A DUEL
Reuben, Samuel and other members of our crew attended a theatrical performance in Malta during a period in which our ship was detained in that harbor by a gale.
There were British ships in port and the contacts of their crews with men from our ships was seldom friendly. The little affair of the Revolution had not yet been forgotten, and, besides, the British habit of impressing us did not contribute towards a harmonious spirit. This island was one of England's fortresses in those waters and, of course, Englishmen abounded.
We saw in the theatre several of our midshipmen, looking very spruce in their dress uniforms, with brass buttons shining and with flashing dirks hanging by light chains from their hips. Among them was Joseph Bainbridge, the younger brother of Captain William Bainbridge. He was a slender, bright-eyed, manly young fellow, the most popular middie aboard the Constitution.
The group were standing in the lobby as we entered. We saw a crowd of young British officers looking them over with an air that came near to being insulting. Our middies were returning their gaze boldly and with even more insolence.
One of the British officers, a tall, handsome fellow looking very fine in his scarlet coat with silk braid, collided with Bainbridge in the lobby.
"I beg your pardon," we heard young Bainbridge say. The lads had been warned by the captain to avoid quarrels and Bainbridge, we could see, was trying to obey the command.
"That fellow pushed Joe on purpose," said Reuben, clenching his huge fist. "I've heard of that pusher—he's Captain Tyler, the Governor's secretary, a bad man in a duel. He has a dozen deaths to his credit, and is itching to add an American life to his score!"
When the performance was over—the singer Carlotta had entertained us well—we went out behind the middies, as a sort of rear-guard. We weren't looking for trouble, but if those lads got into a tussle, we felt that they might need aid from some plain sailors.
Captain Tyrone Tyler was standing where Bainbridge and his comrades had to pass. He gave young Bainbridge a dig with his elbow, whereupon our middy turned and spoke to him sharply. Tyler then jammed his elbow into the middy's face, and with his other hand tried to seize our lad by the collar.
"Rough work—stand by!" said Reuben to us. We pushed forward.
Bainbridge, however, had eluded Tyler's grasp.
His hand went out towards his tormentor, but it had a card in it.
"You are a bully and a coward," he said as cool as ice, "and I welcome the duty of putting a stop to your insults to American officers."
Tyler took the card from him. The comrades of both men closed in.
"It'll be a duel," said Reuben, in great disgust, "and our lad will go up against that killer! Why didn't he decide to let us settle it with our fists?"
As the two parties separated, Reuben glanced towards another part of the lobby. "What ho," he exclaimed, "there's Lieutenant Decatur looking on! He'd have taken part in the affair, you can bet your boots!"
Stephen Decatur, first lieutenant of the Constitution, followed the midshipman out of the theatre. We saw him approach Bainbridge and draw him away from the other middies, who were as flustered as hens.
We learned later that the meeting was to be on the beach the next day at nine o'clock. You may be sure that every man Jack of us was on the lookout to see if Lieutenant Decatur intended to permit Bainbridge to go ashore. When we saw them go off together in the cutter there was little work done among the crew. It looked to us as if the midshipman was on his way to sure death, and we decided that Decatur was going to seek a way out of the quarrel for the lad.
Reuben shook his head. "That would be against the honor of the United States' navy. Decatur may give him a lesson or two in duelling, but he'll see the thing through. They're leaving the ship a full hour and a half before the time set—I'll wager there'll be pistol practice somewhere."
About half-past nine a boat put out from the shore. There were two officers in it and both sat upright and chatted to each other. Could it be that——?
An hour later, young Bainbridge told us what had happened. Decatur, as the second of Bainbridge, had chosen pistols at four paces. Tyler's second objected. "This looks like murder, sir!" he said to Decatur.
The lieutenant replied: "No sir, this looks like death; your friend is a professed duellist; mine is inexperienced."
Decatur gave the warning: "Take aim!" and then "Fire!" Both, through agitation, missed. Again they faced each other. The pistols were discharged simultaneously. Tyler fell. A surgeon hurried towards him, while Bainbridge turned to Decatur. "I don't think his bullet touched me!" he said.
"I thank God for that!" said the lieutenant. "I fear it is not so well with your adversary, but he invited it. Let's be off!" They passed poor Tyler, lying mortally wounded, and lifted their hats as they went.
Reuben James, ever since I met him, had talked Decatur, Decatur, Decatur. He idolized him. During our country's affair with France he had served on a frigate on which Decatur was a midshipman, and the exploits of the young officer had so appealed to Reuben that he would have followed the youth into the mouth of death.
And indeed, what Reuben told me about Decatur made me also a fervent worshipper.
My own state was proud to claim Decatur as a son, for he was born in Sinnepuxent, Maryland. He was of the blood of Lafayette. His father and grandfather had been naval officers before him; and the former had served with honor on our side in the war of the Revolution.
This, however, was not his first experience in these waters. He had been an officer in Captain Dale's squadron, serving on the Essex under Captain Bainbridge. Bainbridge and he had been linked in an affair that made him eager now to help his imprisoned friend. The commander of a Spanish gunboat insulted Captain Bainbridge at long distance while the Essex lay in the harbor of Barcelona. Later Decatur was also insulted. Decatur visited the gunboat.
"Where is your captain?" he demanded of the officer on duty.
"He has gone ashore," was the reply.
"Tell him that Lieutenant Decatur, of the frigate Essex, pronounces him a cowardly scoundrel, and that when they meet on shore he will cut his ears off!"
The matter came to the attention of the commandant of the port, who requested Captain Bainbridge to curb his fiery officer. The captain replied that if the gunboat commander did not know how to be courteous to American officers he must take the consequences. The commandant thereupon ordered the gunboat captain to apologize to Decatur. The matter reached the ears of the King of Spain.
"Treat all officers of the United States with courtesy," he ordered, "and especially those attached to the United States frigate Essex."