It will be nowhere written that Commodore Hopkins, in his designs upon the Bahamas, in any degree succeeds. Eight weeks later, the four ships come scudding4 into New London with the fear of death in their hearts. An English sloop5 of war darted6 upon them, they say, off the eastern end of Long Island, and they escaped by the paint on their planks7.
Lieutenant8 Paul Jones of the Alfred is afire with anger and chagrin9 at the miserable10 failure of the cruise, and goes furiously ashore11, nursing a purpose of charging both Commodore Hopkins and Captain Saltonstall with every maritime12 offence, from sea-idiocy to cowardice13. He is cooled off by older and more prudent14 heads. Also, Commodore Hopkins is summarily dismissed by Congress, while Captain Saltonstall takes refuge behind the broad skirts of his patron Mr. Adams. Thus, that first luckless cruise of the infant navy, conceived in ignorance and in politics brought forth15, achieves its dismal16 finale in investigations17, votes of censure18, and dismissals, a situation which goes far to justify19 those December prophecies of Lieutenant Paul Jones, that Mr. Adams, by his selections for commodore and captains, arranged for more courts-martial than victories.
It has one excellent result, however; it teaches Congress to give Lieutenant Paul Jones the sloop Providence20, and send him to sea with a command of his own. With him go his faithful blacks, Scipio and Cato; also, as “port-fire,” a red Indian of the Narragansett tribe, one Anthony Jeremiah of Martha’s Vineyard.
The little sloop—about as big as a gentleman’s yacht, she is—clears on a brilliant day in June. For weeks she ranges from Newfoundland to the Bermudas—seas sown with English ships of war. Boatswain Jack21 Robinson holds this converse22 with Polly his virtuous23 wife, when the Providence again gets its anchors down in friendly Yankee mud.
“And what did you do, Jack?” demands wife Polly, now she has him safe ashore.
“I’ll tell you what he—that’s the captain—does, when first we puts to sea. He’s only a leftenant—Leftenant Paul Jones; but he ought to be a captain, and so, d’ye see, my girl, I’ll call him captain. What does the captain do, says you, when once he’s afloat? As sure as you’re on my knee, Polly, no sooner be we off soundings than he passes the word for’ard for me to fetch him the cat-o’-nine-tails—me being bo’sen. Aft I tumbles, cat and all, wondering who’s to have the dozen.
“‘Chuck it overboard, Jack!’ says he, like that.
“‘Chuck what, capt’n?’ says I, giving my forelock a tug24.
“‘Chuck the cat!’ says he.
“‘The cat?’ says I, being as you might say taken a-back, and wondering is it rum.
“‘Ay! the cat!’ he says. Then, looking me over with an eye like a coal, he goes on: ‘I can keep order aboard my ship without the cat. Because why; because I’m the best man aboard her,’ he says; and there you be.”
“And did the cat go overboard, Jack?”
“Overboard of course, Polly. And being nicely fitted with little knobs of lead on the nine tails of her, down to the bottom like a solid shot goes she. And so, d’ye see, we goes cruising without the cat.”
“Did you take no prizes?”
“We sunk eight, and sent eight more into Boston with prize crews aboard. Good picking, too, they was.”
“And you had no battles then?”
“No battles, Polly; and yet, at the close of the cruise, we’re all but done for by a seventy-four gun frigate25 off Montauk. The captain twists us out of the frigate’s mouth by sheer seamanship.”
“Now how was that, Jack!” cries Polly, breathless and all ears.
“We comes poking26 ‘round the point, d’ye see, and runs blind into her. We beats to wind’ard; so does the frigate. And she lays as close to the wind as we—and closer, Polly. Just as she thinks she has only to reach out and snap us up, the captain—he has the wheel himself—wears suddenly round under easy helm, and gets the wind free. This sort o’ takes the frigate by surprise, and, instead of wearing, she starts to box about. She’s standing27 as close-hauled as her trim will bear at the time. So, as I says, as he wears ‘round, the frigate jams her helm down, and luffs into the teeth of the gale28. There’s a squall cat’s-pawing to wind’ard that she ought to have seen, and would if she’d had our captain. But she never notices. So, d’ye see, my girl, the frigate don’t hold her luff, and next the squall takes her in the face. She loses her steering29 way, gets took aback; and we showing a clean pair of heels, with the wind free, on the sloop’s best point of sailing. And there you be: We leaves the frigate to clear her sheets and reeve preventers at her leisure—we snapping muskets30 at her from our taffer-rail, by way of insult, Polly!”
“Your captain’s too daring, Jack,” says Polly, who is a prudent woman.
“That’s what I tells him, Polly. ‘Cap’n,’ says I, ‘discretion31 is the better part of valor32.’ At that he gives me a wink33. ‘So it is, my mate,’ says he, ‘and damned impudence34 is the better part of discretion. And now,’ says he, ‘the frigate being all but hulldown astern, you may take this wheel yourself, while I goes down to supper.’”
When Lieutenant Paul Jones is again on dry land, he finds two pieces of news awaiting him. One is a letter from Mr. Jefferson, enclosing his commission as a captain fully35 fledged. The other is old Duncan Macbean in person, and his sunken cheek and leaden eye tell of troubles on the far-off Rappahannock.
“It was Lord Dunmore,” says old Duncan, very pale, his voice a-quaver. “He heard of you among the ships, and wanted revenge.”
“And the villain36 took it!”
“Ay, he took it like! He burned mansion37, barn, flour-mill—every building’s gone, and never stick nor stone to stand one a-top t’ither on the whole plantation38.”
“What else?”
“He killed sheep and swine and cattle, and drove away the horses; there’s never the hoof39 left walking about the place. Nothing but the stripped land is left ye.”
“But the slaves?”
“His lordship took them, too, to sell them in Jamaica.”
Captain Paul Jones turns white as linen40 three times bleached41. His eyes are hard as jade42. Then he tosses up his hands, with a motion of sorrow.
“My poor blacks!” he cries. “The plantation was to them a home, not a place of bondage43. Now they are torn away, to die of pestilence44 or under the lash45, in the cane46 fields of Jamaica. The price of their poor bodies is to swell47 the pockets of our noble English slave-trader. This may be Lord Dunmore’s notion of civilized48 war. For all that I shall one day exact a reckoning.” Then, resting his hand on old Duncan’s shoulder: “However, we have seen worse campaigns, old friend! We’ll do well yet! I’ve still one fortune—my sword; still one prospect49—the prospect of laying alongside the enemy.”
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1
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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prows
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| n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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scudding
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| n.刮面v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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8
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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14
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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18
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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19
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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21
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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27
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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28
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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29
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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30
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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39
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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40
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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41
bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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42
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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43
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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44
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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45
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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46
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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47
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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48
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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49
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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