CHAPTER SEVEN.
THEY CAREEN THE SHIPS, ARE ATTACKED, AND DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE NOT THEFIRST TO VISIT THE INLET.
It was by this time fast approaching evening, and too late to startlightening the ships that day, since in the tropics the transition frombroad daylight to total darkness is extremely sudden, the light dyingaway after sunset like the drawing of a curtain. The men, therefore,immediately upon their arrival on board, were piped down to supper, andordered by their several officers to turn in early, as the next daywould be a long and arduous one for them.
There was no moon, and the figures of the various men on watch could bebut dimly discerned in the starlight, while the stars themselves,reflected in the dark water, made the placid surface of the bay look asthough studded with gems, presenting a most beautiful spectacle.
Roger and Harry, although they would have to work as hard as any of theothers next morning, did not feel inclined to sleep, their minds beingstill in a state of unrest after their two hairbreadth escapes of theday. They therefore remained on deck, walking so softly up and down asto disturb nobody. They had taken but a few turns when their attentionwas attracted by the sound of low voices, being those of the menconstituting the anchor watch. Roger and his friend strolled up tothem, and, sitting down on the breech of a gun, prepared to listen towhat was evidently a yarn that the old quarter-master, Cary, wasspinning.
"Yes," they heard him say, "this arn't by no means the furst taime I wasin thaise seas.--Good-even to ye, Mr Trevose and Mr Edgwyth!--No; Itall 'ee I was 'ere in the zummer of 1582, just after the taime thatthat there bloody pirate, Jose Leirya, was sailing of these vury seas.'E was a fiend in 'uman shape, if there ever was one; nobody was zafe inanny of the ships 'e tuk. All the men--passengers or zeamen--that 'ecaptured 'e did bind and put under 'atches in their own ship, aifter 'e'ad taken all out 'e wanted. Then 'e zet 'em adrift; but afore 'e zet'em adrift 'e used to fire the ship in zeveral places, and all they poorcreatures did roast. The childer 'e took aboard his own ship, keepin'zum on 'em, and the others 'e zold to the plantations. 'E was a reg'lerdevil, 'e was; and they do zay as 'ow 'e be about 'ere even now,although 'e baint been 'eard of for zum taime. And more; they zay thatzumwheres near this vury plaace 'o 'as buried tons of goold and silver,precious stones, and all kinds of vallybles; but 'ow far that be true Idoen't knaw. But I do knaw as 'ow I would laike to fall in with 'e withthese 'ere ships; we'd taich 'un a vaine lesson, wouldn't us, laads?"
"Harry, come here a moment," said Roger, jumping down from the gun atthis point in the old man's narrative, and walking aft. Harry joinedhim.
"What do you want, old fellow?" said he.
"Well, lad," remarked his friend, "it has just come to me, somehow, asold Cary mentioned about the treasure of that scoundrel, Jose Leirya,being buried somewhere about here, that possibly that cipher of ourswhich we brought from the _Gloria del Mundo_ may refer to that verytreasure. You see, Cary says that Leirya hasn't been heard of for sometime. That seems to point either to his death or the disbandment of hiscrew.
"Now, Cary says he was here in 1582, in the summer, and mentions thatthat date was just after the time when Leirya was committing suchatrocities on the high seas. There is what is presumably a date at thebeginning of our document, and that date--if such it is--is 1581, theyear before Cary came to these parts. People do not write in ciphersave to conceal important information from the eyes of those not in thesecret, do they? Very well.
"Now, what would any man wish to conceal by cipher save hidden treasure?There are other things, certainly, he might wish to write about in sucha way that the ordinary run of people should not understand the writing,but, to my mind, treasure is the most likely, and the dates coincidevery well. Our date is 1581, and Cary says that when he was here in1582 it was just after the pirate's depredations; and he has not,apparently, been heard of since. This, I say, points to his death or tothe disbandment of his crew; and what more likely than that, beforeeither of these occurrences, he should bury his accumulated booty andlocate its position by cipher? I believe most strongly, Harry, that wehave in our possession the key to the hiding-place of all the treasureof Jose Leirya--and he must have accumulated millions of dollars' worthin his time--if we can but come upon the translation of it. What do youthink of it, Harry?"
"Well, Roger, lad," said Harry, "as you put it, certainly it does seemas though you might be right, and that there may be something in it. Wemust make another attempt to find the key to the cipher, and when thatis found I certainly think we shall obtain something valuable for ourtrouble, even though it should not be this great treasure of JoseLeirya. But we had better go below now and try to get some sleep, forwe shall have a hard day before us to-morrow."
They were roused early next morning by the boatswain's whistle, and,having dressed, came up on deck to find that the boats were just beinggot over the side again to take away the kedge anchors, by which to haulthe ships closer inshore for careening purposes.
It was decided by Cavendish that, as the beach was very spacious, andthere were four ships to be careened, they should careen two at a time,instead of one only, as usual. The vessels that most needed overhaulingand repairing were the commander's own ship and the captured Spanishvessel, _El Capitan_, which had been rechristened the _Tiger_. So itwas determined to careen the _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ first of all,leaving the other two vessels, the _Good Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_,afloat for purposes of defence, should an enemy appear in sight whilethe operations were being carried on.
The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were therefore swung broadside-on tothe beach. The anchors were then taken ashore in the boats and carriedup the beach to above high-water mark, where they were buried in deepholes dug in the sand, with timbers laid lengthwise upon them to preventthem from being dragged out again when the strain was put on the cables.
The holes were then filled up and the sand heaped high above them, toget as much weight as possible upon the anchors, and to allow morepurchase.
Then from the cables attached to the anchors themselves, at a distanceof about twelve feet before they disappeared into the sand, a spring ofstout manila rope was led, and fastened securely to a palm-tree at theedge of the brushwood in a direct line with the ship and the anchor,thus affording a doubly secure purchase when the time came to heave onthe cable and haul the vessels up on the beach.
Roger and Harry had been sent ashore by Cavendish to take part in thiswork, as he wished them to get an insight into every part of the dutiesof a sailor, and thus make themselves two useful members of the crew,for the captain could not afford to carry any man who was not thoroughlyproficient, the capacity of his ships being too small to affordaccommodation to mere idlers.
The lads were, however, very quick to learn, and very anxious to masterall the details of their profession, and therefore never complained,whatever the duty that was assigned to them. They thus increased theirknowledge and efficiency very quickly, and Cavendish had no grounds forregret that he had taken them on board his ship.
The anchor belonging to the flag-ship had been taken ashore and securelyburied, and the cable, with the rope attached, bent on to the anchor,and the _Stag Royal_ was ready for careening. The seamen then trampedoff along the beach to where the anchor for the _Tiger_ had been broughtashore and laid on the sand, and proceeded with their preparations forcareening that craft also.
They had begun to dig the hole in the sand in which to deposit theanchor, when Roger's attention was attracted by a sound of rustling inthe wood behind them. He looked round, and perceived that for aconsiderable distance along the beach the foliage appeared to be movingto and fro, as though stirred by a slight breeze. Yet, so far as hecould tell, down there on the beach, there was no wind at all stirring,nor had there been a breath of air all the morning; the atmosphere, infact, was so still, and withal so heavy, that a thunder-storm wasanticipated.
Another circumstance that he noted was that this peculiar movement inthe bush extende
d only from just beyond where the seamen were nowoccupied to a point a trifle beyond where they had been at work a fewminutes before, fixing the anchor of the flagship. Everywhere else thefoliage was absolutely without movement of any kind, as it had beenduring the whole of the morning.
Much perplexed how to account for this singular phenomenon, he stoodgazing at the moving foliage, and wondering what it could portend.
The movement seemed to be confined to the one place only, but as hegazed the motion suddenly ceased, and all was quiet as before.
He looked round to see if any of the other men had observed anything,but they were all much too intent on the work in hand to take notice ofanything else; and his friend Harry was just as busy as the rest of themen. He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, thinking that hiseyes might perhaps have deceived him, and set to work again with theother men.
The hole was soon dug and the anchor deposited therein, planks andbaulks of timber being laid upon it as before. The sand was filled inand a mound raised above the work, and it only remained to furthersecure the anchor by putting a spring on to the cable, and fastening toa palm-tree as before.
As this last part of the work was being done, and the spring beinglashed round the palm-tree, one of the seamen, named Martin, graspedRoger by the arm.
"Do you see that, Master Trevose?" said he, pointing.
"What do you mean, Martin?" answered Roger.
"Why, over there, sir," said the man, pointing in the same direction asthat in which Roger had seen the peculiar movement of the foliage somelittle time before. "I be sure I saw something shining among the treesjust now. What d'ye think it can be? I only just caught a sight of itfor a moment; but I be sure I beaint mistaken."
Roger looked in the direction indicated by the seaman, but coulddistinguish nothing.
"Are you sure, Martin?" asked he. "Because I fancied that I, too, saw apeculiar movement among the trees over in that direction a little timeago."
"Yes, I be sartin sure, master," replied Martin. "I only see'd it for aminute, 'tis true, but there warn't no mistake about it; and it seemedto me to be very like the glitter of steel."
Roger was much puzzled, and also somewhat perturbed; he thereforedetermined to inform the captain of what he and Martin had observed,immediately upon his return to the ship, but to say nothing to the menuntil the work on shore was finished, for fear of distracting theirattention from the task in hand.
This was soon completed, and Roger, calling the men together, got theminto the boats and they pulled back to the ships, leaving the party ofmen from the _Tiger_ upon their own vessel, and taking his own crew onboard the flag-ship.
He then sought out the captain, and found him seated in his cabinworking out some observations. The lad duly reported that the work hehad been sent to execute was completed satisfactorily.
"Very good, Roger; very good indeed!" replied the captain. "I will comeon deck presently and see how the tide serves; and if it is suitable wewill haul in at once. For I am anxious to get these repairs effected assoon as possible, and the sooner we start the sooner we shall befinished. By the way, Roger," he continued, "as you know, we aresomewhere on the eastern coast of the Spanish island of Cuba; and whileyou were ashore with the men just now I have been busy working out ourexact position on the chart."
Cavendish here pointed to a chart which he had open on a table beforehim, together with a pair of compasses and a ruler.
"Here we are, you see," resumed the captain, pointing to a spot on thechart. "Here is the island of Cuba, and here"--pointing to a littleindentation in the coast-line--"are we in latitude 20 north, andlongitude 75 west.
"Now you had better remember that bearing, my boy, in case you shouldever wish to return here when you get command of a ship of your own. Wesailors would call this bearing `20 north, 75 west', leaving out theword degrees. You, Roger, if you will take my advice, my lad, and yourfriend Harry as well for that matter, will start in as soon as you canand thoroughly perfect yourselves in the science of navigation, for younever can tell, lad, when you may want it; and if you intend--as Isuppose you do--to follow the sea as a business you will not be able todo anything without it.
"I will tell you all that you want to know about it if you will come tome from time to time when I am not busy; and I have here a book whichyou may study at your leisure. You will find it very interesting."
Roger thanked the commander both for himself and on Harry's account, andpromised to take up the study as soon as they were again at sea, as heand his friend would be much too busy for anything of that kind whilethe vessels were in harbour undergoing repairs and overhaul. He wasthen on the point of informing the captain of what Martin and he hadseen, when Cavendish interrupted him.
"Roger," said he, "I have been much exercised in my mind lately as towhat shall be done with these Spanish prisoners we have on board. Thereare nearly three hundred of them, and although many of them are inirons, and all are imprisoned below, I do not altogether like the ideaof carrying them about with me too long, for they are a dangerous cargo;and not only that, they are also a great drain upon our stock ofprovisions. When we leave this island we shall probably be at sea for avery long time, as I intend to cruise in the Caribbean Sea, out of sightof land for the most part, on the lookout for the plate and bulliongalleons from Mexico; and when we finally sail from here I wish to takeon board as much fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables as I can, to help ekeout the ships' stores. Now I do not want to carry about with me nearlythree hundred men who will be of no use to me, and who will only help usto eat up our provisions faster than I wish. Moreover, these men are aconstant menace to us while they are on board.
"Now I have been working out our position with a view to seeing exactlywhere we are, and discovering how far we are at present from the nearestSpanish settlement on the island. For it has been in my mind for somedays past that we could not do better than land those fellows here, whenwe are ready to sail, giving them a few of their own weapons wherewithto procure food by the way, and defend themselves against any savagesthey may meet, and tell them where their nearest settlement lies,directing them to make their way to it. It is true that I do not muchlike the idea of letting loose nearly three hundred Spaniards who arethe enemies of our beloved queen--God bless her--and who will perhapscompass the death of many an Englishman before they come to their own,but what else can I do, Roger? Have you any suggestion to offer?"
"No, sir," replied the boy; "I think, with you, that the only thing todo is to release them and let them make their way to some settlement oftheirs on the island."
"Well then, that settles it," said Cavendish. "While you were ashore Iconferred with others of my officers, and all offer the same advice; so,when we are ready for sea once more, ashore they shall go. And now itis quite time that I went on deck and saw about getting the vesselshauled ashore; that is if the tide yet serves, which it should do bythis time. Let us go."
The captain rose, and was about to leave the cabin, when Roger said hehad something to tell him.
"What is it then, lad? tell me quickly, as I want to get on deck," saidthe captain.
Roger then recounted what Martin and he had observed, adding that theseoccurrences seemed to him to signify the presence of a body of menhiding in the brushwood.
"It is possible, Roger," agreed Cavendish, "seeing that you and Harrywere attacked but yesterday. But I thought that we gave the savages sosharp a lesson then that they would not wish to renew our acquaintance.Are you sure that it was not wind moving the trees, and that it was notthe sun shining on the palm-leaves that made Martin think of the glitterof steel?"
"I am sure there was no wind, sir," replied Roger, "for I looked veryclosely; and it was no leaf that produced the glitter that Martin saw;he knows the glint of steel too well to be mistaken."
"Well, many thanks for the information at any rate!" said the skipper."I will order a doubly sharp lookout to be kept. We must avoid asurprise at all hazards, fo
r we might lose a great number of menthereby."
He then turned and went on deck, followed closely by Roger.
When they arrived on deck, Cavendish considered, upon inspection, thatthe tide would serve, as it was now rising rapidly; he thereforeimmediately gave orders that the winches and capstans should be manned,and the ships hove in towards the beach until their keels touchedbottom.
This was done, and soon the two vessels had been hauled in until theygrounded gently.
Then the boats were again got over the side, together with a number ofrafts which had been constructed for the purpose, and the guns werelifted out by derricks and deposited in the boats and on the rafts, andso carried ashore.
This unloading occupied a considerable amount of time, and when atlength Cavendish considered the two vessels sufficiently lightened, thetide was almost at high-water mark.
The boats and rafts were then taken back to the ships, the men climbedon board, the windlasses and capstans were again manned, and, thevessels being considerably lightened, and so once more well afloat, wereagain hauled in until their keels touched bottom.
The captain considered that they were now far enough up the beach, asthe receding tide would leave them high and dry.
Tackles were next fastened to the masts above the topsail-yards, andfastened to convenient trees, and all was in readiness to heave thevessels down as the tide left them.
Roger and Harry had been busy with the rest of the crew, and, as theyworked, Roger had found time to inform his friend of the peculiaroccurrence which he and Martin had witnessed, and he asked Harry hisopinion of it.
"Well," said Harry, "it would seem to me to denote the presence ofsavages near us. That there are hostile natives in this part of theisland we know from past experience. Have you informed the skipper?"
"Yes," replied Roger, "I told him what I had seen; but it seemed to merather as if he put the circumstance down to my imagination andMartin's. Nevertheless he thanked me for the information, and promisedto be on the lookout."
"Well," said Harry, "it strikes me as rather a foolish thing to leavethe ships' guns scattered about the beach as they are at present. If weshould be attacked we could never use them, pointing as they are in alldirections; we could not fire without danger of hitting one another. Itwould be a good thing, I think, if the captain, instead of leaving theweapons strewed about the beach as at present, were to arrange them in acircle round the place where we are working on the two vessels, and getthem loaded in readiness, and we should then be prepared to repel anattack if it came."
"A very good idea, Harry," exclaimed Roger; "you always seem to beprepared with good schemes. Go and tell the captain, and see what hesays."
Harry at once ran off and told Cavendish what Roger and he thought ofthe matter.
"You two lads," said Cavendish, "seem ever to be thinking of attacks bynatives. Yet your scheme, young man, is a good one, and I will have itcarried out at once; it is well to be on the safe side."
He accordingly gave the necessary orders, and the men turned to with awill, with the result that the guns were soon arranged as Harry hadsuggested, with the muzzles so pointing as to command not only theadjacent bush but also the whole range of the beach. The weapons werethen loaded, and the party were reasonably secure from an attack in thatdirection.
By this time the tide was ebbing fast, and the men took a pull on theropes secured to the ships' masts, with the result that the vessels soonbegan to heel over perceptibly on their sides. As the tide continued todrop, the ropes were hauled upon, and soon the vessels were down ontheir beam-ends. Then the men, like a swarm of ants, grew busy on theirexposed sides, working with hammer and chisel, paint-pot and brush, andthe scene became one of great activity.
The tide had by this time retreated so far that the hulls of the vesselswere clear of the water, and the men could work right down to theirkeels, the ships being hard and fast aground, so that they could notpossibly be moved until the next tide.
As they could not leave the captured Spaniards in the careened ships,and dared not let them loose to help with the work, they had beentransferred to the two craft still afloat, the _Elizabeth_ and the _GoodAdventure_.
Roger and Harry were slung over the bow of the _Tiger_, both of thembusy with scrapers taking off the old paint before the new was put on.It thus happened that they were higher above the level of the beach thanany of the others, the part of the hull upon which they were workingbeing just below the starboard cat-head.
Roger was scraping away merrily, when Harry plucked his sleeve.
"Is that the movement you were speaking of, Roger?" said he, pointing tothe brush.
"Yes, there it is again," said Roger excitedly; "only it is somewhatnearer this time; and see, I am certain that was the flash of the sunupon some steel weapon."
"Yes, I see; there it is again. I see it clearly now," answered Harry.
Just then a hail came from below in the captain's voice.
"Roger, my man, the cable secured to the maintopmast seems to be workingloose, and may carry away. Get up aloft, boy, and look at the seizing,and, if necessary, put a fresh one on."
Roger hastened away up into the main-top, leaving Harry still in hisperch, and examined the seizing. It was, as the captain had said,loose, so the boy proceeded to secure it afresh.
Having finished his job to his satisfaction, he prepared to descend fromaloft, but, before doing so, cast his eyes round the scene, and nearlyfell out of the main-top in his alarm; for there, coming round a pointhalf a mile away, and concealed as yet from those on the beach by a lowpoint, was a large fleet of canoes filled with natives, who weredoubtless hoping to come upon the beached vessels unawares. They wouldcertainly have done so had it not been for the fortunate circumstance ofRoger being sent aloft.
He threw another glance to seaward, to see if he could count the canoes,and found that there must be quite a hundred of them; then he took asurvey of the brushwood inland, and found that his suspicions as tosavages being present there were only too true. At his greaterelevation he found himself looking down upon quite a horde of them armedwith spears, bows and arrows, and clubs. They were advancing slowlythrough the bush, and their stealthy movement forward had occasioned theswaying to and fro of the foliage that Roger first, and Harryafterwards, had observed.
Roger could not tell whether or not the natives had seen him, and wereaware that they were discovered, but hurried down from the main-top withsuch speed that, when he had reached the last ratline of the rigging, helost his footing and fell on his back on the sand at the very feet ofCavendish.
Fortunately for him the sand was soft, and he was not much hurt, thougha good deal shaken. Pulling himself together, he got on his feet and atonce told Cavendish what he had seen.
There was no time to lose; a boat was promptly sent away with messengersto the two vessels afloat, the _Good Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_, towarn them to be in readiness; and the trumpet sounded for the men tocease work and muster. Arms were hurriedly served out; men werestationed at the guns, which the captain was now very glad he had loadedand arranged according to Harry's advice; and very soon they were asready for the attack as was possible in the short time at theirdisposal.
Meanwhile the two vessels afloat had lifted their anchors, and werestanding closer in, the better to defend their now helpless consorts.
It was evident that the natives in the bush were waiting for theirfriends in the canoes to approach closer before they attacked, and thishesitation saved the English the loss of a number of men; for had thesavages attacked while the men were at work on the ships, the latterwould have been taken at a serious disadvantage, and the loss would havebeen very heavy.
As the first canoe made its appearance round the point, a perfectpandemonium of savage and ear-splitting yells arose from the bush, and aloud noise of crashing and crackling announced that the enemy there werecoming along at their utmost speed. The outcry was answered fromseaward as the canoes came pouring in
to the inlet.
"Now, stand steady, lads!" shouted the captain. "As they come in uponus give them a round from the guns, and load again if you have time;then a volley from the muskets; and after that we must trust to our goodswords. But keep cool, and do not throw away a shot."
As he finished speaking the enemy burst from the bush like a swarm ofangry bees, and charged at full speed at the little band of white menopposed to them; whereupon a perfect storm of grape-shot, old nails,rusty bolts, pieces of scrap-iron, and even stones, with which thecannon had been hastily loaded, went hissing through their close ranks;and, from the piercing screams and yells of agony that at once arosefrom them, the execution must have been terrible. Yet they poured out,checked only for a moment.
"Fire again!" roared the captain; and the muskets crashed out in arattling volley, the bullets mowing the natives down in swathes.
This second discharge checked them and caused them to waver; but a tallman, gaily bedecked with feathers, instantly sprang from the ranks, and,haranguing them, called to his comrades to follow him, he himselfleading the charge.
They soon reached the guns, and, leaping over them before they couldagain be loaded, were at once among the English, who had now to fightfor dear life.
Howling with fury, they stabbed and slashed and struck with spear andclub; and from the other side of the little circle came a shower ofwell-placed arrows, and many a brave seaman fell writhing his life outon the sand, which by this time was assuming a sinister crimson hue.
Roger and Harry, each armed with an excellent sword borrowed from theship's armoury, were here, there, and everywhere, but always together,doing much execution, and repeatedly saving each other's lives.
Cavendish, in the front of his men, swept his long blade from side toside, and as it fell, flashing meteor-like in the brilliant sunshine,the naked warriors sank before it in heaps.
Now from seaward came the crashing discharges of heavy guns, followed byrenewed shrieks and cries, as the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_poured their broadsides into the closely-packed canoes.
"God grant," muttered Cavendish, "that those other vessels of ours maykeep the canoes off; for if these fellows are reinforced, we can neverhold out against them."
But nobody had time to see how the other action was progressing, for allwere too busy with the work in hand, which was the task of defendingtheir own lives.
Twice had the gallant little band of Englishmen driven the savages backover the barricade formed by the ships' guns, and twice had the enemy,led by the tall savage, forced their way in again.
At last, seeing clearly that all hinged upon this man's downfall,Cavendish made many strenuous efforts to reach him; but for some time hefailed, owing to the press. At length, however, an opening occurred,and Cavendish, rushing forward, stood face to face with his arch-enemy.
The chief was a man of mighty stature, and evidently of enormousstrength, standing nearly seven feet high; and at first sight thedisparity between the two adversaries seemed enormous. But what theEnglish captain lacked in height he made up in strength and agility.
Sword in hand he circled round and round his gigantic foe, watching likea cat for an opportunity to strike a deadly blow.
But the savage took the initiative, and, raising his spear, darted it atthe Englishman with all his force. Cavendish, however, was not to becaught so easily, and, taking the shaft of the spear with the edge ofhis sword, he parried the thrust, and the weapon merely ripped his shirtinstead of piercing his body.
Before the native could recover himself, and guard his body, the Englishcaptain thrust with all his strength, quite unprepared for the wilysavage's next move.
Seemingly careless of the wound that he inflicted upon himself, thesavage caught the keen blade of his adversary in his left hand, and,although the weapon lacerated his hand in a fearful manner, he succeededin wresting it from the captain's grasp, while, at the same timeflinging away his spear, he seized Cavendish round the lower part of thebody, lifted him clear of the ground, and dashed him to the earth,himself falling with his antagonist.
The pair rolled upon the ground, each striving to obtain a grip of theother's right arm, to prevent any other weapon being used. Now thesavage and now the white man was uppermost, but at length, with a hugeeffort, Cavendish twisted himself from under his foe, and layfull-length on top of him, feeling for his dagger. The chief, however,had likewise seized a knife which hung at his girdle, and, before thecaptain could draw his weapon, he plunged his knife into Cavendish'sside.
The Englishman's grasp relaxed, he slipped from his position, and layupon his side, writhing on the sand. The native now rose to his kneesand raised his arm to deal a fatal blow; but, even as that blow fell, asword flashed through the air, and arm and knife fell to the groundtogether.
Roger, for it was he who had thus appeared in the nick of time, at onceturned his sword and drove it through the heart of the chief, who rolledover lifeless at his feet. The young hero then raised his captain inhis arms, and, staggering out of the press of the battle, laid him downout of sight behind a gun-carriage.
Meanwhile the vessels afloat in the bay had been giving a very goodaccount of the enemy in the canoes. The natives, it was clear, had beenwatching, and, having seen the preparations for careening the ships, hadhoped to find all four hauled up; in which case they would have securedan easy victory from force of numbers alone, as the ships would thenhave been unable to use their guns against the force in the canoes. Butas it was they had to deal with two fully-prepared ships, and, afterseveral fruitless attempts to board, were now hauling off with theremnant of their fleet, most of the canoes having already been destroyedby the broadsides from the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_.
The land force, seeing their companions in the canoes withdrawing, andalso having lost their chieftain, now began to waver. Observing this,the English hastily formed up into line, and, with a loud cheer, chargedthe enemy afresh, hewing right and left with hearty goodwill.
This fierce rally proved altogether too much for the savages, and theybroke and fled precipitately.
The English now rushed to their guns, and, hastily completing theloading which had been checked at the first onslaught of the enemy, gavethe flying savages another dose of grape and canister that strewed thebeach with dead and dying, and further hastened the flight of thesurvivors, who quickly vanished in the recesses of the thick bush.
The enemy thus disposed off, finally as they hoped, Roger and Harry wentoff to attend to the captain.
They found him sitting up. He averred that his hurt was only a fleshwound; and after asking for, and obtaining, a draught of water, thegallant fellow got on his feet and went off to survey the scene ofcarnage.
Over a hundred of the natives lay dead on the sands; and a number ofwounded were seen crawling towards the brush, endeavouring to escape.They were allowed to go, as the English could not be burdened withwounded savages, and were indisposed to slay them in cold blood. Therewere twenty-three of the Englishmen who would never again answer theroll-call; and over forty wounded, who were conveyed on board the _GoodAdventure_ and the _Elizabeth_, afloat in the bay. The dead, both blackand white, were, for health's sake, immediately buried in the sand wherethey lay.
Cavendish, after having had his wound bound up, ordered a stockade to beat once built, and loopholed for guns and muskets, for their futuredefence, in the improbable event of the savages not having alreadyreceived a severe enough lesson.
The seamen were now divided into two parties. One half of them were tocontinue the work of repairs and overhauling on the two vessels thencareened, the _Stag Royal_ and the _Tiger_, and the remaining half wereto work upon the stockade.
Then, this matter arranged, Cavendish called Roger to him, and, firstthanking him for his timely rescue and the saving of his life, he putthe lad in command of the party who were to build the stockade.
Roger was also publicly thanked, in the presence of officers and men,for the warning he
had given, which enabled the party to make theirhasty preparations for the reception of the natives, without which thewhole party on shore would most likely have been cut off to a man. Andif the ships in the bay had not likewise been warned, it was quitewithin the bounds of possibility that they would have been boardedbefore the guns could have been loaded and brought to bear on thecanoes; in which case there could be little doubt that the savages wouldhave captured the vessels through sheer weight of numbers, for therewere several hundred men in the canoes.
It ought to be mentioned that when Cavendish gave Roger the command ofthe company to be employed in building the stockade, he also endowed himwith full power to use his own discretion as to how the work should becarried out, only occasionally giving the lad a few hints. Investedthus with such great responsibility, and with such important duties toexecute, Roger naturally needed a lieutenant, and he selected Harry forthe post, dividing his men into two parties, one of which he placedunder the command of his friend.
This arranged, he sent Harry away into the woods with his men, armedwith axes and bush knives, to cut timber for the stockade, while hehimself, with his own party, remained on the beach, digging holes inwhich to deposit the uprights when they were cut, and also digging aditch round where the palisade was to be, in order to drain off anywater that might accumulate, and thus prevent the interior of theirsmall fort from being flooded.
Harry and his gang soon returned with a load of stout stakes, plenty ofsuitable trees for the purpose being found close at hand. Depositingthese on the beach, he then returned into the woods for more material,Roger and his men meanwhile proceeding to plant the main posts in a ringround the guns.
It was not long ere they had driven a row of posts deep and firm intothe sand, starting from the margin of the beach nearest the water'sedge.
This brought them, in the direction in which they were going, fairlyclose up to where the woods ceased at their junction with the beach.
Roger was watching the men drive in the next post with heavy woodenmallets, procured from the ship, when he observed that, although theywere hammering hard at the stump, it did not seem to be going down asquickly as it should; indeed, upon closer inspection, it did not appearto be moving downwards at all. And, further, the mallets, instead ofgiving out a dull sound, as they had done whilst driving through sand,now gave out a sharper and quite different sound as the top of the postwas struck.
One of the men engaged stepped up to Roger and touched his hat. "Itseems to me, sir," said he, "as though something was stopping of thishere post from going down any furder. I expects as how there is a stoneor summat in the sand under the point. Do you think that ere stump isdown fur enough as it is, or shall us pull un up and put un insomewheres else?"
Roger stepped up and shook the post, and, finding it quite loose,decided that it would have to be driven deeper in order to be secure.Nevertheless it was necessary to space the posts at equal intervals onefrom another, if his ideas were to be carried out; he therefore orderedthe stump to be pulled up, the obstruction removed, and the post drivendown again in the same position.
The seamen thereupon laid hold of the post, and, all hauling together,it soon came out; and with shovels and crowbars they began to break downthe sand and enlarge the hole, so as to get at whatever was in the wayand remove it.
It was not long ere the shovel of one of the men struck upon somethinghard, and the man, dropping upon his knees, went to work to scrape thesand away with his hands, presently laying bare to view what wasapparently part of a spar of some kind, not old or worm-eaten, butseemingly almost new. Having located this, they started to clear thesand away from the whole length of the piece of timber, and, while doingso, found that there were two other poles or spars laid alongside it.After an hour's hard work the three spars were unearthed, and proved tobe the three poles of a set of sheer-legs, which had evidently onlyquite recently been hidden.
Roger then instructed the men to start probing in the sand, to seewhether there might be anything else buried, and he himself took a boatand pulled away over the bay to the _Elizabeth_ to inform Cavendish ofhis discovery.
He found the captain lying in his bunk nursing his recent wound, andinformed him of the circumstance, asking also what he should do in thematter.
"You have dug out of the sand what you think is a set of sheer-legs, eh,boy?" said the captain, raising himself in his berth on one elbow. "Andhave you found anything beside?"
"No, sir," said Roger in reply, "there was nothing else dug up when Ileft; but I told the men to probe the sand, whilst I came off to you, tosee if there was anything else there."
"Well," responded the captain, "I must look into this. I will get upand come ashore with you; but just go and call the surgeon first; I wishhim to bind this wound of mine up again before I leave the ship."
Roger did so; and, the surgeon having dressed and bound up Cavendish'shurt again, the two descended the ship's side and, getting into theboat, were rowed ashore.
When they reached the beach they saw that the men had already lifted outthe three sheer-leg poles and laid them on the sand, and now a gang ofmen were hauling upon a rope attached to something still in the sand.
When Cavendish and Roger came up to the spot they saw that the top of aniron chest had been uncovered, and the men had fastened a rope to a ringin the lid, and were now hauling on the rope to drag the chest clear.
Cavendish watched the seamen a moment, and then went to examine thepoles. After a few minutes' observation, he said to Roger: "It ispretty evident to me, boy, that this inlet has been used before for somesuch purpose as that for which we are using it, namely, for careeningvessels for repairs and refit. These poles have been employed forlifting guns or other heavy material taken out of a ship or from off araft. Now I wonder who it may be that has used these things? TheSpaniards would not need to use this inlet for any such purpose, forthey have their own ports on the island, where this kind of work couldbe done far better than here. Nor can they have been Englishmen, Ishould think, for if this place were known to any of our own people itwould be marked on the chart, and we should have heard of it, mostcertainly. Also, the fact that these things have been buried points tothe certainty that the people who have hidden them intend to return anduse them again. If they had not meant to come back, they would havetaken them with them when they left. No, it is evident to me that thepeople who left these articles will return periodically to this place torefit; and as this spot is almost unknown, as well as being lonely andsecluded, it would seem to my poor understanding that the men who usethis place are not Spaniards or English seamen proper, but pirates. Italso occurs to me that there may be something in this box that they arejust getting out which will tell us what we want to know."
As the captain finished speaking, the box came up suddenly, and theseamen, who were hauling manfully on the rope, fell upon their backs,only to scramble quickly to their feet again with much laughter at themishap.
"Now, men," said Cavendish, who had a habit of taking his crew into hisconfidence, "before we go any further, let me tell you that I believethis inlet to be a pirate's resort, which they visit periodically forthe purpose of effecting repairs. If so, we must capture them if wecan. We must, therefore, be careful to leave no traces of our own visithere or they may become alarmed and desert the place. Therefore allthis gear must be replaced exactly as we found it, before we sail, andthis box must not be broken open, but the lock must be picked instead.And if we replace everything exactly as we found it, the pirates--ifsuch they be--will not suspect that anyone else has been here; they willstill continue to use the inlet, and some day they will walk right intothe little trap that I intend to set for them. Now, lads, up with thatchest, and be careful with it. Pass the word for the carpenter andarmourer to come here and bring their tools."
These two men were soon on the spot, and between them they had the chestopen in a few minutes. An eager examination of its contents showed thatthere was nothing of any intrinsi
c value contained therein; but therewere documents and papers written in Spanish which abundantly verifiedthe captain's conjecture. For from these Cavendish, who could read andunderstand Spanish perfectly, learned that the bay where they were nowlying was indeed the resort of a pirate crew; while the name of thechief miscreant, as ascertained from the papers, was Jose Leirya. Thedocuments gave, among other particulars, a detailed account of thescoundrel's doings ever since he had started his nefarious trade on theSpanish Main; and the mere recital of his atrocities proved enough tomake every man of them there present swear a great oath to hunt thevillain down wherever he might be, and hang him, with all his rascallycrew, from the yard-arms of his own ship.
Nothing else of any importance having been found, the chest wascarefully locked up again, after the papers had been put back,everything replaced in its former position and buried in the sand oncemore, the utmost care being taken to destroy all evidence of the thingshaving been disturbed.
After this little episode the work on the ships went steadily forward.The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were soon finished, and the _Elizabeth_and the _Good Adventure_ took their places.
These last-named vessels received the same attention as their consorts,and were in a fortnight pronounced quite sound and once more ready forsea. They were hauled off the beach, and Cavendish had the greatsatisfaction of seeing his little squadron of four ships once more allataunto and ready to sail.
The next morning Cavendish called a meeting of his officers in hiscabin, and their long and earnest consultation resulted in the decisionthat they should cruise, as originally intended, up the Mexican coastand in the Caribbean, with an addendum to the effect that specialefforts should be made to capture the pirate Jose Leirya, whoseatrocious deeds, as recorded by his own hand, had made every man in thefleet his enemy, determined to hunt him ruthlessly to his death.
This having been arranged, preparations were forthwith made for leaving.The Spaniards were brought on deck in squads, and armed with weaponssufficient to enable them to obtain food, or successfully defendthemselves against the attacks of savages. They were then sent ashorein boat-loads, the ships all having their broadsides trained on thebeach where they landed, to prevent treachery on their part.
In the last boat-load went Alvarez and de Soto, both of whom Roger hadseen on the _Gloria del Mundo_ at the time of the engagement with theSpanish fleet.
De Soto gracefully thanked his captors for their courtesy and kindnessas he went over the side, but Alvarez scowled heavily round him, andlooked attentively at every face near him before he went, as though hemeant to fix their features on his memory, that he might recognise themagain in the event of a future meeting. Then, with a glare of hatred atthe retreating form of de Soto, he turned his back without a word andwent also.
This completed the landing of the prisoners, and very glad theEnglishmen were to be rid of the responsibility and risk.
"That fellow Alvarez will know us again when next we meet," saidCavendish with a laugh, to Roger, who was standing by his side watchingthe Spaniards on the beach.
"Yes," replied Roger, "and he means mischief, I am sure. I should bevery sorry for any one of us who might be unfortunate enough to get intohis power."
"He seems to hate de Soto also pretty thoroughly," said Harry. "Did yousee the look he gave him as he went over the side?"
"Ay," answered Roger, who went on to tell of Alvarez's little soliloquyrelative to de Soto while searching for the papers in the cabin of thesinking _Gloria del Mundo_. "He will do de Soto a bad turn, of that Iam sure, if he ever gets the opportunity," remarked Roger in conclusion.
All was now ready for their departure. The Spaniards had formed up onthe beach and marched off in order into the bush, and were by this timenowhere to be seen.
Sail was hoisted and, the flag-ship leading, the little squadron passedout between the heads one after another on their way to the coast ofMexico; and by evening the island was merely a long grey line on theeastern horizon, while all eyes were strained toward the golden west,each man eager for the first sight of a sail that might prove to be arichly-laden galleon, or even the pirate Jose Leirya. Later in theevening the moon rose in all her tropic glory, and the sea in her wakegleamed like one huge speckless sheet of silver.
Behind them, in the bush on the island, by the evening camp-fire,Alvarez, with certain other choice spirits of his own stamp, wasplotting grim and deadly evil by the light of the same moon which litthe English adventurers on their way.
Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess Page 7
