Books: With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

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Had he been a man of pleasant manners, he would gradually have
made his way; but he was evidently not a gentleman. The habits of
trade stuck to him, and in a very short time there were rumors that
the slaves, whom he had bought with the property, found him a
harsh and cruel master. This in itself would have been sufficient
to bring him disrepute in Virginia, where as a rule the slaves were
treated with great kindness, and indeed considered their position to
be infinitely superior to that of the poorer class of whites. Andrew
Jackson had been for a few months at school with Vincent; he was
unpopular there, and from the rumors current as to the treatment of
I he slaves on the estate, was known by the nickname of he
"slave-driver."

Had Vincent been the son of a white trader, r a small cultivator, he
knew well enough that his position would be a very serious one,
and that he would have had to ride to the border of the State with
all speed. He would have been denounced at once as an
Abolitionist, and would have been accused of stirring up the slaves
to rebellion. against their masters; a crime of the most serious
kind', in the Southern States. But placed as he was, as the heir of a
great estate worked by slaves, such a cry could hardly be raised
against him. He might doubtless be fined and admonished 1'or
interfering between a master and his slave; but the sympathy of the
better classes in Virginia would be entirely with him. Vincent,
therefore, was but little concerned for himself; but he doubted
greatly whether his interference had not done much more harm
than good to the slave and his wife, for upon them Andrew
Jackson would vent his fury. He rode direct to the stables instead
of alighting as usual at the door. Dan, who had been sitting in the
veranda waiting for him, ran down to the stables as he saw him
coming.

"Give the horse to one of the others, Dan; I want to speak to you.
Dan," he went on when he had walked with him a short distance
from the staNes, "I suppose you know some of the hands on
Jackson's plantation."

Dan grinned, for although there was not supposed to he any
communication between the slaves on the different estates, it was
notorious that at night they were in the habit of slipping out of
their huts and visiting each other.

"I know some oh dem, Massa Vincent. What you want ob dem?
Berry had master, Massa Jackson. Wust master hereabouts."

Vincent related what had happened, to Dan's intense delight.

"Now, Dan," he went on, "I am afraid that after my interference
they will treat that poor fellow and his wife worse than before. I
want you to find out for me what is going on at Jackson's. I do not
know that I can do anything, however badly they treat them; but I
have been thinking that if they ill-treat them very grossly, I will get
together a party of fifteen or twenty of my friends and we will go
in a body to Jackson's, and warn him that if he behaves with
cruelty to his slaves, we will make it so hot for him that he will
have to leave the state. I don't say that we could do anything; but
as we should represent most of the large estates round here, I don't
think old Jackson and his son would like being sent to Coventry.
The feeling is very strong at present against ill-treatment of the
slaves. If these troubles lead to war almost all of us will go into
the army, and we do not like the thought of the possibility of
troubles among the hands when the whites are all away."

"I will find out all about it for you to-night, sah. I don't suspect dat
dey will do nuffin to-day. Andrew Jackson too sick after dat
knock against de tump. He keep quiet a day or two."

"Well, Dan, you go over to-night and find out all about it. I expect
I had better have left things alone, but now I have interfered I shall
go on with it."

Mrs. Wingfield was much displeased when Vincent told her at
dinner of his incident at Jackson's plantation and even his sisters
were shocked at this interference between a master and his slave.

"You will get yourself into serious trouble with these fanciful
notions of yours," Mrs. Wingfield said angrily. "You know as well
as I do how easy it is to get up a cry against any one as an
Abolitionist and how difficult to disprove the accusation; and just
at present, when the passions of every man in the South are
inflamed to the utmost, such an accusation will be most serious.
In the present instance there does not seem that there is a shadow
of excuse for your conduct. You simply heard cries of a slave
being flogged. You deliberately leave the road and enter these
people's plantation and interfere without, so far as I can see, the
least reason for doing so. You did not inquire what the man's
offense was; and he may for aught you know have half murdered
his master. You simply see a slave being flogged and you assault
his owner. lf the Jacksons lay complaints against you it is quite
probable that you may have to leave the state. What on earth can
have influenced you to act in such a mad-brained way?"

"I did not interfere to prevent his flogging the slave, mother, but to
prevent his flogging the slave's wife, which was pure wanton
brutality. It is not a question of slavery one way or the other. Any
one has a right to interfere to put a stop to brutality. If I saw a man
brutally treating a horse or a dog I should certainly do so; and if it
is right to interfere to save a dumb animal from brutal ill-treatment
surely it must be justifiable to save a woman in the same case. I
am not an Abolitionist. That is to say, I consider that slaves on a
properly managed estate, like ours, for instance, are just as well off
as are the laborers on an estate in Europe; but I should certainly
like to see laws passed to protect them from ill-treatment. Why, in
England there are laws against cruelty to animals; and a man who
brutally flogged a dog or a horse would get a month's
imprisonment with hard labor. I consider it a disgrace to us that a
man may here ill-treat a human being worse than he might in
England a dumb animal."

"You know, Vincent," his mother said more quietly, "that I object
as much as you do to the ill-treatment of the slaves, and that the
slaves here, as on all well-conducted plantations in Virginia, are
well treated; but this is not a time for bringing in laws or carrying
out reforms. It is bad enough to have scores of Northerners doing
their best to stir up mischief between masters and slaves without a
Southern gentleman mixing himself up in the matter. We have got
to stand together as one people and to protect our State rights from
interference."

"I am just as much in favor of State rights as any one else, mother;
and if, as seems likely, the present quarrel is to be fought out, I
hope I shall do my best for Virginia as well as other fellows of my
own age. But just as I protest against any interference by the
Northerners with our laws, I say that we ought to amend our laws
so as not to give them the shadow of an excuse for interference. It
is breeze sprang up. Vincent then put up the mast, and, having
hoisted the sail, took his place at the helm, while Dan went
forward into the bow. They passed several fishing-boats, and the
smoke was seen curling up from the huts in the clearings scattered
here and there along the shore. The sun had now risen, and its heat
was pleasant after the damp night air.

Although the breeze was light, the boat made fair way with the
tide, and when the ebb ceased at about ten o'clock the mouth of the
river was but a few miles away. The mast was lowered and the
sails stowed. The boat was then rowed into a little creek and tied
up to the bushes. The basket of provisions was opened, and a
hearty meal enjoyed, Tony being now permitted for the first time
to sit up in the boat. After the meal Vincent and Dan lay down for
a long sleep, while Tony, who had slept some hours during the
night, kept watch.

At four in the afternoon tide again slackened, and as soon as it had
fairly turned they pushed out from the creek and again set sail. In
three hours they were at the mouth of the river. A short distance
out they saw several boats fishing, and dropping anchor a short
distance away from these, they lowered their sail, and taking the
fishing-lines from the locker of the boat, set to to fish. As soon as
it was quite dark the anchor was hauled up, and Vincent and Dan
took the oars, the wind having now completely dropped. For some
time they rowed steadily, keeping the land in sight on their right
hand.

Tony was most anxious to help, but as he had never had an oar in
his hand in his life, Vincent thought that ho would do more harm
than good. It was, he knew, some ten miles from the mouth of the
York River to Fortress Monroe, at the entrance to Hampton Roads,
and after rowing for three hours he thought that he could not be far
from that point, and therefore turned the boat's head out toward the
sea. They rowed until they could no longer make out the land
astern, and then laying in their oars waited till the morning,
Vincent sitting in the stern and often nodding off to sleep, while
the two negroes kept up a constant conversation in the bow.

As soon as it was daylight the oars were again got out. They could
clearly make out the outline of the coast, and saw the break in the
shore that marked the entrance to Hampton Roads. There was a
light breeze now, but Vincent would not hoist the sail lest it might
attract the attention of some one on shore. He did not think the
boat itself could be seen, as they were some eight or nine miles
from the land. They rowed for a quarter of an hour, when Vincent
saw the white sails of a ship coming out from the entrance.

The breeze was so light that she would, he thought, be nearly three
hours before she reached the spot where they were now, and
whether she headed to the right or left of it he would have plenty
of time to cut her off. For another two hours he and Dan rowed
steadily. The wind had freshened a good deal, and the ship was
now coming up fast to them. Two others had come out after her,
but were some miles astern. They had already made out that the
ship was flying a flag at her masthead, and although they had not
been able to distinguish its colors, Vincent felt sure that it was the
right ship; for he felt certain that the captain would get up sail as
soon as possible, so as to come up with them before any other
vessels came out. They had somewhat altered their course, to put
themselves in line with the vessel. When she was within a
distance of about a mile and a half Vincent was able to make out
the flag, and knew that it was the right one.

"There's the ship, Tony," he said; "it is all right, and in a few
minutes you will be on your way to England."

Tony had already changed his tattered garments for the suit of
sailor's clothes that at Dan had bought for him. Vincent had given
him full instructions as to the course be was to pursue. The ship
was bound for Liverpool; on his arrival there be was at once to go
round the docks and take a passage in the steerage of the next
steamer going to Canada.

"The fare will be about twenty-five dollars," he said. "When you
get to Canada you will land at Quebec, and you bad better go on by
rail to Montreal, where you will, I think, find it easier to get work
than at Quebec. As soon as you get a place you are likely to stop
in, get somebody to write for you to me, giving me your address.
Here are a hundred dollars, which will be sufficient to pay your
expenses to Montreal and leave you about fifty dollars to keep you
till you can get something to do."

CHAPTER IV. SAFELY BACK.

WHEN the ship came within a few hundred yards, Vincent stood
up and waved his cap, and a minute later the ship was brought up
into the wind and her sails thrown aback. The captain appeared at
the side and shouted to the boat now but fifty yards away:

"What do you want there?"

"I have a passenger for England," Vincent replied. "Will you take
him?"

"Come alongside," the captain said. "Why didn't he come on hoard
before I started?"

The boat was rowed alongside, and Vincent climbed on board.
The captain greeted him as a stranger and led the way to his cabin.

"You have managed that well," he said when they were alone, "and
I am heartily glad that you have succeeded. I made you out two
hours ago. We will stop here another two or three minutes so that
the men may think you are bargaining for a passage for the negro,
and then the sooner he is on board and you are on your way back
the better, for the wind is rising, and I fancy it is going to blow a
good deal harder before night."

"And won't you let me pay for the man's passage, cap tam? It is
only fair anyhow that I should pay for what he will eat."

"Oh, nonsense!" the captain replied. "He will make himself useful
and pay for his keep. I am only too glad to get; the poor fellow
off. Now, we will have a glass of wine together and then say
good-by."

Two minutes later they returned to the deck Vincent went to the
side.

Jump on board, Tony. I have arranged for your passage."

The negro climbed up the side.

"Good-by, captain, and thank you heartily. Good-by, Tony."

The negro could not speak, but he seized the hand Vincent held
out to him and pressed it; to his lips. Vincent dropped lightly into
his boat; and pushed off from the side of the vessel. As he did so
he heard orders shouted, the yards swung round, and the vessel
almost; at once began to move through the water.

"Now, Dan, up with the mast; and sail again; but let me put two
reefs in first, the wind is getting up."

In five minutes the sail was hoisted, and with Vincent at the helm
and Dan sitting up to windward, was dashing through tile water.
Although Vincent understood the management of a sailing-boat on
the calm waters of the rivers, this was his first experience of
sea-sailing; and although the waves were still but small, he felt at
first somewhat nervous as the boat dashed through them, sending
up at times a sheet of spray from her bows. But he soon got over
this sensation, and enjoyed the lively motion and the fresh wind.
Tile higher points of the laud were still visible; but even had they
not been so it would have mattered little, as be had taken the
precaution to bring with him a small pocket-compass. The wind
was from tile southwest;, and he was therefore able, with the sheet
hauled in, to make for a point where he judged the mouth of the
York River lay.

"Golly, massa! how do boat do jump up and down."

"She is lively, Dan, and it would be just as well if we had some
ballast on board; however, she has a good beam and walks along
splendidly. If the wind keeps as it is, we shall be back at the
mouth of the York in three or four hours. You 'nay as well open
that basket again and hand me that; cold chicken and a piece of
bread; cut the meat off the bones and put it on the bread, for I have
only one hand disengaged; and hand me that bottle of cold tea.
That's right. Now you had better take something your-self. You
must be hungry. We forgot all about the basket in our interest in
the ship."

Dan shook his head.

"A little while ago, massa, me seem berry hungry, now me doesn't
feel hungry at all."

"That's bad, Dan. I am afraid you are going to be seasick."

Me no feel seasick, massa; only me don't feel hungry." But in a
few minutes Dan was forced to confess that; lie did feel ill, and a
few moments afterward was groaning in the agonies of
seasickness.

"Never mind, Dan," Vincent said cheerfully. "You will be better
after this."

"Me not seasick, massa; de sea have nuffin to do with it;. It's de
boat dat will jump up and down instead of going quiet."

"It's all the same thing, Dan; and I hope she won't jump about more
before we get into the river."

But; in another half hour Vincent had to bring the boat's head up to
the wind, lower the lug, and tie down the last; reef.

"There, she goes easier now, Dan," he said, as the boat resumed
her course; but Dan, who was leaning helplessly over the side of
the boat, could see no difference.

Vincent, however, felt that; under her close sail the boat was doing
better, and rising more easily on the waves, which were now
higher and farther apart than before. In another hour the whole of
the shore-line was visible; but the wind had risen so much that,
even under her reduced sail, the boat had as much as she could
carry, and often heeled over until her gunwale was nearly under
water. Another hour and the shore was but some four miles away,
but Vincent felt; he could no longer hold on.

In the hands of an experienced sailor, who would have humored
the boat and eased her up a little to meet the seas, the entrance to
the York River could no doubt; have been reached with safety; but
Vincent was ignorant of the art of sailing a boat in the sea, and she
was shipping water heavily. Dan had for some time been bailing,
having only undertaken the work in obedience to Vincent's angry
orders, being too ill to care much what became of them.

"Now, Dan, I am going to bring her head up to the wind, so get
ready to throw off that halyard and gather in the sail as it; comes
down. That's right, man; now down with the mast;."

Vincent had read that; the best; plan when caught in an open boat
in a gale, was to tie the oars and mast, if she had one, together, and
to throw them overboard with the head rope tied to them, as by
that means the boat would ride head to sea. The oars, sculls, mast,
and sail were firmly tied together and launched overboard, the
rope being first taken off the anchor and tied round the middle of
the clump of spars.

Vincent carefully played out the rope till some fifteen yards were
over, then he fastened it to the ring of the head rope, and had the
satisfaction of finding that the boat rode easily to the floating
anchor, rising lightly over the waves, and not shipping a drop of
water. He then took the baler and got rid of the water that had
found its way on board, Dan, after getting down the sail, having
collapsed utterly.

"Now, Dan, sit up; there, man, the motion is much easier now, and
we are taking no water on board. I will give you a glass of rum,
that will put new strength into you. It's lucky we put it in the
basket in ease of emergency."

The negro, whose teeth were chattering from cold, fright, and
exhaustion, eagerly drank off the spirit. Vincent, who was wet to
the skin with the spray, took a little himself, and then settled
himself as comfortably as he could on the floor-hoards in the stern
of the boat, and quietly thought out the position. The wind was
still rising, and a thick haze obscured the land. He had no doubt
that by night it would be blowing a gale; but the boat rode so easily
and lightly that he believed she would get through it.

They might, it was true, he blown many miles off the shore, and
not be able to get back for some time, for the gale might last two
or three days. The basket of provisions was, however, a large one.
Dan had received orders to bring plenty and had obeyed them
literally, and Vincent saw that the supply of food, if carefully
husbanded, would last; without difficulty for a week. The supply
of liquor was less satisfactory. There was the bottle of rum, two
bottles of claret, and a two-gallon jar, nearly half empty, of water.
The cold tea was finished.

"That would be a poor supply for a week for two of us," Vincent;
muttered, as he removed the contents of the basket and stored
them carefully in the locker; "however, if it's going to be a gale
there is sure to be some rain with it, so 1 think we shall manage
very well."

By night it was blowing really heavily, but although the waves
were high the boat shipped but little water. Dan had fallen off to
sleep, and Vincent had been glad to wrap himself in the thick coat
he had brought with him as a protection against the heavy dews
when sleeping on the river. At; times sharp rain squalls burst upon
them, and Vincent had no difficulty in filling up the water-bottle
again with the baler.

The water was rather brackish, but nor sufficiently so to be of
consequence. All night the heat was tossed heavily on the waves.
Vincent dozed off at times, rousing himself occasionally and
baling out the water, which came in the shape of spray and rain.
The prospect; in the morning was not cheering. Gray clouds
covered the sky and seemed to come down almost on to the water,
the angry sea was crested with white heads, and it; seemed to
Vincent wonderful that the boat should live in such a sea.

"Now, Dan, wake yourself up and get some breakfast," Vincent
said, stirring up the negro with his foot.

"Oh Lor'!" Dan groaned, raising himself into a sitting position from
the bottom of the boat, "dis am awful; we neber see the shore no
more, massa."

"Nonsense, man," Vincent said cheerily; "we are getting on
capitally."

"It hab been an awful night, sah."

"An awful night! You lazy rascal, you slept like a pig all night,
while I have been baling the boat and looking out for you. It is
your turn now, I can tell you. Well, do you feel ready for your
breakfast?"

Dan, after a moment's consideration, declared that he was. The
feeling of seasickness had passed off, and except that he was wet
through and miserable, he felt himself again, and could have eaten
four times the allowance of food that Vincent handed him. A
pannikin of rum and water did much to restore his life and vitality,
and he was soon, with the light-heartedness of his race, laughing
and chatting cheerfully.

"How long dis go on, you tink, sah?"

"Not long, I hope, Dan. I was afraid last night it was going to be a
big gale, but I do not think it is blowing so hard now as it; was in
the night."

"Where have we get to now, sah?"

"I don't exactly know, Dan; but I do not suppose that we are very
many miles away from shore. The mast and oars prevent our
drifting fast, and I don't think we are further off now than we were
when we left that ship yesterday. But even if we were four or five
times as far as that, we should not take very long in sailing back
again when the wind drops, and as we have got enough to eat for a
week we need not be uncomfortable about that."

"Not much food for a week, Massa Vincent."

"Not a very great deal, Dan; but quite enough to keep us going.
You can make up for lost time when you get to shore again."

In a few hours it was certain that the wind was going down. By
midday the clouds began to break up, and an hour later the sun was
shining brightly. The wind was still blowing strongly, hr t the sea
had a very different appearance in the bright light of the sun to that
which it had borne under the canopy of dark gray clouds. Standing
'up in the boat two hours later, Vincent could see no signs of land.

"How shall we find our way back, Massa Vincent?"

"We have got a compass; besides, we should manage very well
even if we had not. Look at the sun, Dan. There it; is right ahead
of us. So, you know, that's the west-that's the way we have to go."

"That very useful oh de sun, sah; but suppose we not live in de
west do sun not point de way den."

"Oh, yes, he would, just the same, Dan. We should know whether
to go away from him, or to keep him en the right hand or on the
left."

This was beyond Dan. "And I s'pose the moon will show de way at
night, massa?"

"The moon would show the way if she were 'up, but she is not
always up; but I have got a compass here, and so whether we have
the sun or the moon, or neither of them, I can find my way back to
land."

Dan had never seen a compass, and for an hour amused himself
turning it round and round and trying to get it to point in some
other direction than the north.

"Now, Dan," Vincent said at last, "give me that compass, and get
out the food. We will have a better meal than we did this morning,
for now that the wind is going down there's no chance of food
running short. When we have had dinner we will get up the sail
again. The sea is not so rough as it was, and it is certainly not so
high as it was before we lowered the sail yesterday."

"De waves berry big, massa."

"They are big, Dan; but they are not so angry. The heads are not
breaking over as they did last night, and the boat will go better
over those long waves than she did through the choppy sea at the
beginning of the gale."

Accordingly the bundle of spars was pulled up alongside and
lifted. The mast was set up and the sail hoisted. Dan in a few
minutes forgot his fears and lost even his sense of uneasiness as he
found the boat mounted wave after wave without shipping water.
Several times, indeed, a shower of spray flew high up in the air,
but the gusts no longer buried her so that the water came over the
gunwale, and it was a long time before there was any occasion to
use the baler. As the sun set it could be seen that there was a dark
line between it and the water.

"There is the land, Dan; and I do not suppose it is more than
twenty miles away, for most of the coast lies low."

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