The Pilot | Page 7

ocean, the abstracted and vacant air, that so often usurped the place
of animation and intelligence in his countenance, would give place to
the anxious and intelligent look of a seaman gifted with an experience

beyond his years. His weather beaten and hardy crew, having made
their dispositions for offence, sat in profound silence, with their hands
thrust into the bosoms of their jackets, but with their eyes earnestly
regarding every cloud that was gathering in the threatening atmosphere,
and exchanging looks of deep care, whenever the boat rose higher than
usual on one of those long heavy groundswells, that were heaving in
from the ocean with increasing rapidity and magnitude.

CHAPTER II
----"A horseman's coat shall hide thy taper shape and comeliness of
side: And with a bolder stride and looser air, Mingled with men, a man
thou must appear." Prior.
When the whale-boat obtained the position we have described, the
young lieutenant, who, in consequence of commanding a schooner, was
usually addressed by the title of captain, stepped on the rocks, followed
by the youthful midshipman, who had quitted the barge to aid in the
hazardous duty of their expedition.
"This is, at best, but a Jacob's ladder we have to climb," said Barnstable,
casting his eyes upward at the difficult ascent, "and it's by no means
certain that we shall be well received, when we get up, even though we
should reach the top."
"We are under the guns of the frigate," returned the boy; "and you
remember, sir, three oar-blades and a pistol, repeated from the barge,
will draw her fire."
"Yes, on our own heads. Boy, never be so foolish as to trust a long shot.
It makes a great smoke and some noise, but it's a terrible uncertain
manner of throwing old iron about. In such a business as this, I would
sooner trust Tom Coffin and his harpoon to back me, than the best
broadside that ever rattled out of the three decks of a ninety-gun ship.
Come, gather your limbs together, and try if you can walk on terra
firma, Master Coffin."

The seaman who was addressed by this dire appellation arose slowly
from the place where he was stationed as cockswain of the boat, and
seemed to ascend high in air by the gradual evolution of numberless
folds in his body. When erect, he stood nearly six feet and as many
inches in his shoes, though, when elevated in his perpendicular attitude,
there was a forward inclination about his head and shoulders that
appeared to be the consequence of habitual confinement in limited
lodgings. His whole frame was destitute of the rounded outlines of a
well-formed man, though his enormous hands furnished a display of
bones and sinews which gave indication of gigantic strength. On his
head he wore a little, low, brown hat of wool, with an arched top, that
threw an expression of peculiar solemnity and hardness over his hard
visage, the sharp prominent features of which were completely
encircled by a set of black whiskers that began to be grizzled a little
with age. One of his hands grasped, with a sort of instinct, the staff of a
bright harpoon, the lower end of which he placed firmly on the rock, as,
in obedience to the order of his commander, he left the place where,
considering his vast dimensions, he had been established in an
incredibly small space.
As soon as Captain Barnstable received this addition to his strength, he
gave a few precautionary orders to the men in the boat, and proceeded
to the difficult task of ascending the rocks. Notwithstanding the great
daring and personal agility of Barnstable, he would have been
completely baffled in this attempt, but for the assistance he
occasionally received from his cockswain, whose prodigious strength
and great length of limbs enabled him to make exertions which it would
have been useless for most men to attempt. When within a few feet of
the summit, they availed themselves of a projecting rock to pause for
consultation and breath, both of which seemed necessary for their
further movements.
"This will be but a bad place for a retreat, if we should happen to fall in
with enemies," said Barnstable. "Where are we to look for this pilot, Mr.
Merry, or how are we to know him; and what certainty have you that he
will not betray us?"

"The question you are to put to him is written on this bit of paper,"
returned the boy, as he handed the other the word of recognition; "we
made the signal on the point of the rock at yon headland, but, as he
must have seen our boat, he will follow us to this place. As to his
betraying us, he seems to have the confidence of Captain