The Pilot | Page 5

was enabled to
foretell the certain gale. The Scotchman, who, to all the sagacity of his
countrymen, added no small portion of their superstition, leaned greatly
to the latter conclusion, and had begun to express this sentiment warily
with reverence, when the child of Erin, who appeared not to possess
any very definite ideas on the subject interrupted him, by exclaiming:
"Faith! there's two of them! a big and a little! sure the bogles of the saa
likes good company the same as any other Christians!"

"Twa!" echoed the drover; "twa! ill luck bides o' some o' ye. Twa craft
a sailing without hand to guide them, in sic a place as this, whar'
eyesight is na guid enough to show the dangers, bodes evil to a' that
luik thereon. Hoot! she's na yearling the tither! Luik, mon! luik! she's a
gallant boat, and a gr'at:" he paused, raised his pack from the ground,
and first giving one searching look at the objects of his suspicions, he
nodded with great sagacity to the listeners, and continued, as he moved
slowly towards the interior of the country, "I should na wonder if she
carried King George's commission aboot her: weel, weel, I wull
journey upward to the town, and ha' a crack wi' the good mon; for they
craft have a suspeecious aspect, and the sma' bit thing wu'ld nab a mon
quite easy, and the big ane wu'ld hold us a' and no feel we war' in her."
This sagacious warning caused a general movement in the party, for the
intelligence of a hot press was among the rumors of the times. The
husbandmen collected their implements of labor, and retired
homewards; though many a curious eye was bent on the movements of
the vessels from the distant hills, but very few of those not immediately
interested in the mysterious visitors ventured to approach the little
rocky cliffs that lined the bay.
The vessel that occasioned these cautious movements was a gallant
ship, whose huge hull, lofty masts, and square yards loomed in the
evening's haze, above the sea, like a distant mountain rising from the
deep. She carried but little sail, and though she warily avoided the near
approach to the land that the schooner had attempted, the similarity of
their movements was sufficiently apparent to warrant the conjecture
that they were employed on the same duty. The frigate, for the ship
belonged to this class of vessels, floated across the entrance of the little
bay, majestically in the tide, with barely enough motion through the
water to govern her movements, until she arrived opposite to the place
where her consort lay, when she hove up heavily into the wind, squared
the enormous yards on her mainmast, and attempted, in counteracting
the power of her sails by each other, to remain stationary; but the light
air that had at no time swelled her heavy canvas to the utmost began to
fail, and the long waves that rolled in from the ocean ceased to be
ruffled with the breeze from the land. The currents and the billows were

fast sweeping the frigate towards one of the points of the estuary, where
the black heads of the rocks could be seen running far into the sea, and
in their turn the mariners of the ship dropped an anchor to the bottom,
and drew her sails in festoons to the yards. As the vessel swung round
to the tide, a heavy ensign was raised to her peak, and a current of air
opening for a moment its folds, the white field and red cross, that
distinguish the flag of England, were displayed to view. So much even
the wary drover had loitered at a distance to behold; but when a boat
was launched from either vessel, he quickened his steps, observing to
his wondering and amused companions, that "they craft were
a'thegither mair bonny to luik on than to abide wi'."
A numerous crew manned the barge that was lowered from the frigate,
which, after receiving an officer, with an attendant youth, left the ship,
and moved with a measured stroke of its oars directly towards the head
of the bay. As it passed at a short distance from the schooner a light
whale-boat, pulled by four athletic men, shot from her side, and rather
dancing over than cutting through the waves, crossed her course with a
wonderful velocity. As the boats approached each other, the men, in
obedience to signals from their officers, suspended their efforts, and for
a few minutes they floated at rest, during which time there was the
following dialogue:
"Is the old man mad!" exclaimed the young officer in the whale-boat,
when his men had ceased rowing; "does he think that the bottom of the
Ariel is made of