James Barnes

“ But one evening, just about dusk, Conyngham strolled down the edge of the wharf and stood watching some long boxes that were being slung on board and lowered over the side. A very short red-haired man came up to him and spoke to him in French.
“Good evening, monsieur,” he said. “A pretty little vessel this, eh?”
Conyngham turned at once and looked the speaker over. He knew him to be an Englishman who was supposed to be a Government spy. The man’s audacity in daring to approach him at that moment was rather startling, but Conyngham’s reply must have been more so. ”

“ To Conyngham’s inquiry whether he knew of a safe entrance to the little cove at which they were heading he vouchsafed no reply. But as they drew near the line of breakers his wails increased.
“We shall all be drowned!” he cried over and over. “Better a prison than the bottom of the sea.”
But Conyngham, with one eye ahead and the other on the approaching cutter, held his course. In another moment he had crossed the Englishman’s bows, and as the latter fired a parting shot the yawl was in the midst of the smother of tumbling waters. ”

“ It was lucky that the water was smooth and that the Charming Peggy was on her best tack, otherwise the frigate that was now dropping fast astern would have overhauled her ere she had been well clear of the capes. The gun that the Englishman had fired had had a ring of disappointment in it, an admonition more of warning than of threat. Captain Conyngham, looking back over the low taffrail, waved his hand as he saw her haul her wind. ”

“ Whisht,” went on the captain, “listen, and I’ll prove it to ye. There’s a man sitting with his back to you, but facing me. Can you hear what he says?”
“He’s at the other end of the room,” responded Mr. Nesbit. “No man could hear what he says at that distance.”
“But I can see what he says,” answered Conyngham, “and he has just uttered a speech that would make King George shudder. Being a believer in soft language I will not repeat it. It’s all in watching a man’s lips. ”

“ Prompted by an impulse, Conyngham stepped to the color halyards, and with his own hands hoisted the Revenge’s colors to the masthead.
114 As if angered by the seeming insult, the big vessel swung off a point or two until, port after port, her broadside could be seen being brought to bear. It was the very thing for which Conyngham had been waiting. By doing so she lessened her speed and lost perceptible headway. ”

“ The elder Ross placed his hand on Conyngham’s shoulder.
“You are the man we have been looking for,” he said in a whisper, “the very man.”
40 “Hold, gentlemen,” whispered Mr. Hodge, softly, “what we have spoken of here this evening we will consider buried in the catacombs of our memory, and it would be better,” he suggested, “if we should meet Captain Conyngham elsewhere to be as strangers to him. Is it so understood?” ”

“ It would take another book to describe the immediate and subsequent adventures and misadventures of Captain Conyngham in prison, for the next few months of his life were passed in such close confinement that it seems almost incredible that any human being could have survived it. He kept a diary during this period that is merely a recital of his sufferings, and yet we can not pass them over in silence, but must outline what happened from the day of his capture to the day of his first attempted escape, an escape that led only to recapture and worse treatment, if possible, than before. ”

“ He had hardly set foot on French shore when he met a Mr. Thomas Ross, whom he had known as a supercargo on one of his earlier voyages into the Mediterranean. It was years since they had seen one another, but Mr. Ross remembered him at once.
“Well, indeed, Conyngham, this is a surprise!” he cried, shaking hands, after the young captain had accosted him. “And what are you doing here?”
“Fretting my head off,” was the reply. “Sure, it is a piece of ill fortune for a man like myself to be idle when there is so much that he would like to do. ”

“ From his post of vantage in the bulwarks of the vessel he turned, and, taking off his hat, addressed the crowd that up to this minute, as we have said, had been nothing but amused spectators.
“Citizens of Dunkirk, people of France,” he said, “help yourselves. Here are bales of fine English cloth and English cutlery. Sure, they’re things ornamental and things beautiful. Help yourselves; they’re yours for the taking, and the gift of the United Colonies of America and Gustavus Conyngham, captain in the navy.” ”

“ Captain Conyngham was breathing as if from some hard exertion. The lieutenant’s face and eyes were suffused with angry red.
“Now, Socrates,” said Conyngham slowly, “you will cook us the very best breakfast that you can, and serve it here in the cabin in half an hour. But, in the meantime, take a message to Mr. Jarvis on deck, and hand him this quietly. There are ten Britishers with us and we still number thirteen. Tell the boatswain, without any one seeing you, what you have seen here in the cabin. Attract no suspicion, and try whether you can live up to your name. ”

“ Once, forced by a hard blow, Conyngham had boldly made into the mouth of the English harbor of Ravenglass, in Lancashire, where of course he dared not go ashore, and owing to the presence of a British thirty-four-gun frigate he could not cut out any of the numerous fleet of merchant vessels by which he was surrounded. When the storm was over he sailed out of the harbor as boldly as he had entered it, and none of the English fleet imagined that the natty little craft that dropped anchor among them was the dreaded Yankee “pirate.” ”

“ Your name is Conyngham,” he said.
“Now, somebody must have told you that,” returned Conyngham. “But it is my name, and I am captain of the armed cruiser the Surprise.”
“Which has been turned over to his Majesty’s Government with the other vessels that you piratically took off the coast of Holland,” replied the officer.
“Indeed?” was the reply, “That must be gratifying to his Majesty. But now, captain, won’t you take off your coat and have a game with me? It is a pleasant little occupation that two can play at better than one. I have little with me to wager but my shoe-buckles. ”

“ It was the morning of the 15th of July, and in the cabin of the Revenge Mr. Carmichael sat opposite Captain Conyngham, who watched him with a smile of dry amusement as he wrote. Carmichael was smiling also. He had a trick of apparently spelling the letters he was writing with his tongue wriggling at the corner of his mouth. As soon as he had finished he turned, and waving the paper in the air to dry it, chuckled.
“There, Captain Conyngham, are your sailing orders. Of course, to a man of your intelligence, there is no use of being more than explicit. ”

“ Conyngham stopped playing and went to his cell. Before an hour had passed another visitor was announced. It was Mr. Hodge. He was not disguised, but dressed in his usual habit, that of a merchant in prosperous circumstances.
“I expected to see you as a cat’s-meat man or a turbaned Turk, my dear sir,” was Conyngham’s greeting, “and yet here you come as if you were dropping into the tavern of our friend on the hill.”
Hodge smiled. “There is very little more trouble. I bore some instructions from Paris that have made the commandant of the prison a very subservient individual.” ”

“ I judged from the way he was talking that she was the subject of conversation, so I hove to and asked them a few silent questions.”
“What did you do that for?” asked David Conyngham. “Silent questions!”
“Sure, to find out how little they know,” answered the captain roguishly. “It is as good to know how little a man knows as how much, sometimes.”
“And what was that little?” asked Mr. Nesbit. ”

“ The lower sails were wet with the spray that dashed up from the bows, and he himself was soaked almost to the skin. Suddenly he arose and shouted some orders hurriedly. The Revenge came up into the wind as if abandoning the chase. The second mate, who stood beside the helmsman, saw the captain come running aft.
“She’s a man-o’-war brig!” cried Conyngham. “I thought as much. She has a drag out to hold her back.” ”

“ For a long time a plan had been in Captain Conyngham’s mind, the feasibility of which, granting that certain obstacles were removed, tempted him strongly. There were enough American sailormen, of good fighting stock, hanging idly about French and Dutch ports of entry, to man a small squadron. Why was it not possible to fit out one vessel at least and sail into the highway of British commerce? The risk would be great, the rewards would be tremendous, and the advantages to the American cause, if the project was successful, past reckoning. All it required was money and a starting place. ”

“ With something that sounded like a cheer mixed with laughter, the crowd rushed upon the bales and boxes. Many climbed unhindered over the vessel’s sides and dived down the hatchway. Conyngham leaped to the wharf.
“Now,” said he, “let the Englishmen try to land and take us. The authorities were going to let them board us while we lay at anchor unprotected. I know that, for it was a French officer who went out to the English sloop. Who can believe a Frenchman anyhow? I have told my crew to scatter, and each man for himself. ”

“ One of the Channel mists had suddenly swept down from the north. It was almost impossible to see even the length of the deck.
The lookout forward, who had been peering over the bows, came stumbling aft to where the first mate, whose watch it was, stood by the wheel.
“There’s a vessel close off our bow, sir; listen, and you can hear her! She can’t be more than a pistol-shot away.” ”

“ Hodge, merchant, had given his guarantee and bond, together with Messrs. Ross and Allan, that the American vessel about to depart from Dunkirk should respect all English commerce and should make the best of her way to the United States. Conyngham’s name was not even mentioned. As soon as he had read it, the captain exclaimed aloud:
“We are trapped again! By the Powers, there’s a large rat somewhere. Where is my commission? I can not sail without one, and I refuse to put myself and my crew in such jeopardy.” ”

“ At daybreak he was off Dover and could see the flag flying on the walls of the castle, and a mass of shipping about the entrance. He made boldly in and dropped his little anchor amid a fleet of small craft. The harbor at this time was not one of the best in the world, for the shingle bar would keep shifting, and the breakwaters, except the old basin piers, were not then built. But lying well out Captain Conyngham detected a vessel that, from the description he had received from Mr. Allan, he was sure could be none other than the Roebuck. ”

“ Any ship’s captain who sailed on his own account and made prizes in the English Channel, would get no mercy if he once fell into the hands of the enemy. But even without the authority Captain Conyngham was eager to take the risk, if a vessel could be procured and he could find others to join him.
Shortly after the news reached him at The Hague of Franklin’s arrival, he left Holland and sailed as passenger in a Dutch coaster to Dunkirk, and there, the very night of his arrival, he met with a man who was to have a great influence in his further doings. ”

“ It had been his hope that he might fall in with one of the transports then engaged in carrying Hessian troops to America, and in the latter case he had decided upon two alternatives: one to make a prize of their vessel, even at the risk of recapture, and endeavor to get her into some American port, or to land them disarmed on the coast of France or Holland. But even the prospect of making another rich haul did not tempt him to remain longer on the cruising grounds. So, under all the sail he could carry, he laid his course for Dunkirk, the Prince of Orange staggering along in his wake. ”