The Pirate Slaver: A Story of the West African Coast

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER TEN.

  A DISASTROUS EXPEDITION.

  Upon arriving abreast the beach, which we were obliged to hug prettyclosely in consequence of the contracted width of the channel and thefact that the deepest water lay close to it, we found it occupied byfully five hundred naked blacks, all of whom appeared to be profoundlyexcited, for they yelled continuously at the top of their voices andfiercely brandished their weapons. They appeared to be acting under theleadership of a very tall and immensely powerful man who wore aleopard-skin cloak upon his shoulders, and a head-dress ofbrilliantly-coloured feathers. He was armed with _two_ muskets, and hada ship's cutlass girt about his waist. A white man--or a half-caste, itwas difficult to tell which at that distance, so deeply bronzed was he--accompanied him; a man attired in a suit of white drill topped off witha broad-brimmed Panama hat wrapped round with a white puggaree; and itappeared that all the excitement and animosity manifested by the blacksat our approach was instigated by him, for we saw him speaking earnestlyto the apparent leader of the blacks, gesticulating violently in ourdirection as he did so, while the savage now and then turned to hisfollowers and addressed a few sentences to them which seemed to arousethem to a higher pitch of frenzy than ever.

  Beyond the sand beach a wide open space extended that had evidently atone time been carpeted with grass, for small tufts and patches of itstill remained here and there, but for the most part the rich, deepchocolate-coloured earth was worn bare by the trampling of many feet.This open space was occupied by a native village of considerabledimensions, the houses--or huts, rather--being for the most part squareor quadrangular structures, although there were a few circular onesamong them, built of upright logs with panels of mud and leaves betweenthem, roofed in with palm-leaf thatch, the eaves projecting sufficientlyat each end to form a verandah some six or eight feet deep. At a littledistance from the village, a hundred yards or so, towered the clump oflofty trees under which the slave barracoons were said to be erected;but whether this was so or not we could not tell, as a belt of bushinterposed between us and the trees, affording an effectual screen toany buildings that might stand beneath their shadow.

  As the schooner glided up abreast of the beach, with the hands at thesheets, halliards, and downhauls, clewing up and hauling downpreparatory to running alongside the schooner nearest us, a great shoutwas raised by the negroes, immediately followed by a confused dischargeof their muskets and the hurling of a few spears, but where the bulletswent we never knew, for certainly none of them came near us, and as forthe spears, they fell short and dropped harmlessly into the water. Tothis salute we of course made no reply, as our business was not to makewar upon the natives unless absolutely compelled to do so, and threeminutes later, having taken as much room as the width of the creek wouldpermit, our helm was eased over and the _Felicidad_ swept round towardthe object of her first attack, which was the schooner flying Frenchcolours. A death-like and ominous silence now prevailed on board thefour craft that we were so audaciously attacking, and not a man was tobe seen on board either of them. This state of things continued untilwe were within forty fathoms of the nearest craft, when a shoutedcommand arose from on board the _brigantine_--which was the third craftaway from us--and instantly the ports of the two nearest schooners werethrown open, and a rattling broadside of nine guns loaded with round andgrape was poured into us with terrible effect, for we were almostbows-on at the moment, and the shot swept our deck fore and aft. Noless than eleven of our people went down before that murderousdischarge, and as five of them lay motionless, I greatly feared that thepoor fellows would never rise again. We reserved our fire until thesides of our own schooner and the Frenchman were almost touching, andthen gave him our broadside and the contents of Long Tom as well; then,as the _Felicidad_ struck her opponent pretty violently, Ryan waved hissword above his head, snatched a pistol from his belt with his lefthand, and shouted--

  "Heave the grapnels! Come along, lads, follow me, and hurroo for ouldOireland!"

  The two schooners being fast together, every man Jack of us sprang afterour leader, only to be confronted by the boarding nettings triced up onboard our antagonist, however; and as we sprang on the bulwarks andcommenced hacking away at the obstruction they opened a hot and mostdestructive fire upon us with their muskets and pistols. I saw our mendropping to right and left of me, and then one of the tricing-lines ofthe netting gave way--one of our lads had shinned aloft and cut it--andwe half tumbled, half scrambled down upon her deck all in a heap, andwere instantly engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle with hercrew, who greatly out-numbered ourselves, weakened as we were by thecasualties that had already seriously reduced our force. Moreover, wesoon discovered that our antagonists were by no means the despicablepoltroons that we are perhaps too prone at all times to believe them tobe; on the contrary, they fought manfully, and held their own with asturdy determination worthy of a better cause. The casualties wererapidly multiplying on both sides, yet we were slowly driving theFrenchmen forward, when they were unexpectedly reinforced by a crowd ofat least sixty people who had come alongside in boats from the othercraft, boarding on the larboard side of the schooner, on which side, asit had been impossible for us to reach it with the _Felicidad_, thenettings had not been triced up, and in an instant we found ourselvesconfronted by overwhelming odds. Above the tumult of shouts and oathsand groans, of pistol-shots and clashing steel, I heard Ryan give aringing cheer and an encouraging shout of "Hurroo, bhoys, the more themerrier! Lay on with a will, now, and make short work of it;" and I sawhim at the head of a small division of our men laying about him manfullyand driving himself and his little band wedge-like through the thickestof the crowd, and I turned and struck out right and left to get to hisassistance, for it seemed to me that he must be speedily overpowered.Before I could reach him, however, he suddenly threw up his hands, andstriking one of them to his temples sank in an inert heap to the deck,and at the same instant a sickening blow fell upon my head, the wholescene whirled confusedly before my eyes for the fraction of an instant,and for a time I knew no more.

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  When at length I recovered my senses I found that I was undressed andcomfortably stowed away in a bunk in a small but light and airystate-room that certainly was not my own, nor had I ever seen it before.The snuggery was very tastefully fitted up, the bunk itself being ofpolished mahogany, enclosed with handsome lace curtains, that I presumedwere intended as a protection against the mosquitoes, the sharp, ringingbuzz of multitudes of which pertinacious tormentors I heard distinctlyas I lay, weak, sick, and with a most distracting headache, safe withinthe shelter of the curtains. These curtains were suspended from apolished brass rod that traversed the underside of the deck above closeto the ship's side, so that they sloped over the bunk tent-fashion, aningenious arrangement of frilling along the upper edge imparting asufficient stiffness to the flimsy material to cause it to stand upclose to the planking, thus leaving no opening by which the perseveringlittle insects could obtain access to the interior. The bulkhead waspanelled with pilasters of satin-wood supporting a handsomely-carvedcornice, and the panels, like the underside of the deck, were painted adelicate cream colour, the former being decorated with a thin giltmoulding which formed the framework of a series of beautifully-paintedpictures of tropical flowers, butterflies, and birds. There was apolished mahogany wash-stand in one corner of the room, and a smallmahogany swing-table against the bulkhead between the bunk and theclosed door of the berth; a horsehair sofa ran along the ship's side,opposite the doorway; a small lamp, apparently of silver, hung ingimbals from the ship's side, near the head of the bunk, and theapartment was amply lighted by a large round open port or scuttle,through which the gentle sigh of the evening breeze came pleasantly, andthe rich, orange beams of the setting sun poured with so brilliant aneffulgence that I could scarcely endure the dazzling light, and wasobliged to close my eyes again.

  Where was I? Certainl
y not on board the _Felicidad_; for she had nosuch luxurious sleeping-accommodation as this on board her. Then, ifnot on board her, I must most probably be on board the French schooner;a surmise that was to some extent confirmed by the powerful effluviumthat pervaded the ship, and proclaimed her character beyond allquestion. Then there were sounds on deck--the voices of men laughingand jesting together, and addressing occasional brutal remarks to,presumably, the wearers of certain chains, the clanking of which,together with the sounds of boats or canoes coming alongside, and anoccasional order issued by some one nearly overhead, powerfullysuggested the idea that the craft, whatever she was, was now taking inher human cargo. I soon recognised, however, that the orders andconversation generally were in Spanish, not French; still, this provednothing, for slavers were as a rule by no means particular as to thecolour of the flag that they fought or sailed under, often hoisting thefirst ensign that happened to come to hand.

  But Spanish or French, the vessel on board which I now found myselfcould scarcely be other than one of those that we had engaged earlier inthe afternoon; and if so, I was in the hands of the enemy--an enemy, beit said, that, if report spoke truly, showed but scant mercy to such ofits legalised opponents as happened to fall into his hands. Yet thisscarcely tallied with the evident care that had been taken of me, andthe exceedingly comfortable--not to say luxurious--quarters wherein Inow found myself.

  I was parched with thirst, and looked round the state-room for someliquid wherewith I might quench it. There was none; but I now observeda small mahogany shelf, close to the head of the bunk, which hadhitherto escaped my notice, and upon it stood a small silver hand-bell,quaint of shape, and elegantly adorned with _repousse_ work. Withconsiderable pain and giddiness I contrived to turn my body far enoughround to seize the bell and ring it; in instant response to which thestate-room door opened--revealing a glimpse of a small butelegantly-furnished cabin--and a young mustee lad, clad only in a whiteshirt thrown open at the neck, and white drill trousers girt to hisslender figure by a crimson sash, entered, and demanded in Spanish--

  "Can I do anything for you, senor?"

  "What is your name, my lad?" said I, answering his question withanother.

  "I am called Pedro, senor."

  "Well then, Pedro," said I, "you can do two things for me, if you will.In the first place you can get me something to drink, if you will be sokind; and, in the next, you can tell me the name of this ship and hercaptain."

  "I will willingly do both, senor, with pleasure. The drink first,"answered the lad, with a bright smile that disclosed an array of smalland beautifully regular, ivory-white teeth. And, turning on his bareheel, he retired as noiselessly as he had entered, only to reappear, amoment later, with a tumbler in one hand, and a large glass jug full towithin an inch of the brim with lemonade, upon the surface of whichfloated two or three slices of the fruit and a curl of the rich goldengreen rind. He filled and handed me a bumper, which I instantly drainedand begged for another. The lad laughed, and handed me a secondtumblerful, which I also drained. The liquid was deliciously cool, andof that peculiar acid and slightly bitter flavour that seems soineffably refreshing when one is parched with fever.

  "Another yet, senor?" asked Pedro, with a laugh, as I handed the glassback to him.

  "Well--n-o--not just now, I think, thank you," answered I. "And now,Pedro, my boy, tell me about this ship and her captain, and how I cameto be here."

  "That is easily done, senor," answered the lad. "In the first place,the brigantine is named the _Francesca_ after my mother; she hails fromHavana; and is commanded by my father, Don Fernando de Mendouca; and youwere brought here by him, when he found you lying apparently dead uponthe deck of the _Requin_ after your people had been driven off andcompelled to beat a retreat."

  "_What_?" I exclaimed. "Driven off? Compelled to retreat?"

  "Certainly, senor," the lad answered proudly. "You surely did notseriously expect to capture all four of us with that paltry schooner ofyours, and so small a force as you brought against us, did you?"

  "Well," I admitted, "I must confess that when I saw what we had tocontend with, I had my doubts as to the issue. But then, you see, I wasnot the captain."

  "Your captain must have been _mad_ to have attacked us in broaddaylight, as he did. And, indeed, he _seemed_ to be mad by thedesperation with which he fought. I never saw anything like it in mylife."

  "_You_?" I exclaimed again. "Do you mean to say that you took part inthe fight?"

  "Certainly, senor; why not?" demanded Pedro haughtily. "True, I am veryyoung; but I am strong. And I am bigger than the little officer who wasfighting near you when the French sailor struck you down with thehandspike."

  "Yes; that is very true," I agreed, knowing, from the lad's description,that he was referring to Freddy Pierrepoint. "So you were in the fight,and saw our captain, eh, Pedro? Can you tell me what became of him?"

  "He was shot--by one of our men, I believe; and I think he was killed,but am not quite sure. He was carried back into his own schooner by twoof his men; and after the fight had lasted about two minutes longer avery handsome, light-haired officer appeared to take the command, andseemed to order a retreat; for your men steadily retired to their ownvessel, and, fighting to the very last, cast her adrift, set the sails,and retired, hotly pursued by the _Requin_."

  "Phew!" exclaimed I; "we seem to have made rather a mess of it thistime. Poor Ryan! I am sorry for him; very sorry indeed. You areright, Pedro, our captain _was_ mad; the poor fellow was badly woundedin the head not long ago, and he had by no means recovered from hisinjuries. And now he is wounded again, if not killed outright. I am_very_ sorry for him. And now, Pedro, can you tell me how your fatherproposes to dispose of _me_?"

  "No, senor, I cannot. Nor can he at present, I think," answered thelad. "It was at my entreaty that he brought you on board here;otherwise you would have been thrown overboard to the crocodiles thatswarm in the creek just here. He said that prisoners were only auseless encumbrance and an embarrassment; but somehow I liked your looksas you lay, white and still, upon the French schooner's deck, and Ibegged him so hard to save you that he could not deny me. And I am surethat we shall be friends--you and I--shall we not? There is no one onboard here that I can be intimate with--except my father, of course--andhe is so much older than I, that I can scarcely look upon him as acompanion. Besides--"

  The lad stopped, embarrassed.

  "Besides what?" demanded I.

  "Well--I--perhaps I ought not to say. You see we are strangers yet, andfather has often said that it is a great mistake to be confidential withstrangers. Some other day perhaps I may feel that I can speak morefreely. And that reminds me that I have let you talk far too muchalready; you need rest and perfect quiet at present, if you are toescape a bad attack of fever, so I shall leave you for a little while tosleep if you can. But first let me bathe your wound for you, andbandage it afresh."

  "You are very kind, Pedro," remarked I, as the lad with singulardeftness proceeded to remove the stiff and blood-stained bandage from myhead. "And I must not allow you to leave me until I have thanked you--as I now do, very heartily--for having saved my life. Perhaps I mayhave an opportunity some day to show my gratitude in some moreconvincing form than that of mere words, and if so, you may depend uponme to do so. Meanwhile, I see no reason whatever why we should not befriends, and good friends too, if your father is willing that it shouldbe so. At the same time--but there, we can talk about that too, when weknow a little more of each other, and understand each other better.Thanks, Pedro; that is very soothing and comfortable indeed. Now,another drink of lemonade, if you please--by the way, you may as wellleave the jug and glass within my reach--and then, if you insist uponrunning away, why, good-bye for the present."

  The lad left me, and I fell into a rather gloomy reverie upon the fateof poor Ryan and that of the gallant fellows who had fallen in ourill-planned attack upon the occupants of this unlucky creek, as well asupon my
own future, the uncertainty of which stood out the more clearlythe longer I looked at it. I think I must have become slightlylight-headed eventually, for twice or thrice I caught myself mutteringaloud in a rather excited fashion, now imagining myself to be in thethick of the fight once more, and anon fancying myself to be one of theslaves that were imprisoned in the brigantine's noisome hold; untilfinally my ideas became so hopelessly jumbled together that I could makenothing of them, and then followed a period of oblivion from which Iawoke to find the state-room faintly illumined by the turned-down lampscrewed to the ship's side near the head of my bunk, and by the morebrilliant rays of a lamp in the main cabin, the light of which streamedthrough the lattices in the upper panel of the state-room door. Theship was heeling slightly, and I knew by the gurgle and wash of wateralong her side that she was under weigh, but still in perfectly smoothwater, for I was unable to detect the slightest heave, or rising andfalling motion in her. There was an intermittent faint murmur of voicesoverhead, an occasional footfall on the deck, and now and then the creakand clank of the wheel-chains following a call from the forecastle, allof which led me to the conclusion that the brigantine was effecting thepassage of the creek on her way seaward. This state of things continuedfor perhaps a quarter of an hour, when I felt the vessel lift as if to asmall swell, the wash and splash of the water along her side became morepronounced, then came a light plunge, with a corresponding roar of thebow wave; her heel perceptibly increased, and the pipe of the wind tooka more sonorous sound; an expression or two in tones that seemed toindicate a feeling of relief and satisfaction passed between the personsoverhead, and then a string of orders pealed forth from one of them,followed by the clatter of ropes thrown down on the deck, and the criesof the crew as they made sail upon the vessel. The movements of thecraft now rapidly grew more lively; she heeled still more steeply underthe pressure of the wind; the splash and rush of water alongside grewmomentarily more confused; bulkheads began to creak, and cabin-doors tojar and rattle upon their hooks; the two people overhead began to pacethe deck to and fro; the wind whistled and blustered with increasingloudness through the rigging; and as the craft plunged more sharply Icaught the sound of an occasional clatter of spray upon the deckforward. This went on for some considerable time, and then I becameaware of the sound of surf booming distantly, but rapidly increasing instrength and volume, until after a period of perhaps ten minutes itsthunder seemed to suddenly fill the air, as the brigantine brought itsquare abeam; then it rapidly died away again until it was lostaltogether in the tumult of wind and sea that now stormed about thevessel, and I knew that we had passed close to either Shark or FrenchPoint, and were fairly at sea. This conviction was confirmed a fewminutes later by the descent of some one--presumably the captain--intothe cabin, where, as I could tell by the clink of bottle and glass andthe gurgle of fluids, he mixed and tossed off a glass of grog, afterwhich he retired to a state-room on the opposite side of the cabin andclosed the door. Then, lulled by the motion of the ship and the soundof the wind and sea, I gradually sank into a feverish sleep, from whichI did not fairly awake until the sun was streaming strongly in throughthe glazed scuttle of my state-room next morning.

  Shortly afterwards Pedro entered and bade me good-morning with a cheerysmile.

  "You are looking better, senor," he remarked; "your eyes are brighter,and there is more colour in your face. I hope you were not greatlydisturbed last night by the noise of getting the ship under weigh?"

  "Not at all," I answered; "on the contrary, I did not awake until youwere clear of your moorings and passing down the creek. I remainedawake until the ship seemed to be fairly at sea, and then I went tosleep again. I suppose we are out of sight of land by this time?"

  "Yes, thanks be to the blessed Virgin! And I hope we shall see no moreuntil we make Anegada," was the reply.

  "Anegada?" I queried. "Where is that?"

  "What!" exclaimed Pedro, "do you not know Anegada? Then you have neverbeen to the West Indies?"

  "That is very true," I admitted. "I have never been to the other sideof the Atlantic."

  "I was certain of it, or you would know Anegada," answered Pedro."Anegada is the most easterly of the Virgin Islands; and my fatheralways endeavours to pick it up on his westerly runs. It makes a goodlandfall, and enables us to continue the rest of our run withconfidence, and to dodge those pestilent cruisers of yours. Anegadaonce sighted, my father knows every inch of the rest of the way, andcould take his ship from thence to Havana blindfold, I believe. Butwhile we are talking this water is cooling, and I want to bathe yourwound and bind it up afresh. So; am I hurting you?"

  "Not at all," I answered. "Your touch is as light as a woman's. By theway, where are my clothes, Pedro? I shall turn out as soon as you havedone with me, if you will kindly send somebody with some water. Thatewer seems to be empty."

  "It can soon be filled, however," remarked the lad. "As to yourclothes, they are forward, drying. They were so stained and stiff withblood that you could not possibly have put them on again, so I had themwashed. You see my clothes would not be big enough for you, while myfather's would be too big; so you will be obliged to make shift withwhat you have until we reach Havana. I am glad that you feel wellenough to dress, for I am anxious that you should meet my father as soonas possible. I fervently hope that you will succeed in impressing himfavourably."

  "Why?" I demanded, laughingly. "Is he so very formidable a personage,then?"

  "Formidable enough, for one in your situation, if he should happen totake a dislike to you," the lad answered gravely. "Not that I have verymuch fear of that, however," he continued; "and in any case, my fatheris all right except when anything has occurred to vex him."

  "Well, I suppose that holds good of most people," I remarked. "However,we must hope for the best. And now, since you have coopered me up sonicely, if you will let me have some water and my clothes, I will makemy toilet as far as I can."

  Upon leaving my bunk I found that I was still very shaky, with atendency to giddiness, added to which my head was aching mostdistressingly; but I thought it possible that these disagreeablesymptoms would perhaps pass off as soon as I found myself in the openair; I therefore dressed as quickly as possible, and made my way ondeck.

  The morning was brilliantly fine, with a slashing breeze from abouteast, a trifle northerly, and the brigantine was bowling along beforeit, with all studding-sails set on the starboard side, in a manner thatfairly made me stare with astonishment, although I had been accustomedto fast vessels. The _Francesca_ was an exceedingly fine and handsomevessel, of enormous beam, and sitting very low upon the water, but thepace at which she was travelling conclusively demonstrated that, beamyas she was, her lines must be the very perfection of draughting; indeedthis was proved by the ease with which she appeared to glide along thesurface of, rather than _through_, the water, her progress being markedby singularly little disturbance of the element, considering her veryhigh rate of speed. Her sails were magnificently cut, setting to anicety, and drawing to perfection, and they were white enough to havegraced the spars of a yacht. I noticed, too, that the inside of thebulwarks, her deck-fittings, brass-work, and guns, were all scrupulouslyclean and bright, while every rope was carefully coiled upon its properpin, the principal halliards and sheets being Flemish-coiled on thedeck. In fact, the whole appearance of the vessel was far moresuggestive of the British man-o'-war than of the slaver. The watch ondeck consisted of about a dozen men--one or two of whom lookedremarkably like Englishmen--and it did not escape me that, one and all,they had the look of resolute, reckless fellows, who would be quiteready to fight to the last gasp, if need be. And I was impressed, atthe very first glance, with the fact that they were all quietly andsteadily going about their work, talking quietly together, and behavingwithout a single trace of that lawlessness that I had expected toprevail among a slaver's crew.