Benito Cereno Part 3
Before returning to his own vessel, Captain Delano had intended communicating to Don Benito the smaller details of the proposed services to be rendered. But, as it was, unwilling anew to subject himself to rebuffs, he resolved, now that he had seen the San Dominick safely moored, immediately to quit her, without further allusion to hospitality or business. Indefinitely postponing his ulterior plans, he would regulate his future actions according to future circumstances. His boat was ready to receive him; but his host still tarried below. Well, thought Captain Delano, if he has little breeding, the more need to show mine. He descended to the cabin to bid a ceremonious, and, it may be, tacitly rebukeful adieu. But to his great satisfaction, Don Benito, as if he began to feel the weight of that treatment with which his slighted guest had, not indecorously, retaliated upon him, now supported by his servant, rose to his feet, and grasping Captain Delano's hand, stood tremulous; too much agitated to speak. But the good augury hence drawn was suddenly dashed, by his resuming all his previous reserve, with augmented gloom, as, with half-averted eyes, he silently reseated himself on his cushions. With a corresponding return of his own chilled feelings, Captain Delano bowed and withdrew.
He was hardly midway in the narrow corridor, dim as a tunnel, leading from the cabin to the stairs, when a sound, as of the tolling for execution in some jail-yard, fell on his ears. It was the echo of the ship's flawed bell, striking the hour, drearily reverberated in this subterranean vault. Instantly, by a fatality not to be withstood, his mind, responsive to the portent, swarmed with superstitious suspicions. He paused. In images far swifter than these sentences, the minutest details of all his former distrusts swept through him.
Hitherto, credulous good-nature had been too ready to furnish excuses for reasonable fears. Why was the Spaniard, so superfluously punctilious at times, now heedless of common propriety in not accompanying to the side his departing guest? Did indisposition forbid? Indisposition had not forbidden more irksome exertion that day. His last equivocal demeanor recurred. He had risen to his feet, grasped his guest's hand, motioned toward his hat; then, in an instant, all was eclipsed in sinister muteness and gloom. Did this imply one brief, repentant relenting at the final moment, from some iniquitous plot, followed by remorseless return to it? His last glance seemed to express a calamitous, yet acquiescent farewell to Captain Delano forever. Why decline the invitation to visit the sealer that evening? Or was the Spaniard less hardened than the Jew, who refrained not from supping at the board of him whom the same night he meant to betray? What imported all those day-long enigmas and contradictions, except they were intended to mystify, preliminary to some stealthy blow? Atufal, the pretended rebel, but punctual shadow, that moment lurked by the threshold without. He seemed a sentry, and more. Who, by his own confession, had stationed him there? Was the negro now lying in wait?
The Spaniard behind--his creature before: to rush from darkness to light was the involuntary choice.
The next moment, with clenched jaw and hand, he passed Atufal, and stood unharmed in the light. As he saw his trim ship lying peacefully at anchor, and almost within ordinary call; as he saw his household boat, with familiar faces in it, patiently rising and falling, on the short waves by the San Dominick's side; and then, glancing about the decks where he stood, saw the oakum-pickers still gravely plying their fingers; and heard the low, buzzing whistle and industrious hum of the hatchet-polishers, still bestirring themselves over their endless occupation; and more than all, as he saw the benign aspect of nature, taking her innocent repose in the evening; the screened sun in the quiet camp of the west shining out like the mild light from Abraham's tent; as charmed eye and ear took in all these, with the chained figure of the black, clenched jaw and hand relaxed. Once again he smiled at the phantoms which had mocked him, and felt something like a tinge of remorse, that, by harboring them even for a moment, he should, by implication, have betrayed an atheist doubt of the ever-watchful Providence above.
There was a few minutes' delay, while, in obedience to his orders, the boat was being hooked along to the gangway. During this interval, a sort of saddened satisfaction stole over Captain Delano, at thinking of the kindly offices he had that day discharged for a stranger. Ah, thought he, after good actions one's conscience is never ungrateful, however much so the benefited party may be.
Presently, his foot, in the first act of descent into the boat, pressed the first round of the side-ladder, his face presented inward upon the deck. In the same moment, he heard his name courteously sounded; and, to his pleased surprise, saw Don Benito advancing--an unwonted energy in his air, as if, at the last moment, intent upon making amends for his recent discourtesy. With instinctive good feeling, Captain Delano, withdrawing his foot, turned and reciprocally advanced. As he did so, the Spaniard's nervous eagerness increased, but his vital energy failed; so that, the better to support him, the servant, placing his master's hand on his naked shoulder, and gently holding it there, formed himself into a sort of crutch.
When the two captains met, the Spaniard again fervently took the hand of the American, at the same time casting an earnest glance into his eyes, but, as before, too much overcome to speak.
I have done him wrong, self-reproachfully thought Captain Delano; his apparent coldness has deceived me: in no instance has he meant to offend.
Meantime, as if fearful that the continuance of the scene might too much unstring his master, the servant seemed anxious to terminate it. And so, still presenting himself as a crutch, and walking between the two captains, he advanced with them towards the gangway; while still, as if full of kindly contrition, Don Benito would not let go the hand of Captain Delano, but retained it in his, across the black's body.
Soon they were standing by the side, looking over into the boat, whose crew turned up their curious eyes. Waiting a moment for the Spaniard to relinquish his hold, the now embarrassed Captain Delano lifted his foot, to overstep the threshold of the open gangway; but still Don Benito would not let go his hand. And yet, with an agitated tone, he said, "I can go no further; here I must bid you adieu. Adieu, my dear, dear Don Amasa. Go--go!" suddenly tearing his hand loose, "go, and God guard you better than me, my best friend."
Not unaffected, Captain Delano would now have lingered; but catching the meekly admonitory eye of the servant, with a hasty farewell he descended into his boat, followed by the continual adieus of Don Benito, standing rooted in the gangway.
Seating himself in the stern, Captain Delano, making a last salute, ordered the boat shoved off. The crew had their oars on end. The bowsmen pushed the boat a sufficient distance for the oars to be lengthwise dropped. The instant that was done, Don Benito sprang over the bulwarks, falling at the feet of Captain Delano; at the same time calling towards his ship, but in tones so frenzied, that none in the boat could understand him. But, as if not equally obtuse, three sailors, from three different and distant parts of the ship, splashed into the sea, swimming after their captain, as if intent upon his rescue.
The dismayed officer of the boat eagerly asked what this meant. To which, Captain Delano, turning a disdainful smile upon the unaccountable Spaniard, answered that, for his part, he neither knew nor cared; but it seemed as if Don Benito had taken it into his head to produce the impression among his people that the boat wanted to kidnap him. "Or else--give way for your lives," he wildly added, starting at a clattering hubbub in the ship, above which rang the tocsin of the hatchet-polishers; and seizing Don Benito by the throat he added, "this plotting pirate means murder!" Here, in apparent verification of the words, the servant, a dagger in his hand, was seen on the rail overhead, poised, in the act of leaping, as if with desperate fidelity to befriend his master to the last; while, seemingly to aid the black, the three white sailors were trying to clamber into the hampered bow. Meantime, the whole host of negroes, as if inflamed at the sight of their jeopardized captain, impended in one sooty avalanche over the bulwarks.
All this, with what preceded, and what followed, occurred with such involutions of rapidity, that past, present, and future seemed one.
Seeing the negro coming, Captain Delano had flung the Spaniard aside, almost in the very act of clutching him, and, by the unconscious recoil, shifting his place, with arms thrown up, so promptly grappled the servant in his descent, that with dagger presented at Captain Delano's heart, the black seemed of purpose to have leaped there as to his mark. But the weapon was wrenched away, and the assailant dashed down into the bottom of the boat, which now, with disentangled oars, began to speed through the sea.
At this juncture, the left hand of Captain Delano, on one side, again clutched the half-reclined Don Benito, heedless that he was in a speechless faint, while his right-foot, on the other side, ground the prostrate negro; and his right arm pressed for added speed on the after oar, his eye bent forward, encouraging his men to their utmost.
But here, the officer of the boat, who had at last succeeded in beating off the towing sailors, and was now, with face turned aft, assisting the bowsman at his oar, suddenly called to Captain Delano, to see what the black was about; while a Portuguese oarsman shouted to him to give heed to what the Spaniard was saying.
Glancing down at his feet, Captain Delano saw the freed hand of the servant aiming with a second dagger--a small one, before concealed in his wool--with this he was snakishly writhing up from the boat's bottom, at the heart of his master, his countenance lividly vindictive, expressing the centred purpose of his soul; while the Spaniard, half-choked, was vainly shrinking away, with husky words, incoherent to all but the Portuguese.
That moment, across the long-benighted mind of Captain Delano, a flash of revelation swept, illuminating, in unanticipated clearness, his host's whole mysterious demeanor, with every enigmatic event of the day, as well as the entire past voyage of the San Dominick. He smote Babo's hand down, but his own heart smote him harder. With infinite pity he withdrew his hold from Don Benito. Not Captain Delano, but Don Benito, the black, in leaping into the boat, had intended to stab.
Both the black's hands were held, as, glancing up towards the San Dominick, Captain Delano, now with scales dropped from his eyes, saw the negroes, not in misrule, not in tumult, not as if frantically concerned for Don Benito, but with mask torn away, flourishing hatchets and knives, in ferocious piratical revolt. Like delirious black dervishes, the six Ashantees danced on the poop. Prevented by their foes from springing into the water, the Spanish boys were hurrying up to the topmost spars, while such of the few Spanish sailors, not already in the sea, less alert, were descried, helplessly mixed in, on deck, with the blacks.
Meantime Captain Delano hailed his own vessel, ordering the ports up, and the guns run out. But by this time the cable of the San Dominick had been cut; and the fag-end, in lashing out, whipped away the canvas shroud about the beak, suddenly revealing, as the bleached hull swung round towards the open ocean, death for the figure-head, in a human skeleton; chalky comment on the chalked words below, "Follow your leader."
At the sight, Don Benito, covering his face, wailed out: "'Tis he, Aranda! my murdered, unburied friend!"
Upon reaching the sealer, calling for ropes, Captain Delano bound the negro, who made no resistance, and had him hoisted to the deck. He would then have assisted the now almost helpless Don Benito up the side; but Don Benito, wan as he was, refused to move, or be moved, until the negro should have been first put below out of view. When, presently assured that it was done, he no more shrank from the ascent.
The boat was immediately dispatched back to pick up the three swimming sailors. Meantime, the guns were in readiness, though, owing to the San Dominick having glided somewhat astern of the sealer, only the aftermost one could be brought to bear. With this, they fired six times; thinking to cripple the fugitive ship by bringing down her spars. But only a few inconsiderable ropes were shot away. Soon the ship was beyond the gun's range, steering broad out of the bay; the blacks thickly clustering round the bowsprit, one moment with taunting cries towards the whites, the next with upthrown gestures hailing the now dusky moors of ocean--cawing crows escaped from the hand of the fowler.
The first impulse was to slip the cables and give chase. But, upon second thoughts, to pursue with whale-boat and yawl seemed more promising.
Upon inquiring of Don Benito what firearms they had on board the San Dominick, Captain Delano was answered that they had none that could be used; because, in the earlier stages of the mutiny, a cabin-passenger, since dead, had secretly put out of order the locks of what few muskets there were. But with all his remaining strength, Don Benito entreated the American not to give chase, either with ship or boat; for the negroes had already proved themselves such desperadoes, that, in case of a present assault, nothing but a total massacre of the whites could be looked for. But, regarding this warning as coming from one whose spirit had been crushed by misery the American did not give up his design.
The boats were got ready and armed. Captain Delano ordered his men into them. He was going himself when Don Benito grasped his arm.
"What! have you saved my life, Señor, and are you now going to throw away your own?"
The officers also, for reasons connected with their interests and those of the voyage, and a duty owing to the owners, strongly objected against their commander's going. Weighing their remonstrances a moment, Captain Delano felt bound to remain; appointing his chief mate--an athletic and resolute man, who had been a privateer's-man--to head the party. The more to encourage the sailors, they were told, that the Spanish captain considered his ship good as lost; that she and her cargo, including some gold and silver, were worth more than a thousand doubloons. Take her, and no small part should be theirs. The sailors replied with a shout.
The fugitives had now almost gained an offing. It was nearly night; but the moon was rising. After hard, prolonged pulling, the boats came up on the ship's quarters, at a suitable distance laying upon their oars to discharge their muskets. Having no bullets to return, the negroes sent their yells. But, upon the second volley, Indian-like, they hurtled their hatchets. One took off a sailor's fingers. Another struck the whale-boat's bow, cutting off the rope there, and remaining stuck in the gunwale like a woodman's axe. Snatching it, quivering from its lodgment, the mate hurled it back. The returned gauntlet now stuck in the ship's broken quarter-gallery, and so remained.
The negroes giving too hot a reception, the whites kept a more respectful distance. Hovering now just out of reach of the hurtling hatchets, they, with a view to the close encounter which must soon come, sought to decoy the blacks into entirely disarming themselves of their most murderous weapons in a hand-to-hand fight, by foolishly flinging them, as missiles, short of the mark, into the sea. But, ere long, perceiving the stratagem, the negroes desisted, though not before many of them had to replace their lost hatchets with handspikes; an exchange which, as counted upon, proved, in the end, favorable to the assailants.
Meantime, with a strong wind, the ship still clove the water; the boats alternately falling behind, and pulling up, to discharge fresh volleys.
The fire was mostly directed towards the stern, since there, chiefly, the negroes, at present, were clustering. But to kill or maim the negroes was not the object. To take them, with the ship, was the object. To do it, the ship must be boarded; which could not be done by boats while she was sailing so fast.
A thought now struck the mate. Observing the Spanish boys still aloft, high as they could get, he called to them to descend to the yards, and cut adrift the sails. It was done. About this time, owing to causes hereafter to be shown, two Spaniards, in the dress of sailors, and conspicuously showing themselves, were killed; not by volleys, but by deliberate marksman's shots; while, as it afterwards appeared, by one of the general discharges, Atufal, the black, and the Spaniard at the helm likewise were killed. What now, with the loss of the sails, and loss of leaders, the ship became unmanageable to the negroes.
With creaking masts, she came heavily round to the wind; the prow slowly swinging into view of the boats, its skeleton gleaming in the horizontal moonlight, and casting a gigantic ribbed shadow upon the water. One extended arm of the ghost seemed beckoning the whites to avenge it.
"Follow your leader!" cried the mate; and, one on each bow, the boats boarded. Sealing-spears and cutlasses crossed hatchets and hand-spikes. Huddled upon the long-boat amidships, the negresses raised a wailing chant, whose chorus was the clash of the steel.
For a time, the attack wavered; the negroes wedging themselves to beat it back; the half-repelled sailors, as yet unable to gain a footing, fighting as troopers in the saddle, one leg sideways flung over the bulwarks, and one without, plying their cutlasses like carters' whips. But in vain. They were almost overborne, when, rallying themselves into a squad as one man, with a huzza, they sprang inboard, where, entangled, they involuntarily separated again. For a few breaths' space, there was a vague, muffled, inner sound, as of submerged sword-fish rushing hither and thither through shoals of black-fish. Soon, in a reunited band, and joined by the Spanish seamen, the whites came to the surface, irresistibly driving the negroes toward the stern. But a barricade of casks and sacks, from side to side, had been thrown up by the main-mast. Here the negroes faced about, and though scorning peace or truce, yet fain would have had respite. But, without pause, overleaping the barrier, the unflagging sailors again closed. Exhausted, the blacks now fought in despair. Their red tongues lolled, wolf-like, from their black mouths. But the pale sailors' teeth were set; not a word was spoken; and, in five minutes more, the ship was won.
Nearly a score of the negroes were killed. Exclusive of those by the balls, many were mangled; their wounds--mostly inflicted by the long-edged sealing-spears, resembling those shaven ones of the English at Preston Pans, made by the poled scythes of the Highlanders. On the other side, none were killed, though several were wounded; some severely, including the mate. The surviving negroes were temporarily secured, and the ship, towed back into the harbor at midnight, once more lay anchored.
Omitting the incidents and arrangements ensuing, suffice it that, after two days spent in refitting, the ships sailed in company for Conception, in Chili, and thence for Lima, in Peru; where, before the vice-regal courts, the whole affair, from the beginning, underwent investigation.
Though, midway on the passage, the ill-fated Spaniard, relaxed from constraint, showed some signs of regaining health with free-will; yet, agreeably to his own foreboding, shortly before arriving at Lima, he relapsed, finally becoming so reduced as to be carried ashore in arms. Hearing of his story and plight, one of the many religious institutions of the City of Kings opened an hospitable refuge to him, where both physician and priest were his nurses, and a member of the order volunteered to be his one special guardian and consoler, by night and by day.
The following extracts, translated from one of the official Spanish documents, will, it is hoped, shed light on the preceding narrative, as well as, in the first place, reveal the true port of departure and true history of the San Dominick's voyage, down to the time of her touching at the island of St. Maria.
But, ere the extracts come, it may be well to preface them with a remark.
The document selected, from among many others, for partial translation, contains the deposition of Benito Cereno; the first taken in the case. Some disclosures therein were, at the time, held dubious for both learned and natural reasons. The tribunal inclined to the opinion that the deponent, not undisturbed in his mind by recent events, raved of some things which could never have happened. But subsequent depositions of the surviving sailors, bearing out the revelations of their captain in several of the strangest particulars, gave credence to the rest. So that the tribunal, in its final decision, rested its capital sentences upon statements which, had they lacked confirmation, it would have deemed it but duty to reject.
* * * * *
I, DON JOSE DE ABOS AND PADILLA, His Majesty's Notary for the Royal Revenue, and Register of this Province, and Notary Public of the Holy Crusade of this Bishopric, etc.
Do certify and declare, as much as is requisite in law, that, in the criminal cause commenced the twenty-fourth of the month of September, in the year seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, against the negroes of the ship San Dominick, the following declaration before me was made:
_Declaration of the first witness_, DON BENITO CERENO.
The same day, and month, and year, His Honor, Doctor Juan Martinez
de Rozas, Councilor of the Royal Audience of this Kingdom, and
learned in the law of this Intendency, ordered the captain of the
ship San Dominick, Don Benito Cereno, to appear; which he did, in
his litter, attended by the monk Infelez; of whom he received the
oath, which he took by God, our Lord, and a sign of the Cross;
under which he promised to tell the truth of whatever he should
know and should be asked;--and being interrogated agreeably to
the tenor of the act commencing the process, he said, that on the
twentieth of May last, he set sail with his ship from the port of
Valparaiso, bound to that of Callao; loaded with the produce of
the country beside thirty cases of hardware and one hundred and
sixty blacks, of both sexes, mostly belonging to Don Alexandro
Aranda, gentleman, of the city of Mendoza; that the crew of the
ship consisted of thirty-six men, beside the persons who went as
passengers; that the negroes were in part as follows:
[_Here, in the original, follows a list of some fifty names,
descriptions, and ages, compiled from certain recovered documents
of Aranda's, and also from recollections of the deponent, from
which portions only are extracted._]
--One, from about eighteen to nineteen years, named José, and this
was the man that waited upon his master, Don Alexandro, and who
speaks well the Spanish, having served him four or five years; * *
* a mulatto, named Francesco, the cabin steward, of a good person
and voice, having sung in the Valparaiso churches, native of the
province of Buenos Ayres, aged about thirty-five years. * * * A
smart negro, named Dago, who had been for many years a
grave-digger among the Spaniards, aged forty-six years. * * * Four
old negroes, born in Africa, from sixty to seventy, but sound,
calkers by trade, whose names are as follows:--the first was named
Muri, and he was killed (as was also his son named Diamelo); the
second, Nacta; the third, Yola, likewise killed; the fourth,
Ghofan; and six full-grown negroes, aged from thirty to
forty-five, all raw, and born among the Ashantees--Matiluqui, Yan,
Leche, Mapenda, Yambaio, Akim; four of whom were killed; * * * a
powerful negro named Atufal, who being supposed to have been a
chief in Africa, his owner set great store by him. * * * And a
small negro of Senegal, but some years among the Spaniards, aged
about thirty, which negro's name was Babo; * * * that he does not
remember the names of the others, but that still expecting the
residue of Don Alexandra's papers will be found, will then take
due account of them all, and remit to the court; * * * and
thirty-nine women and children of all ages.
[_The catalogue over, the deposition goes on_]
* * * That all the negroes slept upon deck, as is customary in
this navigation, and none wore fetters, because the owner, his
friend Aranda, told him that they were all tractable; * * * that
on the seventh day after leaving port, at three o'clock in the
morning, all the Spaniards being asleep except the two officers on
the watch, who were the boatswain, Juan Robles, and the carpenter,
Juan Bautista Gayete, and the helmsman and his boy, the negroes
revolted suddenly, wounded dangerously the boatswain and the
carpenter, and successively killed eighteen men of those who were
sleeping upon deck, some with hand-spikes and hatchets, and others
by throwing them alive overboard, after tying them; that of the
Spaniards upon deck, they left about seven, as he thinks, alive
and tied, to manoeuvre the ship, and three or four more, who hid
themselves, remained also alive. Although in the act of revolt the
negroes made themselves masters of the hatchway, six or seven
wounded went through it to the cockpit, without any hindrance on
their part; that during the act of revolt, the mate and another
person, whose name he does not recollect, attempted to come up
through the hatchway, but being quickly wounded, were obliged to
return to the cabin; that the deponent resolved at break of day to
come up the companion-way, where the negro Babo was, being the
ringleader, and Atufal, who assisted him, and having spoken to
them, exhorted them to cease committing such atrocities, asking
them, at the same time, what they wanted and intended to do,
offering, himself, to obey their commands; that notwithstanding
this, they threw, in his presence, three men, alive and tied,
overboard; that they told the deponent to come up, and that they
would not kill him; which having done, the negro Babo asked him
whether there were in those seas any negro countries where they
might be carried, and he answered them, No; that the negro Babo
afterwards told him to carry them to Senegal, or to the
neighboring islands of St. Nicholas; and he answered, that this
was impossible, on account of the great distance, the necessity
involved of rounding Cape Horn, the bad condition of the vessel,
the want of provisions, sails, and water; but that the negro Babo
replied to him he must carry them in any way; that they would do
and conform themselves to everything the deponent should require
as to eating and drinking; that after a long conference, being
absolutely compelled to please them, for they threatened to kill
all the whites if they were not, at all events, carried to
Senegal, he told them that what was most wanting for the voyage
was water; that they would go near the coast to take it, and
thence they would proceed on their course; that the negro Babo
agreed to it; and the deponent steered towards the intermediate
ports, hoping to meet some Spanish, or foreign vessel that would
save them; that within ten or eleven days they saw the land, and
continued their course by it in the vicinity of Nasca; that the
deponent observed that the negroes were now restless and mutinous,
because he did not effect the taking in of water, the negro Babo
having required, with threats, that it should be done, without
fail, the following day; he told him he saw plainly that the coast
was steep, and the rivers designated in the maps were not to be
found, with other reasons suitable to the circumstances; that the
best way would be to go to the island of Santa Maria, where they
might water easily, it being a solitary island, as the foreigners
did; that the deponent did not go to Pisco, that was near, nor
make any other port of the coast, because the negro Babo had
intimated to him several times, that he would kill all the whites
the very moment he should perceive any city, town, or settlement
of any kind on the shores to which they should be carried: that
having determined to go to the island of Santa Maria, as the
deponent had planned, for the purpose of trying whether, on the
passage or near the island itself, they could find any vessel that
should favor them, or whether he could escape from it in a boat to
the neighboring coast of Arruco, to adopt the necessary means he
immediately changed his course, steering for the island; that the
negroes Babo and Atufal held daily conferences, in which they
discussed what was necessary for their design of returning to
Senegal, whether they were to kill all the Spaniards, and
particularly the deponent; that eight days after parting from the
coast of Nasca, the deponent being on the watch a little after
day-break, and soon after the negroes had their meeting, the negro
Babo came to the place where the deponent was, and told him that
he had determined to kill his master, Don Alexandro Aranda, both
because he and his companions could not otherwise be sure of their
liberty, and that to keep the seamen in subjection, he wanted to
prepare a warning of what road they should be made to take did
they or any of them oppose him; and that, by means of the death of
Don Alexandro, that warning would best be given; but, that what
this last meant, the deponent did not at the time comprehend, nor
could not, further than that the death of Don Alexandro was
intended; and moreover the negro Babo proposed to the deponent to
call the mate Raneds, who was sleeping in the cabin, before the
thing was done, for fear, as the deponent understood it, that the
mate, who was a good navigator, should be killed with Don
Alexandro and the rest; that the deponent, who was the friend,
from youth, of Don Alexandro, prayed and conjured, but all was
useless; for the negro Babo answered him that the thing could not
be prevented, and that all the Spaniards risked their death if
they should attempt to frustrate his will in this matter, or any
other; that, in this conflict, the deponent called the mate,
Raneds, who was forced to go apart, and immediately the negro Babo
commanded the Ashantee Martinqui and the Ashantee Lecbe to go and
commit the murder; that those two went down with hatchets to the
berth of Don Alexandro; that, yet half alive and mangled, they
dragged him on deck; that they were going to throw him overboard
in that state, but the negro Babo stopped them, bidding the murder
be completed on the deck before him, which was done, when, by his
orders, the body was carried below, forward; that nothing more was
seen of it by the deponent for three days; * * * that Don Alonzo
Sidonia, an old man, long resident at Valparaiso, and lately
appointed to a civil office in Peru, whither he had taken passage,
was at the time sleeping in the berth opposite Don Alexandro's;
that awakening at his cries, surprised by them, and at the sight
of the negroes with their bloody hatchets in their hands, he threw
himself into the sea through a window which was near him, and was
drowned, without it being in the power of the deponent to assist
or take him up; * * * that a short time after killing Aranda, they
brought upon deck his german-cousin, of middle-age, Don Francisco
Masa, of Mendoza, and the young Don Joaquin, Marques de
Aramboalaza, then lately from Spain, with his Spanish servant
Ponce, and the three young clerks of Aranda, José Mozairi Lorenzo
Bargas, and Hermenegildo Gandix, all of Cadiz; that Don Joaquin
and Hermenegildo Gandix, the negro Babo, for purposes hereafter to
appear, preserved alive; but Don Francisco Masa, José Mozairi, and
Lorenzo Bargas, with Ponce the servant, beside the boatswain, Juan
Robles, the boatswain's mates, Manuel Viscaya and Roderigo Hurta,
and four of the sailors, the negro Babo ordered to be thrown alive
into the sea, although they made no resistance, nor begged for
anything else but mercy; that the boatswain, Juan Robles, who knew
how to swim, kept the longest above water, making acts of
contrition, and, in the last words he uttered, charged this
deponent to cause mass to be said for his soul to our Lady of
Succor: * * * that, during the three days which followed, the
deponent, uncertain what fate had befallen the remains of Don
Alexandro, frequently asked the negro Babo where they were, and,
if still on board, whether they were to be preserved for interment
ashore, entreating him so to order it; that the negro Babo
answered nothing till the fourth day, when at sunrise, the
deponent coming on deck, the negro Babo showed him a skeleton,
which had been substituted for the ship's proper figure-head--the
image of Christopher Colon, the discoverer of the New World; that
the negro Babo asked him whose skeleton that was, and whether,
from its whiteness, he should not think it a white's; that, upon
discovering his face, the negro Babo, coming close, said words to
this effect: "Keep faith with the blacks from here to Senegal, or
you shall in spirit, as now in body, follow your leader," pointing
to the prow; * * * that the same morning the negro Babo took by
succession each Spaniard forward, and asked him whose skeleton
that was, and whether, from its whiteness, he should not think it
a white's; that each Spaniard covered his face; that then to each
the negro Babo repeated the words in the first place said to the
deponent; * * * that they (the Spaniards), being then assembled
aft, the negro Babo harangued them, saying that he had now done
all; that the deponent (as navigator for the negroes) might pursue
his course, warning him and all of them that they should, soul and
body, go the way of Don Alexandro, if he saw them (the Spaniards)
speak, or plot anything against them (the negroes)--a threat which
was repeated every day; that, before the events last mentioned,
they had tied the cook to throw him overboard, for it is not known
what thing they heard him speak, but finally the negro Babo
spared his life, at the request of the deponent; that a few days
after, the deponent, endeavoring not to omit any means to preserve
the lives of the remaining whites, spoke to the negroes peace and
tranquillity, and agreed to draw up a paper, signed by the
deponent and the sailors who could write, as also by the negro
Babo, for himself and all the blacks, in which the deponent
obliged himself to carry them to Senegal, and they not to kill any
more, and he formally to make over to them the ship, with the
cargo, with which they were for that time satisfied and quieted. *
* But the next day, the more surely to guard against the sailors'
escape, the negro Babo commanded all the boats to be destroyed but
the long-boat, which was unseaworthy, and another, a cutter in
good condition, which knowing it would yet be wanted for towing
the water casks, he had it lowered down into the hold.
* * * * *
[_Various particulars of the prolonged and perplexed navigation
ensuing here follow, with incidents of a calamitous calm, from
which portion one passage is extracted, to wit_:]
--That on the fifth day of the calm, all on board suffering much
from the heat, and want of water, and five having died in fits,
and mad, the negroes became irritable, and for a chance gesture,
which they deemed suspicious--though it was harmless--made by the
mate, Raneds, to the deponent in the act of handing a quadrant,
they killed him; but that for this they afterwards were sorry, the
mate being the only remaining navigator on board, except the
deponent.
* * * * *
--That omitting other events, which daily happened, and which can
only serve uselessly to recall past misfortunes and conflicts,
after seventy-three days' navigation, reckoned from the time they
sailed from Nasca, during which they navigated under a scanty
allowance of water, and were afflicted with the calms before
mentioned, they at last arrived at the island of Santa Maria, on
the seventeenth of the month of August, at about six o'clock in
the afternoon, at which hour they cast anchor very near the
American ship, Bachelor's Delight, which lay in the same bay,
commanded by the generous Captain Amasa Delano; but at six o'clock
in the morning, they had already descried the port, and the
negroes became uneasy, as soon as at distance they saw the ship,
not having expected to see one there; that the negro Babo pacified
them, assuring them that no fear need be had; that straightway he
ordered the figure on the bow to be covered with canvas, as for
repairs and had the decks a little set in order; that for a time
the negro Babo and the negro Atufal conferred; that the negro
Atufal was for sailing away, but the negro Babo would not, and, by
himself, cast about what to do; that at last he came to the
deponent, proposing to him to say and do all that the deponent
declares to have said and done to the American captain; * * * * *
* * that the negro Babo warned him that if he varied in the least,
or uttered any word, or gave any look that should give the least
intimation of the past events or present state, he would instantly
kill him, with all his companions, showing a dagger, which he
carried hid, saying something which, as he understood it, meant
that that dagger would be alert as his eye; that the negro Babo
then announced the plan to all his companions, which pleased them;
that he then, the better to disguise the truth, devised many
expedients, in some of them uniting deceit and defense; that of
this sort was the device of the six Ashantees before named, who
were his bravoes; that them he stationed on the break of the poop,
as if to clean certain hatchets (in cases, which were part of the
cargo), but in reality to use them, and distribute them at need,
and at a given word he told them; that, among other devices, was
the device of presenting Atufal, his right hand man, as chained,
though in a moment the chains could be dropped; that in every
particular he informed the deponent what part he was expected to
enact in every device, and what story he was to tell on every
occasion, always threatening him with instant death if he varied
in the least: that, conscious that many of the negroes would be
turbulent, the negro Babo appointed the four aged negroes, who
were calkers, to keep what domestic order they could on the decks;
that again and again he harangued the Spaniards and his
companions, informing them of his intent, and of his devices, and
of the invented story that this deponent was to tell; charging
them lest any of them varied from that story; that these
arrangements were made and matured during the interval of two or
three hours, between their first sighting the ship and the arrival
on board of Captain Amasa Delano; that this happened about
half-past seven o'clock in the morning, Captain Amasa Delano
coming in his boat, and all gladly receiving him; that the
deponent, as well as he could force himself, acting then the part
of principal owner, and a free captain of the ship, told Captain
Amasa Delano, when called upon, that he came from Buenos Ayres,
bound to Lima, with three hundred negroes; that off Cape Horn, and
in a subsequent fever, many negroes had died; that also, by
similar casualties, all the sea officers and the greatest part of
the crew had died.
* * * * *
[_And so the deposition goes on, circumstantially recounting the
fictitious story dictated to the deponent by Babo, and through the
deponent imposed upon Captain Delano; and also recounting the
friendly offers of Captain Delano, with other things, but all of
which is here omitted. After the fictitious story, etc. the
deposition proceeds_:]
* * * * *
--that the generous Captain Amasa Delano remained on board all the
day, till he left the ship anchored at six o'clock in the evening,
deponent speaking to him always of his pretended misfortunes,
under the fore-mentioned principles, without having had it in his
power to tell a single word, or give him the least hint, that he
might know the truth and state of things; because the negro Babo,
performing the office of an officious servant with all the
appearance of submission of the humble slave, did not leave the
deponent one moment; that this was in order to observe the
deponent's actions and words, for the negro Babo understands well
the Spanish; and besides, there were thereabout some others who
were constantly on the watch, and likewise understood the Spanish;
* * * that upon one occasion, while deponent was standing on the
deck conversing with Amasa Delano, by a secret sign the negro Babo
drew him (the deponent) aside, the act appearing as if originating
with the deponent; that then, he being drawn aside, the negro Babo
proposed to him to gain from Amasa Delano full particulars about
his ship, and crew, and arms; that the deponent asked "For what?"
that the negro Babo answered he might conceive; that, grieved at
the prospect of what might overtake the generous Captain Amasa
Delano, the deponent at first refused to ask the desired
questions, and used every argument to induce the negro Babo to
give up this new design; that the negro Babo showed the point of
his dagger; that, after the information had been obtained the
negro Babo again drew him aside, telling him that that very night
he (the deponent) would be captain of two ships, instead of one,
for that, great part of the American's ship's crew being to be
absent fishing, the six Ashantees, without any one else, would
easily take it; that at this time he said other things to the same
purpose; that no entreaties availed; that, before Amasa Delano's
coming on board, no hint had been given touching the capture of
the American ship: that to prevent this project the deponent was
powerless; * * *--that in some things his memory is confused, he
cannot distinctly recall every event; * * *--that as soon as they
had cast anchor at six of the clock in the evening, as has before
been stated, the American Captain took leave, to return to his
vessel; that upon a sudden impulse, which the deponent believes to
have come from God and his angels, he, after the farewell had been
said, followed the generous Captain Amasa Delano as far as the
gunwale, where he stayed, under pretense of taking leave, until
Amasa Delano should have been seated in his boat; that on shoving
off, the deponent sprang from the gunwale into the boat, and fell
into it, he knows not how, God guarding him; that--
* * * * *
[_Here, in the original, follows the account of what further
happened at the escape, and how the San Dominick was retaken, and
of the passage to the coast; including in the recital many
expressions of "eternal gratitude" to the "generous Captain Amasa
Delano." The deposition then proceeds with recapitulatory remarks,
and a partial renumeration of the negroes, making record of their
individual part in the past events, with a view to furnishing,
according to command of the court, the data whereon to found the
criminal sentences to be pronounced. From this portion is the
following_;]
--That he believes that all the negroes, though not in the first
place knowing to the design of revolt, when it was accomplished,
approved it. * * * That the negro, José, eighteen years old, and
in the personal service of Don Alexandro, was the one who
communicated the information to the negro Babo, about the state of
things in the cabin, before the revolt; that this is known,
because, in the preceding midnight, he use to come from his berth,
which was under his master's, in the cabin, to the deck where the
ringleader and his associates were, and had secret conversations
with the negro Babo, in which he was several times seen by the
mate; that, one night, the mate drove him away twice; * * that
this same negro José was the one who, without being commanded to
do so by the negro Babo, as Lecbe and Martinqui were, stabbed his
master, Don Alexandro, after he had been dragged half-lifeless to
the deck; * * that the mulatto steward, Francesco, was of the
first band of revolters, that he was, in all things, the creature
and tool of the negro Babo; that, to make his court, he, just
before a repast in the cabin, proposed, to the negro Babo,
poisoning a dish for the generous Captain Amasa Delano; this is
known and believed, because the negroes have said it; but that the
negro Babo, having another design, forbade Francesco; * * that the
Ashantee Lecbe was one of the worst of them; for that, on the day
the ship was retaken, he assisted in the defense of her, with a
hatchet in each hand, with one of which he wounded, in the breast,
the chief mate of Amasa Delano, in the first act of boarding; this
all knew; that, in sight of the deponent, Lecbe struck, with a
hatchet, Don Francisco Masa, when, by the negro Babo's orders, he
was carrying him to throw him overboard, alive, beside
participating in the murder, before mentioned, of Don Alexandro
Aranda, and others of the cabin-passengers; that, owing to the
fury with which the Ashantees fought in the engagement with the
boats, but this Lecbe and Yan survived; that Yan was bad as Lecbe;
that Yan was the man who, by Babo's command, willingly prepared
the skeleton of Don Alexandro, in a way the negroes afterwards
told the deponent, but which he, so long as reason is left him,
can never divulge; that Yan and Lecbe were the two who, in a calm
by night, riveted the skeleton to the bow; this also the negroes
told him; that the negro Babo was he who traced the inscription
below it; that the negro Babo was the plotter from first to last;
he ordered every murder, and was the helm and keel of the revolt;
that Atufal was his lieutenant in all; but Atufal, with his own
hand, committed no murder; nor did the negro Babo; * * that Atufal
was shot, being killed in the fight with the boats, ere boarding;
* * that the negresses, of age, were knowing to the revolt, and
testified themselves satisfied at the death of their master, Don
Alexandro; that, had the negroes not restrained them, they would
have tortured to death, instead of simply killing, the Spaniards
slain by command of the negro Babo; that the negresses used their
utmost influence to have the deponent made away with; that, in the
various acts of murder, they sang songs and danced--not gaily, but
solemnly; and before the engagement with the boats, as well as
during the action, they sang melancholy songs to the negroes, and
that this melancholy tone was more inflaming than a different one
would have been, and was so intended; that all this is believed,
because the negroes have said it.--that of the thirty-six men of
the crew, exclusive of the passengers (all of whom are now dead),
which the deponent had knowledge of, six only remained alive, with
four cabin-boys and ship-boys, not included with the crew; *
*--that the negroes broke an arm of one of the cabin-boys and gave
him strokes with hatchets.
[_Then follow various random disclosures referring to various
periods of time. The following are extracted_;]
--That during the presence of Captain Amasa Delano on board, some
attempts were made by the sailors, and one by Hermenegildo Gandix,
to convey hints to him of the true state of affairs; but that
these attempts were ineffectual, owing to fear of incurring death,
and, futhermore, owing to the devices which offered contradictions
to the true state of affairs, as well as owing to the generosity
and piety of Amasa Delano incapable of sounding such wickedness; *
* * that Luys Galgo, a sailor about sixty years of age, and
formerly of the king's navy, was one of those who sought to convey
tokens to Captain Amasa Delano; but his intent, though
undiscovered, being suspected, he was, on a pretense, made to
retire out of sight, and at last into the hold, and there was made
away with. This the negroes have since said; * * * that one of the
ship-boys feeling, from Captain Amasa Delano's presence, some
hopes of release, and not having enough prudence, dropped some
chance-word respecting his expectations, which being overheard and
understood by a slave-boy with whom he was eating at the time, the
latter struck him on the head with a knife, inflicting a bad
wound, but of which the boy is now healing; that likewise, not
long before the ship was brought to anchor, one of the seamen,
steering at the time, endangered himself by letting the blacks
remark some expression in his countenance, arising from a cause
similar to the above; but this sailor, by his heedful after
conduct, escaped; * * * that these statements are made to show the
court that from the beginning to the end of the revolt, it was
impossible for the deponent and his men to act otherwise than they
did; * * *--that the third clerk, Hermenegildo Gandix, who before
had been forced to live among the seamen, wearing a seaman's
habit, and in all respects appearing to be one for the time; he,
Gandix, was killed by a musket ball fired through mistake from the
boats before boarding; having in his fright run up the
mizzen-rigging, calling to the boats--"don't board," lest upon
their boarding the negroes should kill him; that this inducing the
Americans to believe he some way favored the cause of the negroes,
they fired two balls at him, so that he fell wounded from the
rigging, and was drowned in the sea; * * *--that the young Don
Joaquin, Marques de Aramboalaza, like Hermenegildo Gandix, the
third clerk, was degraded to the office and appearance of a common
seaman; that upon one occasion when Don Joaquin shrank, the negro
Babo commanded the Ashantee Lecbe to take tar and heat it, and
pour it upon Don Joaquin's hands; * * *--that Don Joaquin was
killed owing to another mistake of the Americans, but one
impossible to be avoided, as upon the approach of the boats, Don
Joaquin, with a hatchet tied edge out and upright to his hand, was
made by the negroes to appear on the bulwarks; whereupon, seen
with arms in his hands and in a questionable attitude, he was shot
for a renegade seaman; * * *--that on the person of Don Joaquin
was found secreted a jewel, which, by papers that were discovered,
proved to have been meant for the shrine of our Lady of Mercy in
Lima; a votive offering, beforehand prepared and guarded, to
attest his gratitude, when he should have landed in Peru, his last
destination, for the safe conclusion of his entire voyage from
Spain; * * *--that the jewel, with the other effects of the late
Don Joaquin, is in the custody of the brethren of the Hospital de
Sacerdotes, awaiting the disposition of the honorable court; * *
*--that, owing to the condition of the deponent, as well as the
haste in which the boats departed for the attack, the Americans
were not forewarned that there were, among the apparent crew, a
passenger and one of the clerks disguised by the negro Babo; * *
*--that, beside the negroes killed in the action, some were killed
after the capture and re-anchoring at night, when shackled to the
ring-bolts on deck; that these deaths were committed by the
sailors, ere they could be prevented. That so soon as informed of
it, Captain Amasa Delano used all his authority, and, in
particular with his own hand, struck down Martinez Gola, who,
having found a razor in the pocket of an old jacket of his, which
one of the shackled negroes had on, was aiming it at the negro's
throat; that the noble Captain Amasa Delano also wrenched from the
hand of Bartholomew Barlo a dagger, secreted at the time of the
massacre of the whites, with which he was in the act of stabbing a
shackled negro, who, the same day, with another negro, had thrown
him down and jumped upon him; * * *--that, for all the events,
befalling through so long a time, during which the ship was in the
hands of the negro Babo, he cannot here give account; but that,
what he has said is the most substantial of what occurs to him at
present, and is the truth under the oath which he has taken; which
declaration he affirmed and ratified, after hearing it read to
him.
He said that he is twenty-nine years of age, and broken in body
and mind; that when finally dismissed by the court, he shall not
return home to Chili, but betake himself to the monastery on Mount
Agonia without; and signed with his honor, and crossed himself,
and, for the time, departed as he came, in his litter, with the
monk Infelez, to the Hospital de Sacerdotes.
BENITO CERENO.
DOCTOR ROZAS.
If the Deposition have served as the key to fit into the lock of the complications which precede it, then, as a vault whose door has been flung back, the San Dominick's hull lies open to-day.
Hitherto the nature of this narrative, besides rendering the intricacies in the beginning unavoidable, has more or less required that many things, instead of being set down in the order of occurrence, should be retrospectively, or irregularly given; this last is the case with the following passages, which will conclude the account:
During the long, mild voyage to Lima, there was, as before hinted, a period during which the sufferer a little recovered his health, or, at least in some degree, his tranquillity. Ere the decided relapse which came, the two captains had many cordial conversations--their fraternal unreserve in singular contrast with former withdrawments.
Again and again it was repeated, how hard it had been to enact the part forced on the Spaniard by Babo.
"Ah, my dear friend," Don Benito once said, "at those very times when you thought me so morose and ungrateful, nay, when, as you now admit, you half thought me plotting your murder, at those very times my heart was frozen; I could not look at you, thinking of what, both on board this ship and your own, hung, from other hands, over my kind benefactor. And as God lives, Don Amasa, I know not whether desire for my own safety alone could have nerved me to that leap into your boat, had it not been for the thought that, did you, unenlightened, return to your ship, you, my best friend, with all who might be with you, stolen upon, that night, in your hammocks, would never in this world have wakened again. Do but think how you walked this deck, how you sat in this cabin, every inch of ground mined into honey-combs under you. Had I dropped the least hint, made the least advance towards an understanding between us, death, explosive death--yours as mine--would have ended the scene."
"True, true," cried Captain Delano, starting, "you have saved my life, Don Benito, more than I yours; saved it, too, against my knowledge and will."
"Nay, my friend," rejoined the Spaniard, courteous even to the point of religion, "God charmed your life, but you saved mine. To think of some things you did--those smilings and chattings, rash pointings and gesturings. For less than these, they slew my mate, Raneds; but you had the Prince of Heaven's safe-conduct through all ambuscades."
"Yes, all is owing to Providence, I know: but the temper of my mind that morning was more than commonly pleasant, while the sight of so much suffering, more apparent than real, added to my good-nature, compassion, and charity, happily interweaving the three. Had it been otherwise, doubtless, as you hint, some of my interferences might have ended unhappily enough. Besides, those feelings I spoke of enabled me to get the better of momentary distrust, at times when acuteness might have cost me my life, without saving another's. Only at the end did my suspicions get the better of me, and you know how wide of the mark they then proved."
"Wide, indeed," said Don Benito, sadly; "you were with me all day; stood with me, sat with me, talked with me, looked at me, ate with me, drank with me; and yet, your last act was to clutch for a monster, not only an innocent man, but the most pitiable of all men. To such degree may malign machinations and deceptions impose. So far may even the best man err, in judging the conduct of one with the recesses of whose condition he is not acquainted. But you were forced to it; and you were in time undeceived. Would that, in both respects, it was so ever, and with all men."
"You generalize, Don Benito; and mournfully enough. But the past is passed; why moralize upon it? Forget it. See, yon bright sun has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky; these have turned over new leaves."
"Because they have no memory," he dejectedly replied; "because they are not human."
"But these mild trades that now fan your cheek, do they not come with a human-like healing to you? Warm friends, steadfast friends are the trades."
"With their steadfastness they but waft me to my tomb, Señor," was the foreboding response.
"You are saved," cried Captain Delano, more and more astonished and pained; "you are saved: what has cast such a shadow upon you?"
"The negro."
There was silence, while the moody man sat, slowly and unconsciously gathering his mantle about him, as if it were a pall.
There was no more conversation that day.
But if the Spaniard's melancholy sometimes ended in muteness upon topics like the above, there were others upon which he never spoke at all; on which, indeed, all his old reserves were piled. Pass over the worst, and, only to elucidate let an item or two of these be cited. The dress, so precise and costly, worn by him on the day whose events have been narrated, had not willingly been put on. And that silver-mounted sword, apparent symbol of despotic command, was not, indeed, a sword, but the ghost of one. The scabbard, artificially stiffened, was empty.
As for the black--whose brain, not body, had schemed and led the revolt, with the plot--his slight frame, inadequate to that which it held, had at once yielded to the superior muscular strength of his captor, in the boat. Seeing all was over, he uttered no sound, and could not be forced to. His aspect seemed to say, since I cannot do deeds, I will not speak words. Put in irons in the hold, with the rest, he was carried to Lima. During the passage, Don Benito did not visit him. Nor then, nor at any time after, would he look at him. Before the tribunal he refused. When pressed by the judges he fainted. On the testimony of the sailors alone rested the legal identity of Babo.
Some months after, dragged to the gibbet at the tail of a mule, the black met his voiceless end. The body was burned to ashes; but for many days, the head, that hive of subtlety, fixed on a pole in the Plaza, met, unabashed, the gaze of the whites; and across the Plaza looked towards St. Bartholomew's church, in whose vaults slept then, as now, the recovered bones of Aranda: and across the Rimac bridge looked towards the monastery, on Mount Agonia without; where, three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader.