Today we complete the story "Benito Cereno" written by HermanMelville. As we told you in earlier parts of our story, rebel slavesseized the ship San Dominick off the coast of Chile. They killed manyof its officers and crew. The Captain Benito Cereno was ordered tosail to Senegal. But first he was forced to take the ship to thelonely island of St. Maria near the southern end of Chile. There itcould safely get water and supplies for the long dangerous voyage toAfrica.
At the island, the rebels were surprised and frightened when theyfound an American ship anchored in the harbor. It also had stopped forwater. Many of the rebels wanted to sail away. But their leader Baboopposed it. They had little food and water and could not go far. Babocreated a story to keep anyone from suspecting that the Spanish vesselwas in the hands of rebels and that its captain was a prisoner.
At first, Babo seemed successful. The captain of the American shipAmasa Delano visited the San Dominick. He suspected nothing althoughhe was surprised by the general disorder on board. He also could notunderstand the strange behavior of its Captain Benito Cereno. Laterincidents, however, began to worry him. Captain Delano grew more andmore suspicious. At one time, he even feared that his life might be indanger. Twice he caught the Spanish captain and his servant Babo withtheir heads together, whispering like two conspirators. It madeCaptain Delano wonder: Were they plotting to kill him and seize hisship? Who were these men? Cutthroats? Pirates? Captain Delano grewnervous. Then he was happy to see his whaleboat off in the distance.
It was returning with supplies for the Spanish ship. The sight of hisboat calmed him. It made his suspicions and fear quickly disappear. Hefelt foolish for having had such dark thoughts. Now here is ShepO'Neal with the rest of our story, Benito Cereno.
Captain Delano went down to Captain Cereno's cabin to cheer him up andsay goodbye. "Better and better, Don Benito," he said as he enteredthe cabin. "Your troubles will soon be over." The American invited theSpanish captain to come aboard his boat for a cup of coffee.
Cereno's eyes brightened. But then the light in them died. He shookhis head and said he could not accept the invitation. Captain Delanowas offended. He was about to withdraw when Don Benito rose from hischair and took Delano's hand. The Spaniard's hand shook. And he wastoo excited to speak. Delano pulled his hand away and turned, climbingback to the deck. His face was troubled. Captain Delano could notunderstand Don Benito's actions. One minute, the Spaniard was warm andpolite, then just as quickly cold and hostile. Captain Delano askedhimself, "Why did he refuse to join me? Why is he so unfriendly?"Captain Delano got to the deck and was about to step down into hisboat when he heard his name. To his surprise, Don Benito was calling,coming quickly toward him. Captain Delano was pleased and turned backto meet him. Don Benito warmly took his hand with more energy andemotion than he had ever shown. But his excitement seemed too much forhim and he could not speak.
Babo then came between the two men and put his arm around Don Benitoto support him. Clearly he wanted to end the meeting between the twocaptains. Walking between the two men, Babo went with them to thewalkway. Don Benito would not let go off Captain Delano's hand. Heheld it tightly across his servant's body. Soon, they were standing bythe ship's side, looking down into the American boat. Its crew turnedup their wondering eyes. Captain Delano did not know what to do as hewaited for Don Benito to let go off his hand. He wanted to step downinto his boat. But Don Benito still firmly held his hand. Then in anexcited voice, the Spaniard said, "I can go no further, here I mustsay goodbye. Farewell my dear, dear Don Amasa. Go, go." And he torehis hand loose. "Go and God protect you better than he did me. Go, DonAmasa my, best friend." Captain Delano was deeply moved. He would havestayed for another minute or so. But he caught the eye of Babo. Itseemed to say, "This is bad for Don Benito's health." And so hequickly took the short step down into his boat with the continuingfarewells of Don Benito who stood rooted at the ship's side.
Captain Delano sat down in the back of his boat, gave Don Benito alast salute, and ordered his men to push off. The boat began to move.
Suddenly, Don Benito sprang over the side and came down at Delano'sfeet. And he kept shouting toward the Spanish ship. His cries were sowild that no one could understand him. An American officer asked,"What does this mean?" Captain Delano turned up a cold smile uponCaptain Cereno and said he neither knew nor cared. "It seems," headded, "that the Spaniard has taken it into his head to give hispeople the idea that we want to kidnap him. Or else..." And suddenlyCaptain Delano shouted, "Watch out for your lives." He saw Babo, theservant, on the rail above with a dagger in his hand. He was ready tojump, what followed happened so quickly that Captain Delano could nottell one incident from another. They all came together in one greatblur of violent action and excitement.
As Babo came down, Captain Delano flung Don Benito aside and caughtthe rebel leader pulling the dagger from his hand. He pushed Babofirmly down in the bottom of the boat, which now began to pick upspeed. Then Babo with his one free hand pulled a second dagger fromhis clothes and struck at Captain Cereno. Captain Delano knocked itfrom his hand. Now he saw everything clearly. Babo had leaped into thewhaleboat, not to kill him but to kill Captain Cereno. For the firsttime, he understood the mysterious behavior of Don Benito, a prisonerunder sentence of death. He looked back at the Spanish ship and got aclear picture of what its captain had escaped.
On board the San Dominick, the shouting rebels were raising their axesand knives in a wild revolt. They stopped some of the Spanish sailorsfrom jumping into the sea. A few, however, jumped while two or threewho were not quick enough went hurrying off the topmost wood arms.
Captain Delano signaled to his ship, ordering it to get its gunsready. When the whaleboat reached his ship, Captain Delano asked forropes. He tied Babo and had him pulled up on deck. A small boat wasquickly sent out to pick up three Spanish sailors who had jumped fromCaptain Cereno's ship. Captain Delano asked Don Benito what guns therebels had. He answered that they had none that could be used. In thefirst days of the rebellion, a cabin passenger, now dead, haddestroyed the few guns there were.
The Americans fired six shots at the San Dominick. But the rebel shipmoved out of reach. Small boats were armed and lowered. Captain Delanoordered his men into them and they moved out to capture the rebelship.
The boats caught up with the San Dominick when it was nearly night.
But the moon was rising and the gunners were able to see where theywere shooting. The rebels had no bullets. And they could do nothingbut yell. Many of the rebels were killed and the San Dominick wascaptured.
After an investigation, Babo was found guilty of stealing a ship andof murder, and was hanged. Captain Benito Cereno never was well again.
And he soon died. So ended the terrible story of the slave revoltaboard the slave ship, the San Dominick.
You have just heard the American Story "Benito Cereno". It was writtenby Herman Melville. Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. Join us againnext week for another American story in VOA Special English. I'm FaithLapidus |