The Perils and Adventures of Harry Skipwith by Land and Sea

by William Henry Giles Kingston

Poor Peter was very unhappy when he found that we were to go to an island, instead of to the mainland.

“Oh dear, oh dear, or, when shall we ever go to a country where we can get along on our feet away from the sight of this ugly sea?” he exclaimed, wringing his hands, and well-nigh blabbering outright.

My chief anxiety was to get away from the schooner as soon as possible, as I feared that the pirates might be tempted to attack some other vessel, and that Peter and I might be brought in as participators in the crime. I had no doubt that our innocence would ultimately be triumphantly established, but that might be only after we had been hung, in which there would not be much satisfaction to ourselves.

A very unattractive recollection of the picture of a row of pirates hanging in chains on the banks of the Thames, which I had seen in my boyhood, would intrude itself on my memory, as I walked the deck in solitude, thinking it wise to speak as little as possible to any one, when the look-out man from aloft hailed to say that a sail was in sight to windward. To my concern, I found that the schooner’s course was altered to meet her. We stood on, nearing her fast, when an officer who had gone aloft hailed that she was a large vessel with a wide spread of very white canvas. On this there was a consultation, glasses were directed towards the stranger, the schooner’s head once more put before the wind, while all sail that could be packed on her was set, and away we went, with the stranger, which was pronounced to be either a British or American man-of-war, in full chase after us.

I must own that I felt very uncomfortable. My worst fears were about to be realised. This termination to my career was one I had not anticipated when I left home. Kind aunt Becky! how horrified she would be to hear that her favourite nephew had been hung as a pirate by mistake. It would be enough to break the good old creature’s heart. From what I had seen and heard of the miscreants with whom I was at present associated, I felt that they would be a good riddance if captured and hung, with the exception of Marcus, who was, I was sure, fitted for a far different life to that into which circumstances had plunged him. I watched the countenances of the pirates to judge what they thought of the prospect of their escape. They had been so accustomed, it seemed, however, to consider their craft the fastest in those seas that they had no fears about the matter, but laughed and joked as if there was not an enemy who could sink their craft with a broadside close at their heels. The schooner sailed well, but so did the man of war, and as it appeared in the course of time, even better. As her courses rose gradually out of the water, the pirates became less and less loquacious, and finally many of them began to make very long faces. The officers held earnest consultations, they looked anxiously round at the sky, they carefully examined the compass, and then trimmed and re-trimmed the sails. Still the big ship was gaining on us. At length there appeared to be little doubt that we should be overtaken if the wind held as it then was. Marcus was as cool and undaunted as ever, indeed from the unconcerned manner in which he paced the deck, it was difficult to believe that he apprehended the slightest danger. I asked him at last what he thought of the state of things.

“That we shall be taken, and if taken, unless we can effect our escape, or die beforehand, we shall be hung,” he answered calmly. “I had heard that a very fast English man-of-war was expected out here expressly to look after us. That must be her.”

I did not like to ask more, still I had a strong wish to entreat him not to blow up the vessel, as he had threatened to do, should her capture be inevitable. He seemed to divine my thoughts.

“You know what I would do if we are hard pressed rather than be taken and hung,” he said to me. “Should the vessel in chase of us prove to be an American, my fate is sealed if we are taken. Still, I will do nothing to destroy your life if I can help it; but for my companions I cannot be answerable.”

“Should she be American my chance of escape will, I suspect, too, be very small, especially if I am accused of having assisted at your escape,” said I. “However, we will hope for the best.”