CHAPTER TWENTY.
THE FIGHT CONCLUDED.
The nautical proverb saith that "A stern chase is a long one;" but thatproverb, to make it perfect and universally applicable, should have beenprefaced by the words "All things being equal."
In the present case all things were not equal. The gun-boat was a faststeamer; the chase was a slow row-boat, insufficiently manned by tiredand wounded men. But many of them were desperate men. Their leader wasan arch-fiend of resolution and ferocity. He knew that escape, in thecircumstances, was impossible. He was well aware of the fate thatawaited him if taken. He therefore made up his mind to give his enemiesas much trouble as possible, to delay their triumph and cause it to costthem dear, and, in every practicable way that might occur, to thwart andworry them to the end.
Animated by such a spirit, he managed to encourage his men, and toterrify and lash his slaves to almost superhuman exertions, so thatbefore being overtaken they approached considerably nearer to the shorethan would otherwise have been the case. This, as it afterwards turnedout, resulted in a benefit to some of those in the gun-boat, which theydid not think of at the time. As they overtook the prow, Pungarinordered the starboard rowers to cease. Those on the port side continuedto pull, and in a few seconds the prow's broadside was brought to bearon the approaching enemy. Not till they were within a hundred yards didthe pirate leader again speak. Then his powerful voice resoundedthrough his vessel:--
"Fire!"
At the word every piece on board the prow, great and small, belchedforth a volume of smoke, flame, and metal, but the result was trifling.In his anxiety to do deadly execution, the pirate had overdone his work.He had allowed his foe to come too close, and most of the dischargefrom the heavy guns passed over her, while the men with small arms,rendered nervous by prolonged delay, fired hastily, and, therefore,badly. A few wounds were suffered, and many narrow escapes were made,but in other respects the discharge passed by harmlessly. The captain,in his exposed and elevated position on the bridge, felt, indeed, as ifa thunder-shower of iron hail had passed, not only round, but throughhim! He paid no regard to it, however, but held straight on. Nextmoment there was a dire collision; the prow went under water, and thesurface of the sea was covered with shouting and struggling men.
The boats were quickly lowered, as on the previous occasion, and most ofthe people were rescued, though, of course, some who could not swim weredrowned.
The scene that now ensued was very exciting, and in some respects veryterrible, for, besides the gurgling cries of the perishing, there werethe defiant yells of the pirates, who, more fiercely than those in theother prows, resisted being taken alive, and used their creases andknives with deadly effect.
This naturally filled the conquerors with such indignation that in manycases they killed the pirates who showed fight, instead of disarming andcapturing them.
At last every one in the water was either saved, killed, drowned, orcaptured, with the exception of one man, whose red jacket clearlypointed him out as the pirate-chief. Being greatly superior to hisfellows in mental and physical powers, it was natural that he shouldexcel them in his efforts to escape. Even after the whole affair wasover, this man, who might have been a hero in other circumstances,continued to baffle his pursuers.
In the boat which finally captured him was the Singapore man alreadymentioned. This man, for reasons best known to himself, had a bitterhatred of Pungarin, and was the chief cause of the boat in which hepulled an oar being kept in close pursuit of the pirate-chief.
"Dis way," he cried, when the general _melee_ was drawing to a close."Yonder is de red-coat. He make for de shore."
The steersman at once turned in the direction indicated, which broughtthem close to the gun-boat.
Pungarin's keen eye quickly observed that they were making towards him,although the water around him swarmed with other men. He at once divedand came up close to the side of the vessel, under its quarter, and indangerous proximity to its screw. The boldness of the course might havediverted attention from him for a time, but his one touch of vanity--thered jacket--betrayed him. He was soon observed. A cry was given. Hissharp-eyed enemy the Singapore man saw him, and the boat was once morepulled towards its mark. But Pungarin dived like an otter--not onlyunder the boat, but under the steamer also; coming up on the other side,and resting while they sought for him. Again they discovered him.Again he passed under the ship's bottom, and this time continued hisdive onwards towards the shore. When his power of remaining under waterfailed, he came gently to the surface, turning on his back, so that onlyhis mouth and nose appeared.
One full breath sufficed, and he dived again without having beenobserved. If Pungarin had adopted this plan while the boats were busycapturing his comrades, it is possible that he might have escaped, forhis swimming powers and endurance were very great; but it was now toolate. When he rose the second time to the surface, the affair was over,and men's minds were free to fix entirely on himself. Just then, too,he thought it advisable to put his head fully out of the water in orderto see that he had kept in the right direction.
He was instantly observed by his Singapore enemy, and the chase wasresumed.
It is almost unnecessary to say that it terminated unfavourably for thepirate-chief. For several minutes he continued to dive under the boatwhile they tried to seize him, and wounded some of the men nearest tohim; but his Herculean powers began at last to fail, and he finallyfloated on the surface as if helpless.
Even this was a ruse, for no sooner was the boat near enough, and theSingapore man within reach of his arm, than he raised himself, and madea cut at that individual with such good will that he split his skullacross down nearly to the ears.
Next moment he was hauled into the boat and bound hand and foot.
The scene on board the gun-boat now was a very terrible one. Every manthere was more or less begrimed with powder and smoke, or bespatteredwith blood and soaked with water, while all round the decks the woundedwere sitting or lying awaiting their turn of being attended to, andgroaning more or less with pain.
On calling the roll after the action was over, it was found that theloss suffered by the gun-boat crew was two men killed and eighteenwounded--a very small number considering the time during which theaffair had lasted, and the vigour with which the pirates had fought.
And now was beautifully exemplified the advantage of a man possessing a"little knowledge"--falsely styled "a dangerous thing"--over a man whopossesses _no_ knowledge. Now, also, was exhibited the power andcourage that are latent in true womanhood.
There was no surgeon on board of that gun-boat, and, with the exceptionof Edgar Berrington, there was not a man possessed of a single scrap ofsurgical knowledge deeper than that required for the binding up of a cutfinger.
As we have already shown, our hero had an inquiring mind. While atcollege he had become intimately acquainted with, and interested in, oneor two medical students, with whom he conversed so much and sofrequently about their studies, that he became quite familiar withthese, and with their medical and surgical phraseology, so that peoplefrequently mistook him for a student of medicine. Being gifted with amechanical turn of mind, he talked with special interest on surgery;discussed difficulties, propounded theories, and visited the hospitals,the dissecting-rooms, and the operating-theatres frequently. Thus hecame, unintentionally, to possess a considerable amount of surgicalknowledge, and when, at last, he was thrown providentially into aposition where no trained man could be found, and urgent need for oneexisted, he came forward and did his best like a man.
Aileen Hazlit also, on being told that there was need of a woman'stender hand in such work, at once overcame her natural repugnance toscenes of blood; she proceeded on deck, and, with a beating heart butsteady hand, went to work like a trained disciple of FlorenceNightingale.
To the credit of the timid, and for the encouragement of the weak, wehave to add that Miss Pritty likewise became a true heroine!
No average individual, male or female, can by any effort of imaginationattain to the faintest idea of poor Miss Pritty's horror at the sight of"_blood_!"--"_human gore_!" particularly. Nevertheless Miss Pritty,encouraged by her friend's example, rose to the occasion. With a faceand lips so deadly pale that one might have been justified in believingthat all the blood on the decks had flowed therefrom, she went aboutamong the wounded, assisting Aileen in every possible way with her eyesshut. She did indeed open them when it was absolutely necessary to doso, but shut them again instantly on the necessity for vision passingaway. She cut short bandages when directed so to do; she held threadsor tapes; she tore up shirts, and slips, and other linen garments, withthe most reckless disregard of propriety; she wiped away blood fromwounds (under direction), and moistened many dry lips with a sponge, andbrushed beads of perspiration from pale brows--like a heroine.
Meanwhile Edgar went about actively, rejoicing in his new-found capacityto alleviate human suffering. What the Faculty would have thought ofhim we know not. All on board the gun-boat venerated him as a mostperfect surgeon. His natural neatness of hand stood him in good stead,for men were bleeding to death all round him, and in order to save someit was necessary that he should use despatch with others. Of course heattended to the most critical cases first, except in the case of thosewho were so hopelessly injured as to be obviously beyond the reach ofbenefit from man. From these he turned sadly away, after whispering tothem an earnest word or two about the Saviour of mankind--to those ofthem at least who understood English. To waste time with these he feltwould be to rob hopeful cases of a chance. All simple and easy cases ofbandaging he left to the captain and his chief officer. Joe Baldwin,being a cool steady man, was appointed to act as his own assistant.
From one to another he passed unweariedly, cutting off portions of tornflesh, extracting bullets, setting broken bones, taking up and tyingsevered arteries, sewing together the edges of gaping wounds, andcompleting the amputation of limbs, in regard to which the operation hadbeen begun--sometimes nearly finished--by cannon shot.
"How terribly some of the poor wretches have been starved!" mutteredEdgar as he bent over one of the captives, attempting to draw togetherthe edges of a sword-cut in his arm; "why, there is not enough of fleshon him to cover his wound."
"There an't much, sir," assented Joe Baldwin, in a sympathetic tone, ashe stood close by holding the needle and thread in readiness. "There'sone man for'ard, sir, that I saw in passing to the chest for thisthread, that has scarcely as much flesh on him as would bait a rat-trap.But he seems quite contented, poor fellow, at bein' freed from slavery,and don't seem to mind much the want o' flesh and blood. Perhaps hecounts on gettin' these back again."
"Hm! These are not so easily regained when lost as you seem to imagine,my friend," exclaimed a pompous but rather weak voice. Joe looked up.It was Mr Hazlit, whose bloodless countenance and shrunken conditionhad become more apparent than ever after he had been enabled to reclothehimself in the garments of civilisation.
"Why, sir," said Joe, gently, "you seem to have bin badly shaken. Notbin wounded, I hope, sir?"
"No,--at least not in body," replied the merchant, with a faint smileand shake of the head; "but I've been sadly bruised and broken inspirit."
Joe, remembering somewhat of Mr Hazlit's former state of spirit, hadalmost congratulated him on the beneficial change before it occurredthat his meaning in doing so might have been misunderstood. Hetherefore coughed slightly and said, "Ah--indeed!"
"Yes, indeed, my man," returned the merchant; "but I have reason to besupremely thankful that I am here now in _any_ condition of mind andbody worthy of being recognised."
As the amateur surgeon here desired Joe to assist him in moving hispatient a little, Mr Hazlit turned away, in a stooping attitude becauseof weakness, and, with his vest flapping against the place where hischief development had once been, shuffled slowly towards thequarter-deck.
It was at this time that the boat which captured Pungarin camealongside, and there was a general movement of curiosity towards thegangway as he was passed on board.
The hands of the pirate-chief were tied behind his back, but otherwisehe was free, the cords that had bound his legs having been cast loose.
A howl of execration burst from the captives when they saw him, andseveral ran forward with the evident intention of spitting on him, butthese were promptly checked by the sailors.
Pungarin drew himself up and stood calmly, but not defiantly, as ifwaiting orders. There was no expression on his bold countenance savethat of stern indifference for the crowd around him, over whose heads hegazed quietly out to sea. His brow remained as unflushed and hisbreathing as gentle as though his struggles for life had occurred weeksago, though the wet garments and the ragged red jacket told eloquentlyof the share he had taken in the recent fight.
"Take him below and put him in irons," said the captain.
"Please, sir," remarked the man whose duty it was to secure theprisoners, "we've got no more irons on board. We had only thirty pair,and there's now thirty-eight prisoners in the hold."
"Secure him with ropes, then," returned the captain;--"where is MrBerrington?" he added, looking round hurriedly.
"For'ard, sir, lookin' after the wounded," answered a sailor.
While the pirate-chief was led below, the captain walked quickly to theplace where Edgar was busy.
"Can you spare a minute?" he asked.
"Not easily," said Edgar, who had just finished the dressing with whichwe left him engaged; "there are several here who require promptattention; but of course if the case is urgent--"
"It _is_ urgent: come and see."
Without a word our amateur surgeon rose and walked after the captain,who led him to the companion-hatch, leaning against which he found theSingapore man, with his head split across and apparently cut down nearlyfrom ear to ear. From this awful wound two small spouts of blood, aboutthe thickness of a coarse thread, rose a foot and a half into the air.We use no exaggeration, reader, in describing this. We almost quoteverbatim the words of a most trustworthy eye-witness from whose lips wereceived the account.
The man looked anxiously at Edgar, who turned at once to the captain andsaid in an undertone, but hurriedly, "I can be of no use here. It isquite impossible that he can live. To attempt anything would really betaking up time that is of vast importance to more hopeful cases."
"Sir, do try," faltered the poor man in English.
"Ha! You speak English?" said Edgar, turning quickly towards him;"forgive me, my poor fellow, I did not know that you understood--"
"Yis, me speak Engleesh. Me Singapore man. Go for vist me friendshere. Cotch by pirits. Do try, doctir."
While he was speaking Edgar quickly took off the man's necktie and boundit round his head; then, using a little piece of wood as a lever, hepassed it through the tie and twisted it until the two sides of thegaping gash were brought together, which operation stopped the bleedingat once. This done he hastily left him; but it will interest the readerto know that this Singapore man actually recovered from his terriblewound after a month of hospital treatment. He was afterwards taken overto Singapore as a natural curiosity, and exhibited there to severaldoctors who had refused to believe the story. For aught we know to thecontrary, the man may be alive and well at the present day. Certain itis that his cure at that time was complete. [Note. We were told thisfact by a trustworthy eye-witness.]
It was evening before all the wounds were dressed, and it was dark nightere the disorder caused by the action and its consequences were removed,and the gun-boat restored to somewhat of its wonted tidiness andappearance of comfort. But there was little comfort on board during thesilence of that long night, which seemed to many as though it wouldnever end; and which, in the case of a few, ended in Eternity.
Although silence began to descend on all, sleep was not there.Excitement, fatigue, and the awful scenes they had witnessed, drove itfrom the pillows of Aileen and her frie
nd. Frequent calls for the aidof the surgeon put anything like refreshing rest--much though herequired it--quite out of the question, and at whatever hour of thenight or early morning he entered the temporary hospital where thesufferers lay, he was sure to be met by the white flash of the many eyesin haggard swart faces that turned eagerly and expectantly towards him--proving that sleep had little or no influence there.
There was less of this want of repose, strange to say, in another partof the vessel.
Down in the dark hold, where one feeble lamp cast a mere apology forlight on the wretched surroundings, many of the pirates slept soundly.Their days were numbered--each one knew that full well--yet they slept.Their hearts ought to have been fall of dark forebodings, but theyslumbered--some of them with the profound quietude of infants! Onemight wonder at this were it not a familiar fact. This condition of"the wicked" has been observed in every age, and is stated in holy writ.
But _all_ were not asleep in that dismal prison-house. There were amongthem, it seemed, a few who were troubled with fears--perhaps some whohad consciences not yet utterly seared. At all events, two or three ofthem moved uneasily as they sat huddled together, for there was littleroom for so many in such a confined space, and now and then a burstingsigh escaped. But such evidences of weakness, if such it may be called,were few. For the most part silence reigned. In mercy the captain hadordered a chink of the hatch to be left open, and through this the starsshone down into the dark chamber.
Looking up at these, in statue-like silence, sat the pirate-chief. Noone had spoken to him, and he had spoken to none since his entry there.Sleep did not visit _his_ eyes, nor rest his heart, yet he sat perfectlystill, hour after hour. Perchance he experienced the rest resultingfrom an iron will that abides its approaching time for action.
The tending of the wounded, the cleansing of the ship, the feeding ofsurvivors, the shutting up and arranging for the night, had passedaway--even the groaning of sufferers had dwindled down to its lowestebb--long before Pungarin moved with the intent to carry out hispurpose.
The night-watch had been set and changed; the guard over the prisonershad been relieved; the man in charge of them had gone his rounds andexamined their fetters; the careful captain had himself inspectedthem,--all was perfectly quiet and deemed safe, when Pungarin at lastmoved, and gave vent to one deep prolonged sigh that seemed to be theopening of the escape-valve of his heart, and the out-rush of itslong-pent-up emotions.
Slowly, but persistently, he began to struggle, and in the darkness ofthe place it seemed to those of his comrades who observed him as if hewere writhing like a snake. But little did his fellow-pirates heed.Their hearts had long ago ceased to be impressible by horrid fancies.They could not help but see what went on before their eyes--it did notrequire an effort to help caring!
We have already said that some of the prisoners had been bound withropes for want of irons. Pungarin was among the number, and his almostsuperhuman efforts were directed to freeing himself from his rope,either by tearing his limbs out of it, or by snapping it asunder. Inboth attempts he failed. Sailors are, of all men, least likely to tie aknot badly, or to select a rope too weak for its purpose. The pirate atlength made this discovery, and sank down exhausted. But he rose againere long.
Those of the prisoners who had been secured by ropes were fastened to abeam overhead. The place was very low. None of them could have stooderect under this beam. While endeavouring to free himself, Pungarin hadstruggled on his knees. He now raised himself as high as possible onhis knees. His hands, although tied in front of him, could be raised tohis head. He quickly made a loop on the rope and passed it over hishead.
Just then the guard removed the hatchway, and descended to make the lastinspection for the night. Pungarin hastily removed the rope, sank downand lay quite still as if in slumber.
Night passed slowly on. The morning-star arose. The sun soon chasedaway the shadows, and brought joy to the awaking world. It even broughtsome degree of comfort to the comfortless on board the gun-boat. Thesleepers began to rouse themselves, the wounded to move and relievethemselves, if possible, by change of position. The cook set about hispreparations for the morning meal, and the captain, who, beingdangerously close to shore, had taken no rest whatever during the night,gave up the charge of his vessel to the first officer, and went below toseek that repose which he had so well earned.
Ere he had closed an eye, however, his attention, was arrested by a cry,and by a peculiar noise of voices on deck. There are tones in the humanvoice which need no verbal explanation to tell us that they meansomething serious. He jumped up and sprang on deck. As if by instincthe went towards the hatchway leading to the hold.
"He's dead, sir!" were the first words that greeted him.
A glance into the hold was enough to explain.
The pirate-chief had hanged himself. With difficulty, but withinflexible resolution, he had accomplished his purpose by fastening therope round his neck and lifting his legs off the ground, so that he wasactually found suspended in a sitting posture.
His comrades in guilt, little impressed, apparently, by his fate, sat orreclined around his body in callous indifference.
Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters Page 20
