CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
MISS PRITTY'S "WORST FEARS" ARE MORE THAN REALISED.
Turn we now to Miss Pritty--and a pretty sight she is when we turn toher! In her normal condition Miss Pritty is the pink of propriety andneatness. At the present moment she lies with her mouth open, and hereyes shut, hair dishevelled, garments disordered, slippers off, andstockings not properly on. Need we say that the sea is at the bottom ofit? One of the most modest, gentle, unassuming, amiable of women hasbeen brought to the condition of calmly and deliberately asserting thatshe "doesn't care!"--doesn't care for appearances; doesn't care forcharacter; doesn't care for past reminiscences or future prospects;doesn't care, in short, for anything--life and death included. It is asad state of mind and body--happily a transient!
"Stewardess."
"Yes, Miss?"
"I shall die."
"Oh no, Miss, don't say so. You'll be quite well in a short time," (thestewardess has a pleasant motherly way of encouraging thefaint-hearted). "Don't give way to it, Miss. You've no idea what ahappytite you'll 'ave in a few days. You'll be soon able to eat hoceansof soup and 'eaps of fat pork, and--"
She stops abruptly, for Miss Pritty has gone into sudden convulsions, inthe midst of which she begs the stewardess, quite fiercely, to "Goaway."
Let us draw a veil over the scene.
Miss Pritty has been brought to this pass by Mr Charles Hazlit, whosedaughter, Aileen, has been taken ill in China. Being a man of unboundedwealth, and understanding that Miss Pritty is a sympathetic friend ofhis daughter and an admirable nurse, he has written home to that ladyrequesting her, in rather peremptory terms, to "come out to them." MissPritty, resenting the tone of the request as much as it was in hernature to resent anything, went off instanter, in a gush of tender loveand sympathy, and took passage in the first ship that presented itselfas being bound for the China seas. She did not know much about ships.Her maritime ideas were vague. If a washing-tub had been advertisedjust then as being A1 at Lloyds' and about to put forth for that regionof the earth with every possible convenience on board for the delight ofhuman beings, she would have taken a berth in it at once.
We do not intend to inflict Miss Pritty's voyage on our reader. Sufficeit to say that she survived it, reached China in robust health, andfound her sick friend,--who had recovered,--in a somewhat similarcondition.
After an embrace such as women alone can bestow on each other, MissPritty, holding her friend's hand, sat down to talk. After an hour ofinterjectional, exclamatory, disconnected, irrelevant, and largelyidiotical converse--sustained chiefly by herself--Miss Pritty said:--
"And oh! The pirates!"
She said this with an expression of such awful solemnity that Aileencould not forbear smiling as she asked--
"Did you see any?"
"Gracious! No," exclaimed Miss Pritty, with a look of horror, "but we_heard_ of them. Only think of that! If I have one horror on earthwhich transcends all other horrors in horribleness, that horror is--pirates. I once had the misfortune to read of them when quite a girl--they were called Buccaneers, I think, in the book--and I have never gotover it. Well, one day when we were sailing past the straits ofMalacca,--I think it was,--our captain said they were swarming in theseregions, and that he had actually seen them--more than that, had slainthem with his own--oh! It is too horrible to think of. And our captainwas _such_ a dear good man too. Not fierce one bit, and _so_ kind toeverybody on board, especially the ladies! I really _cannot_ understandit. There are such dreadfully strange mixtures of character in thisworld. _No_, he did not say he had slain them, but he used nauticalexpressions which amount to the same thing, I believe; he said he hadspiflicated lots of 'em and sent no end of 'em to somebody's locker. Itmay be wrong in me even to quote such expressions, dear Aileen, but Icannot explain myself properly if I don't. It is fearful to know thereare so many of them, `swarming,' as our captain said."
"The worst of it is that many of the boatmen and small traders on thecoast," said Aileen, "are also pirates, or little better."
"Dreadful!" exclaimed her friend. "Why, oh _why_ do people go to sea atall?"
"To transport merchandise, I suppose," said Aileen. "We should berather badly off without tea, and silk, and spices, and such things--shouldn't we?"
"Tea and silk! Aileen. I would be content to wear cotton and drinkcoffee or cocoa--which latter I hate--if we only got rid of pirates."
"Even cotton, coffee, and cocoa are imported, I fear," suggested Aileen.
"Then I'd wear wool and drink water--anything for peace. Oh _how_ Iwish," said Miss Pritty, with as much solemn enthusiasm as if she werethe first who had wished it, "that I were the Queen of England--_then_I'd let the world see something."
"What would you do, dear?" asked Aileen.
"Do! Well, I'll tell you. Being the head of the greatest nation of theearth--except, of course, the Americans, who assert their supremacy soconstantly that they _must_ be right--being the head, I say, of thegreatest earthly nation, with that exception, I would order out all mygun-ships and turret-boats, and build new ones, and send them all roundto the eastern seas, attack the pirates in their strongholds, and--and--blow them all out o' the water, or send the whole concern to the bottom!You needn't laugh, Aileen. Of course I do not use my own language. Iquote from our captain. Really you have no idea what strong, and to mequite new expressions that dear man used. So powerful too, but _never_naughty. No, never. I often felt as if I ought to have been shocked bythem, but on consideration I never was, for it was more the manner thanthe matter that seemed shocking. He was so gentle and kind, too, withit all. I shall _never_ forget how he gave me his arm the first day Iwas able to come on deck, after being reduced to a mere shadow bysea-sickness, and how tenderly he led me up and down, preventing me, ashe expressed it, from lurching into the lee-scuppers, or going slapthrough the quarter-rails into the sea."
After a little more desultory converse, Aileen asked her friend if shewere prepared to hear some bad news.
Miss Pritty declared that she was, and evinced the truth of herdeclaration by looking prematurely horrified.
Aileen, although by no means demonstrative, could not refrain fromlaying her head on her friend's shoulder as she said, "Well then, dearLaura, we are beggars! Dear papa has failed in business, and we havenot a penny in the world!"
Miss Pritty was not nearly so horrified as she had anticipated being.Poor thing, she was so frequently in the condition of being without apenny that she had become accustomed to it. Her face, however,expressed deep sympathy, and her words corresponded therewith.
"How did it happen?" she asked, at the close of a torrent of condolence.
"Indeed I don't know," replied Aileen, looking up with a smile as shebrushed away the two tears which the mention of their distress hadforced into her eyes. "Papa says it was owing to the mismanagement of ahead clerk and the dishonesty of a foreign agent, but whatever thecause, the fact is that we are ruined. Of course that means, I suppose,that we shall have no more than enough to procure the bare necessariesof life, and shall now, alas! Know experimentally what it is to bepoor."
Miss Pritty, when in possession of "enough to procure the barenecessaries of life," had been wont to consider herself rich, but herpowers of sympathy were great. She scorned petty details, and pouredherself out on her _poor_ friend as a true comforter--counselledresignation as a matter of course, but suggested such a series of brightimpossibilities for the future as caused Aileen to laugh, despite hergrief.
In the midst of one of these bursts of hilarity Mr Hazlit entered theroom. The sound seemed to grate on his feelings, for he frowned as hewalked, in an absent mood, up to a glass case full of gaudy birds, andturned his back to it under the impression, apparently, that it was afire.
"Aileen," he said, jingling some loose coin in his pocket with one hand,while with the other he twisted the links of a massive gold chain, "yourmirth is ill-timed. I am sorry, Miss Pritty, to have to an
nounce toyou, so soon after your arrival, that I am a beggar."
As he spoke he drew himself up to his full height, and looked, on thewhole, like an over-fed, highly ornamented, and well-to-do beggar.
"Yes," he said, repeating the word with emphasis as if he were ratherproud of it, "a beggar. I have not a possession in the world save theclothes on my back, which common decency demands that my creditorsshould allow to remain there. Now, I have all my life been a man ofaction, promptitude, decision. We return to England immediately--I donot mean before luncheon, but as soon as the vessel in which I havetaken our passage is ready for sea, which will probably be in a fewdays. I am sorry, Miss Pritty, that I have put you to so muchunnecessary trouble, but of course I could not foresee what wasimpending. All I can do now is to thank you, and pay your passage backin the same vessel with ourselves if you are disposed to go. Thatvessel, I may tell you, has been selected by me with strict regard to myaltered position. It is a very small one, a mere schooner, in whichthere are no luxuries though enough of necessaries. You will therefore,my child, prepare for departure without delay."
In accordance with this decision Mr and Miss Hazlit and Miss Prittyfound themselves not long afterwards on board the _Fairy Queen_ as theonly passengers, and, in process of time, were conveyed by winds andcurrents to the neighbourhood of the island of Borneo, where we willleave them while we proceed onward to the island of Ceylon. Time anddistance are a hindrance to most people. They are fortunately nothingwhatever in the way of writers and readers!
Here a strange scene presents itself; numerous pearl-divers are atwork--most of them native, some European. But with these we havenothing particular to do, except in so far as they engage the attentionof a certain man in a small boat, whose movements we will watch. Theman had been rowed to the scene of action by two Malays from a largejunk, or Chinese vessel, which lay in the offing. He was himself aMalay--tall, dark, stern, handsome, and of very powerful build. Therowers were perfectly silent and observant of his orders, which weremore frequently conveyed by a glance or a nod than by words.
Threading his way among the boats of the divers, the Malay skipper, forsuch he seemed, signed to the rowers to stop, and directed his attentionspecially to one boat. In truth this boat seemed worthy of attentionbecause of the energy of the men on board of it. A diver had justleaped from its side into the sea. He was a stalwart man of colour,quite naked, and aided his descent by means of a large stone attached toeach of the sandals which he wore. These sandals, on his desiring toreturn to the surface, could be thrown off, being recoverable by meansof cords fastened to them. Just as he went down another naked divercame up from the bottom, and was assisted into the boat. A little bloodtrickled from his nose and ears, and he appeared altogether muchexhausted. No wonder. He had not indeed remained down at any time morethan a minute and a half, but he had dived nearly fifty times that day,and sent up a basket containing a hundred pearl oysters each time.
Presently the man who had just descended reappeared. He also lookedfagged, but after a short rest prepared again to descend. He had beenunder water about ninety seconds. Few divers can remain longer. Theaverage time is one minute and a half, sometimes two minutes. It issaid that these men are short-lived, and we can well believe it, fortheir work, although performed only during a short period of each year,is in violent opposition to the laws of nature.
Directing his men to row on, our skipper soon came to another boat,which not only arrested his attention but aroused his curiosity, fornever before had he seen so strange a sight. It was a large boat withnovel apparatus on board of it, and white men--in very strange costume.In fact it was a party of European divers using the diving-dress amongthe pearl-fishers of Ceylon, and great was the interest they created, aswell as the unbelief, scepticism, misgiving, and doubt which they drewforth--for, although not quite a novelty in those waters, the dress wasnew to many of the natives present on that occasion, and Easterns, notless than Westerns, are liable to prejudice!
A large concourse of boats watched the costuming of the divers, andbreathless interest was aroused as they went calmly over the side andremained down for more than an hour, sending up immense quantities ofoysters. Of course liberal-minded men were made converts on the spot,and, equally of course, the narrow-minded remained "of the same opinionstill." Nevertheless, that day's trial of Western ingenuity has bornemuch fruit, for we are now told, by the best authorities, that at thepresent time the diving-dress is very extensively used in sponge, pearl,and coral fisheries in many parts of the world where naked divers alonewere employed not many years ago; and that in the Greek Archipelago andon the Turkish and Barbary coasts alone upwards of three hundred divingapparatuses are employed in the sponge fisheries, with immense advantageto all concerned and to the world at large.
Leaving this interesting sight, our Malay skipper threaded his waythrough the fleet of boats and made for the shores of the Bay ofCondatchy, which was crowded with eager men of many nations.
This bay, on the west coast of Ceylon, is the busy scene of one of theworld's great fisheries of the pearl oyster. The fishing, being in thehands of Government, is kept under strict control. It is farmed out.The beds of oysters are annually-surveyed and reported on. They aredivided into four equal portions, only one of which is worked each year.As the fishing produces vast wealth and affords scope for muchspeculation during the short period of its exercise, the bay duringFebruary, March, and April of each year presents a wondrous spectacle,for here Jews, Indians, merchants, jewellers, boatmen, conjurors tocharm off the dreaded sharks, Brahmins, Roman Catholic priests, and manyother professions and nationalities are represented, all in a state ofspeculation, hope, and excitement that fill their faces with animationand their frames with activity.
The fleet of boats leaves the shore at 10 p.m. on the firing of asignal-gun, and returns at noon next day, when again the gun is fired,flags are hoisted, and Babel immediately ensues.
It was noon when our Malay skipper landed. The gun had just been fired.Many of the boats were in, others were arriving. Leaving his boat incharge of his men, the skipper wended his way quickly through theexcited crowd with the wandering yet earnest gaze of a man who searchesfor some one. Being head and shoulders above most of the men aroundhim, he could do this with ease. For some time he was unsuccessful, butat last he espied an old grey-bearded Jew, and pushed his way towardshim.
"Ha! Pungarin, my excellent friend," exclaimed the Jew, extending hishand, which the skipper merely condescended to touch, "how do you do? Iam _so_ overjoyed to see you; you have business to transact eh?"
"You may be quite sure, Moses, that I did not come to this nest ofsharpers merely for pleasure," replied Pungarin, brusquely.
"Ah, my friend, you are really too severe. No doubt we are sharp, butthat is a proper business qualification. Besides, _our_ trade islegitimate, while yours, my friend, is--"
The Jew stopped and cast a twinkling glance at his tall companion.
"Is _not_ legitimate, you would say," observed Pungarin, "but that isopen to dispute. In my opinion this is a world of robbers; the onlydifference among us is that some are sneaking robbers, others are open.Every man to his taste. I have been doing a little of the world's workopenly of late, and I come here with part of the result to give you achance of robbing me in the other way."
"Nay, nay, you are altogether too hard," returned the Jew, with adeprecating smile; "but come to my little office. We shall have moreprivacy there. How comes it, Pungarin, that you are so far from yourown waters? It is a longish way from Ceylon to Borneo."
"How comes it," replied the Malay, "that the sea-mew flies far fromhome? There is no limit to the flight of a sea-rover, save thesea-shore."
"True, true," returned the Jew, with a nod of intelligence; "but here ismy place of business. Enter my humble abode, and pray be seated."
Pungarin stooped to pass the low doorway, and seated himself beside asmall deal table which, although destitute of a cl
oth, was thicklycovered with ink-stains. The Malay rover was clad in a thin loose redjacket, a short petticoat or kilt, and yellow trousers. A red fez, witha kerchief wound round it turban fashion, covered his head. He was awell-made stalwart man, with a handsome but fierce-looking countenance.
From beneath the loose jacket Pungarin drew forth a small, richlychased, metal casket. Placing it on the table he opened it, and,turning it upside down, poured from it a little cataract of glitteringjewellery.
"Ha! My friend," exclaimed his companion, "you have got a prize. Wheredid you find it?"
"I might answer, `What is that to you?' but I won't, for I wish to keepyou in good humour till our business is concluded. Here, then, are thefacts connected with the case. Not long ago some Englishmen came out toHong-Kong to dive to a vessel which had been wrecked on an island offthe coast. My worthy agent there, Dwarro, cast his eyes on them andsoon found out all about their plans. Dwarro is a very intelligentfellow. Like yourself, he has a good deal of the sneaking robber abouthim. He ascertained that the wreck had much gold coin in it, and somanaged that they hired his boat to go off to it with their divingapparatus. Somewhat against their will he accompanied them. They werevery successful. The first time they went on shore, they took with themgold to the value of about twenty thousand pounds. Dwarro cleverlymanaged to have this secured a few hours after it was landed. He alsomade arrangements to have a fleet of my fellows ready, so that when moregold had been recovered from the wreck they might surround them on thespot and secure it. But the young Englishman at the head of the partywas more than a match for us. He cowed Dwarro, and cleverly escaped toland. There, however, another of my agents had the good fortune todiscover the Englishmen while they were landing their gold. He was toolate, indeed, to secure the gold, which had been sent on inland incharge of two Chinamen, but he was lucky enough to discover this casketin the stern-sheets of their boat. The Englishmen fought hard for it,especially the young fellow in command, who was more like a tiger than aman, and knocked down half a dozen of our men before he was overpowered.We would have cut his throat then and there, but a party ofinhabitants, guided by one of the Chinamen, came to the rescue, and wewere glad to push off with what we had got. Now, Moses, this casket isworth a good round sum. Dwarro wisely took the trouble to makeinquiries about it through one of the Chinamen, who happened to be anhonest man and fortunately also very stupid. From this man, Chok-foo,who is easily imposed on, he learned that the casket belongs to a veryrich English merchant, who would give anything to recover it, because itbelonged to his wife, who is dead--"
"A rich English merchant?" interrupted Moses, "we Jews are acquaintedpretty well with all the _rich_ English merchants. Do you know hisname?"
"Yes; Charles Hazlit," answered the Malay.
"Indeed! Well--go on."
"Well," said Pungarin, abruptly, "I have nothing more to say, except,what will you give for these things?"
"One thousand pounds would be a large sum to offer," said the Jew,slowly.
"And a very small one to accept," returned Pungarin, as he slowlygathered the gems together and put them back into the casket.
"Nay, my friend, be not so hasty," said Moses; "what do you ask forthem?"
"I shall ask nothing," replied the Malay; "the fact is, I think itprobable that I may be able to screw _more_ than their value out of MrHazlit."
"I am sorry to disappoint your expectations," returned the Jew, withsomething approaching to a sneer, as he rose; and, selecting one from apile of English newspapers, slowly read out to his companion theannouncement of the failure of the firm of Hazlit and Company. "Yousee, my good friend, we Jews are very knowing as well as sharp. It werebetter for you to transact your little business with me."
Knowing and sharp as he was, the Jew was not sufficiently so to foreseethe result of his line of conduct with the Malay rover. Instead ofgiving in and making the best of circumstances, that freebooter, withcharacteristic impetuosity, shut the steel box with a loud snap, put itunder his arm, rose, and walked out of the place without uttering aword. He went down to the beach and rowed away, leaving Moses tomoralise on the uncertainty of all human affairs.
Favouring gales carried the Malay pirate-junk swiftly to the east. Thesame gales checked, baffled, and retarded the schooner _Fairy Queen_ onher voyage to the west.
"Darling Aileen," said Miss Pritty, recovering from a paroxysm, "did youever hear of any one dying of sea-sickness?"
"I never did," answered Aileen, with a languid smile.
Both ladies lay in their berths, their pale cheeks resting on thewoodwork thereof, and their eyes resting pitifully on each other.
"It is awful--horrible!" sighed Miss Pritty at at the end of anotherparoxysm.
Aileen, who was not so ill as her friend, smiled but said nothing. MissPritty was past smiling, but not quite past speaking.
"What dreadful noises occur on board ships," she said, after a longpause; "such rattling, and thumping, and creaking, and stamping.Perhaps the sailors get their feet wet and are so cold that they requireto stamp constantly to warm them!"
Aileen displayed all her teeth and said, "Perhaps."
At that moment the stamping became so great, and was accompanied by somuch shouting, that both ladies became attentive.
A few moments later their door opened violently, and Mr Hazlit appearedwith a very pale face. He was obviously in a state of greatperturbation.
"My dears," he said, hurriedly, "excuse my intruding--we are--attacked--pirates--get up; put on your things!"
His retreat and the closing of the door was followed by a crash overheadand a yell. Immediately after the schooner quivered from stem to stern,under the shock of her only carronade, which was fired at the moment;the shot being accompanied by a loud cheer.
"Oh horror!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, "my worst fears are realised!"
Poor Miss Pritty was wrong. Like many people whose "worst fears" havebeen engendered at a civilised fireside, she was only _beginning_ torealise a few of her fears. She lived to learn that _her_ "worst fears"were mere child's play to the world's dread realities.
Her sea-sickness, however, vanished as if by magic, and in a few minutesshe and her companion were dressed.
During those few minutes the noise on deck had increased, and theshouts, yells, and curses told them too plainly that men were engaged indoing what we might well believe is the work only of devils. Thenshrieks of despair followed.
Presently all was silent. In a few minutes the cabin door opened, andPungarin entered.
"Go on deck," he said, in a quiet tone.
The poor ladies obeyed. On reaching the deck the first sight that metthem was Mr Hazlit standing by the binnacle. A Malay pirate with adrawn sword stood beside him, but he was otherwise unfettered. Theyevidently thought him harmless. Near to him stood the skipper of the_Fairy Queen_ with the stern resolution of a true Briton on hiscountenance, yet with the sad thoughtful glance of one trained underChristian influences in his eye. His hands were bound, and a Malaypirate stood on either side of him. He was obviously _not_ deemedharmless!
The decks were everywhere covered with blood, but not a man of the crewwas to be seen.
"You are the captain of this schooner?" asked Pungarin.
"Yes," replied the prisoner, firmly.
"Have you treasure on board?"
"No."
"We shall soon find out the truth as to that. Meanwhile, who is this?"(pointing to Mr Hazlit.)
The captain was silent and thoughtful for a few moments. He was wellaware of the nature of the men with whom he had to do. He had seen hiscrew murdered in cold blood. He knew that his own end drew near.
"This gentleman," he said, slowly, "is a wealthy British merchant--well-known and respected in England. He has rich friends. It may beworth your while to spare him."
"And this," added the pirate captain, pointing to Aileen.
"Is his only child," answered the other.
"Y
our name?" asked Pungarin.
"Charles Hazlit," said the hapless merchant.
A sudden flash of intelligence lit up for a moment the swarthy featuresof the pirate. It passed quickly. Then he spoke in an undertone to oneof his men, who, with the assistance of another, led the captain of theschooner to the forward part of the ship. A stifled groan, followed bya plunge, was heard by the horrified survivors. That was all they everknew of the fate of their late captain. But for what some would term amere accident, even that and their own fate would have remained unknownto the world--at least during the revolution of Time. The romances oflife are often enacted by commonplace people. Many good ships withordinary people on board, (like you and me, reader), leave port, and are"never again heard of." Who can tell what tales may be revealed inregard to such, in Eternity?
The _Fairy Queen_ was one of those vessels whose fate it was to have her"fate" revealed in Time.
We cannot state with certainty what were the motives which inducedPungarin to spare the lives of Mr Hazlit and his family; all we knowis, that he transferred them to his junk. After taking everything ofvalue out of the schooner, he scuttled her.
Not many days after, he attacked a small hamlet on the coast of Borneo,massacred most of the men, saved a few of the young and powerful ofthem--to serve his purposes--also some of the younger women andchildren, and continued his voyage.
The poor English victims whom he had thus got possession of lived,meanwhile, in a condition of what we may term unreality. They could notabsolutely credit their senses. They felt strangely impelled to believethat a hideous nightmare had beset them--that they were dreaming; thatthey would unquestionably awake at last, and find that it was time toget up to a substantial and very commonplace English breakfast. But,mingled with this feeling, or rather, underlying it, there was aterrible assurance that the dream was true. So is it throughout life.What is fiction to you, reader, is fact to some one else, and that whichis _your_ fact is some one else's fiction. If any lesson is taught bythis, surely it is the lesson of _sympathy_--that we should try moreearnestly than we do to throw ourselves out of ourselves into the placeof others.
Poor Miss Pritty and Aileen learned this lesson. From that dateforward, instead of merely shaking their heads and sighing in a hopelesssort of way, and doing nothing--or nearly nothing--to check the evilsthey deplored, they became red-hot enthusiasts in condemning piracy andslavery, (which latter is the grossest form of piracy), and despotism ofevery kind, whether practised by a private pirate like Pungarin, or by aweak pirate like the Sultan of Zanzibar, or by comparatively strongpirates like the nations of Spain and Portugal.
In course of time the pirate-junk anchored at the mouth of a river, andmuch of her freight, with all her captives, was transferred to nativeboats. These were propelled by means of numerous oars, and the malecaptives were now set to work at these oars.
Mr Hazlit and his daughter and Miss Pritty were allowed to sit idle inthe stem of one of the boats, and for a time they felt their droopingspirits revive a little under the influence of the sweet sunshine whilethey rowed along shore, but as time passed these feelings were rudelyput to flight.
The captives were various in their character and nationality, as well asin their spirits and temperaments. These had all to be brought intoquick subjection and working order. There were far more captives thanthe pirates knew what to do with. One of those who sat on the thwartnext to the Hazlits had been a policeman in one of the China ports. Hewas a high-spirited young fellow. It was obvious that his soul wasseething into rebellion. The pirate in charge of the boat noted thefact, and whispered to one of his men, who thereupon ordered thepoliceman to pull harder, and accompanied his order with a cut from abamboo cane.
Instantly the youth sprang up, and tried to burst his bonds. Hesucceeded, but before he could do anything, he was overpowered by half adozen men, and re-bound. Then two men sat down beside him, each with asmall stick, with which they beat the muscles of his arms and legs,until their power was completely taken away. This done, they left him,a living heap of impotent flesh in the bottom of the boat, and asalutary warning to the rebellious.
But it did not end here. As soon as the poor fellow had recoveredsufficiently to move, he was again set to the oar, and forced to row asbest he could.
The voyage along the coast, and up a river into which they finallyturned, occupied several days. At first, on starting, Aileen and hercompanions had looked with tender pity on the captives as they toiled atthe heavy oars, but this deepened into earnest solicitude as they sawthem, after hours of toil, gasping for want of water and apparentlyfaint from want of food. Next day, although they had lain down in thebottom of the boat supperless, the rest had refreshed most of them, andthey pulled on with some degree of vigour. But noon came, and with itculminated the heat of a burning sun. Still no water was served out, nofood distributed. Mr Hazlit and his party had biscuit and water giventhem in the morning and at noon. During the latter meal Aileen observedthe native policeman regarding her food with such eager wolfish eyesthat under an impulse of uncontrollable feeling she held out her can ofwater to him. He seized and drank the half of it before one of thepirates had time to dash it from his lips.
Presently a youth, who seemed less robust than his comrades, uttered awild shriek, threw up his hands, and fell backwards. At once thepirates detached him from his oar, threw him into the sea, and madeanother captive fill his place. And now, to their inexpressible horror,the Hazlits discovered that the practice of these wretches--when theyhappened to have a super-abundance of captives--was to make them row onwithout meat or drink, until they dropt at the oar, and then throw themoverboard! Reader, we do not deal in fiction here, we describe what wehave heard from the mouth of a trustworthy eye-witness.
In these circumstances the harrowing scenes that were enacted before theEnglish ladies were indeed fitted to arouse that "horror" which poorMiss Pritty, in her innocence, had imagined to have reached its worst.We will pass it over. Many of the captives died. A few of thestrongest survived, and these, at last, were fed a little in order toenable them to complete the journey. Among them was the nativepoliceman, who had suddenly discovered that his wisest course of action,in the meantime, was submission.
At last the boats reached a village in one of those rivers whose low andwooded shores afford shelter to too many nests of Malay pirates even atthe present time--and no wonder! When the rulers and grandees of someEastern nations live by plunder, what can be expected of the people?
The few captives who survived were sent ashore. Among them were ourEnglish friends.
Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters Page 14
