Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 236: what you’re looking at

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JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 223 when I strained my eyes still more, I could not establish a conviction on the point. I saw their countenances—but was equally unable to form a positive conclusion with regard to their aspect. Stil] the suspicion already entertained was strengthening more and more in my mind. The boat appeared to be proceeding straight away from the shore for a considerable distauce ; and gradually the lights of Civita Vecchia became apparent, like stars struggling into a misty and feeble existence through a length of gloom. I now became aware of some objects at the bottom of the boat close by my feet: I touched them with those feet—and found that they were my boxes, which Cosmo had packed at the hotel and con- signed to the vehicle. I had not hitherto be- stowed upon them a single thought; and the noiselessness with which they had been put into the boat, was in perfect keeping with the whole proceedings of those who constituted its myste- rious but terribly suspicious crew. Now I began to perceive—judging by the lights of Civita Vecchia—that the boat was making a curve; and I felt tolerably well assured it was turning in towards the harbour, after having by a circuit given a wide berth to the upper pier. Ob! was it indeed possible that my destination was what my terrors suggested it to be? I looked back towards the individual who was seated behind me at the helm, and who guided the movements of this boat with its silent crew. All IT could perceive was the dark muffled form, with just the least appearance of some mistily pale hue where his countenance might be, and a similar in- dication to mark the place of his hand upon the tiller. I looked again in the direction of the town: the lights were growing more and more distinct— and those at the heads of the two piers now stood out stronger, bolder, brighter than the rest. The course of the boat was evidently towards some point between the piers:—alas! I could not doubt as to what its destination was! More and more did my eyes get accustomed to the darkness; and just as I discerned sufficient of the costume of the rowers in the boat to confirm all my worst suspicions, I likewise caught a glimpse of two tall spars, slightly inclining, and shooting up into the air. Then, as the boat drew nearer still, the light at the head of the lower pier brought out into a certain degree of relief the long, low, dark hull from which those masts were up- reared taperingly and rakingly: Though all this was nothing more than I had anticipated,—yet when once the conviction became established in my mind that it was really so, I was so overcome with dismay that I could not give utterance to a syllable: I could not put forth a prayer for mercy at the hands of those who had me in their power—even if the prayer itself would have proved of the slightest avail! On went the boat; and gradually, though dimly, all the web-like tracery of the rigging of the schooner stood out in deli- cate relief against the horizon formed by the town, the countless lights of which diminished the dark- ness in that quarter. A few minutes more, and the boat touched the black hull of the pirate- vessel, Now for the first time the officer who sate in the stern, broke the long and almost fearful silence which had hitherto prevailed: he issued some order to his men; and [I recognised the voice of the second lieutenant of the Athene,—the same who had shown me over the vessel—the same whom I had heard in conversation with Lanover at the coffee-house. A couple of the sailors hastened to unbind the cord from my limbs; and the officer, addressing me in French, said in a cold voice, “The treatment you will experience, Mr. Wilmot, depends entirely on your own be- haviour. I need not tell you how useless would any attempt at resistance be; and therefore if you are wise, you will not make such an endeavour.” “But tell me,” I exclaimed, “for what pur- pose <s * Silence!” he ejaculated in accents of sternest command. “I obey the mandates of a superior. Ascend the ship’s side, sir.” I did as I was ordered: of what avail would remonstrance be ?—and as for resistance, it was obviously altogether out of the question. My feet touched the deck: all was dark there, save and except where the skylight of one of the principal cabins sent forth a feeble glimmering through its thick ground-glass panes. I could however dis- cern several of the sailors standing about near the ganeway: but not a single syllable was spoken; and whatever feeling my presence as a captive might have occasioned, there was no outward de- monstration thereof. “Follow me, sir,” said the second lieutenant, who was close at my heels as 1 stepped upon the deck. ' He led nize towards the after-cabins: we de- scended the staircase with the polished brass hand- rails; and we entered that first cabin which I have described on a former occasion. Noone was in the cabin itself: but the door of one of the adjoining state-rooms—or smaller sleeping-cabins, as I may term them—stood open; and it was thence ema- nated the light which glimmered through the glass overhead. And from that same state-room came the sound of a voice, evidently asking some ques- tion: if was the voice of Netaras. The second lieutenant, having hastily thrown off his cloak, now dotfed a sort of slouching hat that he wore on the present occasion ; and advancing with a respectful air into the state-room, he spoke a few words— which I could not however comprehend, as he and his superior were adopting their own native tongue. An ejaculation from the lips of Notaras unmistakably indicated either astonishment or joy —it might be both—at the intelligence of my capture; and then he added something in the language of command. The second lieutenant re- joined me; and lighting a taper which stood in a silver candlestick, he opened the door of another state-room exactly facing that where Notaras lay. Motioning me to enter, the officer placed the candle upon a little round table formed of a beautiful rosewood; and then he addressed me in the following manner :— “This is your berth; and you are on no account to leave it without permission. It may be as well to inform you that a sentinel with a drawn cutlass will be stationed on the deck close by the head of the staircase; and his orders are to cut down any one who may ascend that staircase without proper authority. The men on board this vessel, Mr. Wil- mot, never hesitate to obey the commands of their superiors. I have already intimated that the a a ee OOO (C (COUM S Co