CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE CONCONIL LAGOONS.
No sooner was our anchor down than the boat was launched over the side;the felucca's hatches were whipped off, and Carera, diving below, drewforth from some mysterious recess in the little cabin a stout canvas bagcontaining the two hundred doubloons which he had brought with him forthe purpose of trading, whilst the crew, including Courtenay and myself,who were appropriately rigged for the occasion, roused up out of thehold sundry bales of canvas and clothing, coils of rope, casks ofprovisions, and other etceteras which had been purchased on Giuseppe'saccount and to his especial order, and for which he would pay in booty.These articles were at once passed over the side into the boat, and assoon as she was loaded with as much as she could safely carry, Careraand a couple of his most trusted hands jumped into her and pulledashore. As Courtenay and I were strangers, whilst all the other handsbelonging to the felucca had frequently visited the place before andwere pretty well known to the whole gang, it was deemed advisable thatwe should remain on board, so as to obviate as far as possible thepropounding of perhaps awkward questions as to who and what we were,with the contingent probability of arousing suspicion in the minds ofthe pirates. To this arrangement we had no objection whatever to make,as Carera assured us there was nothing in the least likely to interestus on shore--nothing whatever, in fact, that we could not just as wellsee from the felucca's deck with the aid of a telescope. We thereforeremained on board, busying ourselves by putting our notes into shapewhilst everything was still fresh in our minds, and making as thoroughan examination of the island, with the various buildings upon it, as waspossible without running the risk of attracting attention. The latterpart of our task was an easy one, there being only four buildingsaltogether on the island; the largest, a kind of general storehouse,being built upon the beach just above high-water mark, so as to be easyof access from the water; whilst the remaining three, consisting of adwelling for Giuseppe and his principal officers, a long, ramblingbarrack-like structure for the men who might happen to be left on shore,and a cook-house, were all erected on the top of the hill. The schoonernaturally attracted a great deal of attention. She was dismantled, allto her lower masts, and was hove right down on her beam-ends, so as tobring her keel out of the water, so that we could not see as much of heras we should have liked; but, judging of her size from the boatsalongside, and the men working about her, we estimated her to measureabout one hundred and fifty tons. Her bottom was turned in ourdirection, and the men were busily engaged in stripping off a quantityof her sheathing and removing several of her planks below the water-line, which, in conjunction with the fact that we detected what lookeduncommonly like a couple of shot-holes through her bottom, led us tobelieve that she, like ourselves, had recently had a very narrow escapeof being sunk. The position she was in afforded us an excellentopportunity of inspecting her lines, and I must say I never before sawany nearly so perfect. Looking at them from where we were, they seemedto be absolutely faultless; and as we critically examined them theconviction forced itself upon us that, in moderate weather and with nottoo much sea on, there was nothing flying British bunting in West Indianwaters--or elsewhere, for that matter--which would stand the slightestchance of catching her.
After an absence of about an hour the felucca's boat came off again,without Carera, but loaded down to the gunwale with the mostheterogeneous assortment of goods it is possible to imagine, includingbales of silk and other valuable stuffs, casks of wine and spirits, anda considerable quantity of handsome silver plate; the latter alone beingworth, according to my estimation, considerably more than Carera's bagof doubloons and the rest of his cargo to boot. These goods were passedon deck and from thence down into the hold; the remainder of our ownsmall cargo was loaded into the boat, and away she went on shore again.When she came off the second time it was nearly sunset; Carera came withher, bringing off the remaining price of his barter, consisting of halfa dozen bales of tobacco and fifty boxes of prime cigars. The rascalseemed thoroughly well pleased with the result of his bargaining, asindeed he very well might be, for he must have secured fully four timesthe value of the money and goods he had brought with him to the lagoons.He informed us that, if we had seen all we considered necessary to thesuccessful issue of our projected expedition, he would be off again atdaybreak next morning, as Giuseppe was in a most unamiable, and indeeddangerous temper, having been badly mauled a week previously by aBritish frigate--most probably the one which had manifested such a verymarked interest in the _Pinta's_ movements--and that he had only scrapedclear of her and made good his escape at last by the happy accident ofbeing close to shoal water, into which he had retreated, with hisschooner half unrigged and seven eighteen-pound shot-holes through hersides and bottom, which he had inefficiently plugged with the utmostdifficulty, reaching the lagoons at last in a water-logged and sinkingcondition. Carera further informed us that, by a lucky combination ofcircumstances, he had not only discovered the locality of but hadactually been permitted to enter the pirates' treasure-house--a cellarhollowed out of the earth beneath Giuseppe's dwelling--and that therewas a considerably larger accumulation of treasure in it than even hehad imagined; and that, further, there was no time to be lost inorganising the expedition against the pirates, as it had transpired thatmany of them were growing anxious to enjoy the fruit of their nefariouslabours, and serious thoughts were entertained of a speedy generaldivision of the spoil and dispersion of the gang. I may as wellmention, _en passant_, that it appeared to be the fashion for everybodyvisiting the lagoons to speak of Giuseppe, whenever they had occasion tomention him, as "Captain Merlani," whilst within the limits of SantaClara Bay. I have not the least idea why it was so, but such is thefact; and as the use of a man's Christian name seems to imply a closerdegree of intimacy with, and personal friendship for, him than we couldrightfully claim, I will, with the reader's kind permission, refer tohim henceforward as "Merlani" The reason why I have not done so earlierin my story is, that it was not until our arrival within his territory,so to speak, that we became acquainted with the fellow's surname. Thisby the way.
As night closed down upon the lagoons with that rapidity which ispeculiar to the tropics and the regions immediately adjacent thereto,our ears were assailed by that babel of sound which prevails withscarcely a moment's intermission all through the hours of darknesswherever there is a patch of land large enough to support a few treeswith their almost invariable attendant undergrowth, and which emanatesfrom the countless myriads of insects which find their home in theground, the long grass, the foliage, and the bark of the trees, thechorus being swelled in the present instance by the cries of countlesslizards--from the diminutive and harmless grass-lizard up to thealligator, the weird sounds uttered by the nocturnal birds which flittedon noiseless wing from bough to bough, and the rattling _chirr_ of awhole army of frogs. And very soon, too, we discovered that we were inone of the favourite haunts of the mosquito, for the cabin lamp wasscarcely lighted when the pests made their appearance below in absoluteclouds, and so tormented us that we were fain to beat a hasty retreat tothe deck, in the vain hope of avoiding them.
We had no sooner set foot on deck, however, than we felt almost thankfulto the pertinacious little wretches for having driven us there, for ascene at once burst upon us of such singular and bewitching beauty as Icertainly had never up to that time looked upon. The moon, nearly full,and tinted a pale but rich crimson by the atmosphere of miasmatic fogwhich overhung the lagoon, was just rising into view above the tree-topsand flinging a long tremulous trail of blood-red colour athwart thealmost stagnant water. The trees near at hand stood up black as ebony,and motionless as if painted upon the deep soft violet of the cloudlesssky, whilst, as they receded to the right and left, their formsgradually became merged with and lost in the fog, which floated not inone uniform mass but in wreaths of ever-changing and most fantasticshape, with their upper edges here and there delicately tinged infaintest rainbow hues as the slanting moonbeams fell upon
them.Fireflies, visible only as tiny sparks of light, flitted and glanced andwhirled hither and thither against the black shadows of the foliage,whilst the black water, so highly phosphorescent that every tiniestripple was edged with its own individual and separate line of silveryfire, glowed and darkened, sparkled and flashed, and at times seemed tofairly throb with liquid lightning as the countless living creatureswithin it stirred its sleeping depths. So insignificant a disturbanceeven as the falling of a leaf into the water sufficed to evolve aslowly-widening circle of silver light, whilst a frog, a lizard, or awater-rat, making an aquatic excursion, revealed his form and presencemuch more distinctly than would have been the case at noonday.
Our attention, however, was soon distracted from this witching scene--the exquisite beauty of which is not to be described in mere words--by anoise of singing and shouting on Merlani's island. Presently a feebleflickering fame became visible on the sandy beach, which, quicklyincreasing in brilliancy, revealed the evident fact that a party of thebuccaneers were intent upon a carouse. With the aid of a telescope wecould see that these men, some twenty in number, had seated themselvesround the fire--which they had probably kindled for the twofold purposeof providing themselves with light and smoking away the mosquitoes--andwere industriously passing round a bulky jar, presumably containingspirits, from which, as it came round, each man scrupulously replenishedhis pannikin; the intervals not devoted to the more important businessof drinking being occupied in the singing, or rather _shouting_, ofribald songs, in the performance of which every man's aim appeared to beto out-yell everybody else. This lasted for rather more than an hour,when a temporary lull occurred, and we were in hopes that the orgy wasabout over and that the hubbub had ceased for the night, when a largeboat full of men was seen to be pulling off in our direction. I did notlike the look of this at all; the idea of being boarded there in thatout-of-the-way spot by a score of desperadoes, half crazy with drink,and, even at the best of times, ripe for any deed of diabolicalmischief, was so uninviting that I suggested to Carera the advisabilityof at once arming all hands, so as to be in readiness for any emergency.I could see that Carera was even more discomposed than ourselves at theapproach of the boat, but he would not for a moment listen to myproposal to arm the felucca's people, hastily explaining--and possiblyhe was right--that the display of weapons would be only too likely tofurther excite our coming visitors and lead to some overt act productiveof a terrible disaster. He expressed the opinion--his teeth chatteringwith fear, meanwhile, to such an extent that he could scarcelyarticulate--that the visit would probably prove to be no more than adrunken frolic, and that if it were received and treated as such allwould doubtless turn out well; but he very earnestly urged uponCourtenay and me the desirability of our retiring and keeping out ofsight so long as our visitors remained on board, which I thought goodenough advice to be acted upon, and we accordingly retreated belowforthwith. At first sight this retreat of ours smacked a little, I willadmit, of slinking off out of possible harm's way; but after all whatgood could we have done by remaining on deck? And having thus farcarried our somewhat foolhardy adventure prosperously through, it wasscarcely worth while to endanger its ultimate success by courting risksin which the remarks or questions of a drunken desperado might at anymoment involve us.
We had barely made good our retreat when the boat arrived alongside, andher occupants were in another moment in possession of the felucca'sdeck. A torrent of ribald banter and raillery--of the sort which,coming from a drunken man, is expected to be received as jovial humour,but which a chance word or inadvertent glance of misappreciation may ina moment cause to be exchanged for expressions and acts of the mostdiabolical ferocity--was at once discharged by these ruffians at Careraand his crew, who, anxious to propitiate their most unwelcome visitors,did their best to retort in kind; and for the next twenty minutes or sothe little vessel fairly rang with the most foul, blasphemous, andblood-curdling language it has ever been my misfortune to listen to.Fortunately for us our knowledge of the Spanish tongue, though it hadproved sufficiently thorough to deceive Carera and his crew into thebelief that we were their fellow-countrymen, was not equal to thecomprehension of one-half of the utterances to which we were just thencompelled to listen, or I have no doubt we should have been even morethoroughly shocked and disgusted than we were.
And here let me break the thread of my story for a moment to speak anearnest word of kindly caution to my youthful readers. Avoid the use offoul, obscene, or blasphemous language, my lads, as you would avoid themost deadly pestilence. I am grieved to notice that it is sometimes thefashion among lads, ay, even in some cases those of respectableparentage, to freely _garnish_, as they think, their conversationhabitually with language of the most vile and disgusting description.They perhaps think it _manly_ to do so, and imagine that a bold recklessstyle of conversation, freely besprinkled with obscenity and profanity,will excite admiration. But if they think this they are making as greatand grievous a mistake as they are ever likely to make in the wholecourse of their lives. The feeling excited is not admiration; it isutter loathing and disgust. Can you think of any man the victim of thishorrible vice, for whom you entertain the smallest spark of admirationor respect? Would you like to hear such words from the lips of your ownfather or mother, your brother or your sister? Or would you like eitherof them to hear you making use of such language? After all, who andwhat are the men who thus habitually indulge in obscenity and profanity?Are they not the vicious and disreputable, the brutal drunken ruffians,the scum of the slums, the lowest of the low, the very outcasts andpariahs of society? And is it for one of these that you would like tobe mistaken? is it with this repulsive brotherhood that you would chooseto ally yourself? Hardly, I would fain hope. No, boys, it is _not_manly--still less is it _gentlemanly_--to be ribald and profane. Notrue gentleman--let his position in life be what it may--ever degradeshimself by the use of foul language, and don't you do it, unless you areanxious to gain for yourself the loathing and utter contempt of yourfellows.
To resume. In this horrible interchange of filthy banter the piratesappeared to have forgotten, for the time being, the object of their tripoff to the felucca, but at length one of them exclaimed, with aprofusion of oaths, that Carera had secured an unfair advantage of themduring the afternoon's bartering transactions, and that they had comeoff to demand a cask of rum with which to square the account Carera, onhis part, tried to laugh off the whole affair as an excellent joke, andproposed to mix them a tub of grog there and then as an appropriatefinish to it; but this would by no means satisfy the ruffians, who werefirm in their demands. So at length, recognising that longer refusalwould prove dangerous, he reluctantly ordered the hatches to be lifted.The cask of rum was hoisted out and lowered into the boat, the piratestumbled in after it, and, finally, with more profanity mingled withsnatches of sea-songs, which were bellowed forth at the top of theirvoices in the style usual with half-tipsy men, away they went for theshore, followed by the smothered imprecations of Carera and his ferventprayers that the boat might capsize and drown them all.
This visit had evidently discomposed Carera's nerves to a veryconsiderable extent, for the boat was no sooner fairly away from thefelucca's side than our host presented himself in the cabin, to informus that, the land-breeze having sprung up and the night being fine andclear, he proposed to go to sea at once instead of waiting untilmorning. We accordingly went on deck again instead of turning in, ashad been our original intention; and a few minutes later--the boat beingby this time close to the beach, and so thoroughly within the circle ofthe brilliant firelight that her occupants were not likely to observeour movements--the canvas was loosed and all hands went cheerily to workto get the anchor. This, the water being shallow, was not a long job,and a quarter of an hour later we were stealing noiselessly away downthe lagoon; the land-breeze, which was rustling cheerily among the tree-tops, just reaching us in a languid zephyr, mingled now and again withfitful puffs, which sent us along at a speed of about
three knots.
It was now nearly ten o'clock at night; the moon rode high in theheavens, which were flecked here and there by small patches of fleecyscurrying cloud; the fog had drifted away, leaving the atmospheredelightfully pure and clear, so that, narrow as was the channel downwhich we were winding our way, we had no difficulty in steering clear ofall obstruction. As we crept down the lagoon we gradually got a truerbreeze and more of it, so that by midnight we found ourselves justpassing out of the Conconil lagoons and entering Santa Clara Bay.
We now had a fine rattling breeze, which we expected would carry usacross the bay and out through the Barcos Channel within the next hour,but, to Courtenay's and my own inexpressible chagrin, Carera nowinformed us that, in order to escape the possibility of a secondrencontre with the frigate we had fallen in with on our passage up, hehad determined to go to the westward, returning round Cape San Antonioinstead of by way of Cape Maysi.
This was horribly disconcerting, for, to tell the truth, we had to alarge extent been hoping for and depending upon such a rencontre as ameans whereby we might effect our escape from the felucca. We thoughtthat, in the event of such a meeting, as we had on the former occasionafforded such material assistance to the felucca's crew in their evasionof capture, so now by a little judicious manoeuvring on our part wemight be the means of effecting it; and it was a severe disappointmentto us to find that this--the most promising opening we had so far beenable to think of--was going to slip through our fingers. We urged uponCarera the importance of time, and reiterated, as often as we dared, our(assumed) belief that the frigate was by that time far enough away fromthe Bahama Channel; but it was all in vain, the fellow was not to bedissuaded from his purpose, and accordingly, on leaving the Conconillagoons, instead of stretching away before the wind straight for theBarcos Channel, the felucca was headed to the westward, on the larboardtack, for the Manou Channel, leading from Santa Clara Bay into CardenasBay.
As this course would take us over new ground, Courtenay and I determinedto remain on deck to pick up any information likely to be of use to usin the future; and I went to the helm, whilst my companion busiedhimself with the sounding-line. An hour's run brought us to the innerend of the channel, which we found to be somewhat serpentine in itscourse, but trending generally in a north-north-west direction, with aminimum depth of two and a half fathoms. A run of about twenty minutescarried us clear of this channel and we found ourselves in Cardenas Bay,an almost landlocked sheet of water nearly double the area of SantaClara Bay and with slightly deeper water, though even here navigationwas only possible for vessels of very light draught. Stretching acrossthe bay we, half an hour later, passed through a group of small cays,after which the water began to deepen somewhat. At two o'clock a.m. wepassed Molas Point, and, hauling sharp round it, found ourselves aquarter of an hour later fairly out at sea and clear of all dangers.After which, thoroughly tired out by our long and busy day, Courtenayand I went below and turned in.
By noon next day--or rather, _the same_ day, to speak with strictaccuracy--we were off Havana; and I was in hopes that Carera would putin there, as he seemed at first to have some idea of doing; for ourwhole thoughts were now bent on effecting our escape from the felucca asearly as possible, and I considered it not improbable that in soimportant a harbour some neutral ship might be found, on board which wemight succeed in taking refuge, and with the master of which we might beable to effect an arrangement by which he would be willing to convey usto Port Royal. But to our intense, though secret, mortification, Careraat length resolved to keep straight on; and thus another of ourcherished hopes was disappointed. We found, however, on inspectingCarera's well-worn chart, that the route he had adopted would take uswithin some ten miles of West Point, Jamaica; and shaving the island soclosely as that there was just a possibility that we might be pouncedupon by one of our own cruisers, so that we were, after all, not exactlyin despair. Still, there was, on the other hand, the chance that thefelucca might scrape clear; and it was just this chance that we had toprovide against, the attempt to do which cost us an infinite amount ofanxious and almost fruitless thought. It was, indeed, the only thingnow left us to think about. By a curious combination of fortuitouscircumstances we had not only tumbled blindfold, as it were, into thissingular adventure, but had also been enabled to successfully avoidawakening the suspicions of the people we were so unexpectedlyassociated with, as well as to see our way clearly all through theadventure, except to its successful ending; and, having carried thething smoothly forward so far, we did not intend to be beaten at last,if there was any possibility of avoiding it. We racked our brainsperpetually on the subject, separately and together, and numerous enoughwere the schemes which we evolved; but, alas, they were all so nearlyimpracticable that only under the most exceptionally favourablecircumstances could we hope to carry them through successfully. The twoleast impracticable were Courtenay's proposal to scuttle the feluccawhen within a few miles of Jamaica, trusting to all hands being able tomake the island, as the nearest place of refuge, in the boat; and my ownscheme, which was that we should secure possession of the armoury in thecabin, and, seizing upon the first favourable opportunity which mightpresent itself, arm ourselves to the teeth, and, driving the watch ondeck into the forecastle, take possession of the felucca and endeavourto navigate her into Port Royal by our own unaided exertions. The chiefobjections to the first scheme were the difficulty of obtaining thetools necessary to the effectual performance of the scuttling, in thefirst place, and, in the next, the still greater difficulty ofperforming the operation undetected. As regards my own scheme, thedifficulty lay in the fact that, unless the watch could be driven belowwithout alarming that portion of the crew already in the forecastle, ourcase was utterly hopeless; for, should these last be disturbed and comeon deck, what could two slender lads, even fully armed, do against tenstout, sinewy, full-grown men? We might possibly shoot down three orfour; but unless the rest happened to be cowed by this--which we decidedwas not by any means to be depended upon--we must then be quicklyoverpowered by sheer force of numbers. This scheme was justly regardedby us both as being of so exceedingly desperate a character, that onlyas a very last resource would its adoption be justifiable.Nevertheless, we determined to take such measures as were possible forthe carrying out of either scheme in the event of nothing betteroccurring to us.
Meanwhile, day succeeded day without the slightest opportunity occurringfor us to initiate Courtenay's scheme. We required a good-sized augerwith which to bore the necessary holes in the ship's bottom, and somesoft wood out of which to fashion plugs wherewith to plug up those holesuntil the proper moment should arrive for withdrawing them and lettingthe water into the hull. The wood there was no difficulty about, and wesecured enough for a dozen or more plugs; but no such thing as an augercould we lay hands upon. We even went the perilous length of inventinga pretext for gaining access to the carpenter's tool-chest, withoutsuccess; and we were at length driven to the conclusion that, strange asit might seem, there was no such thing on board the felucca.
To add to our chagrin and discomfiture, we were no sooner round Cape SanAntonio than we discovered that Carera, quite as acute as ourselves, hadalso foreseen the possibility of a British cruiser being fallen in withif Jamaica were shaved too closely; and he had provided against thiscontingency by laying off a course for Cartagena, which would enable himto give the island a wide berth. This move on our worthy skipper's partwe were, however, able to a large extent to frustrate; for we found thathe was no navigator, sailing his vessel by dead-reckoning only, so thatby each of us taking long spells at the tiller, as was now indeed ourregular custom, we were able to edge the felucca considerably towindward of her course and in toward Jamaica without Carera being anythe wiser.
In this exceedingly unsatisfactory manner time progressed--and we withit--until the sixth morning after our abrupt departure from the Conconillagoons; when, as day broke and the sun rose, clearing away a light bankof grey cloud on the eastern horizon, a
soft, delicate purplish hummock-like protuberance was seen rising out of the sea broad on our larboardbow, which was at once recognised as _land_, and so reported to Carera.Courtenay and I were in our berths and asleep at the moment; but the cryof "_Land ho_!" at once aroused us, and, slipping on our clothes, wehurried on deck to see what it looked like. We found Carera there,staring in the utmost perplexity at the small grey shape--onlydiscernible when the felucca rose on the crest of a sea--and audiblywondering what on earth it could be. _We_ knew pretty well what it was;Carera kept his small stock of charts in the after cabin, and alwaysspread them out on the cabin table to lay off his course and distancerun, so that we had had abundant opportunity to refer, as often as wepleased, to the particular chart he was using on that trip, and had metwith no difficulty whatever in keeping a private dead-reckoning of ourown, from which we were already aware that we might expect to makeDolphin Head, the highest point of land at the extreme westernmost endof Jamaica, on this particular morning. The report that other land hadjust become visible about a point further to the southward--and which wejudged to be the lofty hill behind Blewfields Bay--confirmed us in ourbelief that our calculations had proved correct. Carera, in hisperplexity, went aloft as far as our stumpy mast-head--a thing we hadnever known him do before--to get a clearer view of the land, thebearings of which were then taken, after which our skipper, accompaniedby Courtenay and me, descended to the cabin to consult the chart. Onreference to this, there was of course only one conclusion to be arrivedat, which was that the land in sight was none other than Jamaica. Itnow turned out that he had never visited the island, had never indeedsighted it from the westward before; hence his difficulty in identifyingit; but whilst we were all three discussing the matter down below Manuelcame to the open sky-light in great trepidation to report shoal waterall round the ship. This of course caused us to rush straightway ondeck again, though Courtenay and I, knowing that we must be just aboutcrossing the edge of the Pedro bank, felt no apprehension whatever.With Carera and the rest of the felucca's people the matter was verydifferent; they were all out of their reckoning, and confusedaccordingly; and the sudden sight of the bright-green water all aboutus, and the shorter, more choppy character of the sea, whilst only ashort time before the water had been as purely blue as the heaven aboveus, and the sea long and regular, completed their discomfiture. For aminute or two disorder reigned supreme on board the little craft;everybody had an opinion to express and advice to give, everybody wasjabbering excitedly at the same moment; no man paid the slightestattention to his neighbour; and as all hands were by this time on deckthe result may be imagined. Even the helmsman deserted his post at lastto join in the general clamour; a circumstance of which Courtenay tookimmediate advantage by springing to the tiller and ramming it hard down.The lively little craft at once shot into the wind with her canvasloudly flapping; and this stilled the tumult in a moment.
"'Bout ship!" shouted Courtenay, as every man stopped short in the midstof his gabbling; "'bout ship! there is blue water away there to windwardof us, and if we can once reach it we are safe."
The men sprang at once like cats to their stations, and the immenselateen sail was trimmed over on the other tack with an amount ofalacrity which showed how intense was their relief at finding somebodyon board equal to the occasion.
So far, this was well; the felucca was now heading about north-north-east and straight for the land, so that our chance of falling in with aBritish cruiser was a shade better than before. But, alas, no cruiser,or sail of any kind, was just then in sight; for, giving way to myanxiety, I in my turn shinned aloft to take a good look round. But theland was there, plainly enough, not only the two peaks alreadyreported--the second of which was now directly ahead--but also fiveothers, ranging from three to five points on our weather bow.
We stood on as we were going for a couple of hours, so as to get well towindward of the shoal--though, as a matter of fact, there was plenty ofwater over it everywhere to have floated us, or even a frigate, for thatmatter--going about again when the men had taken their breakfast. Thehigh land was by this time well in sight all along our larboard beam,being certainly not more than forty miles distant; and the circumstancethat Carera was afraid of the shoal and determined to keep off it wasgreatly in our favour, since in order to clear Portland Rock, at itsnorth-eastern extremity, we should have to draw even closer still inwith the island. I was at first terribly afraid that some suspicionwould attach to my comrade and myself as the authors of the error in thecourse we had been steering, but I was agreeably disappointed; so far,indeed, was Carera from suspecting anything that he confided to us atbreakfast--to which we had invited him--that, though he could not in theleast account for our being so far to windward, he was most heartilyglad of it, since we appeared to have the sea all to ourselves. He wasstill a trifle uneasy, however, at being so near the very stronghold andhead-quarters of the dreaded British in those waters; and when we allwent on deck after breakfast, his first act was to order a hand aloft tothe mast-head to keep a bright lookout. It was just ten o'clock in theforenoon, and the man at the mast-head was in the very act of descendingthe rigging--another man getting ready meanwhile to relieve him--when heuttered an excited exclamation which at once attracted all eyes towardhim.
"Look over there, captain, broad on our weather bow. Do you see thatturtle lying there asleep on the water?"
Carera sprang on to the weather rail, and, steadying himself with onehand by the shroud whilst he shielded his eyes with the other, peeredeagerly to windward. The rest of the watch also dropped whatever theyhappened to be busied with, and, exclaiming "A turtle! a turtle!"unceremoniously ranged themselves alongside their skipper.
"No," said Carera, after a long look in the direction indicated, "Idon't see anything of him; where is--"
"There he is; I see him!" exclaimed one of the men. "Ah! now he is goneagain, settled into the trough. Look a bit further out in thatdirection, captain--there he is again; Madre de Dios, what a monster!don't you see him?"
"Yes, yes; I see him now," answered Carera excitedly; "down with yourhelm, my man, and let her shoot into the wind. We will have thatfellow. Get the boat into the water, smartly now, men. Give the watchbelow a call."
"To what purpose?" I interposed: "No, no, let the poor fellows finishtheir sleep in peace; my friend and I will look after the felucca whilstyou are away in the boat."
"To be sure we will," said Courtenay, with a quiet wink at me; andspringing aft to the tiller, he laid his hand upon it, saying to the manwho held it:
"Away with you, Jose, my fine fellow, into the boat, and lend a hand tosecure that turtle; it is not every day we sailors get such a chance."
Meanwhile, the rest of us unshipped the lee gangway, and getting theboat athwart the deck, sent her stern first overboard with a splashwhich I was in an agony of fear would awake the turtle, and so frustratethe scheme which had darted into my brain--and Courtenay's also, Ifancied, by the knowing wink he had bestowed upon me--when it wasproposed to go away in the boat after the creature. But no; there hewas still, apparently fast asleep, rising and falling upon the surfaceof the restless waters, his capacious shell glistening brightly as thesunbeams flashed upon it.
The four men constituting the watch stepped as quietly as possible intothe boat, and, followed by Carera, took their places at the oar; Carerastanding up in the stern-sheets to look out for the quarry and to directhis men how to pull. I was in a perfect fever of anxiety lest theflapping of the sail and the bustle on deck should awaken the watchbelow and bring them out of the forecastle to see what was the matter;but seamen seldom pay any attention to these things, so far at least asto leave their bunks in their watch below; and when at length the boatshoved off and paddled gently round the felucca's quarter, Courtenay andI found ourselves most unexpectedly in the very situation for which wehad so long been ineffectually scheming, namely, in undisputedpossession of the little craft's deck.
Without wasting a single moment in watch
ing the progress of the boat, Iat once slipped forward, and, gently drawing over the slide of the fore-scuttle, slipped the hasp over the staple, stuffed a few doubled-uprope-yarns through the latter to keep the former in position, and thenquietly walked aft.
"Well, old boy," said I, as I joined Courtenay at the tiller, "thefelucca is ours; and that, too, without a single particle of all thattrouble which we anticipated. If we had planned the thing ever soelaborately we could not have managed half so well. Up stick, myhearty, fill on her; and hey for Port Royal, which I hope we shall seeto-morrow morning."
"Ay, ay," said Courtenay with a puzzled air, "that is all very well.But what about those poor beggars adrift there in the boat? What arethey to do without food and water?"
"Well," said I, "to tell you the truth I never thought about that. Itis true they are only forty miles from the land, with fine weather andevery prospect of its lasting, but I suppose we ought not to leave themwithout a mouthful of bread or a drop of water. Just jog the feluccagently along, taking care that the boat is not allowed to come alongsideagain, and I'll see what I can do. I wonder how they are getting on inthe matter of the turtle!"
I jumped on the rail in the wake of the rigging and looked out towindward. Apparently they were too much engrossed with their chase totake any notice of us, for I could see them paddling warily along,evidently purposing to get to windward of their sleeping prey and thendrift with the wind noiselessly down upon him. Carera was stillstanding up in the stern-sheets peering eagerly over the boat's larboardbow; and the men were all intently looking over their right shoulders.Presently I saw them lay their oars cautiously inboard, and then allhands ranged themselves along the larboard side of the boat, careeningher almost gunwale-to as they stretched their arms over her side. Thenfollowed a short pause of evidently breathless suspense, succeeded by asimultaneous _grab_! and in another instant I saw that they had securedthe turtle--and a splendid fellow he was--and were dragging him inboardby main strength.
"All right!" I exclaimed; "they have caught him. Now, I will see whatI can do toward providing them with some food and water."
As I turned away to do this a large wash-deck tub caught my eye; and itimmediately struck me that this would be a capital thing to turn adriftwith a supply of food, as it was sufficiently capacious to hold as muchas would last them, with care, two or three days, instead of the twentyhours or so which it would take them to reach the land. The tub wasquite dry inside and perfectly water-tight, as I happened to know, so Idragged it to the lee gangway for convenience in launching, and thenhurried away to the cabin in search of provender. Opening the store-room door, I rummaged about until I found a bread-bag half full. Iturned the bread out of this until there was only enough left to servethem amply for the time they were likely to be afloat, and in on top ofthis I popped half a cheese, together with a cooked ox-tongue, which wehad only cut into that morning at breakfast, and a piece of boiled saltbeef. This cargo I conveyed on deck and deposited in the tub, which Iconsidered was then loaded as fully as was desirable, considering thatwe intended to set it afloat in a roughish sea for a craft of thatbuild. I then went below again for an empty vinegar keg which I hadstumbled over in the store-room; and, taking it on deck, I filled itwith water from the scuttle-butt, bunged it securely, and mypreparations were complete.
Meanwhile Courtenay had been very cleverly dodging the felucca alongalmost in the wind's eye, so that she had made but little progress, andthe boat, which had been tearing after us as hard as the oarsmen couldpull her through the water, was not more than half a mile astern. Itold Courtenay what I had done, and what I proposed to do; and whilst Ipassed a couple of rope's ends through the handles of the tub, inreadiness to launch it overboard at the proper moment, my companion worethe felucca round and stood back toward the boat.
Seeing us returning directly toward them, the men laid upon their oars,possibly imagining that we were about to pick them up. Straight as aline for them we ran until they were only about a cable's lengthdistant, when Courtenay sprang his luff, and we darted away considerablyto windward of them, upon which they took to their oars once more, andbegan to force the boat heavily ahead against the sea. Seeing that wehad ample time to launch the tub, I now signed Courtenay to shoot thefelucca into the wind, when, waiting until she had all but lost her way,we very cleverly launched the tub and the keg over the side withoutcausing the former to ship so much as a drop of water, and then filledaway once more. The occupants of the boat, by this time thoroughlymystified, paddled quietly up to the floating tub, and transferred itscontents to the boat. Meanwhile we in the felucca, having stood on to asufficient distance, once more wore round, and again made for the boat,luffing and shaking the wind out of our sail when within hailingdistance of her. Then, whilst Courtenay narrowly watched the boat, andheld himself ready to fill on the felucca again in good time to avoidbeing boarded, I sprang into the lee rigging and hailed:
"Boat ahoy! We are sorry to take the felucca from you, butcircumstances, which we have now no time to explain, oblige us to do so.We are going to take her to Port Royal. Yonder is the land, not morethan forty miles away; the weather is fine and settled, so you will haveno difficulty in reaching the shore by this time to-morrow. When youland make at once for Port Royal. We will arrange that, on reachingthere, you shall be properly cared for until such time as the _Pinta_can be restored to you. You will find provisions in the tub and freshwater in the keg, which we have dropped overboard. And now, adieu! wewish you a pleasant passage."
Carera and his comrades seemed to take in my meaning even before I hadfinished speaking, for, with a whole torrent of sonorous Spanishmaledictions, they once more dashed their oars into the water and madefor the felucca. But Courtenay promptly kept her away and filled thesail, and we slid foaming past the boat at a distance of some five-and-twenty feet; and of course, once fairly moving in such a breeze and sea,no boat that was ever built would have had the slightest chance with the_Pinta_. They pulled desperately after us for fully half an hour,however, and then we lost sight of them.
We were hardly well clear of the boat when a hammering and shouting atthe fore-scuttle told us that the watch below had awakened to thesuspicion that something was amiss on deck, and that they were anxiousto know why they were battened down. I accordingly went forward and,without opening the scuttle, shouted to them that the felucca had beensurprised and captured by the British, which in a sense was quite true,and that, unless they wished to be treated as pirates, the best thingthey could do would be to remain perfectly quiet and give no troublewhatever. That the vessel was being taken into Port Royal, and that onour arrival there I would make it my business to see the properauthorities and so explain matters to them that the worst thing likelyto befall the felucca's crew would be their temporary detention only.It is very likely that this communication puzzled them considerably, butif so, it also had the effect of keeping them quiet, for we never heardanother sound from them. Indeed, had they tried to give us trouble, itis probable we should have mastered them before they could all havegained the deck, for our first act, after quieting them, was to armourselves each with a whole beltful of loaded pistols and the best ofthe swords in the felucca's armoury, after which we pitched the whole ofthe remaining weapons overboard.
Next morning, at daybreak, we took on board a black pilot off PortlandPoint, reaching Port Royal just in time to hear eight bells struck onboard the various ships lying at anchor in the harbour.
The Rover's Secret: A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba Page 13
