Grandfather’s Youth (3)

Taken from the Lethbridge, Alberta, NRC church news

A striking narrative in which Rev. Wilhelmus a Brakel was used as a means in God’s hand for the conversion of a young man

“‘I know it,’” the skipper answered as calmly as if I had told him the coffee was ready.

“I went up and found the whole crew on deck. The ship was coming fast, and we could plainly distinguish the sails and the red flag.”

“We shall have to fight,” said the boatswain, looking serious.

“I think we shall have to use the long pieces,” said another.

“You know, John, those are the cannon,” added Grandfather.

“There is the captain,” cried various voices. “Just see; now it will become serious.”

“For the moment, however, the captain only took a long searching look at the pirate ship that was coming nearer. Then he ordered the men to crowd on all sail. The wind was favorable, so there was a chance that we could outrun the enemy. Apparently, the captain wanted to try it. I hoped—and perhaps many others also—that we would succeed, but it was not so; our schooner was exceptionally heavy laden and could not sail as fast as the swift cranky boat of the robbers.

“A moment later, a cannon bullet flew through the large sail. It had been so carefully aimed that the sail immediately hung in tatters. We realized it was going to be serious. All eyes were on the captain; all were awaiting his orders, but, to our surprise, the words ‘Everything ready for the fight,’ did not come. Long Lawrence stood calmly smoking his pipe and gave order to lie to.”

“What is that?” asked John.

“That means to steer the boat so that we do not go away from but approach the other vessel. The pirate understood that we dared not oppose him. Soon he was next to us, and I could distinguish the rough, yellowish brown faces of the pirates. They had their cannon ready; moreover, every man was heavily armed. Guns, pistols, swords, daggers, and pikes glittered in the sunlight. It was an amazing sight, but, at that moment, I was terribly sorry I had ever been foolish enough to go to sea.

“Our crew stood by, quietly watching, although no one knew exactly what would happen. Did Long Lawrence want to just surrender his ship? He had never before done that. In the meantime, the pirates had set out a few boats which were soon filled with armed men who rowed straight to our ship.

“As soon as the captain saw it, he motioned to the mate, whispered something into his ear, and shouted to us, ‘Let no man strike back.’ Then he went downstairs to the cabin. That we certainly could not understand, and we became suspicious and anxious. The robbers seemed to feel likewise. They could not understand why we let them be without making a move. However, they came closer, and soon the whole gang was on board. Their leader, a man with a black beard and almost black face, with a scimitar in his hand, stepped forward and asked in the Italian language, ‘Where is the captain?’

“‘I will bring you to him,’ said the mate, and he went downstairs, followed by the leader and a few of his men.”

“And what happened there?” asked John curiously.

“Just listen; Long Lawrence has told it about a hundred times himself, afterwards.

“The door of the cabin was open, and the robber chief was going in when, looking into the cabin, he suddenly shouted a Turkish exclamation and quickly jumped back.

“Inside the cabin, standing on each side, there were about twelve kegs, all of them open. They were powder kegs, as the robbers knew very well. The black kernels seemed to grin at the robbers; moreover, they were scattered on the whole floor so that one could not move without stepping on them, by which gunpowder could easily explode.

“In the midst of all this, Long Lawrence sat on an open keg, calmly smoking his pipe. One spark and.... ‘“Good friend,’ said the captain to the Muslim, ‘you are ....”’

“But Grandfather,” John said suddenly, “could they understand each other?”

“Certainly, my boy. In the ports of the Levant, the merchants, captains, seamen, and such talked to each other in a language that was a mixture of everything. They all could understand enough of it to know what was necessary.”

“So Lawrence said, ‘You are, as you see, at the gate of death. If you and your men do not turn about immediately and leave us, yes, even if you take a nail or a piece of rope or even look angrily at any of my crew, I will knock out this pipe. Then we will all fly into eternity, you to yours and I to mine.’”

“Oh, he meant that the ship would explode, didn’t he?”

“Exactly, my boy, and as soon as the robber heard that, after taking another look at the kegs and, then, at Lawrence who was still smoking, his yellow face became almost gray. Whether it was of sorrow or of terror I don’t know, but the whole troop came running back upstairs. We thought that now the fighting would begin, and we grabbed our knives at the least, but, no, those from downstairs shouted something we could not understand, and in a moment they jumped into the boats like madmen, rowing away much faster than they had come.

“We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw it. ‘It seems as if an evil spirit is chasing them,’ one of us called to the other. In five minutes the whole ship was empty of pirates. We saw them climb out of the boats into their ship and sail away. Shortly thereafter, they were out of sight.”

(to be continued)

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