The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper (best ereader under 100 TXT) ๐
Read free book ยซThe Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper (best ereader under 100 TXT) ๐ยป - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: James Fenimore Cooper
Read book online ยซThe Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper (best ereader under 100 TXT) ๐ยป. Author - James Fenimore Cooper
โOne would swear,โ said Merry, laughing, as much through the excitement produced by this intelligence, as at his conceit, โthat Captain Munson would never carry wood aloft, when he can't carry canvas. I remember, one night, Mr. Griffith was a little vexed, and said, around the capstan, he believed the next order would be to rig in the bowsprit, and house lowermasts!โ
โAy, ay, Griffith is a lazy dog, and sometimes gets lost in the fogs of his own thoughts,โ said Barnstable; โand I suppose old Moderate was in a breeze. However, this looks as if he were in earnest; he must have kept the ship away, or she would never have been where she is; I do verily believe the old gentleman remembers that he has a few of his officers and men on this accursed island. This is well, Merry; for should we take the abbey, we have a place at hand in which to put our prisoners.โ
โWe must have patience till the morning,โ added the boy, โfor no boat would attempt to land in such a sea.โ
โNo boat could land! The best boat that ever floated, boy, has sunk in these breakers! But the wind lessens, and before morning the sea will fall. Let us on, and find a berth for our poor lads, where they can be made more comfortable.โ
The two officers now descended from their elevation, and led the way still farther up the deep and narrow dell, until, as the ground rose gradually before them, they found themselves in a dense wood, on a level with the adjacent country.
โHere should be a ruin at hand, if I have a true reckoning, and know my courses and distances,โ said Barnstable; โI have a chart about me that speaks of such a landmark.โ
The lieutenant turned away from the laughing expression of the boy's eye, as the latter archly inquired:
โWas it made by one who knows the coast well, sir? Of was it done by some schoolboy, to learn his maps, as the girls work samplers?โ
โCome, younker, no sampler of your impudence. But look ahead; can you see any habitation that has been deserted?โ
โAy, sir, here is a pile of stones before us, that looks as dirty and ragged as if it was a soldier's barrack; can this be what you seek?โ
โFaith, this has been a whole town in its day! we should call it a city in America, and furnish it with a mayor, aldermen, and recorderโyou might stow old Faneuil Hall in one of its lockers.โ
With this sort of careless dialogue, which Barnstable engaged in, that his men might discover no alteration in his manner, they approached the mouldering walls that had proved so frail a protection to the party under Griffith.
A short time was passed in examining the premises, when the wearied seamen took possession of one of the dilapidated apartments, and disposed themselves to seek that rest of which they had been deprived by the momentous occurrences of the past night.
Barnstable waited until the loud breathing of the seamen assured him that they slept, when he aroused the drowsy boy, who was fast losing his senses in the same sort of oblivion, and motioned him to follow. Merry arose, and they stole together from the apartment, with guarded steps, and penetrated more deeply into the gloomy recesses of the place.
CHAPTER XXVI. Mercury. โI permit thee to be Sosia again.โ Dryden,
We must leave the two adventurers winding their way among the broken piles, and venturing boldly beneath the tottering arches of the ruin, to accompany the reader, at the same hour, within the more comfortable walls of the abbey; where, it will be remembered, Borroughcliffe was left in a condition of very equivocal ease. As the earth had, however, in the interval, nearly run its daily round, circumstances had intervened to release the soldier from his confinementโand no one, ignorant of the fact, would suppose that the gentleman who was now seated at the hospitable board of Colonel Howard, directing, with so much discretion, the energies of his masticators to the delicacies of the feast, could read, in his careless air and smiling visage, that those foragers of nature had been so recently condemned, for four long hours, to the mortification of discussing the barren subject of his own sword-hilt. Borroughcliffe, however, maintained not only his usual post, but his well-earned reputation at the table, with his ordinary coolness of demeanor; though at times there were fleeting smiles that crossed his military aspect, which sufficiently indicated that he considered the matter of his reflection to be of a particularly ludicrous character. In the young man who sat by his side, dressed in the deep-blue jacket of a seaman, with the fine white linen of his collar contrasting strongly with the black silk handkerchief that was tied with studied negligence around his neck, and whose easy air and manner contrasted still more strongly with this attire, the reader will discover Griffith. The captive paid much less devotion to the viands than his neighbor, though he affected more attention to the business of the table than he actually be stowed, with a sort of consciousness that it would relieve the blushing maiden who presided. The laughing eyes of Katherine Plowden were glittering by the side of the mild countenance of Alice Dunscombe, and, at times, were fastened in droll interest on the rigid and upright exterior that Captain Manual maintained, directly opposite to where she was seated. A chair had, also, been placed for Dillonโof course it was vacant.
โAnd so, Borroughcliffe,โ cried Colonel Howard, with a freedom of voice, and a vivacity in his air, that announced the increasing harmony of the repast, โthe sea-dog left you nothing to chew but the cud of your resentment!โ
โThat and my sword-hilt,โ returned the immovable recruiting officer. โGentlemen, I know not how your Congress rewards military achievements; but if that worthy fellow were in my company, he should have a halberd within a weekโspurs I would not offer him, for he affects to spurn their use.โ
Griffith smiled, and bowed in silence to the liberal compliment of Borroughcliffe; but Manual took on himself the task of replying:
โConsidering the drilling the man has received, the conduct has been well enough, sir; though a well-trained soldier would not only have made prisoners, but he would have secured them.โ
โI perceive, my good comrade, that your thoughts are running on the exchange,โ said Borroughcliffe, good-humoredly; โwe will fill, sir, and, by permission of the ladies, drink to a speedy restoration of rights to both partiesโthe status quo ante bellum!โ
โWith all my heart!โ cried the colonel; โand Cicely and Miss Katherine will pledge the sentiment in a woman's sip; will ye not, my fair wards?โMr. Griffith, I honor this proposition of yours, which will not only liberate yourself, but restore to us my kinsman, Mr. Christopher Dillon. Kit had imagined the thing well; ha! Borroughcliffe! 'twas ingeniously contrived, but the fortune of war interposed itself to his success; and yet it is a deep and inexplicable mystery
Comments (0)