A Few Minutes Put It Beyond A Doubt,
And We Were Lying By The Side Of The Ayacucho, Which Had Sailed
From San Diego About Nine Months Before, While We Were Lying There
In The Pilgrim.
She had since been to Valparaiso, Callao, and the
Sandwich Islands, and had just come upon the coast.
Her boat came
on board, bringing Captain Wilson; and in half an hour the news was
all over the ship that there was a war between the United States
and France. Exaggerated accounts reached the forecastle.
Battles had been fought, a large French fleet was in the Pacific,
etc., etc.; and one of the boat's crew of the Ayacucho said that
when they left Callao, a large French frigate and the American
frigate Brandywine, which were lying there, were going outside to
have a battle, and that the English frigate Blonde was to be umpire,
and see fair play. Here was important news for us. Alone, on an
unprotected coast, without an American man-of-war within some
thousands of miles, and the prospect of a voyage home through the
whole length of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans! A French prison
seemed a much more probable place of destination than the good port
of Boston. However, we were too salt to believe every yarn that
comes into the forecastle, and waited to hear the truth of the
matter from higher authority. By means of a supercargo's clerk,
I got the account of the matter, which was, that the governments
had had difficulty about the payment of a debt; that war had been
threatened and prepared for, but not actually declared, although it
was pretty generally anticipated. This was not quite so bad, yet
was no small cause of anxiety. But we cared very little about the
matter ourselves. "Happy go lucky" with Jack! We did not believe
that a French prison would be much worse than "hide-droghing" on
the coast of California; and no one who has not been on a long,
dull voyage, shut up in one ship, can conceive of the effect of
monotony upon one's thoughts and wishes. The prospect of a change
is like a green spot in a desert, and the remotest probability
of great events and exciting scenes gives a feeling of delight,
and sets life in motion, so as to give a pleasure, which any one
not in the same state would be entirely unable to account for.
In fact, a more jovial night we had not passed in the forecastle
for months. Every one seemed in unaccountably high spirits.
An undefined anticipation of radical changes, of new scenes,
and great doings, seemed to have possessed every one, and the
common drudgery of the vessel appeared contemptible. Here was a
new vein opened; a grand theme of conversation, and a topic for all
sorts of discussions. National feeling was wrought up. Jokes were
cracked upon the only Frenchman in the ship, and comparisons made
between "old horse" and "soup meagre," etc., etc.
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