CHAPTER TEN.
WE PLUNDER THE FRENCH BARQUE.
As my feet touched the barque's deck, I flung a lightning glance aboutme to gather as much information as possible, not knowing but that atany moment such knowledge might be of priceless value to me. The craftwas somewhat bigger than I had at first set her down to be, being offully four hundred, or maybe four hundred and fifty, tons measurement.Looking for'ard to the swell of her bows, I saw that she must evidentlybe of a motherly build, which accorded well with the fact that she hadlost steerage-way long before such had been the case with the brig. Herdecks were in a very dirty and untidy condition, looking as though theyhad not been washed down, or even swept, for at least a week, and theywere lumbered up with quite an unusual number of spars and booms. Yetshe was evidently a passenger ship, for the cabin under her full poopwas brilliantly lighted up, and through its open door I caught a glimpseof several men and women so attired as to at once proclaim their statuson board; moreover, the quarter-deck was also occupied by a group of menand women, evidently passengers, with two or three sailorly-looking menamong them, over whom a party of O'Gorman's people were mounting guard,the remainder being stationed on guard over the fore-scuttle, down whichI presumed the barque's crew had been driven.
My attention was almost instantly attracted toward the little party onthe quarter-deck, and especially toward a grey-haired man in uniform,whom I imagined might be the skipper. I advanced toward the party, witha bow, and said, in French:
"I wish to speak to the captain of this vessel: may I ask if he happensto be among you?"
The old gentleman in uniform at once advanced a pace and, acknowledgingmy salute by raising his gold-laced cap, answered:
"I am he. And I demand to know, monsieur, by what right you and yourcrew of ruffians have dared to run aboard me in this outrageous fashion,driving my crew below, stationing a guard athwart my decks, andfrightening my passengers very nearly out of their senses. Are youpirates, or what?"
"Monsieur," answered I, "there is nothing to be gained by attempting todeceive you, and I will therefore at once say that I fear you will findthat you have fallen into the hands of pirates. The big man beside meis their captain, while I, and a young lady aboard the brig, have themisfortune to be their prisoners. I shall probably not be afforded anopportunity to explain to you the unfortunate situation of the younglady and myself; but as soon as I became aware of the intention of thesemen to board you I prepared a letter which will explain everything--itis unfortunately written in English, but that, I am sure, will prove noobstacle to you. This letter I will presently endeavour to pass,unobserved, to one of you; and if you will kindly act in accordance withthe request set forth therein, you will very greatly oblige two mostunhappy people."
"Monsieur," said the Frenchman, "I will gladly do anything in my powerto help you; but as to effecting your rescue--" he glanced expressivelyat O'Gorman and his companions, and shrugged his shoulders in a way thatvery clearly indicated his helplessness.
Here O'Gorman cut in. "Well, what has the ould chap got to say forhimsilf?" he demanded.
"Why," answered I, "you heard what he said. He wants to know what wemean by boarding his ship in this outrageous fashion and driving hiscrew below."
"Ask him what is the name of his ship, where he is from, and where boundto," ordered the Irishman.
I put the questions; and the skipper answered:
"This is the _Marie Renaud_, of and from Marseilles, for Bourbon, with ageneral cargo."
I translated, turning to O'Gorman--and slightly away from the group ofFrenchmen--to do so; and while I was speaking a hand touched mine--whichI held, clenched, behind my back, with the letter, folded small, withinit--while a voice murmured in my ear:
"Your letter, monsieur?"
I opened my fingers, and felt the missive gently abstracted.
"Thank God for that opportunity!" thought I fervently, as O'Gorman said:
"Ask him if he has plenty of provisions and water aboard."
I at once saw the villain's game: he was going to replenish the brig'sstores by plundering the barque, thus rendering it unnecessary to touchat any port. So, while translating the question to the French skipper,I took it upon myself to very tersely mention my suspicions, and torecommend the adoption of any precautionary measures that might suggestthemselves.
"The bulk of my stores is stowed in the after hold," answered the Frenchskipper, "but there is about enough in the lazarette to carry us to CapeTown. If they can be persuaded to be satisfied with what is there only,we shall come to no great harm."
"You hear?" said I, turning to O'Gorman again, quite certain, by thistime, of his inability to understand a single word of French; "they arevery short of provisions, having only sufficient in their lazarette tocarry them to Cape Town."
"Is that all?" demanded the Irishman. "Thin, be jabers, _I'm_ sorry forthim, for there's a good manny miles bechuxt here and Cape Town, and I'mafraid they'll be mortial hungry before they get there. For I'm goin'to help mesilf to everything ateable that the barque carries, and so yemay tell the skipper--bad cess to him for a mismanagin' shpalpeen! Whoydidn't he lay in stores enough to carry him to the ind of his v'yage?And ye may tell him, too, to start all hands to get those stores on deckin a hurry; our own lads will have enough to do in lookin' afthereverybody, and seein' that none of the Frenchies thries to play annytricks wid us."
I translated the gist of these remarks to the French captain, and at thesame time gave him a hint to exhibit a proper amount of righteousindignation over the robbery; which he did to perfection, wringing hishands, rumpling his hair, and pacing the deck with the air of a madmanwhile he poured out anathemas enough upon O'Gorman and his gang to sinkthe entire party to the nethermost depths of perdition. Meanwhile, theFrench crew, under the supervision of the mates--with Price watching theoperation to see that a clean sweep was made of the lazarette--went towork to pass the stores on deck; and in less than an hour everythingthat the lazarette had contained was safely transferred to the brig, andstowed away.
While this operation was in progress, O'Gorman made a tour of thevarious cabins, compelling the unfortunate passengers to turn out theirtrunks before him, and appropriating the whole of their cash, jewellery,weapons, and ammunition, together with as much of their clothing ashappened to take his fancy. As he executed his self-imposed task withconsiderable deliberation, those passengers whose turn was still to comehad plenty of time to meditate upon their coming despoilment, and one ofthem--the individual who had so kindly relieved me of my letter--took itinto his head to do me a good turn. Withdrawing quietly to his cabin,he presently reappeared with a mahogany case, to which heunostentatiously directed my attention, immediately afterwards laying itcarelessly down in a dark corner of the cabin.
Then he came and stood close beside me, and murmured in my ear:
"A brace of duelling-pistols, with a full supply of ammunition,monsieur. Since apparently they _must_ go, I would rather that theyshould fall into monsieur's hands, if possible. He may perhaps findthem useful some time in the future."
"A thousand thanks, monsieur," returned I, in a whisper. "Should weever meet again I will endeavour to repay your kindness with interest."
Then, watching my opportunity, I possessed myself of the case ofpistols, made my way on deck with them, and--thanks to the bustle oftrans-shipping the stores--managed to slip on board the brig with it andconvey it, undetected, to my own cabin. Having done which, I spoke areassuring word or two to Miss Onslow--who had retired to her owncabin--lighted a pipe, and sauntered up on deck again with the mostcareless demeanour imaginable.
It was long past midnight by the time that O'Gorman had finished riflingthe barque, by which time he had secured all the provisions out of theunfortunate craft's lazarette, had taken four brass nine-pounder guns,two dozen stand of muskets, the same number of cutlasses and boardingpikes, together with a considerable quantity of ammunition, had emptiedone of the barque's water-tanks, an
d had robbed them, in addition, oftheir two best boats--fine twenty-seven feet gigs--with their wholeequipment. Then, the weather still being stark calm, he compelled theFrenchmen to hoist out their remaining two boats and to tow the brigclear of and about a mile distant from the barque. Before that momentarrived, however, the French skipper contrived to get a hurried wordwith me.
"Monsieur," he said, "the contents of your letter have been communicatedto me; and permit me to say that you and Mademoiselle Onslow have theheartiest sympathy and commiseration of myself and my passengers in yourmost unpleasant situation. But, monsieur, I fear I cannot possibly helpyou in the way that would doubtless be most acceptable to you--namely,by receiving you on board my ship. The scoundrels who hold you in theirpower would never permit it; and even were it possible for you andmademoiselle to slip aboard, unperceived, and secrete yourselves, yourabsence would be quickly discovered, it would be guessed what had becomeof you, and the pirates would assuredly give chase and recapture you--for the barque, fine ship though she be, certainly _is_ a trifle slow--and who knows what vengeance the wretches might wreck upon us for havingpresumed to abet you in your attempt to escape them? You will perceive,I am sure, that my duty to my passengers forbids my exposing them tosuch a risk. But I shall now call at Cape Town, to replace what thosevillains have taken from me; and you may rest assured that I will notonly report the act of piracy that has been perpetrated upon me, but Iwill also make known the unfortunate situation of yourself andmademoiselle, so that your countrymen may be enabled to take such stepsas they may see fit to effect your rescue."
This was as much as I could reasonably hope; and I thanked the skipperheartily for undertaking even so much as that.
In the early hours of the morning a gentle little air from thenorthward--that gradually strengthened to a nice working breeze--sprangup; and when I went on deck at seven bells the _Marie Renaud_ was out ofsight, and we were alone once more on the tumbling waste of waters.
From that time forward nothing of importance occurred until we arrivedin the longitude of the Horn, our passage of this notorious headlandbeing accomplished in gloriously fine weather--for a wonder--with half agale of wind from the eastward, blowing over our taffrail, to which weshowed every rag that we could set upon the hooker. The actual passageoccurred in the early morning--about six o'clock, according to our deadreckoning--and upon working out the sights that I had secured afterbreakfast for the determination of the longitude, I found that we werethirty miles to the westward of it, and far enough south to permit ofour shifting our helm for the mysterious island to which we weresupposed to be bound. Accordingly, having verified my figures, andpricked off the brig's position on the chart, I made my way up on deck,and informed O'Gorman of the state of affairs.
"So we're actually now in the moighty Pacific, eh?" he exclaimed in highelation. "Bedad that's good news, annyhow, and we'll cilibrate theoccasion by takin' an exthry tot o' grog all round, and dhrinkin'shuccess to the v'yage. But, sthop a minute; ye want to know whereye're to shape a coorse for, now? By the powers, misther, I'll tell yethat same in a brace of shakes. Let me go and get the paper out o' mechist, and I'll soon make ye as wise as mesilf."
The fellow hurried away for'ard, and dived below into the forecastle,from which he soon emerged again, bearing in his hand an oblongenvelope. From this he carefully withdrew a paper, folded lengthwise,and, opening it, read:
"`Latichood: Two, forty-eight, forty; south. Longitood: One hundred andforty-four, ten, ten; west. Approach island from nor'-west, and standtowards it with summit of hill bearin' south-east half-south, whichleads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south aquarter west for the mouth of the bight'--and that's enough: there's nocall to read the rest to ye," he concluded abruptly.
"As you please," answered I; "I have no desire whatever to know anythingmore of the matter than what is absolutely necessary to enable me tonavigate the brig to the spot, and afterwards to make a civilised portin the shortest possible time. I will, however, have a look at thechart, and ascertain the particular island to which those figures ofyours refer."
"You might as well bring the chart up on deck, and let me see it: I'dloike to see just where we're bound to, and how long it'll take us togit there," remarked O'Gorman.
I accordingly went below, secured the chart, together with a pencil, apair of dividers, and a parallel ruler, and took the whole on deck.Then, spreading the chart open, I pricked off the latitude and longitudegiven by O'Gorman, and, to my astonishment, found that the spot waslocated in open water.
"I am very much afraid that your information is faulty, O'Gorman," saidI, pointing to the spot. "Do you see that? There is no island shown inyour latitude and longitude. The nearest land to it is the Marquesasgroup, and Hiau--the nearest of them--is three hundred and sixty milesdistant from your spot."
O'Gorman stared blankly at the chart for a full minute or more, glaredsuspiciously at me for nearly as long; looked at his paper again, toassure himself that he had made no mistake; and finally rapped out astring of oaths in his consternation. Then he nipped his profanityshort off as a comforting reflection occurred to him.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "but this oiland as Oi'mtalkin' about is unbeknownst, so av coorse it won't be drawed on thechart. That's all right, misther; you navigate the brig to that place,and you'll find an oiland there, safe enough."
"But, supposing that we do _not_," I suggested; "supposing that yourinformation happens to be incorrect; what then?"
"Ay, but it _won't_ be," he snarled back; "it'll be correct, and we'llfind the oiland where Oi told ye. And if we don't, why bedad it'll bethe worse for you and the gal, for we'll cruise for it until we find it,if we has to cruise until the Judgment Day, like the Flyin' Dutchman!"
"All right," I said. "If the island is where you say it is, I will findit for you, never fear. If it is _not_--well, then it will _not_ befound; and that is all there is about it."
"Oi tell ye it _will_ be found; it _must_ be found!" shouted O'Gorman,goaded to fury at the suggestion that perhaps, after all, a diredisappointment lay in store for him. "If the oiland isn't there, it'ssomewheres thereabouts, widin a few miles more or less; and we've got tofind it afore the hooker turns her nose towards home. Now I hopesthat's plain enough for ye."
And, smiting the chart a mighty blow with his clenched fist, he turnedon his heel and walked forward.
It need scarcely be said that after such a dogmatic statement as this Ifound my anxiety greatly increased; for I by this time knew the Irishmanwell enough to be fully aware that no mule could be more obstinate thanhe, and that, having once made up his mind that his island existed, hewould never abandon his search until he had found it--or something thatmight pass for it. And I was determined that should our search proveunsuccessful, I would at once bear up for the Marquesas, and let himtake his choice from among the whole group. Indeed, for a moment I felttempted to shape as straight a course as I could for the centre of thegroup, without troubling to hunt for O'Gorman's particular island atall, as I gravely doubted whether it really had an existence outside theman's own imagination. But, on the other hand, his information wasdrawn from a document that, while stained and discoloured with age, hadevery appearance--from my casual inspection of it--of being genuine;and, if so, the island might possibly exist, although uncharted.Moreover, O'Gorman had not seized the brig and become a pirate merely tosatisfy an idle curiosity as to the accuracy of the document he hadproduced; he was going there for a certain definite purpose; to searchfor something, probably; and, if so, nothing short of our arrival atthat particular island would satisfy him. So, having laid off thecourse upon the chart, I gave it to the helmsman, and called the handsaft to trim sail.
Of our passage into the solitudes of the Pacific I have nothing torelate, save that Miss Onslow's demeanour toward me became, if possible,more perplexing and tantalising than ever. To convey a clear andaccurate idea of her varying moods it would be necessar
y to relate intolerably minute detail the particulars of our daily intercoursethroughout the voyage--a course of procedure which would not only expandmy story far beyond its proper limits, but would also entirely alter itscharacter--I must therefore content myself with merely stating that Ibelieve I may, without exaggeration, assert that I never found her uponany two occasions to behave in a precisely similar manner. She appearedto regulate her treatment of me by the behaviour of the men. She hadlong ago abandoned that almost insolent hauteur of manner thatdistinguished her at the outset of our acquaintance; but if the weatherwas fine, the wind fair, the men upon their best behaviour--as sometimeshappened--_in_ short, _if_ things were going well with me in otherrespects, she invariably kept me at arm's-length by a certainindefinable, but none the less unmistakable, coolness, indifference, anddistance of manner just sufficiently pronounced to suggest a desire tobe left to herself. But in proportion as difficulties, anxieties, andvexations arose, so did her manner warm to me until there were timeswhen it became almost caressingly tender; so that, as my passion for hergrew, I sometimes felt almost tempted to feign an anxiety or a distressthat did not exist, for the mere delight of finding her manner warmingto me. But I take credit to myself that I always resisted thetemptation, fighting against it as a thing to yield to which would bemean and unmanly on my part.
In this strange and contradictory condition of alternate peace, renderedinsipid by Miss Onslow's coolness, and anxiety converted into happinessunspeakable by the warmth and tenderness of her sympathy, I carried thebrig toward the spot indicated in O'Gorman's document; and at noon on acertain day my observations showed that we had arrived within sixtymiles of it. The weather was then brilliantly fine, with a gentlebreeze out from about west-north-west, that wafted the brig along overthe low, long mounds of the Pacific swell at a rate of about five knots;consequently, if the island happened to be in the position assigned toit, we ought to reach it about midnight. O'Gorman's desire to be madeacquainted with our exact position daily had been growing ever since wehad shifted our helm after rounding the Horn, beginning as a conditionof languid curiosity, which had strengthened into a state of feverishrestlessness and anxiety that, on the day in question, as soon as I hadconveyed to him the customary information, found vent in an order that aman should go aloft and maintain a lookout from the topgallant yarduntil the island should be sighted, the remainder of the crew being setto work during the afternoon to rouse out and bend the cables, and toattend to the various other matters incidental to the approach of avessel to a port. He also had the spare spars overhauled and suitableones selected for the purpose of erecting tents in conjunction with thebrig's old sails, from all of which I inferred that our stay at theisland--should we happen to find it--would be a somewhat protracted one.
As to the probability of our finding the place, I was exceedinglydoubtful; for although I was well aware that hitherto unknown islandswere still occasionally being discovered in the Pacific, I was equallywell aware that these new islands were almost invariably low, and ofinsignificant dimensions, being, in fact, merely coral reefs that havebeen gradually lifted above the surface of the ocean; whereas O'Gorman'sdocument contained mention of a _hill_, and the presence of a hillargued a probable existence of ages, and a consequently correspondinglikelihood of comparatively early discovery.
But at two bells in the second dog-watch, that night, all doubt was putan end to by a sudden, startling cry from the lookout on thefore-topgallant yard of:
"Land ho; right ahead!"
I was on deck at the time, and far from expecting to hear such a cry;indeed so incredulous was I still that I quite concluded the man hadallowed his imagination to run away with him, and was mistaking theshoulder of some low-lying cloud for distant land. So I hailed himwith:
"Topgallant yard, there! are you quite sure that what you see is land,and not a hummock of cloud?"
"Yes, sir," he shouted back; "I'm _quite_ sure of it. I've beenwatchin' it growin' for the last quarter of a hour or more, and ithaven't changed its shape the least bit all that time; only growed theleastest bit bigger and clearer."
Meanwhile, O'Gorman had sprung into the rigging and was by this timeclawing his way over the rim of the top. Another minute, and he was onthe topgallant yard, alongside the other man, peering ahead into thefast gathering dusk, under the sharp of his hand. He stared at it for agood five minutes; then, shouting down "It's all right, mates; it'sland, and no mistake!" he swung himself on to the backstay, and camedown on deck by way of it. He no sooner reached the deck than heplunged into the forecastle, from which he presently emerged again,bearing in his hand a packet that I presently recognised as his preciousdocument. He came straight aft to me with it, and said:
"Now, misther, I want ye to get a bit of paper and write down thedirections that Oi'll read out to ye. Oi'm all right in deep wather,and wid plenty of say-room to come and go upon; but whin it comes tonavigatin' narrow channels, and kapin' clear of the rocks, and takin' avessel to her anchorage, bedad I'm nowhere. So I'll be obliged to askye to write down the instructions that Oi've got here, and then ye'lltake command of the brig until she's safe at anchor."
"Very well," I said. "Are the instructions very long?"
"Two or three dozen words 'll cover the lot," answered the Irishman.
"All right," said I; "fire away." And drawing a pencil and paper frommy pocket, I prepared to copy down whatever he might read to me.
"`Approach island from nor'-west,'" began O'Gorman, "`and stand towardsit wid summit of hill bearin' south-east, half-south; which leadsthrough the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south aquarter west, for the mouth of the bight at the bottom of the bay.Stand boldly in until ye come abreast of the big rock at the mouth ofthe bight, when clew up and furl everything. Follow the bight until yereach the lagoon, when ye may anchor annywhere not closer than a dozenfadoms of the oiland. The gems'--oh, bedad, but that's another mattherintoirely," he hastily concluded.
"The directions seem explicit enough," said I; "and as no mention ismade of any dangers to be avoided I suppose there are none. All thesame, we shall need daylight for the job of taking the brig to the berthmentioned, so I shall stand on until four bells in the first watch, andthen heave-to for the remainder of the night. At daylight we will fillaway again and work round to the nor'-west side of the island, when, ifthe water happens to be clear, we shall perhaps be able to see thebottom from aloft, and thus safely pilot the vessel to her anchorage. Iwill con her myself from the fore-topmast crosstrees."
At four bells--ten o'clock--that night, the island showed through theclear darkness upon the horizon as an irregularly-shaped pyramid, with apeak nearly in the centre of it, rising to a height which I estimated atabout six or seven hundred feet. The island itself was at that timesome ten miles distant, and, measured from end to end, as we then lookedat it, I took it to be about four miles across. We hove the brig to,and tried a cast first with the hand lead, and then with the deep-sealead, but got no bottom, at which I was by no means surprised, as I hadalready heard that many of the islands in the Pacific--especially thoseof coral formation--rise sheer from the very bottom of the sea.
At daybreak the next morning I was called by the steward, and, dressing,went on deck, to find that the weather was as it had been all throughthe preceding day, namely, a light breeze from the westward, with acloudless sky of crystalline clearness overhead, and a long, lowsluggish swell undulating athwart the gently-ruffled surface of theocean. The island now bore about four points on our weather quarter,some sixteen miles distant; so we filled the main-topsail, got way uponthe ship, and hauled up to "full-and-by," when it was found that weshould just handsomely fetch clear of the most leeward point of theland.
Viewed by the early daylight, the island presented a most attractiveappearance, rising against the background of sky as a picture painted inan infinite variety of delicate purple tones of shadow, through which,with the aid of the glass, could be made out the several declivities,gorge
s, precipices, and ravines that went to make up the contour of thecountry. It was thickly wooded everywhere, seemingly from the water'sedge to within some eighty feet or so of the summit, the latter risingnaked into the clear air. But attractive as it looked under the soft,subdued light of the early dawn, in the delicate monochrome of distance,and the absence of direct sunlight, it looked even more beautiful when,after sunrise, as we approached it more closely, the countless subtlevariations of tint in the foliage, from this in brightest sunlight, tothat in deepest, richest purple shadow, became manifest; and so powerfulan impression did it make upon the men that I overheard them freelydiscussing the desirability of making a lengthened sojourn there.
"Yes," said I, when O'Gorman, carried away by his enthusiasm at thebeauty of the place, hinted at such a possibility, "that is all verywell, and sounds very attractive just now; but has it yet occurred toyou that yonder island may be peopled by a race of savages who, if wegive them the opportunity, will gladly make a barbecue of all hands?"
"Phew! begorra, but Oi nivver thought of that!" he ejaculated in suddendismay. "Oi'm obliged to ye for the hint, misther. We'll load the gunsand muskets, and make ready generally for the blagguards, if they havethe impidence to be there."
And forthwith he shambled away for'ard, unceremoniously cutting into theholiday plans that the men were busily concocting, and instructing themto load the guns and arm themselves in readiness for any emergency thatmight arise.
As we stood in toward the land I kept a bright lookout for smoke, forhuts peeping from among the trees, for canoes hauled up on the beach, orany other indications of the presence of human life on the island, butcould see nothing. At this, however, I was not very greatly surprised,for although we were on the lee side of the island, the surf wasbreaking so heavily all along the shore as to render it impracticablefor canoes. If the island happened to be inhabited, the inhabitantswould probably be found located on its weather side, which, according toO'Gorman's document, was protected from the surf by a barrier reef, witha passage through it.
As we stood on it became apparent that the island was nearer five thanfour miles long--as I had estimated it to be on the previous night--thatits general trend was from north-east to south-west, and that, ifsurveyed and laid down upon the chart, it would present a somewhat flatand irregular crescent-like plan. The barrier reef sprang from thenorth-east extremity of the island, sweeping seaward on the arc of acircle on its north-western side, and uniting again with the island atits south-western extremity, forming a lagoon of the same length as theisland, and about three-quarters of a mile wide at its widest point.The barrier reef, in fact, constituted a magnificent natural breakwater,upon which the surf eternally broke in a loud, sullen roar ofeverlasting thunder, while inside it the water was smooth as a millpond, shoaling very gradually from the reef to the shore of the island,which consisted of a narrow beach of dazzling white sand, bordered by afringe of thousands of cocoa-nut palms, the long, plume-like branches ofwhich swayed gently in the soft, warm morning breeze. It was on thisside of the island, I concluded, that, if anywhere, traces ofinhabitants would be found, and I scanned the shore carefully andanxiously through the ship's glass in search of such; but nothing of thekind was to be seen; and I at length closed the telescope with a clash,relieved to believe that, whatever anxieties there might be awaiting mein the immediate future, trouble with hostile natives was not to be oneof them.
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