CHAPTER EIGHT.
ROGER GOES ASHORE TO RESCUE A MAROONED MAN, AND IS HIMSELF LEFT IN THELURCH.
The days now slipped by uneventfully, and morning after morning brokewithout either land or ship making its appearance to break the monotonyof a perfectly clear horizon.
Slipping down the Windward Channel, and sailing on a South-South-Westcourse, they had left Morant Point, at the eastern end of Jamaica, ontheir starboard beam; and after keeping to their South-South-West coursefor the five succeeding days, they had turned the vessels' heads to theEast-South-East, intending to sail as far in that direction as LaGuayra, where they hoped to find a plate galleon in the harbour, andmake an attempt to cut her out. Thence they planned to change theircourse once more, standing westward along the coast of Venezuela,crossing the Gulf of Darien, the Mosquito Gulf, and the Bay of Honduras,and so up through the Yucatan Channel, leaving the western end of theisland of Cuba on their starboard hand, and into the Gulf of Mexico,where they intended to cruise for some time, feeling tolerably certainof picking up a treasure-ship there at any rate, even if they were notfortunate enough to snap one up whilst cruising on their way.
They could, of course, have reached the Gulf of Mexico much more quicklyby sailing down the Windward Channel and along the southern coast ofCuba, and by the Yucatan Channel into the gulf; but they had heard ofthe treasure-ships that made La Guayra their port of departure, and wereanxious not to miss any of them. Also, they believed that, by takingthe longer course, there would be more likelihood of their falling inwith that most ferocious and bloody pirate, Jose Leirya, as he wascalled, or Jose de Leirya, as he loved to call himself--for he was saidto claim descent from a grandee of Spain, although those who knew theman were well aware that his birth and parentage were obscure.
As has already been related, one of the seamen on board the flag-shipone night gave some account of the pirate's former doings, and thediscovery that the buried gear found at the Careenage--as Cavendish hadnamed the spot where the squadron refitted--was the property of thepirate was proof positive that the scoundrel was still prowlingsomewhere in those seas. Likewise, it will be remembered, every man inthe fleet had sworn to do his utmost to bring the villain to justice.The anxiety, therefore, to catch him was such that officers, even, notinfrequently spent hours at the mast-heads in the hope of seeing histopgallantsails showing above the horizon. Old Cary--the man whoclaimed to possess some knowledge of Leirya--said that when he lastsailed in these seas the pirate was cruising in a schooner of unusuallength, and lying very low in the water, her hull painted black, with abroad scarlet riband, in which her open gun-ports looked like a numberof gaping mouths, having been built very large to enable the broadsideguns to be trained almost fore and aft. The craft's masts were,furthermore, said to be of great height, and might be recognised bytheir remarkable and excessive rake aft; indeed--so asserted Cary--herspars were of such extraordinary length, and the vessel herself lay sovery low in the water, that she had the appearance of being perilouslyovermasted and topheavy. This appearance, however, Cary explained, wasaltogether deceptive. The vessel sat low in the water indeed, but shewas not the shallow craft that she looked; there was more of her belowthan above the surface, and she drew a great deal of water for a vesselof her tonnage. This great draught of water enabled her to carry aheavy load of ballast, tall masts, and a correspondingly heavy press ofsail; thus she was an enormously fast vessel, and had up till now easilyeluded capture, being able to run away from and out-weather many vesselsmore powerful than herself.
In justice to the pirate, however, it must be admitted that he hadseldom been known to run away. His vessel was exceptionally heavilyarmed, and, if his antagonist happened to be not very much more powerfulthan himself, he invariably stayed and fought the action out, alwayssucceeding in beating off his opponent, while in many cases he hadcaptured her. The fate of the unfortunate crews that fell into hishands was--if his own records were to be credited--not to be dwelt upon;for he described himself as guilty of the most awful atrocities to men,women, and even children. The fights, of course, occurred only betweenhimself and war-vessels; merchant-ships never attempted such animpossible task as to fight the pirate, and very often seemed toocompletely paralysed with terror even to attempt the equally impossibletask of running away!
Such was the vessel that everyone in Cavendish's squadron was so eagerlylooking for, their eagerness being further stimulated by the fact thatthe captain had offered as a prize, to the first seaman who sighted her,the best weapon that should be taken out of her after her capture--which, of course, all on board considered as absolutely certain, couldthey but once succeed in coming up with her; while to the first officeror gentleman who saw her he offered as reward the best suit of clothingto be found in her. Such, however, was the eagerness of all hands tocome up with and destroy the vessel, and her rascally crew and leader,that the lookout would have been just as keenly kept if no rewardwhatever had been offered.
But there was a still further stimulus in the not unnatural hope thatJose Leirya would have on board some, at least, of that vast treasure ofhis, with the possession of which he was credited by every man who hadever heard of him; and visions of much prize-money to spend on theirreturn to Plymouth were always before the eager eyes of the Englishmen.
Regulating the speed of the whole squadron by that of the slowest ship--which happened to be the _Tiger_, the rechristened _El Capitan_--thefleet went slowly to the East-South-East on its appointed course.
In those days, as, of course, it is hardly necessary to remind thereader, charts were few, and those few were not to be relied upon asmore than approximately accurate.
On the course that the commodore had marked out for his little squadronthey would, according to their chart, fall in with no land until theymade Oruba Island, after which Cavendish intended to steer a coursebetween the island of Oruba and what is now known as the ParaguenaPeninsula, leaving the other two islands of Curazao and Buen Ayre on hisport hand, and then heading straight for La Guayra.
Several sailors, and one or two officers, among whom were Roger andHarry, were as usual perched upon the cross-trees, the yards, or at themast-heads, on the lookout for the first sight of the infamous JoseLeirya's schooner, and with no idea whatever of sighting land. Soeverybody on deck was much astonished when, on a certain morning, thecry came down from the masthead of the _Stag Royal_ of "Land ho, bearingdead ahead!" At the same moment a string of flags fluttered up to themain truck of the _Tiger_, which was signalling that she also had caughtsight of land of some description.
"What do you make of it, Roger?" shouted Cavendish, for it was Roger'ssharp eyes that had caught the first glimpse of the unexpected land ashe was aloft straining his eyes in a search for the raking masts of JoseLeirya's craft.
"Well, sir," responded the boy, "it is an island of some kind, a verysmall one, and lying low in the water. I can make out what I take to bea few trees, probably palms, and I think--nay, I am quite sure now--thatI can see a thin column of smoke rising from about the centre of theisland."
"In that case," said Cavendish, turning to Leigh, who was standing athis elbow trying to catch sight of the land from the level of the deck,"there is evidently a human being on that island who has seen the sailsof our fleet, and wishes to attract our attention and be taken off. Isuspect there has been a shipwreck there, and very likely there may bemore than one man. Now, I should not at all object to find and take offa whole crew of shipwrecked seamen--provided that they were English,--for what with our fight with the Spaniards, that brush with the savages,and sickness, we have had our crews thinned down very considerably. Godgrant that they be not Spaniards; for if they are, and are in distressthere, I must take them off in common humanity--though, were we in likecase, I doubt if they would do the same for us,--and then I shall havemy vessels again lumbered up with a lot of useless fellows until I canland them somewhere. Moreover, that same landing will be very difficultnow, for we shall not be likely to find dow
n here another place whichwill serve our purpose so well as did the Careenage, all these islandsand land hereabouts being already occupied by Spaniards, and we shouldbe running our own heads into danger in attempting to get rid of them.Mr Leigh, be good enough to work out our dead-reckoning up to thishour, and let us see exactly where we are on the chart, for there is noisland or land of any description marked where we are at presentsailing."
Leigh did as the captain had ordered him, and found that the ships wereat that moment in longitude 73 degrees west and latitude 15 degreesNorth; so that, going by the chart, there ought not to be any land insight for several days at least.
"This particular part of the Caribbean Sea, sir, is not very greatlyfrequented by English ships," said Leigh in explanation; "but theSpaniards, no doubt, know these waters well, and yonder island mayperhaps be laid down on one of their charts."
"Very possibly," answered the skipper; "but we have no Spanish charts.The next Spaniard we capture, however, we will search for her charts,which will certainly be of the utmost use to us."
During the foregoing conversation Roger had come down from aloft toreport still further to the captain, and he had overheard the lastremark, which immediately reminded him that he had brought certaincharts away from the cabin of the _Gloria del Mundo_; in fact, Harry andhe had found their cipher concealed in the folds of one of them. He hadintended to give them to his captain, but subsequent stirring events haddriven the idea out of his mind.
Having now recollected them, however, he explained the matter toCavendish, and asked if he should bring the charts up on deck.
"By all means," replied the skipper; "let us have them at once, Trevose,my man."
Roger dived below, and soon reappeared with the charts under his arm.They were immediately spread open on the deck and overhauled, and allwere found to be of the utmost importance; some papers also being foundamong them giving the bearings and soundings of certain secret channelsleading to ports on the South American coast. There were also foundplans of towns and fortresses that would prove of inestimable value tothem. These last were forthwith placed in safety for future reference,and a chart was presently discovered showing that particular portion ofthe ocean upon which they were now sailing; and, sure enough, there wasa small island marked in the precise spot occupied by the one for whichthey were heading. There was, in ink, a description of the island--written, of course, in Spanish,--setting forth that it had been named"Isla de Corsarios", and that it was, according to English measurements,two and a half miles long by one mile broad; also that it wasuninhabited. The description, written as a marginal note, furtherstated that there was a spring of fresh water on the island, and thatthere were palm-trees thereon; that the islet was of sandy soil, andsupported no vegetation beyond the few palms mentioned.
"This, then, explains the matter," said Cavendish. "Evidently it hasbeen missed by our vessels, but the Dons have located it. I can clearlysee that these charts will be indeed very useful to us."
By this time the island could be made out from the level of the deck, asalso the smoke, which was undoubtedly rising from a signal-fire that hadbeen lighted on the beach. The ships were, however, not yet near enoughto make out who the inhabitants were, nor how many of them there mightbe. Indeed, had it not been for the sight of the smoke, the captainwould have imagined the island to be totally uninhabited, and would nothave thought it worth while to stop thereat; and, but for the fact ofthe smoke being observed, this veracious yarn would most probably havehad a very different ending.
All the officers of the ship, including Cavendish, Roger, and Harry,were now standing in the eyes of the vessel; some had mounted thebulwarks, and were supporting themselves thereon by holding on to therigging, and one and all were shading their eyes with their handsagainst the powerful rays of an almost vertical sun, each anxious tocatch the first sight of the man, or men, who had built that signal-fireon the beach.
In obedience to an order from Cavendish, old Martin, who was creditedwith having the sharpest eyes in the ship, went aloft to theforemast-head, on the lookout, with instructions to let those on deckknow when he first caught sight of the inhabitants of the island.
In about a quarter of an hour they had very perceptibly neared theshore, which lay very low, and presented, at a closer view, more theappearance of a mud or sand-bank, with a few dwarfed trees and shrubsgrowing thereon, than an island in its accepted sense of the word; andshortly afterward Martin's voice came down from aloft in accents ofexcitement: "I see un, zir; there 'a be. 'Tes only one man, zir, so faras Ai can mek out, and 'a be a-waving of a red shirt, or zummat laikethat, Ai think, zir."
"Can you only see one man, Martin; or are there any more with him, thinkyou?" shouted Cavendish.
"Naw, zir," responded the old fellow; "as Ai zay, Ai can only zee one of'em, and 'e do be a-carryin' on zumthing wonnerful, zir. 'E bea-jumpin' up an' down, and a-wavin' of his arms laike to one possessed.Ai expec's as how un belaives us 'aven't zeen un, an' wants to attrac'our attention."
"Very well, Martin," answered the captain; "stay where you are, man," ashe perceived the old fellow making preparations to descend, "stay whereyou are. Keep a sharp lookout, and let me know if anything furthertakes place, or if any more men make their appearance.
"I expect, gentlemen," said the captain, turning to the assembledofficers, "that there is only one man there; the others would havejoined him by this time, had there been any more of them. In a way, Iam sorry; for I could very well have done with a great many more men--always provided, of course, that they had been Englishmen,--for we are,as you all know, very short-handed. This man is possibly the solesurvivor of a shipwrecked crew; but, as there seems, so far as we cansee at present, to be no trace of others being there, I should be moreinclined to think that he has been marooned. Marooning is, of course, avery common practice, particularly among pirates, and, in my opinion, itis one of the most cruel forms of punishment ever conceived by the brainof man. Now, it has occurred to me as quite within the limits ofpossibility that this man ashore there may be a marooned member of thecrew of that scoundrel, Jose Leirya. It would not be so veryextraordinary, after all, if he were. Leirya is practically the onlypirate at present in these seas, and we are all aware that marooning ispractised chiefly among pirates. Should it happen to be as I somewhatsuspect, the man will, at all events, know something worth telling usabout that arch villain; for I shall never be happy until I have huntedthe scoundrel down, and hanged him for the dog he is!"
The captain's face blazed with righteous anger as he spoke, and hisexpression was reflected on the countenances of the officers gatheredround him. It boded ill indeed for the pirate if ever the squadronshould fall in with him.
"Send a man into the chains," continued Cavendish, speaking to Roger."As the land lies so low in the water, it is not unlikely that the waterround it is very shoal, and I have no wish to get any of the vesselsashore if I can help it. And order the signalman to signal the rest ofthe fleet to keep the lead going."
Roger obeyed, and a leadsman was soon perched in the chains to windward,busy with his sounding-line to ascertain the depth of water in whichthey were then sailing, and to give timely warning if the water shouldbegin to shoal dangerously.
"Seven fathoms now, sir!" reported Hearst, the leadsman.
"Very well," answered Cavendish; "we are safe as yet," turning to Leigh."Let her go through the water."
The other vessels were strung out behind the _Stag Royal_, and they fellinto her wake for their greater safety; for she drew more water than anyof the rest, being a much larger vessel, and where she could go the restcould follow. They were running along with a fresh breeze on theirstarboard beam, and making about six knots an hour. They were thereforerapidly nearing the island, and could by this time discern the solitaryoccupant from the deck. He still continued to wave the red shirt, orwhatever it was, that they had at first seen, and it appeared as thougheven now he could scarcely convince himself that he had yet been seen
,although the fleet was heading directly for the island, for he continuedhis wild gestures--leaping into the air, and waving his arms like onepossessed.
"Six fathoms!" came the voice of the leadsman from the chains.
"We can stand in some way farther yet," commented Cavendish. "I want totake the ship in as near as I can, so that the men may not have far topull in the boat. Furthermore, gentlemen, by the look of the sky,methinks that a gale is brewing, and it will be well that the boat getnot too far away from the ship."
"Five and a half fathoms!" chanted the leadsman a few minutes later.
"'Tis well. Still keep her going as she is," ordered the captain.
The people on deck could now see the poor solitary on the beach quitedistinctly, and presently he came running down to the water's edge,still waving his red flag; and so eager did he appear for rescue that itseemed as though he intended to swim off to the ships, for he waded intothe sea up to his arm-pits.
"I pray Heaven that he does nothing so foolish!" murmured Roger, whostill remembered his own experience with the sharks.
The unfortunate man had no such intention, it presently appeared; yetwas he still in a sufficiently dangerous situation, for he stopped wherehe was with the water up round his shoulders, and continued waving hissignal of distress.
"Five fathoms bare!" was the next report of the man with thesounding-line.
"We can edge in even a little farther yet," remarked the captain. "ButI cannot understand," he continued, "why that man persists in acting sostrangely. He must know by this time that we have seen him and willrescue him, yet he continues to signal with his arms and that red rag asthough he were demented. It would not greatly surprise me to find, whenwe get him on board, that his brain has given way with the horror ofsolitude, suffering, and privation."
"By your leave, sir, it seems very much to me," suggested Roger,touching his hat, "as though the poor fellow were striving not so muchto attract us nearer as to warn us to keep farther away."
"Why, boy, prithee what puts that idea into your head?" retorted thecaptain rather testily. "Why should he wish us to keep off? Surely ifyou were in his place you would be fully as anxious as he appears to beto have the rescuing ships approach and take you off without delay?"
"What I meant to suggest, Mr Cavendish," responded Roger ratherstiffly, and not one whit abashed by his commander's testiness, "wasthat perchance this man knows the shoals and rocks round the islandwell. He may perceive that we are sailing into danger, and wish to warnus from approaching any closer before it be too late."
"Zounds, boy!" shouted Cavendish, "'fore Heaven I believe that you maybe right in your assumption!"
Then, turning to the crew: "All hands stand by to veer ship!" he cried.
But even as he spoke there was a sudden check to the vessel's way, andalmost instantly she stopped dead, the sudden shock throwing more thanone man prostrate on the deck. At the same moment the leadsman in thechains gave his warning cry: "Three fathoms only, and shoaling fast!"
But the warning came too late, for the vessel had taken the ground,which evidently shoaled up with great abruptness. Her fore, main, andmizzen topmasts snapped like carrots with the sudden check to her speed,and came tumbling down with their attendant wreckage, thus adding to thealready great confusion on deck, and, what was worse, killing two men,whom they could ill spare, and badly injuring five others.
"You were right, Roger!" shouted the captain as he ran past the lad tothe stern of the vessel, with intent to warn the other ships from asimilar mishap. But the warning was needless, for they had been on thelookout, and, observing the accident to their consort, had at oncehauled their wind and gone off on another tack in time to avoid asimilar fate. When at a safe distance they luffed into the wind and,furling their canvas, came to anchor.
Cavendish, seeing that the remainder of his little squadron was safe,ordered the wreckage to be cut adrift and the decks cleared for furtheroperations.
"Work away with a will, lads!" he cried encouragingly.
"The ship has taken a soft berth; she lies on the sand, and there is nopresent danger of her sinking; indeed we are in much too shoal water forthat. Mr Leigh, we must get the wreckage cleared away first of all,after which we will get out kedge anchors astern; and if these fail uswe will run out cables to the other vessels. Perchance we may thus getourselves off by our own hauling and the others towing. But we must allwork with a will; for, as all may see, there is in the look of the skyevery prospect of ill weather very shortly, and if it take us ashorelike this we shall lose the ship! Now, Roger, take you two hands in thegig--I cannot spare more--and bring off that poor fellow. I would thatwe had earlier understood what he meant; it would have saved us thisdisaster. And hasten, lad, for I cannot spare even three of you for asingle moment longer than is absolutely necessary. Yet must I have thatman, for he may possess information of untold worth to us. And you, MrLeigh, will take two hands also, and go off to the other vessels. Youwill acquaint them with our condition, and give them their orders toprepare for towing, and to be ready by the moment when we can availourselves of their help, for we have no time to waste."
Roger soon found his two men, and the boat was got ready and over theside in a very few minutes; yet, quick as he had been, he perceived ashe pushed off that Mr Leigh's boat was already some distance on her wayto the other ships.
"Now, give way, men, with a will!" cried the lad, encouragingly. "Youheard what Mr Cavendish said--there is not a moment to lose if we areto get that man off, and the ship too, ere the gale breaks. And indeedI like not the look of the weather at all. It fast grows morethreatening, and we shall be lucky if we get back to the fleet in time.Furthermore, I fear much that there will not be time to save the poorold _Stag Royal_: she is, to my mind, hopelessly lost, for, ifappearance belie it not, the gale will be down on us ere they can hopeto move her off the sand; and I pray God that the poor fellows on boardher may be able to get away from her in time. Ah, the wind comes awayeven now! Pull, lads, pull, or we shall be swamped ere we can getashore!"
As he spoke, the whole sky seemed to darken in a moment all round them;the sea took on the appearance of dull metal and became of a livid hue.Away on the north-western horizon the sky was black as ink, and belowthat, between sky and wave, was a line of white extending athwart thehorizon, showing the forefront of the advancing gale.
"Pull, lads, pull!" again shouted Roger, raising his voice above thedeep moaning sound that filled the air everywhere about them. "Unlesswe can contrive to reach the shore before that line of white, you knowwhat our fate will be. We shall have to wait until the gale blows overbefore we can return to the ships, if indeed they survive it."
The seamen saw that what Roger said was only too true, and pulled fordear life; but the boat was a heavy one, her full complement of oarsmenbeing eight. Now, however, she had only two men pulling; they thereforemade painfully slow progress, and the white line of water seemed to beovertaking them at a speed that filled them with despair.
Meanwhile Roger noticed that the solitary watcher on the beach had nowleft the water, and was lying at full-length on the sand as thoughovercome by his exertions, weakened as perhaps he was by long exposureand privation.
The lad felt extremely anxious as to the fate of the ships, andfrequently turned his head to snatch a glimpse of what was happeningbehind him. He was able to see, during his brief observations, thatboats had been lowered from the stranded ship, and from her consorts,and were plying at their utmost speed between the wreck and the othervessels of the squadron. It was evident to Roger that the captain,observing the extraordinarily rapid approach of the gale, and foreseeingthat, unless a miracle were to take place, the stranded ship must belost, had not delayed a moment, but was transferring her crew to theother ships as fast as he possibly could. Roger fervently prayed thatthis operation of transfer might be completed ere the storm burst uponthem; but he was very doubtful, for that fatal white line of foam wasdriving down upon the fl
eet with appalling rapidity.
But he could not relax his attention from the matter that he himself hadin hand. He could not watch what was going on behind him and also steerthe boat; so he set his teeth and gripped the tiller hard, lookingstraight ahead of him in search of the best and safest spot on which tobeach his boat, for the sea was rising fast. He would have given muchto have had his bosom friend and more than brother, Harry, in the boatwith him at that moment. He could always rely on Harry's coolness andsound clear-headed advice, and he would have felt much less anxious hadhis chum been with him then.
The man on shore was now seen to stagger to his feet and to supporthimself with a stick, alternately pointing out to sea and beckoning themon. But neither Roger nor the men with him now needed anyone to remindthem of the peril in which they stood.
They were nearing the beach now, but meanwhile the sea had been risingwith almost incredible rapidity. When they left the ship the sea hadbeen calm, with not even a ripple lapping the beach. There had been theproverbial calm before the storm. But now, although the gale had notyet reached the boat, the waves were leaping up the beach in foam, andtheir back-wash gave forth a roar like that of distant thunder. Rogeryearned to look behind him again, to ascertain how far away the whitesquall still was, but he dared not turn his head; all his nerve andskill and courage were now needed to enable him to beach the boatwithout capsizing her. One glance at the faces of the men pulling, whoof course were sitting looking aft in the direction from which the stormwas coming, was enough to convince him that it could not be by this timevery far distant. They were now within a few fathoms of the beach, andRoger, for the first time, dared to hope that they would reach the shorewithout any mishap, when he observed his two seamen redouble theirexertions, with a look of terror on their countenances, although theywere very nearly "gastados" as the Dons say, or used up, and the nextmoment, with a fearful shriek, the white squall burst in all its furyupon the unhappy trio. The boat seemed suddenly to take wings; she waspropelled with fearful velocity towards the beach; the spindriftwhistled about them and blinded them; the shriek and roar of the winddeafened them, and its fearful force stunned them. The seamen wereblown bodily from the thwarts into the bottom of the boat; but Roger,clinging desperately to the gunwale with one hand, and fiercely grippingthe tiller with the other, contrived to retain his seat, and strove topierce the dense mist of scud-water with his eyes, that he might see tobeach the boat safely. But he could perceive nothing, and the nextmoment a wave descended full upon his back, dashing him forward and outover the bows. The tiller thus released, the boat broached to, filled,and capsized, and her three occupants were left struggling in the waterand fighting for their lives, while the craft was flung bottom-upward onthe beach and dashed into staves by the violence of the shock. Tossedhither and thither, to and fro, Roger strove to get his breath; but hecould not, for he seemed buried in salt water; and he was suffering allthe agonies of suffocation when his head emerged for a moment from thewater and he drew a hasty breath that seemed to put fresh strength intohis fast-failing limbs. Yet, strive against it as he would, although hefelt the beach under his feet, they were fast being dragged from underhim; he was in the clutch of the fatal undertow, and he knew that,exhausted as he was, if he were once swept back again into deep water hewould drown, for his strength was now at an end. Summoning up all hisenergy, therefore, he gave vent to a loud shout for help--although helpseemed to be the last thing he might expect at that moment--and made onelast struggle for life. But, even as his senses failed him, and he wassinking backward in that fatal embrace, a pair of strong hands clutchedhis hair and arm, and for a few seconds he felt as though, between thesea on the one hand and a sturdy British seaman on the other, he werebeing torn asunder. Presently, however, the wave receded; the awfulfeeling of being sucked back left him, and, opening his eyes, he sawthat he was on terra firma, with the sea behind him. "Now run," shoutedthe seaman--one Jake Irwin, who had been in the boat with him,--"run,Master Trevose, before the next sea catches ye." At the same time hedragged the lad up the beach with all his strength, and they reachedsafety as another wave came rolling hungrily after them, to retire againwith an angry snarl, as though cheated of its lawful prey. Roger stoodup and wiped the wet from his eyes and ears, and wrung the water out ofhis clothes as well as he could, and looked about him. He saw the twoseamen--one of whom had rescued him, only just in the nick of time, froma watery grave--standing close by; and not far from them he perceivedthe figure of the man whom they had come to rescue, and for whom theyhad so nearly met disaster. The seamen who had rowed in the boat seemednone the worse for their adventure, and asked the lad how he felt, andwhether he had suffered from the accident to the boat. Roger, aching inevery limb and muscle from his recent struggle in the water, felthimself carefully over, and was able to assure them that he had brokenno bones.
The stranger now approached and spoke to them, thanking them andapplauding their bravery in coming away to save him, despite the threatof the gale that was by this time raging furiously. The man, itappeared, was an Englishman, and, in answer to a question put by Roger,he confessed that, as the captain had suggested on the deck of theflag-ship, he had been one of a crew of pirates, and, having incurredthe displeasure of his captain and the enmity of his companions, hadbeen marooned on the sand-bank with but a small stock of provisions andno means of obtaining more when those were exhausted; he had beenallowed neither fishing-tackle nor musket with powder and shot, althoughthe latter would not have been of very much use to him, for the islandwas small and so far away from the mainland that birds very seldom madetheir appearance there. It appeared that he had been on the sand-banksome thirty-six days, with the few provisions that they had been movedto give him, and nothing else beside but the clothing he stood up in.
"But," concluded the poor fellow, who was emaciated and weak to the lastdegree, "I have made a bit of a shelter to leeward of the top of thisbank; let us go there, since even it is better than nothing at all.Your boat's smashed to pieces on the beach, and we shall be forced toremain here until the storm blows itself out before they can sendanother boat. I pray that it may not be long in doing so, for, althoughthere is water here in plenty, my provisions are pitifully low; in fact,for the four of us, there is only enough for about two days with thestrictest economy. But come round to my shelter and I will make somefire, so that you can get your clothes dried, and you will then be a bitmore comfortable."
They were turning to follow their new friend, when Roger once more casthis eyes out to seaward, and he came to a stand-still, remaining as ifrooted to the spot. The others gazed at him for a moment inastonishment, not knowing what had come over the lad. As they looked,however, he raised his arm slowly and pointed to seaward; the otherthree, following the direction of his outstretched arm, at once saw thereason for the horror and despair depicted on the lad's countenance.The flag-ship, which they had left stranded, lay broken in half by theterrific force of the sea, and the after-part of her was now beinggradually driven shoreward, the fore-part remaining, as before, embeddedin the sand; and, worse still for the poor castaways, the remainingthree ships of the fleet had cut their cables and, setting what sailthey dared, were heading away from the island before the gale. Nowonder that Roger felt stunned with despair, as he realised that he wasactually left on an island that was nothing more than a mere sand-bank,with three other men to bear him company, it is true, but with, betweenthe four, only two days' provisions, provided that they were used withthe most rigid economy!
But he was roused from his reverie by Jake's voice saying to him: "Neverworry, Master Trevose, they ships ha'n't forgotten us by no manner o'means; but the skipper sees as how he can't take us off while this 'eregale lasts, so he's cut his cables and run for it. The captain havelost one ship, and he don't want to lose any more, so he've just bore upout of harm's way until the gale have blowed itself out. And that, sir,with all submission, I calls good seamanship. Never you fear, sir; weain't forgotten
; the skipper ain't the man to forget his crew, nor nopart of 'em; and as soon as this 'ere bit of a breeze is over, you'llsee they three ships come sailin' back here to this sand-bank to take usoff again. I knows Captain Cavendish, I do, and he ain't the man toforget we's here, and sail away and leave us. We'll see 'em all backhere to-morrow, or next day at the furdest. But I'm wonderin' whetherthere were any poor fellers left aboard the _Stag Royal_ when she partedin the middle!" And old Jake Irwin looked round, shading his eyes fromthe flying spindrift, to see if he could discover any trace of humanbeing either in the sea or washed up on the beach. But none wasvisible.
"Yes, you are right, Jake," said Roger. "I forgot for the moment thatCaptain Cavendish would be obliged to leave that anchorage or be blownon shore. But the captain will, of course, return as soon as he isable. As to there being any people aboard when the ship parted, Jake, Ithink all were taken off before that happened. And now, since we can dono more for the present, we had better go and take shelter as this mansuggests. By the way, my man, what is your name?"
"My name, sir, is William Evans," replied the marooned man.
"And mine," said Roger, "is Roger Trevose; and these two men"--pointingto them in turn--"are Jake Irwin and Walter Bevan."
"Thank you, sir!" answered Evans. "Yonder is my shelter, and when wereach it I will give you my history up to the present, if you care tolisten to it, for I feel that I have not much longer to live; this lastmonth has compassed my death, so great have been the hardships that Ihave been obliged to endure. After the storm has ceased somewhat we hadbetter go along the beach and collect any wreckage that happens to comeashore. And I pray Heaven that some food may be washed up, for we havevery little here to go on with!"
A few minutes later they came to the "shelter", which was merely a deephole dug in the sand, and roofed over with palm branches and grass,together with a few bits of plank and timber that had been washed up onthe beach.
"Enter, sir, and fellow-seamen," said Evans, "and to such poorhospitality as I can offer you, you are most heartily welcome."
They went in, and the man made a fire with the help of his tinder-boxand a few dry sticks that he routed out from a corner. The fire wassoon blazing merrily, and they took off their clothes and held thembefore the flames to dry. Whilst this was being done, the marooned man,whose face even now bore the imprint of death, brought a little food outof his scanty store, and some water, and the party sat down to eat anddrink. Then, when the meal was ended, they resumed their clothes, whichwere now dry, and prepared to listen to the history of the ex-pirate,which he gave to the accompaniment of the beating of rain over theirheads, and the tumult of the gale around them.
Meanwhile Cavendish had not forgotten these poor waifs; but, havingbarely contrived to clear the shore with his squadron, was now beingdriven away fast to leeward of the island by the furious gale, which asyet gave no sign of blowing itself out.
Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess Page 8
