CHAPTER IV
A LESSON IN PATRIOTISM
The boys huddled together at an obscure part of the deck and Harrydescribed to them what he had seen below decks.
"There are two eight pounders and two rapid fire guns with their nosespoked against port holes that can be opened at a moment's notice. Andbesides these, there is an arsenal of small arms like rifles, pistols,swords, and cutlasses. Everything seems to be in apple pie order and allready for use. If we were living in the days of the old pirate ships, Ishould say that we were likely to fly the black flag at any moment."
"What do you make of it, Hal?" asked Bert.
"I tell you I cannot make anything of it. It is beyond me. The onlything we can do is to keep our weather eyes open and watch fordevelopments. It is certainly a ship of mystery and the captain does notapparently propose to enlighten us as to her character. But he seems tobe an honest man, and I think we are perfectly safe in leaving all tohim, and I believe that sometime we shall know what we are up against.In the meantime, however, as I warned him, I shall make every effort toget off the ship, or to notify some passing craft that we are on boardsafe and sound, so that word may be carried to those on shore. They mustbelieve that we are drowned by this time, particularly if they havepicked up the wreck of the yacht."
"Let's go aft and take a look over the cabin while the captain isasleep. All's fair in love and war, you know, and we are certainlyentitled to find out all we can about our surroundings, particularly inview of Hal's investigations below."
The boys strolled leisurely aft, taking care not to arouse thesuspicions of any one about the decks. They entered the cabin. All wasstill. The sun shone brightly through the port holes and lay in a widebeam on the big map that the captain had been studying when the boysturned out of bed.
"Let's have a look at this," said Bert, quickly approaching the table ashe spoke. "It may tell us something of our destination."
The boys gathered eagerly around.
The map was a hydrographic chart of the Caribbean Sea. Cuba and PortoRico appeared on a large scale. The boys studied it in silence andfinally Mason shook his head in despair.
"That does not tell much," he said. "We may be going to Cuba or PortoRico, but if we are, why all this secrecy and those firearms?"
"They may fit in together more closely than you think," said Harry, whohad been studying the map thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Bert.
"I do not mean anything yet. Let us wait. Speculation and guessing willnot solve this mystery."
"Look here," said the Midget, who had been browsing around the cabin. Hehad lifted one of the cushions from a settee and disclosed beneath alocker which contained a number of flags of different colors and shapes.
"What are those?" asked the boys in chorus.
"They are signal flags. Now let's find the code and then we can signalsome passing ship."
"Here's the code," announced Harry, who, as soon as Mason had spoken hadgone to a little book shelf on the wall of the cabin. "But how are we toget the flags up without attracting attention?"
"Easy. We will make up our signal and then take the flags necessary toshow it and conceal them where we can get them at any moment. Then whenwe sight a vessel we can bend them onto the halliards and have themaloft before anyone can interfere. It would be a minute or two beforethey could haul them down, even if they discovered them at once, and inthat time it is likely that the other ship would have read them. Anyway,it is worth trying."
"I think you are right," said Harry. "Nothing venture, nothing have.Let's make the signal."
He took the code book from the shelf and opened it on the table.
"In the first place, it is necessary to know what you want to say beforeyou pick out your flags. Now what shall the message be?"
"Say we have been kidnapped by a pirate ship and want assistance,"suggested the Midget, wisely.
"Nonsense," replied Bert, "we don't want to say anything about the ship.We have nothing against her, nor her captain. Didn't they save ourlives? All that we want is to be taken off and if that is not possibleto have word sent home that we are all right, and then we can see thething out comfortably. In fact, I for one, would much prefer stayingaboard if it were possible to get word ashore. We do not know whatinteresting adventures may be in store for us aboard this strangecraft."
"Well, anyway, let's frame a message."
"It's got to be short, for we cannot use any more flags than isabsolutely necessary, as we may be discovered before we can get them up.How's this: 'Report Hamilton, Mason, and Wilson picked up from wreckedyacht off Cottage City by steamer _Mariella_. All well.'"
"Fine," said Mason. "Hal, your massive intellect astonishes me more andmore each day."
After some discussion, the boys selected the proper flags and laid themto one side. The problem of getting them aloft then presented itself.
"There must be halliards already bent for the use of signals," saidHarry. "I will go out on deck and have a quiet look for them."
He returned shortly from his inspection.
"Everything is ready for instant use," he reported, "but we must havethe flags bent onto a separate piece of rope so that all we shall haveto do is to fasten the rope to the halliards and send the flags aloft.And then we must also stow the flags somewhere where we can get at themeasily as soon as we see another vessel."
"Leave that to me, captain," said Mason, saluting with a grin. "Rightunder my bunk is a place. All you fellows watch where I put them, sothat if I am not with you when the ship comes along you can do thetrick. No telling when a man of my fiery temper may be put in irons on aship like this."
The boys carefully stowed away the flags after they had bent them intheir proper order to a spare piece of rope which Mason picked up ondeck. They now felt that they had done as much as lay within their powerto relieve the anxiety of the folks at home, and all that remained wasto keep a sharp lookout for a passing ship. They arranged watches sothat one of them should be on deck during all of the daylight hours, andall hands were to keep their eyes open through the port holes and fromsuch other points of vantage as they could take at all times when it waslight enough to see a passing ship.
This satisfactorily off their minds, the boys took more interest in asurvey of their prison ship, for so they had begun to look upon her,although each one of them had made up his mind that he would like to seethe adventure out.
That night before dinner they met the captain again in the cabin. Themaps were still lying on the table.
"Do you see this big island here, boys?" he asked. "It looks big on themap, but it is a very small spot on the face of the earth, and yet itspeople have suffered more misery, injustice, and oppression than theworld will ever know."
"Discontented people always quarrelling with their government areusually unhappy. They bring most of their misery on themselves."
Harry spoke carelessly. He was not much interested in the wrongs ofCuba. He was surprised to see the captain's eyes flash again with thatfierce fire that had marked them when he first defied him.
"Discontented, is it," almost shouted the captain. "And do you know why,boy?"
"I am sure I do not, Captain Dynamite, except that it is apparently bornin them."
"Yes, that's the way most of the world, ignorant of poor Cuba's trials,looks at the matter. Statesmen have investigated and reported back tothe halls of Congress and Cuba and her wrongs have been laid away in thedusty archives."
"Look," he said, pointing again at the map, and involuntarily the boysgathered closer around him and peered at the parchment. "That land, asGod made it, was the fairest that the eye ever looked upon."
Captain Dynamite paused for a moment and seemed to grow more calm. Heseated himself with his elbows on the table behind him and deftly rolleda cigarette with one hand. The boys, interested now because of hisintense feeling, waited for him to continue.
"Youngsters," he said finally, "let me give you a little piece ofhistory of th
ese 'discontented' folks and perhaps you will regard theircondition with different eyes and hearts. Your text-books at schoolhave undoubtedly told you that Spanish rule in Cuba began in 1511, whenDiego Valesquez subjugated the peaceful natives, and the Spanish methodsof conquest made a record that lives to this day.
"See this island here," said the captain, pointing to Hayti. "At thattime almost uninhabited, its wild shores and hidden inlets served asplaces of concealment for buccaneers. These pirates of the Spanish Mainnot alone indulged in the adventurous pastime of smuggling, but theyattacked and plundered Spanish trading ships and even made forcefulexpeditions upon land, ravaging cities and towns. They were encouragedin their depredations by other nations unfriendly to Spain. HenryMorgan, one of these buccaneers, who was commissioned as a privateer,was knighted by England in 1671 because of his prowess as a legalizedpirate.
"In 1762, Havana was besieged by the English and the Seven Years Warbegan. The British were successful and under English rule the ports ofCuba were opened to free trade and an era of progress was inaugurated.But it was short lived, and in 1763 Cuba fell again into the hands ofSpain, England trading the island for Florida. The two first governorsunder the new Spanish regime were liberal, just, and progressive. Theywere Luis de Las Casas, appointed in 1790, and the Count of Santa Clara,who succeeded him in 1796.
"It was about 1810 that the general discontent of the colonist with thetyrannical home government resulted in the formation of politicalsocieties whose purpose was to plan insurrections in the hope ofwresting the island from Spanish rule, as did Buenos Ayres, Venezuela,and Peru. There was no open revolt for ten years, when the revolutionaryleaders proclaimed a governing law, and after two years of turmoil theking yielded to their demands. But as Spain's promises were made only tobe broken, other insurrections soon sprang up among the colonists. Oneof the most important revolutionary movements of those days was led byNarciso Lopez, a Venezuelan. This was in 1848. He was unsuccessful, butescaped with many of his followers to New York, where he found manysympathizers and practical aid. The United States government frustratedhis attempt in 1849 to return to Cuba with a small invading force. Ayear later he reached the island with six hundred men, but was forced totake to his ship again, and with a Spanish gunboat close astern, madeKey West and disbanded the expedition.
"By this time the Lopez revolution had gained much fame and manysympathizers in the United States who, while they were not inspired withthe patriotic sentiment that stirred him, were strong admirers of hiscourage and determination. With a small band of four hundred and fiftymen, and with Colonel Crittenden, of Kentucky, a West Pointer who wonhis title in the Mexican War, as second in command, Lopez started forCuba from New Orleans the next year. On landing, Crittenden and onehundred and fifty men remained near the shore to guard the supplies,while Lopez, with the rest of the little invading army, marched inland.Both parties were discovered by the Spaniards, surrounded, and after adesperate resistance, completely wiped out."
"Do you mean that Lopez and Crittenden were both killed?" asked Bert,who had listened to the captain's recital with intense interest.
"Lopez and Crittenden and every man jack of the expedition," replied thecaptain, solemnly.
"Who was the next to try it?" asked Harry, whose eyes shone withexcitement.
"Up to this time the grievances that inspired the Cuban colonists torevolt were mostly of a political character, based upon that bone ofcontention that inspired your own revolution against theBritish--taxation without representation. The little island to-day paysto Spain every year over $20,000,000 in revenue. In 1868, a lawyernamed Cespedes declared independence of Spanish rule on a littleplantation at Yara. He had back of him only one hundred and twenty-eightmen, but in a few weeks after his declaration ten thousand men gatheredunder his leadership. A republican form of government was established,with Cespedes at its head. General Quesada commanded the poorly equippedbut determined and patriotic army. Until 1878 the insurgents held thefield with about fifty thousand men. They constantly met and vanquishedthe Spanish forces under the Count of Valmaseda, but the resources ofthe Spaniards were greater, and finally the Cubans were disintegrated,but still maintained a guerilla warfare, constantly harassing anddefeating the Spanish forces sent against them. But neither side madeany progress toward the end and at the end of the year both were readyfor a compromise, which resulted in the treaty of El Zanjon. At thistime the Spaniards were commanded by General Campos, and the insurgentsby Gen. Maximo Gomez--that grand old warrior who still holds the fieldfor Cuba against the forces of Spain--I kiss his hand."
Captain Dynamite, as he mentioned the name of Gomez, rose to his feet,bowed solemnly and reverentially, and lifted to his lips an imaginaryhand.
"Fighting, still fighting for Cuba," he whispered as he resumed hisseat. After a moment's pause he shook himself as if awakening from adream and continued his narrative.
"That treaty promised Cuba representation in the Spanish Cortes, orcongress, but while it was kept in the letter it was broken in spirit.The government obtained control of the polls and the deputies, orrepresentatives elected were always government tools or sympathizers. Sopoor Cuba, after her long struggle, was no better off than before, andin 1894 Jose Marti, at the head of a new insurrection, set sail from NewYork with three ships, men, and munitions of war. But the United Statesauthorities stopped them. Marti then joined Gomez in Cuba and was killedin a skirmish. He was succeeded in command by General Gomez, who stillfights on with a hungry, ill-clad handful of men against the best ofSpain's army. One hundred and forty-five thousand men have been sentagainst him but he still fights; he still lives to fight, although he isover seventy-five years old.
"I have told you of the dogged determination, the splendid patriotism ofthe men who are fighting to lift the yoke of Spain from poor Cuba.Surely there must be something more than mere political wrongs toinspire such a spirit. You have heard of Weyler--'Butcher Weyler' theycall him, and he is proud of the title. Frightened by the courage andresistance of the insurgent army, Spain looked about for a man capableof crushing the indomitable spirit of the rebels. In Weyler she thoughtshe had found the man. He arrived in Havana in 1896. Among his firstacts looking to the pacification of Cuba was his order of concentration.You have heard perhaps of the wretched 'reconcentrados?' They are theproduct of Weyler's order. Under this policy nearly a million peacefulCubans, farmers and dwellers in the country, have been driven from theirhomes into nearby cities and their deserted houses burned to the ground.These people are mostly women and children and old men--non-combatants.In this way Weyler sought to stop the aid that was being given to theinsurgents in the field. From the 'pacificos,' as they are known therebels could at any time secure food, clothing, and shelter.
"Concentrated in the towns, without food or money to buy it, and manywithout clothing, these reconcentrados quickly became the victims offamine and disease. A part of Weyler's order of concentration providedfor the gifts of ground to cultivate, and the Spaniard's answer to thecharge of inhumanity is a shrug of the shoulders and the reply that thereconcentrados starve because they are too lazy to work. 'We give themthe land,' he says, 'and they will not till it.' True, they gave themland, but no seed to sow and no tools to reap and they have no money tobuy them. Everything they owned is in the heap of ashes that marks thespot where the little thatched cottage once stood. Thousands andthousands of human beings are herded together like cattle, with no meansto feed themselves, and, unlike cattle, with no one to feed them.
"Why, I have seen--I have been told by those who have seen it--of littlechildren with the skin drawn like parchment over their bodies. And boys,when you think that among these poor victim's of Spain's pacificationpolicy are the wives and children, sisters and sweethearts of thestruggling insurgents in the field, is it any wonder that the spirit ofindependence will not down in the Pearl of the Antilles?"
That the captain was a man of feeling and education there could be nofurther doubt in the minds of the captive boys. That
he should havetaken the trouble to thus enlighten them on the subject of Cuba's wrongswas a compliment to their understanding which was not lost.
A Voyage with Captain Dynamite Page 4
