now clear to present Captain F. with his schooner lying at
the wharf in Norfolk, loading with wheat, and at the same time with
twenty-one fugitives secreted therein. While the boat was thus lying at
her mooring, the rumor was flying all over town that a number of slaves
had escaped, which created a general excitement a degree less, perhaps,
than if the citizens had been visited by an earthquake. The mayor of the
city with a posse of officers with axes and long spears repaired to
Captain F.'s boat. The fearless commander received his Honor very
coolly, and as gracefully as the circumstances would admit. The mayor
gave him to understand who he was, and by what authority he appeared on
the boat, and what he meant to do. "Very well," replied Captain F.,
"here I am and this is my boat, go ahead and search." His Honor with his
deputies looked quickly around, and then an order went forth from the
mayor to "spear the wheat thoroughly." The deputies obeyed the command
with alacrity. But the spears brought neither blood nor groans, and the
sagacious mayor obviously concluded that he was "barking up the wrong
tree." But the mayor was not there for nothing. "Take the axes and go to
work," was the next order; and the axe was used with terrible effect by
one of the deputies. The deck and other parts of the boat were chopped
and split; no greater judgment being exercised when using the axe than
when spearing the wheat; Captain F. all the while wearing an air of
utter indifference or rather of entire composure. Indeed every step they
took proved conclusively that they were wholly ignorant with regard to
boat searching. At this point, with remarkable shrewdness, Captain F.
saw wherein he could still further confuse them by a bold strategical
move. As though about out of patience with the mayor's blunders, the
captain instantly reminded his Honor that he had "stood still long
enough" while his boat was being "damaged, chopped up," &c. "Now if you
want to search," continued he, "give me the axe, and then point out the
spot you want opened and I will open it for you very quick." While
uttering these words he presented, as he was capable of doing, an
indignant and defiant countenance, and intimated that it mattered not
where or when a man died provided he was in the right, and as though he
wished to give particularly strong emphasis to what he was saying, he
raised the axe, and brought it down edge foremost on the deck with
startling effect,