained from those portions of the globe where the art of man had made a nearer approach to the bounties of nature than in the vicinity of their fortifications all liquids in which malt formed an ingredient as well as the deep colored wines of Oporta were suffered to enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence and were made to find their way under the superintendent's a burrow clip through their destined goal but Manuel was solely interested with the more important duty of providing the generous liquor of Madeira without any other restriction on his judgment than an occasional injunction from his co-agitor which had not failed to be the product of the south side it was not unusual for the young officers of the two garrisons to allude to the battle in which Major Burrowcliffe had lost his limb the English ensign invariably whispering to the American on such occasions that it occurred during the late contest in a desperate affair on the northeastern coast of their island in which the Major commanded the life of his country with great credit and signal success and for which service he obtained his present rank without purchase a sort of national courtesy prevented the two veterans for by this time both had earned that honorable title from participating at all in these delicate allusions though whenever by any accident they occurred near the termination of the rebels so far betray his consciousness of what was passing as to favor his American friend with a layer of singular significance which generally produced in the other that sort of dull recollection which all actors and painters endeavored to represent by scratching the head in this manner year after year rolled by the most perfect harmony existing between the two posts notwithstanding the angry passions that disturbed their respective countries when an end was suddenly put to the intercourse by the unfortunate death of Manuel this rigid observer of discipline never trusted his person on the neutral island without being accompanied by a party of his warriors who were posted as a regular picket sustaining a suitable line of centuries a practice which he also recommended to his friend as being highly conducive to discipline as well as a salutary caution against a surprise on the part of either Garrison the major however dispensed with the formality in his own behalf but was sufficiently good-natured to wink at the want of confidence he betrayed in his boom companion on one unhappy occasion when the discussion of a new importation had made a heavy inroad on the morning Manuel left the hut to make his way towards his picket in such a state of utter mental aberration as to forget the countersign when challenged by a sentinel when unhappily he met his death by a shot from a soldier whom he drilled to such an exquisite state of insensibility that the man cared but little whether he killed friend or enemy so long as he kept within military usage and the hallowed limits established by the Articles of War he lived long enough however to commend the fellow for the deed and died while delivering an eulogium to Bercliffe on the high state of perfection to which he had brought his command about a year before this melancholy event a quarter cask of wine had been duly ordered from the south side of the island of Madeira which was at the death of Manuel toiling its weary way up the rapids of the Mississippi and the Ohio having been made to enter by the port of New Orleans with the intention of keeping it as long as possible under a genial sun the untimely fate of his friend imposed on Bercliffe the necessity of attending to this precious relic of their mutual tastes and he procured a leave of absence from his superior with the laudable desire to proceed down the streams and superintendent his father advanced in person the result of his zeal was a high fever that set in the day after he reached his treasure and as the doctor in the major espoused different theories in treating a disorder so dangerous in that climate the one advising of steemiousness and the other administering repeated drafts of the cordial that had drawn him so far from home the disease was left to act its pleasure Bercliffe died in three days and was carried back and entered by the side of his friend in the very hut which had so often resounded with their humors and festivities we have been thus particular in relating the sequel of the lives of these rival chieftains because from their want of connection with any kind heart of the other sex no widows and orphans were left to lament their several ends and furthermore as they were both mortal and might be expected to die at a suitable period and yet did not terminate their career until each had attained the mature age of three score the reader can find no just grounds of dissatisfaction at being allowed to the steep glance into the womb of fate the chaplain abandoned the season time to retrieve his character a circumstance which gave no little satisfaction to Catherine who occasionally annoyed her worthy husband on the subject of the informality of their marriage Griffith and his morning bride conveyed the body of Colonel Howard in safety to one of the principal towns in Holland where it was respectfully and sorrowfully interred after which the young men removed to Paris the view of erasing the sad images which the hurried and melancholy events of a few preceding days had left on the mind of his lovely companion from this place the city of Hell communion by letter with her friend Alice Dan's comb and such suitable provision was made in the affairs of her late uncle as the times were permit afterwards when Griffith obtained the command which had been offered him before sailing on the cruise in the North Sea they returned together to America the young man continued a sailor until the close of the war when he in early withdrew from the ocean and devoted the remainder of his life to the conjoint duties of a husband and a good citizen as it was easy to reclaim the estates of Colonel Howard which in fact had been abandoned more from pride than necessity and which had never been confiscated their joint inheritances made the young couple extremely affluent and we shall here take occasion to say that Griffith remembered his promise to the dying master and saw such a provision made for the childless mother as her situation and his character required it might have been some 12 years after the short cruise which it has been our task to record in these volumes that Griffith who was running his eyes hairlessly over a file of newspapers was observed by his wife to drop the bundle from before his face and pass his hand slowly across his brow like a man who had been suddenly struck with renewed impressions of some former event or who was endeavoring to recall to his mind images that had long since faded see you anything in that paper to disturb you Griffith said the still lovely Cecilia I hope that now we have our Confederate government the estates will soon recover from their losses but it is one of those plans to create a new navy that has met your eye Arthruent you sigh to become a wander again and pine after your beloved ocean see sighing and pining since you have begun to smile he returned with a vacant manner and without removing his hand from his brow is not the new order of things then likely to succeed does the congress enter into contention with the president the wisdom and name of Washington will smooth away for the experiment until time shall mature the system Cecilia do you remember the man who accompanied Manuel and myself to St. Ruth the night we became your uncle's prisoners and who afterwards led the party which liberated us surely I do he was the pilot of your ship it was then said and I remember the shrewd soldier we entertained he must suspected that he was one greater than he seemed the soldier surmised the truth but you saw him not on that fearful night when he carried us through the shoals and you could not witness the calm courage with which he guided the ship into those very channels again while the confusion of battle was among us I heard the dreadful din and I can easily imagine the horrid scene returned his wife her recollections chasing the color from her cheeks even at that distance of time but what of him is his name mentioned in those papers ah they are English prints you called his name gray if I remember that is the name he bore with us he was a man who had formed romantic notions of glory and wished everything concealed in which he acted apart that he thought would not contribute to his renown can there have been any connection between him and Alastair and Alice Dunn's comb sets a sea dropping her work in her lap in a thoughtful manner she met him alone at her own urgent request the night Catherine and myself saw you in your confinement and even then my cousin whispered that they were acquainted the letter I received yesterday from Alice was sealed with black and I was pained with the melancholy of the gentle manner in which she rode of passing from this world into another Griffith glanced at his wife with a look of sudden intelligence and then answered like one who began to see with the advantages of a clearer atmosphere to see your conjecture is surely true fifty things rush to my mind if that one surmise his acquaintance with that particular spot in his early life his expedition, his knowledge of the abbey all confirm it he altogether was indeed a man of marked character why has he not been among us as to see that he appeared devoted to our cause his devotion to America proceeded from desire of distinction his ruling passion and perhaps a little also from resentment as some injustice which he claimed or suffered from his own countrymen he was a man and not therefore without foibles among which may have been reckoned the estimation of his own acts but they were most daring and deserving of praise neither did he at all merit the albuquí that he received from his enemies his love of liberty may be more questionable he commenced his deeds in the cause of these free states they terminated in the service of a desperate he is now dead but had he lived in times and under circumstances when his consummate knowledge of his profession, his school deliberate and even desperate courage could have been exercised in a regular and well supported navy and had the habits of his youth better qualified him to have borne meekly the honors he acquired in his age he would have left behind him in this list that would have descended to the latest posterity of his adopted countrymen with greater renown Ray Griffith exclaims to see in a little surprise you are zealous in his cause who was he a man who held a promise of secrecy while living which is not at all released by his death it is enough to know that he was greatly instrumental in procuring our sudden union and that our happiness might have been wrecked in the voyage of life had we not met the unknown pilot of the German ocean perceiving her husband to rise and carefully collect the papers and a bundle before he left the room Cecia made no further remark at the time nor was the subject ever revived between them End of Chapter 35 End of The Pilot by James Venomall Cooper