CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
EXECUTION OF THE PIRATES--A RECONNAISSANCE BY NIGHT OFF LA GUAYRA.
At the commencement of the fight the pirate vessel had been manned by acrew numbering well over one hundred men.
But now her dead lay upon her decks literally in heaps; and, alas! therewere also many English bodies lying among them. Only seventeen of thecrew of the _Black Pearl_ remained alive, among the survivors being JoseLeirya himself. It was not due to cowardice, or any shrinking fromdeath on his own part, that he had survived the fight; on the contrary,he had exhibited a fine degree of courage, and it was only by anaccident, for which he was in nowise responsible, that he was stillalive, and was now standing, with hands lashed behind his back, scowlingheavily at his captors. They, on their side, had suffered almost asseverely as the pirates, having lost an enormous number of men.
The coming of the sailors from the _Tiger_ in the nick of time it wasthat had saved the day, and turned the tide of battle in favour of theEnglish. Roger and Harry had both had their senses trampled out of themby the headlong rush of the boarders from that ship; but, as thecircumstance undoubtedly saved their lives, they were not greatlydisposed to grumble at it. Both had soon recovered, and, afterexamining themselves to discover whether they were badly wounded or not,were now engaged in exchanging confidences and experiences, and relatingto each other all that had occurred since their parting prior to thewreck on the sand-bank of Isla de Corsarios.
The captured pirate, having been bound securely, were now consigned tothe care of an armed guard, who conducted them below to the hold andbade them make themselves as comfortable as they could on the ship'sballast.
The commodore then called the roll of the three vessels of his squadron,and found that he had lost no fewer than one hundred and eighty men,killed and wounded, in the engagement. As for the ships, the _Tiger_was untouched, and the flag-ship practically intact, but the _Elizabeth_had been somewhat severely mauled. Captain Cavendish's firstinstructions were that the vessels should at once proceed to executesuch repairs as were necessary, in order that they should not be at adisadvantage in the event of a storm overtaking them. But before eventhis business could be undertaken came the disposal of the dead.
With so many slain to deal with, this was necessarily a brief business,and was accomplished by the simple process of tossing the lifelessbodies over the side, to find a last resting-place on the sand below,if, indeed, the multitude of sharks that were swimming round and roundthe four vessels did not intervene and otherwise arrange matters.
This unpleasant duty ended, the decks were washed down with water pumpedup from alongside, and all sanguinary traces of the recent conflictobliterated. Then Cavendish sent the men who had performed these dutiesto aid their fellow-seamen in effecting the necessary repairs to thosevessels that required them, whilst he and his officers made a tour ofinspection of the _Black Pearl_, to acquaint themselves thoroughly withthe vessel, and to secure her papers, arms, and ammunition, and anyvaluables that might be on board her. Roger and Harry, having had abrief chat, followed Mr Cavendish down the companion-ladder, and foundthemselves in the vessel's main cabin. This was most beautifully fittedup, evidently with the spoils which had been taken out of her numerouscaptures; but beyond the confines of the captain's cabin the entirevessel was filthily dirty, eloquently testifying to the objectionablehabits of the pirates; and everywhere they went they encounteredsignificant traces of the recent furious combat, in the shape ofsplintered timbers, riven planking, blood splashes, gashes in thewood-work from sword and axe-blade, holes made by cannon-shot--havoc anddestruction reigned supreme. But even this could not disguise thebarbaric splendour of the fittings and furniture of the ship. Richsilken curtains were hung anywhere and everywhere where they could befastened; thick carpets from Turkey and Persia and India were strewnwholesale on the soiled planking. Every available space on wall orbulkhead was ornamented with some trophy or another. Stars of pistols,swords, hangers, boarding-axes, and pikes were hung wherever there wasroom for them. Roger noticed some pieces of exquisite and priceless oldtapestry beside the carriage of one of the main-deck guns, that hadprobably served as a curtain, but was now torn down, trampled upon,smeared with blood, and blackened with powder smoke. The officers ofthe vessel had evidently each enjoyed a cabin to himself, furnishedaccording to the occupant's taste; and in every one there were articlesof enormous value, while the silken cushions, thick-piled carpets, anddainty coverlets to the bunks might have led one to suppose that thecabins had been inhabited by delicate ladies rather than by savagepirates, to whom murder was an almost everyday occurrence. They allexhibited, however, as might have been expected from such a crew, themost execrable taste in arrangement. All the colours of the rainbowwere combined together, and every article seemed totally out of place inall the apartments save that belonging to Jose Leirya himself.
The cabin belonging to the captain was situated at the stern of thevessel, and for windows had two large openings leading out on to alittle stern gallery, where Jose could walk in privacy and be in theopen air. This cabin had received the full benefit of the raking firefrom the flag-ship, and presented a scene of lamentable destruction.
Instead of the two windows leading out on to the gallery there was nowan enormous gaping hole, the lower edge of which was within ahand's-breadth of the water, which occasionally rippled in as theschooner rose and fell upon the swell. The rich hangings of silk andtapestry were pierced and rent; long gashes had been gouged out of thefloor by the round-shot; fragments of silver and gold statues andcandlesticks lay here and there scattered in confusion, and it wasevident that had a single living thing been in that cabin at the momentwhen the broadside was delivered it could not possibly have escaped.Yet, strangely enough, there were three splendid pictures hanging stillupon the cabin-walls absolutely uninjured, and these Cavendish gaveorders to be at once removed and sent on board his ship.
In a magnificently inlaid and ornamented bureau there were found all theprivate papers belonging to Jose, together with the ship's log, both ofwhich provided, later, the most gruesome reading.
Of valuables there were none to be found in the drawers, or hidden away,and Roger mentally decided that the man, for his own safety, had neverallowed valuables to accumulate on board the _Black Pearl_, but hadalways transferred them, at the first opportunity that presented itself,to his hiding-place at Lonely Inlet. But he kept his surmise to himselfand Harry.
The vessel's hold, which was next investigated, contained nothing of anyimportance or value, and, in fact, the whole vessel yielded but smallreturn for their careful search.
The officers now returned to the deck, to find that it was once morebroad daylight; and each went back to his own vessel for breakfast.Roger, having said good-bye to the captain and officers of the_Elizabeth_, and thanked them for their kindness in taking him off theisland and afterwards, pushed off to the flag-ship with Mr Cavendishand Harry. Jake Irwin and Walter Bevan, poor fellows, would rejointheir shipmates no more. They had both fallen, fighting bravely, andwere now lying fathoms deep in the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.Little did they imagine, when they left the Isla de Corsarios the daybefore, that death was so close to them!
After breakfast Cavendish called a council of officers in his own cabin,to discuss the fate of the surviving pirates and their schooner.
The decision was soon made as to the pirates, and it was that theyshould be hanged, one and all, from the yards of their own vessel. Asto the vessel herself, it took somewhat longer to arrive at anagreement; but in view of the fact that she was little better than ashattered wreck, and that, even if she were to be repaired, they hadlost so many hands that they could not very well spare the men to handleher, it was finally decided that she should be destroyed.
This business settled, the council broke up, and the members of it wenton deck. The flag-ship's boats were then manned, and the officers ofthe fleet went on board the schooner. Orders had meanwhile been given,on bo
ard the vessels of the squadron, that their crews should turn up towitness the execution. The captives were then brought up on deck, andCavendish himself read the sentence over to them, and bade them preparefor death. They met the announcement with the utmost callousness. Oneor two of them exchanged remarks in a low tone of voice, and one man wasactually heard to laugh outright. As for Jose Leirya, he heard thesentence with absolute indifference, and, when asked whether he hadanything to say, answered not a word.
A whip was now rove from each of the fore yard-arms of the _BlackPearl_, and a gun on the forecastle loaded with a blank charge. Anumber of men were then detailed to run aft with the tail end of thewhip as soon as the noose should have been fitted round each man's neck.
Mr Cavendish decided that he would hang the captain first, so thatevery survivor of his crew might witness the death of their leader.
All being now in readiness, four seamen walked up to Jose Leirya and,stooping, cut the bonds that secured his feet. The pirate stood stillfor a moment to allow the blood to circulate once more freely throughhis limbs, and then, bound though his arms were, he wrenched himselffree from the grasp of the four seamen and made a furious dash towardsthe side of his ship, actually succeeding in scrambling on to herbulwark, with the evident intention of drowning himself, and thusevading the indignity of death by hanging.
The seamen, however, who had been hurled right and left by his herculeaneffort, closed upon him promptly, and, with very little ceremony, hauledhim off with violence, hurling him to the deck and themselves falling onthe top of him and holding him down with their weight. Yet once againhe succeeded in wrenching himself free from the men's clutches and,staggering to his feet, made another dart for the ship's side. But hewas pounced upon again, and once more they all fell upon the decktogether.
A taunting laugh rang out from the group of bound ruffians who wereawaiting their fate, and stung the English sailors to madness. That oneman, and he partly bound, should keep four stalwart seamen at bay wastoo much for their temper. They rushed at the pirate again, and thistime seized him securely; then, tripping him up, they slipped a runningbowline over his ankles and hauled it taut, thus rendering the manhelpless. Yet even then they could scarcely keep their grip on him, soenormous was the strength with which he turned and twisted in theirgrip.
At length, after an infinity of trouble, they succeeded in dragging himto the forecastle; the running noose attached to the whip was brought upto the pirate and slipped over his neck; Cavendish then gave the signal,the gun was fired, the men holding the end of the whip ran aft, theseamen holding the man sprang aside, and the pirate's body, stillstruggling and writhing, went flying aloft, to stop presently with ajerk as it reached the jewel-block, and dangle at the end of the foreyard-arm, still plunging and struggling with such violence that the yarditself fairly shook. It was some considerable time before the strugglesceased. The body was allowed to hang a little longer, and then the ropewas cut, and the corpse plunged downward into the sea among the sharks,whose clashing teeth and noisy splashes gave conclusive evidence as tothe whereabouts of the pirate's last resting-place.
The remainder of the ruffians betrayed not the slightest emotion at theterrible fate of their leader, but went silently and calmly to theirdoom, without struggling as their captain had done; and very soon thedread ceremony was over, and the pirates had met their deserts.
The only matter that now remained was the destruction of the notorious_Black Pearl_.
Powder and shot there were in plenty, on board the squadron; so MrCavendish decided to give his ships' crews a little practice in gunnery.By this time also the necessary repairs to the vessels engaged had beenexecuted, and all was now in readiness for the resumption of the cruise.Sail was therefore made, and the vessels drew off to a distance ofabout three-quarters of a mile, when they hove-to and began to practiseon the pirate vessel with their guns. The flag-ship was the first tomake a hit, which she did between wind and water with her bow-chaser.The other vessels then got the range, and hulled the _Black Pearl_ withnearly every shot.
Harry and Roger, once more together on the flag-ship, had alreadyrecounted in detail all their adventures during the time that they wereseparated, the one on the sand-bank and the other on the ship drivenaway to leeward of the island by the storm. They were both now standingamongst the crew of the bow-chaser gun, watching the effect of everyshot with the utmost interest; and Roger presently asked the captain ofthe gun to allow him to have a shot. The man, who was much attached tothe lad by reason of many little acts of kindness received, made nodemur. The gun was reloaded, and Roger, with the firing-match in hishand, cocked his eye along the chase of the piece, watching until theheaving of the ship should bring the sights to bear on the hulk.Presently the _Good Adventure_ dipped to a large wave, and Roger, whowas watching like a cat, applied the match. There came the sharp reportof the discharge, and, as the smoke swept away, the young man had thesatisfaction of seeing his shot strike the vessel right between wind andwater, just at the side of a hole where two others had penetrated. Thisshot of his, of course, much enlarged the already large hole, throughwhich the water of the Caribbean was now pouring like a sluice; and itwas seen that the pirate vessel was on the point of foundering. Even asthey watched, the craft seemed to settle visibly deeper in the water,and she rolled heavily two or three times. A few seconds later herstern was seen to lift high and her bows to point downward; steeper andsteeper became the angle of her decks and then, with a slow forwardmovement that quickly became a diving rush, she plunged to the bottom,vanishing from their sight in a whirl and froth of water.
Such was the end of the _Black Pearl_! For years she had been theterror of all the seas around the West Indies and the coasts of NewSpain. She had been a floating den of vice, murder, and everyconceivable form of infamy, and now her lawless and adventurous careerhad terminated in her becoming a target for the guns of the avengers ofthe evil she had wrought, while her captain and surviving crew had swungfrom the yard-arm of their own vessel before she herself was destroyed.Her career of murder and terror and destruction was ended at last, andthe evil spirit of those seas was laid.
All now being over, and it being no longer necessary to carry out theiroriginal intention of scouring the Mexican Gulf for the pirate--chancehaving so fortunately thrown him in their way,--it was decided to carryout the other part of their programme; which, it will be remembered, wasto run to La Guayra and see whether there were any plate ships lyingthere, and, if so, to endeavour to cut them out and capture them. Acourse was therefore set, and the little squadron bore away to thesouthward and eastward in the direction of that port.
Roger and Harry had now a little time to themselves, and, having sorecently witnessed the destruction of the pirate vessel and theexecution of her notorious captain, the conversation naturally enoughturned to the cipher which Roger had in his possession. He had alreadyacquainted his friend with the news that the marooned man, WilliamEvans, had given him an exact duplicate of the cipher that he had in hispossession, taken from the _Gloria del Mundo_, and the two lads nowseriously turned their attention to its translation. But again itfoiled them; they could make nothing of it. They did not wish tocommunicate the fact of it being in their possession to any thirdperson, and ask his advice, knowing that a secret shared with others isusually a secret no longer. So he and Harry kept their knowledge tothemselves, and went over the remainder of the papers which Evans hadgiven Roger, as well as the cipher. These also proved to be of noimportance to anyone but their former owner, as they merely containednotes from the log and diary of the pirate, and, indeed, consistedmainly of a skeleton account of his many atrocities, recorded for whoknows what reason. The two lads could not see that any useful purposewould be served by retaining these memoranda; they therefore tore themup small, and consigned them to the deep. For this reason the historyof the doings and exploits of the pirate Jose Leirya has never beenwritten, and never will be.
As the two lads could make no
thing of the cipher, they put it away,deciding not to worry their heads about the matter until some time inthe future, when they should have nothing else to occupy them. The twociphers were therefore folded up into a neat packet, and, with theassistance of a needle and thread, Harry sewed the little parcel intothe lining of his friend's coat, in such a position and manner that evena rigorous search would probably fail to disclose the presence of thepapers.
"Now you have them quite safe, my friend," said Harry, "and so long asyou stick to your jacket you need never be afraid of losing thatcryptogram. And should anybody ever come, by any chance, to know thatyou have the key to Jose's treasure, he will never be able to find it,even if he attempts to rob you."
"No, Harry, I should say not," laughed Roger. "But I do not think Ineed fear that any person will try to rob me of that cipher; for, so faras I know, the only person now alive who is aware that one existed isthat evil-looking fellow Alvarez, and he will imagine, doubtless, thatthe cryptogram went down with all the other papers in the Spanishman-of-war. And he probably thinks, too, that I also went down withher. At any rate it was not his fault that I did not."
"Well," objected Harry, "I am not so sure about his thinking you weredrowned on that occasion, for, when we sent him and the other Spaniardsashore at Lonely Inlet, I saw him looking very hard at you, and Ibelieve he recognised you, for he spoke to another man beside him, andtapped his own pocket. The other fellow then looked at you, as thoughto make sure of recognising you again, and nodded to Alvarez as theyboth went down the side. Yes, I am pretty sure that Alvarez recognisedyou, and I think it not unlikely that he may have some idea that you sawhim looking for something in that cabin, and that when you were rescuedyou took with you those papers that he left behind in his fright; and,if so, he of course believes that you have that cipher in yourpossession at this moment."
"Well, Harry, old lad," laughed Roger in reply, "I do not suppose Ishall ever see Alvarez again, and if I do I shall take care that I donot fall into his power, you may be quite sure. There is one thingcertain. Now that Jose and his crew are dead, that treasure will neverbe found except by us, and only by us if we can succeed in translatingthe cryptogram, for there is no one else on earth now who knows even itslocality."
"Quite true, Roger, my friend," replied Harry. "But I do most sincerelyhope that the possession of that paper will not bring you to any harm."
The conversation between the two lads was at this moment interrupted bythe cry of "Land, ho!" from above, and both boys ran up on deck to catchthe first glimpse of it.
"Hurrah!" shouted Roger in great glee. "Hurrah! this shows that we arenot far from La Guayra now, and then for more fighting and adventure,and perhaps we may be able to get ashore for an hour or two."
The land could be discerned fairly clearly from the fore topmastcross-tree, to which Roger and his friend ascended. It showed as a boldheadland, apparently of great height and rocky in formation.
Having satisfied their curiosity, the two came down from aloft, and,seeing one of the officers attentively looking at the fast-rising land,asked him what it might be; if it was anywhere near La Guayra, and howfar away it was.
"You two youngsters seem very eager to sight land again," replied thelieutenant, smiling. "I should have thought that you, Trevose, wouldhave had enough of land for a time, after being so very nearly leftbehind on that sand-bank. But, to satisfy your curiosity, I will tellyou. That tall headland that you see yonder, and toward which we arenow steering, is called Cape Oruba, and is the north-north-westextremity of the island of Oruba. We shall leave that island on ourstarboard hand, and as we pass it we ought to see the island of Curazaoin the distance, which island we, of course, leave on our port hand.Then we head into the Gulf of Triste, and so on to La Guayra. Now,young men, I have posted you up in the different landmarks that we shallpass, and you can look them up for yourselves, and see where we are,from that Spanish chart that you were so thoughtful as to bring with youfrom the _Gloria del Mundo_."
Roger and Harry thanked the lieutenant for the information, and wentbelow to see where was the ship's actual position.
Nothing of any interest happened here, and in three days from the timewhen they first sighted Oruba Point they were as close in to La Guayraas they dared venture without further investigation.
Once more a council of officers was held in Mr Cavendish's cabin, onboard the flag-ship, and a plan of campaign arranged. The squadron, itwas decided, was to lie-to in a little bay not many miles to thenorth-westward of the Port of La Guayra. There was no danger of itspresence there being discovered, there being no town or port near; thecliffs rose up almost perpendicularly from the water's edge, and thelittle bay itself was practically landlocked, and thus hidden fromseaward. Then three boats were to be provisioned with food and waterfor two days, and, leaving the ships early in the afternoon, were toarrive off La Guayra about midnight or thereabout. They were to make asclose an investigation of the harbour, and any ships that might be init, as could be made with safety. They were to ascertain, if possible,whether there were any plate ships in the roadstead, and, if so, theprecise positions in which they were lying. They were also todetermine, as nearly as they could, what the chances of a night attackwould be; whether likely to be successful or otherwise. In short, theywere to accumulate all the information they could, without being seen.
The little squadron--which had been hove-to during the consultation--filled away once more, and carefully felt its way into the bay, and,after many very narrow escapes of falling foul of the rocks andsand-banks with which the entrance was encumbered, came to an anchor insafety in the spot where it was to remain until such time as the boatexpedition should return. A boat was provisioned and manned by eachship in the squadron, and Roger and Harry, who were always ready for anyadventure that promised a spice of danger, pleaded so eloquently to beallowed to accompany the boat sent by the flag-ship, that Mr Cavendish,after considerable demur, agreed to their going, at the same timecautioning them that even a very slight indiscretion on their part mighteasily involve the expedition in something nearly approaching disaster.
The next day, all being in readiness, the boats set off on theirdangerous errand about two bells in the afternoon watch, immediatelyafter the seamen had taken their mid-day meal. They were accompanied bythe prayers and good wishes for success from all in the fleet, but nocheering was indulged in, lest perchance some wandering herdsman on theheights should catch the sound, look for its source, discover thelurking ships, and hasten away to the city to give it warning.
They kept as close under the huge cliffs that towered above the narrowbeach as they could with safety, in order to lessen the danger of beingseen to seaward, and after dark pulled slightly farther out to sea toavoid the possibility of running on some rock which they might see andavoid by daylight, but not after dark.
About nine o'clock, Roger, who was away up in the bows of the leadingboat, keeping a lookout, passed the word aft to the officer in chargethat they had just opened up a light, apparently on shore.
"That's our goal, then," said the officer; "that's La Guayra! And nowto find out whether there is anything in there that it may be worth ourwhile to attack."
He then made the signal for the other two boats to close, to give theofficers in command an opportunity for a final consultation. It waspresently arranged that, on entering the bay, they were to separate, andeach was to scour a certain part of the harbour, and join the othersagain at three o'clock in the morning at the spot where they partedcompany, the bearings of which were to be carefully and accuratelytaken.
La Guayra lies in the hollow of an extensive but open roadstead, and isbuilt at the foot of a range of huge mountains, which tower up into theclouds behind it, and at the back of which lies Caracas, now the capitalof Venezuela.
It was to the extremity of this roadstead that the three boats had nowcome, and the twinkling lights of the town were clearly discernible atsome distance.
Anxiously they s
canned the bay for any sign of ships lying there, andafter a few moments they were able to make out certain detached sparksof light, which they felt certain were the riding-lights of a number ofvessels. It now remained for them to pull quietly and unobtrusivelyshoreward, and ascertain what the vessels were, and, as far as possible,discover their strength, and how they lay for protection from the shorebatteries.
The oars were therefore muffled with pieces of cloth that had beenbrought for the purpose, and, orders having been given that no light wasto be shown in any of the boats for any purpose whatever, theyseparated, all making for the several points agreed upon beforestarting.
The boat belonging to the flag-ship had the position of honour, andtherefore of most danger. She was to take a middle course, and pulldown to the foot of the bay, close inshore, and right under the guns ofthe batteries; a task so dangerous that, should they by any misfortunebe seen, there would be no hope or possibility of escape for them. Indead silence they pulled slowly along, peering carefully about them, andgetting ever nearer and nearer to the town. The lights began to showmore clearly, and large objects ashore to assume a somewhat definiteoutline. The dark background of the mighty mountains behind the towncould be made out towering far above them, their heads seemingly amongthe few stars that were that night shining.
They were creeping on and inward, steering for a cluster of lights thatevidently betokened the presence of a large vessel at anchor about amile farther in, when those same lights were suddenly obscured, and alittle later there came plainly to their ears a swish of water, stronglysuggestive of some vessel moving at speed. At the whispered command ofthe officer the boat's crew backed water simultaneously, and brought theboat to a stand-still, just in time to avoid being run down by a darkmass that came swiftly, and with no lights showing, out toward the opensea. As she passed the boat, within oar's-length, they could hear quitedistinctly the sound of voices, and, to their utter amazement, thespeech of those voices was English. The vessel was moving so swiftlythat only a few words could be caught, and these were: "All is well sofar, John, my lad; in an hour from this we shall be out of this bay,and, once on the open sea, it will take more than--" and the voice waslost in the distance.
Roger had, some time before, come aft, and was now by the side of thelieutenant.
He said in a hushed voice: "What does that mean, Mr Story? There issome strange happening abroad this night. That ship had Englishmenaboard her; yet, so far as we know, there are no English ships besideourselves in these seas just now. Besides, why was she carrying nolights?"
"'Pon my word, Roger, I don't know," replied Story. "As you say, thereare no other English about here excepting ourselves; yet the people inpossession of that craft are undoubtedly English. Ah! can it be, Iwonder, that these people are English prisoners who are effecting theirescape from the Spaniards to-night of all nights; and, having managed toget hold of a ship, are now clearing off? Zounds! I believe I amright, and that is what has happened. This is doubly annoying. First,because we are very short-handed ourselves, and if we could only havegot those fellows to join us it would have helped us to make up ourcrews once more; and, secondly, because their escape will surely bediscovered before long, and a search made, which will render it veryawkward for us. I wish I could somehow contrive to communicate withthose other two boats, and let them know; for, this having happened, itis high time for us to beat a retreat, or we shall be caught like ratsin a trap! But there is no way, so we had better make the best and mostof it, get what information we can, and then be off back to therendezvous to wait for the others, and start for the ships directly theyappear. Give way again, boys; but be silent for your very lives' sake."
Therewith they went swiftly and silently forward again, and shortlyafterward came close alongside a ship for which they had been cautiouslysteering. They discovered that she was a Spanish war-vessel, and hervery presence there suggested a plate fleet, which she was probablydestined to convoy.
After pulling very cautiously round her, and ascertaining her strength,they made off toward another group of lights, and, on arrival there,found another war-ship. This craft was apparently a sister ship to thefirst one they had seen, and of the same strength.
Having ascertained this, and seeing no more lights but such as lay inthe tracks of the other two boats, they turned the bows of the boatseaward, and, finding that it was well-nigh time for them to be at theirrendezvous, pulled vigorously in that direction. They had taken but afew strokes when, from somewhere behind them in the town, they heard adistant clamour, suggestive of voices calling and shouting.
"Listen a moment," said Story. "Stop pulling, lads; I want to hear whatthat is going on behind there."
The men lay on their oars, and all strained their ears, listening.Presently the sound rose from a dull murmur to one of greater volume,and a trumpet pealed out from the shore, answered almost immediatelyafterwards by one from each of the warships; and suddenly, from one ofthe batteries, a flash of fire rushed out, illuminating for a fewseconds, as does a flash of lightning, the whole bay, and then came thedull report of the gun.
"Now, men," said the lieutenant, "give way; give way for your lives!They have discovered the escape of those other fellows, and will find usalso, if we are not out quickly. Resistance to such overwhelming oddsas we should meet with would be hopeless; so pull, put your backs intoit and make her move!"
Lights now began to flash out from all parts of the bay, disclosing thepresence of vessels which they had not supposed to be there; and,indeed, it seemed as though they were surrounded on all sides by craftof all rigs and sizes. How they had threaded their way in withoutfalling foul of some of them now seemed a mystery. They prayedfervently that the other two boats might be making their escape whilethere was yet time to do so.
The men set their backs to the work and pulled like very Trojans, andthe boat shot through the water. Picking out a course that would takethem as far away as possible from the lights now shining all over theroadstead, the lieutenant steered with the utmost caution, for he knewthat his life depended on it, together with those of the boat's crew.
At length, after what seemed an eternity, they passed out clear of theencircling ships; nothing stood between them and the open sea; and inanother hour they took their bearings and pulled to the rendezvous.Luckily, and to the joy of all hands, when they arrived there one boatwas already waiting, and even as they lay on their oars, the third cameup from the other direction.
News was now quickly and eagerly exchanged, and it was ascertained,putting it all together, that a plate fleet consisting of three shipswas indeed there, and that it was guarded by the two warships. Theother craft in the bay were mostly coasting and other small vessels,about which they need not very much concern themselves when they came into the attack. The positions of the land batteries had also beenascertained, and now nothing remained but to return to the squadron withall speed, acquaint the captain with the information obtained, and thensail for La Guayra forthwith, so as to arrive there before the platefleet could effect its escape from the port. For, once out of sightbelow the horizon, they could scarcely hope to find it again exceptafter a long and wearisome search.
Once more united, the boats began their return journey, pulling hardwhile the darkness lasted, so as to make a good offing by daybreak, andalso to leave themselves less toil after the sun rose.
It was about four in the morning when they rounded the promontory thatshut in the roadstead, and they could not reckon on more than two hoursmore of darkness. The men, although fatigued, held well to their work,and the boats moved along at a very good speed.
Day broke with the suddenness usual in the tropics, and, the sun rising,disclosed to their view, but a short half-mile in advance of them, theidentical vessel that had made such a hurried exit from the roadstead onthe previous night. This was excellent, and the English flag was atonce hoisted at the staves of the three boats, to show that they wereEnglish, and not, as the people aboard the stran
ger would naturallysuppose, Spaniards in pursuit.
Seeing the English flag, the vessel hove-to, and the boats soon camealongside. Arriving on deck, Story asked for the captain, and a manstepped forward saying that he was an English seaman, who had originatedthe plan of escape, and finally contrived it. There were nearly ahundred Englishmen on board, who had been captured in small parties atvarious times, and had been incarcerated in the prison at La Guayra.They had nearly all been subjected to the tortures of the Holy Office,and bore the most dreadful scars as mementoes of its attentions. Many,under the influence of the torture, had recanted and abjured their ownfaith in order to save themselves from being burnt alive.
It appeared that for some time past they had been considering plans ofescape, but the difficulties in the way were many and great, and had, ofcourse, been immeasurably increased by their numbers. The firstopportunity, therefore, had only come on the previous night, and theyhad made the most of it, with what success the reader has seen.
Story then informed them of the reason of the boats' presence there,and, telling them of the proposed attack on the plate fleet, invitedthem, subject to Cavendish's approval, to join the squadron.
They all gladly acquiesced, without a single dissentient voice, andexpressed themselves as right glad of the opportunity to be revenged ontheir enemies, the Spaniards.
With this understanding Story took charge of the ship, and, calling theboats' crews on deck, made fast the boats themselves astern, and towedthem, as, with the freshening breeze that arose with the sun, they madebetter progress sailing than pulling.
As a result of this arrangement they arrived sooner than they wereexpected, and there was much joy throughout the fleet at the news of theplate fleet, and also because of the valuable reinforcement to theirstrength, which was very badly needed, and which now made the crews upto almost their full complement.
The captured vessel, by means of which the prisoners had effected theirescape, was only a carrack of very small tonnage; and therefore, beingof no use, she was sunk.
The squadron weighed and made sail toward evening, Cavendish's purposebeing to arrive after dark and attempt a surprise attack, the odds beingso very greatly in favour of the enemy. Sunset, therefore, saw themunder easy sail, heading along the coast toward La Guayra.
Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess Page 14
