MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗

Steel, Tinder, And Tobacco.

 

 

 

Hours Passed so. My Fishing Being Successful, I Lighted a Fire, And Soon

Fried a Few Fine Mackerel; But By-And-Bye The Sun Reached its Highest

Position, And The Scorching Became So Intolerable That I Was Obliged to

Strip And Spread My Clothes, And Even My Shirt, Upon The Benches, To

Obtain A Shelter. By That Time I Had Lost Sight Of Land, And Could Only

Perceive Now And Then Some Small Black Points, Which Were The Summits Of

The Tall Pines.

 

 

 

As Soon As My Meal Was Finished, I Don'T Know Why, But Instead Of

Sleeping a Decent Siesta Of Two Hours, The Spanish Tonic To Digest A

Dinner, I Never Awoke Before Sunset; And Only Then Because I Began To

Feel A Motion Which Was Far From Being Pleasant. In fact, The Waves Were

Beginning To Rise In sharp Ridges, Covered with Foam; The Mild

Land-Breeze Had Changed into A Cool Sharp Westerly Wind.

 

 

 

A Fair Wind, However, Was A Comfort, And As I Put On My Clothes, I Began

To Think That By Making a Proper Use Of The Helm And Standing Upright In

The Boat, My Body Would Serve As A Small Sail, When "He, He, Hoe!"

Shouted twenty Voices, On The Larboard Side Of Me. I Started with

Astonishment, As May Be Imagined, And Turning Round, Perceived, Fifty

Yards From Me, A Large Boat Driving Before The Waves, Impelled on By Ten

Oars. It Was Filled with Men, Casks, And Kegs, And One At The Helm Was

Making Signals, Apparently Inviting Me To Stop. A Few Minutes After, We

Were Close To Each Other; And I Daresay Our Astonishment Was

Mutual,--Theirs To See Me Alone And Without Oars; Mine, To Behold Such A

Wretched spectacle. They Were Evidently The Crew Of A Wrecked vessel,

And Must Have Undergone Frightful Privations And Fatigues, So Emaciated

Was Their Appearance.

 

 

 

No Time, However, Was To Be Lost. All Of Them Asked for Water, And

Pointed to The Horizon, To Know In which Direction They Should Go. My

Stone Jug Was Full; I Handed it To The Man At The Helm, Who Seemed to Be

The Captain; But The Honest And Kind-Hearted fellow, Pouring Out A Small

Quantity In the Cup, Gave Some To All His Companions Before He Would

Taste Any Himself. The Jug Was A Large One, Containing Two Gallons Or

More, But Of Course Was Soon Emptied.

 

 

 

I Gave Them A Fried mackerel, Which I Had Kept For My Supper; They

Passed it To The Captain, And, In spite Of His Generous Denial, They

Insisted upon His Eating It Immediately. Seeing Which, I Showed them

Nine Or Ten Other Raw Fishes, Two Or Three Of Which Were Heavy, And

Proposed to Cook Them. They Sang And Laughed: Cook The Fish! No; Little

Cooking Is Wanted when Men Are Starving. They Divided them Brotherly;

And This Supply, Added to The Honey For The Captain And The Bear'S

Grease For The Sailors, Seemed to Have Endowed them With New Life.

 

 

 

The Captain And Four Of The Men, With Oars, Stepped into My Skiff. At

That Moment The Stars Were Beginning To Appear; And Pointing Out To Him

One In the East As A Guide, We Ploughed our Way Towards The Shore,

Greatly Favoured both By The Wind And The Waves. In a Singular Mixture

Of English, French, Italian, And Latin, The Captain Made Me Comprehend

That His Vessel Had Been A Russian Brig, Bound From Asitka, In russian

America, To Acapulco, In mexico, For A Supply Of Grain, Tallow, And

Spirits; That It Had Been Destroyed by Fire During The Night, Scarcely

Allowing Time For The Men To Launch The Long-Boat. No Provisions Could

Be Procured; The Boxes And Kegs That Had Been Taken In the Hurry Were Of

No Use; That They Had Been Rowing Forty-Eight Hours Without Food Or

Water, And Were Ignorant Of Their Distance From The Shore; And, Finally,

That They Had Perceived my Skiff A Good Half-Hour Before I Awoke;

Thought It At First Empty, But Saw Me Rising, And Called to Me, In the

Hope That I Would Guide Them To A Landing-Place. In return I Explained

To Him My Adventure As Well As I Could, And Made Him Promises Of Plenty

For The Next Day; But I Might Have Talked for Ever To No Purpose; The

Poor Fellow, Overpowered with Fatigue, And Now Feeling Secure, Had Sunk

Into A Deep Sleep.

 

 

 

At The Break Of Day We Made The Land, At The Entrance Of A Small River

And Close To Some Find Old Ruins. It Was The Very Spot Where I Had

Intended to Go With The Padre. There Were A Few Wild Horses Rambling In

The Neighbourhood; I Cleaned my Gun, Loaded it Again, And Killed one;

But Not Before The Tired and Hungry Crew, Stretched on The Strand,

Proved by Their Nasal Concerts That For The Present Their Greatest

Necessity Was Repose After Their Fatigues. There Were Twenty Of Them,

Including The Captain.

 

 

 

I Had Led too Much Of An Indian Life, Not To Know How To Bear Fatigue,

And To Be Rapid In execution. The Sun Was Not More Than Three Hours

High, When I Had Already Cooked the Best Part Of The Horse. All The

Unfortunates Were Still Asleep, And I Found It Was No Easy Matter To

Awake Them. At Last, I Hit Upon An Expedient Which Did Not Fail; I Stuck

The Ramrod Of My Gun Into A Smoking Piece Of Meat, And Held It So That

The Fumes Should Rise Under Their Very Noses. No Fairy Wand Was Ever

More Effective; In less Than Two Minutes They Were All Chewing and

Swallowing Their Breakfast, With An Energy That Had Anything But Sleep

In It. It Is No Easy Matter To Satisfy Twenty Hungry Russians; But Still

There Is An End To Everything. One Of Them Knelt Before Me And Kissed my

Feet. Poor Fellow! He Thought That I Had Done A Great Deal For Him And

His Companions, Forgetting That Perhaps I Owed my Own Life To Them.

 

 

 

The Men Were Tired: But When They Heard That They Could Reach A City In

The Afternoon, They Made Preparation For Departure With Great Alacrity.

We Pulled slowly Along The Coast, For The Heat Was Intense, And The

Rowers Fast Losing Their Strength. At One O'Clock I Landed at My Former

Encampment. The Padre Had, Of Course, Left The Oars, Sail, And Blankets.

My Skiff Was Rigged in a Moment; And Out Of The Blankets, Those In the

Long-Boat Managed to Make A Sail, An Oar And A Long Pole Tied together

Answering For A Mast. In doubling The Northern Point Of The Bay, I

Perceived the Mexican Schooner And Many Boats, Pretty Far At Sea. No

Doubt They Were Searching For Me.

 

 

 

At Six O'Clock In the Evening We Landed at Monterey, Amidst The

Acclamations Of A Wondering Crowd.

 

 

 

I Was A General Favourite, And My Loss Had Occasioned much Alarm; So

That When I Landed i Was Assailed with Questions From Every Quarter. The

Women Petted me, Some Kissed me (By-The-Bye, Those Were D'Un Certain

Age), And All Agreed that I Should Burn Half A Dozen Of Candles On The

Altar Of The Virgin Mary. There Was One, However, Who Had Wept For Me;

It Was Isabella, A Lovely Girl Of Fifteen, And Daughter To The Old

Governor. The General, Too, Was Glad To See Me; He Liked me Very Much,

Because We Played chess While Smoking Our Cigars, And Because I Allowed

Him To Beat Me, Though I Could Have Given Him The Queen And The Move. I

Will Confess, Sotto Voce, That This Piece Of Policy Had Been Hinted to

Me By His Daughters, Who Wished me To Find Favour In his Sight.

 

 

 

"Dios Te Ayuda Nino," Said The Governor To Me; I Feared we Should Never

Play Chess Any More. "Que Tonteria, Andar A Dormir In una Barca, Quando

Se Lo Podia Sobre Tierra Firma!" (What Folly To Go Sleep In a Boat, When

It Can Be Done Upon Solid Ground!)

 

 

 

I Told Him The Story Of The Poor Russians, And In spite Of His Pride,

The Tears Started in his Eye, For He Was Kind-Hearted. He Took The

Captain Into His Own House, And Gave Orders Concerning The Accommodation

Of The Crew; But The Universal Hospitality Had Not Waited for Commands

To Show Itself, And The Poor Fellows, Loaded with Attention And

Comforts, Soon Forgot The Dangers Which They Had Escaped. Fifteen Days

After They Were Sent On Board The Mexican Schooner, To The Bay Of St.

Francisco, Where A Russian Brig Of War, Bound To Asitka, Had Just

Arrived. However, They Did Not Part From Us With Empty Hands. The

Montereyans Having Discovered their Passionate Love For Tallow And

Whiskey, Had Given Them Enough Of These Genteel Rafraichissements, To

Drown Care And Sorrow For A Long While. As To The Captain, He Received

The Attention Which His Gallant Conduct Entitled him To, And On The Eve

Of His Departure He Was Presented with A Trunk, Of Tolerable Dimensions,

Well Filled with Linen And Clothes.

 

 

 

A Merry Night Was Passed to Celebrate My Escape. Guns Had Been Fired,

Flags Hoisted to Recall The Boats, And At Ten O'Clock In the Night, The

Whole Population Was Gamboling On The Lawn, Singing, Dancing, And

Feasting, As If It Was To Have Been Our Last Day Of Pleasure

During Life.

 

 

 

Thus Passed away Four Weeks, And I Must Admit To My Shame, I Had

Willingly Missed two Chances Of Going To Santa Fe. One Morning, However,

All My Dreams Of Further Pleasure Were Dispelled. I Was Just Meditating

Upon My First Declaration Of Love, When Our Old Servant Arrived with

Four Indian Guides. He Had Left The Settlement Seven Days, And Had Come

Almost All The Way By Water. He Had Been Despatched by My Father To

Bring Me Home, If I Had Not Yet Left Monterey. His Intelligence Was

Disastrous; The Prince Had Been Murdered by The Crows; The Shoshones Had

Gone On A War Expedition To Revenge The Death Of The Prince; And My

Father Himself, Who Had Been Daily Declining, Expected in a Short Time

To Rejoin His Friend In a Better World. Poor Isabella! I Would Have

Added, Poor Me! But The Fatal News Brought Had So Excited me, That I Had

But Few Thoughts To Give To Pleasure And To Love. My Immediate Return

Was A Sacred duty, And, Besides, The Shoshones Expected me To Join With

Them On My First War-Path. The Old Governor Judged it Advisable That I

Should Return Home By Sea, As The Arrapahoes Indians Were At That Moment

Enemies Of The Shoshones, And Would Endeavour To Cut Me Off If I Were To

Ascend The Buona Ventura. Before My Departure I Received a Visit From An

Irishman, A Wild Young Fellow Of The Name Of Roche, A Native Of Cork,

And Full Of Fun And Activity. He Had Deserted on The Coast From One Of

The American Vessels, And In spite Of The Promised reward Of Forty

Dollars, He Was Never Discovered, And His Vessel Sailed without Him.

 

 

 

General Morreno Was At First Angry, And Would Have Sent The Poor Devil

To Jail, But Roche Was So Odd And Made So Many Artful Representations Of

The Evils He Had Suffered on Board On Account Of His Being a Catholic,

That The Clergy, And, In fact, All Monterey, Interfered. Roche Soon

Became A Valuable Acquisition To The Community; He Was An Indefatigable

Dancer, And A Good Fiddler. Besides, He Had Already Accustomed himself

To The Mexican Manners And Language, And In a Horse Or Buffalo Hunt None

Were More Successful. He Would Tell Long Stories To The Old Women About

The Wonders Of Erin, The Miracles Of St. Patrick, And About The Stone At

Blarney. In fact, He Was A Favourite With Every One, And Would Have

Become Rich And Happy, Could He Have Settled. Unfortunately For Him, His

Wild Spirit Of Adventure Did Not Allow Him To Enjoy The Quiet Of A

Montereyan Life, And Hearing That There Was A Perspective Of Getting His

Head Broken In the "Settlement Of The Grandees," He Asked permission To

Join My Party.

 

 

 

I Consented that Roche Should Accompany Me: With My Servant And The

Indians, We Embarked on Board Of The Schooner. Many Were The Presents I

Received from The Good People; What With Pistols, Powder, Horses,

Fusils, Knives, And Swords, I Could Have Armed a Whole Legion. The

Governor, His Daughters, And All Those That Could Get Room In the Boats,

Accompanied me As Far As The Northern Part Of The Bay, And It Was With A

Swelling Heart That I Bade My Farewell To Them All.