IX
And, indeed, it did seem vastly strange to lie there alongside Staten
Island all that day, with New York town in plain sight across the water
and yet so impossible to reach. For whether he desired to escape or no,
Barnaby True could not but observe that both he and the young lady were
so closely watched that they might as well have been prisoners, tied
hand and foot and laid in the hold, so far as any hope of getting away
was concerned.
Throughout that day there was a vast deal of mysterious coming and
going aboard the brigantine, and in the afternoon a sail-boat went up
to the town, carrying the Captain of the brigantine and a great load in
the stern covered over with a tarpaulin. What was so taken up to the
town Barnaby did not then guess, nor did he for a moment suspect of
what vast importance it was to be for him.
About sundown the small boat returned, fetching the pirate Captain of
the brigantine back again. Coming aboard and finding Barnaby on deck,
the other requested him to come down into the saloon for he had a few
serious words to say to him. In the saloon they found the young lady
sitting, the broad light of the evening shining in through the
skylight, and making it all pretty bright within.
The Captain commanded Barnaby to be seated, whereupon he chose a place
alongside the young lady. So soon as he had composed himself the
Captain began very seriously, with a preface somewhat thus: "Though you
may think me the Captain of this brigantine, Master Barnaby True, I am
not really so, but am under orders of a superior whom I have obeyed in
all these things that I have done." Having said so much as this, he
continued his address to say that there was one thing yet remaining for
him to do, and that the greatest thing of all.
He said that this was something that both Barnaby and the young lady
were to be called upon to perform, and he hoped that they would do
their part willingly; but that whether they did it willingly or no, do
it they must, for those also were the orders he had received.
You may guess how our hero was disturbed by this prologue. He had found
the young lady's hand beneath the table and he now held it very closely
in his own; but whatever might have been his expectations as to the
final purport of the communications the other was about to favor him
with, his most extreme expectations could not have equalled that which
was demanded of him.
"My orders are these," said his interlocutor, continuing: "I am to take
you and the young lady ashore, and to see that you are married before I
quit you, and to that end a very good, decent, honest minister who
lives ashore yonder in the village was chosen and hath been spoken to,
and is now, no doubt, waiting for you to come. That is the last thing I
am set to do; so now I will leave you and her young ladyship alone
together for five minutes to talk it over, but be quick about it, for
whether willing or not, this thing must be done."
Thereupon he incontinently went away, as he had promised, leaving those
two alone together, our hero like one turned into stone, and the young
lady, her face turned away, as red as fire, as Barnaby could easily
distinguish by the fading light.
Nor can I tell what Barnaby said to her, nor what words or arguments he
used, for so great was the distraction of his mind and the tumult of
his emotions that he presently discovered that he was repeating to her
over and over again that God knew he loved her, and that with all his
heart and soul, and that there was nothing in all the world for him but
her. After which, containing himself sufficiently to continue his
address, he told her that if she would not have it as the man had said,
and if she were not willing to marry him as she was bidden to do, he
would rather die a thousand, aye, ten thousand, deaths than lend
himself to forcing her to do such a thing as this. Nevertheless, he
told her she must speak up and tell him yes or no, and that God knew he
would give all the world if she would say "yes."
All this and much more he said in such a tumult that he was hardly
aware of what he was speaking, and she sitting there, as though her
breath stifled her. Nor did he know what she replied to him, only that
she would marry him. Therewith he took her into his arms and for the
first time set his lips to hers, in such a transport of ecstasy that
everything seemed to his sight as though he were about to swoon.
So when the Captain returned to the saloon he found Barnaby sitting
there holding her hand, she with her face turned away, and he so full
of joy that the promise of heaven could not have made him happier.
The yawl-boat belonging to the brigantine was ready and waiting
alongside when they came upon deck, and immediately they descended to
it and took their seats. Reaching the shore, they landed, and walked up
the village street in the twilight, she clinging to our hero's arm as
though she would faint away. The Captain of the brigantine and two
other men aboard accompanied them to the minister's house, where they
found the good man waiting for them, smoking his pipe in the warm
evening, and walking up and down in front of his own door. He
immediately conducted them into the house, where, his wife having
fetched a candle, and two others from the village being present, the
good, pious man having asked several questions as to their names and
their age and where they were from, and having added his blessing, the
ceremony was performed, and the certificate duly signed by those
present from the village--the men who had come ashore from the
brigantine alone refusing to set their hands to any paper.
The same sail-boat that had taken the Captain up to the town was
waiting for Barnaby and the young lady as they came down to the
landing-place. There the Captain of the brigantine having wished them
godspeed, and having shaken Barnaby very heartily by the hand, he
helped to push off the boat, which with the slant of the wind presently
sailed swiftly away, dropping the shore and those strange beings, and
the brigantine in which they sailed, alike behind them into the night.
They could hear through the darkness the creaking of the sails being
hoisted aboard of the pirate vessel; nor did Barnaby True ever set eyes
upon it or the crew again, nor, so far as the writer is informed, did
anybody else.
