turned out to be thevery same we'd seen two nights before, in company with another and muchlarger one.
"We determined not to frighten them off by coming out too soon. Wedidn't know then that these fellows rather courted fight than otherwise.
"All sails were loosened and at last we got clear, took up the boatsthat had been heading us, lifted sails, and stood out to meet them.
"Every man was at his post. The marines lying down on deck under arms,the bluejackets, stripped to the trousers, standing by the guns on bothdecks. There was a glorious breeze blowing. Oh! Nie, lad, it was justthe morning for a fight. My old blood dances in my veins yet at thevery thoughts of it.
"I must say that those Arabs managed their little craft beautifully.The largest one was the first to advance, and the first to receive andreturn our fire. She had even the daring and pluck to fire at us."
"Did she succeed?"
"She did, alas! and she poured a broadside into us that made our upperdeck like shambles. Meanwhile the other two dhows were at us, _on_ usalmost, for we were sometimes fighting gun to gun, and we had to fighton both sides of our vessel at once.
"The commander of the _Niobe_ wanted all his wits about him, for it wasa trying time.
"We had one advantage over the pirates, namely, our marines.
"The pirates had muskets, it is true, but either they were very badones, or they couldn't use them properly, one or the other.
"We stationed our marines in the tops and rigging, and every shot toldhome, every bullet got its billet.
"There were times during the fight when all the combatants seemed topause. It was as if the ships were taking breath, but in reality westopped to allow the smoke of battle to clear away, for our ship wassurrounded, so to speak, and all our gear was hanging anyhow.
"The impetuosity of the attack of Arabs fighting at sea is very similarto the way in which they charge on _terra firma_; it is furious while itlasts.
"It lasts as long as hope promises brightly, when it goes it goes atonce, and, except in the case of fanatics in a religious war, there is awild stampede. Victory for a time hung in the balance, then it seemedto sway to the side of the enemy, because the _Niobe_ became for a timeunmanageable.
"It was a trying time to the nerves of the bravest of us. There wouldbe small mercy accorded to those among our poor fellows who happened tofall into Zareppa's bands.
"The commander held a hurried consultation with his first lieutenant, atwhich I was present. It was over in two minutes; in ten minutes more,during which time the battle raged with unabated fury, we had all thesails set which the few hands that could be spared were able to clap onher, and were clearing sheer away from the scene of action, steering asclose to the wind as possible. And the _Niobe_ could luff too, I cantell you.
"Shots tore through our rigging as we fled, or seemed to fly, andderisive jeers and cheers, worse by far than bullets, were fired afterus, till we were out of earshot, out of reach. We replied not either byshot or shout. We drew the big dhow after us--and that was all wewanted--as near as she could come. We even let her gain on us, and hershots began to tell again. Then all sail was clapped on, and next--
"`Ready about,' was the cry.
"Ah! Nie, my boy, it was a beautiful sight, and a supreme moment.
"We thundered down on that devoted pirate. She never even divined ourintention. We might overwhelm her perhaps, she thought. She preparedto out-manoeuvre us. Then all seemed to become confusion on board her.Mind, she was over-manned to begin with, her rigging too was badlydamaged, and her decks hampered with her dead and dying.
"In a minute more we had hurtled into her. We actually cut her in two;she sank before our eyes, almost before we could sheer off."
At this part of his yarn, poor old Captain Roberts stopped. I feel surehe was thinking of that dreadful scene; that, long ago though it was, hesaw again that blood-stained ship sinking beneath the waves, with itsliving freight, many of them innocent slaves.
He filled his pipe before he resumed.
"Ah, well! poor misguided wretches, to do them justice they diedbravely, and cheered wildly as they sank beneath the billows."
"And so," I said; "Zareppa escaped even yet."
"Yes, it was a plucky thing. He swum out from the wreck ere she sank,and one of the dhows ran up even under our guns, and picked him out ofthe water.
"Then both got clear away."
CHAPTER FIVE.
"Like mountain cat that guards its young. Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung."
Scott.
"He watched me like a lion's whelp, That gnaws and yet may break its chain."
Byron.
"Ben Roberts, dear old friend," I said, as soon as the captain hadfinished. "I remember that sea-fight which you have just so graphicallydescribed."
"And pray," said he, "what and how much of it could you remember, seeingyou were down below, and were so well used to guns thundering over yourbaby head, that you often went to sleep during general quarters? Now,just you tell me."
"Well," I replied, "I suppose it must have been the collision at theconclusion, for I was knocked all of a heap off the chair, and the Ay-ayand I threw ourselves into each other's arms and wept."
"Yes, lad, and I found you, when I went down to my cabin, in eachother's arms, and both fast asleep."
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I myself, dear reader, must now resume the thread of my narrative, fromthe place where Captain Roberts gives it up.
When the crew of the _Niobe_ returned to their native land from theCape, and the new crew joined, I remained with my foster-father--my dearold sea-dad.
From the Cape we sailed straight to Bombay, it being found that the old_Niobe_ would require to go into dry dock.
I remember being dazzled with all I saw in Bombay, except those terribleTowers of Silence, on which the dead bodies of the Parsees are exposedto be devoured by birds. What I think struck me most was the gorgeousdresses of the natives, and the enormous amount of gold and silverornaments they wore about them; bangles, and bracelets, and jewellednoselets, and ear-rings as big as cymbals, or the brass plates thatbarbers hang out in front of their doors. If I wondered at the natives,the natives wondered at me--the piccaninny sailor-boy, as they calledme--for I was now dressed out quite like a man-o'-war's man.
From Bombay we returned to our cruising ground, which was at that timecalled the Cape station, and stretched all along the entire east coastof Africa, from the Cape to the Red Sea, including not only Madagascarwith its circlet of tiny islets, but Mozambique, the Comoro Islands, andSeychelles as well. Were I to tell you all my adventures on theseshores, I should have no space to devote to sketches probably quite asinteresting.
Let me come then as speedily as I may to the one great event of my life:my capture by that arch-fiend Zareppa, and my treatment while a prisonerfor ten long years in the wildest part of the interior of Africa.
As soon as we reached Zanzibar, I being then of the ripe age of sixyears, the captain called me aft, and Roberts the boatswain came alongwith me.
"My man," said the captain to me, "You are six now, and it is high timeyou were rated."
I began to cry. A rating I thought meant a flogging, and I had seenpoor fellows tied up over and over again and flogged until the bloodgushed out of their backs.
"It is nothing," said the kindly captain; "I'm going to make a man ofyou."
"Oh!" I said, and wiped my eyes.
"But," continued the captain laughing, "We'll make a second-class boy ofyou first."
Roberts laughed now.
"I'll teach him sir," he said, saluting the captain, "to splice and reefand steer."
"Well, away you go," said the captain, "and see, my little man, that youdo all you are told."
I touched my forelock, and went away forward with the good boatswain; soproud that I'm sure I didn't feel my feet touching the deck.
My education ha
d begun long before; it continued now, and I hope I didmy duty.
For the next four years we had plenty of chasing of ships, plenty ofcruising, plenty of jollity and fun, both on shore and afloat, and nowand then a pitched battle.
We had never seen Zareppa again, but we had often and often heard ofhim. We knew that he was in the habit of marching into the interiorupon peaceful negro villages lying about the Equator, burning them, andcapturing the inhabitants as slaves.
Oh! boys at home, if you but knew the horrors of the slave trade; if youcould but realise even a tithe of the misery and wretchedness andfearful crimes included in that one word "slavery," as applied to Africaalone, you would not deem yourself entitled to the proud name of Britishboy, until you had registered a vow to do all that may ever lie in
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