Sea-Dogs All!

by Tom Bevan

  Chapter XLVIII.

  THE REVOLT OF THE SLAVES.

  The _Santa Maria_ returned to Panama. The governor had no further needof her for a while, so she lay anchored about two cables' length fromthe quay. The slaves remained aboard, still chained to their benches.The chain that went around their waists was attached to another piecefastened to a ring in the seat itself. This attached piece was justlong enough to allow a man to rise and stand upright, but it gave himno chance to take a step in any direction. The galley arrived inharbour in the late afternoon, and pulled in alongside the quay wall.For a couple of hours there was plenty of bustle and confusion aboard;much coming and going of soldiers, sailors, and servitors. Hernandolooked eagerly up to the bulwarks many times, as though expectingsomething; and on more than one occasion he moved his oar three timesquickly up and down, just touching the water each time. A sailor ranalong the top of the bulwarks, holding to the rigging. The fellow gavea quick glance down, and something dropped into the Spaniard's lap. Aminute or two later he was back again; something was dropped this timealso. The short twilight had just commenced. A little afterwards theboatswain's whistle sounded, the oars moved, and the galley was rowedout to her berthing station.

  The journey that day had been a long one; the unfortunate slaves werehalf dead with fatigue. The anchor chains rattled, and the greatsweeps were drawn in. Lanterns flashed along the boatswains' bridge;cakes, water, and a little fruit were handed down to be eaten anddrunken in the dark.

  "The saints be praised!" ejaculated Hernando when the last lanterndisappeared; "they will not trouble to fetter us to-night. I haveprayed all day that they might not. They trust to our fatigue and theguns of the fort. To-morrow we shall probably be chained hand and footat the oncoming of night. We often get this freedom the first night inharbour, especially if we come in late and wearied. This is ourchance, and my friend knew it."

  The Spaniard passed a file to Morgan. "I have had one or two of thesedropped on several occasions before, but have always thrown them intothe water before morning, being afraid to trust my fellows and usethem. I signalled for them to-day. Shall we make the venture?"

  "The chance is desperate," whispered Johnnie.

  "So must any chance be. The guard aboard will be small and sleepy; ourlimbs are free; we lie a fair distance from the shore. We are never soloosely guarded as when in Panama itself."

  The two Englishmen remained silent for perhaps three or four minutes,thinking the matter out. "Let's try, and God be with us!" saidJeffreys. "If we fail, then death is preferable to life in this foetidpit, chained up and treated like dogs."

  "I agree!" answered Johnnie.

  He and Hernando sat themselves astride the bench, so as to get at thering that attached the waist chain to the one that was fixed into theseat. This ring necessarily underwent a lot of friction as the menmoved about at the oars, and the three had given the ring as muchchafing as possible for some two or three weeks. Moreover, the steamfrom the panting bodies, the mists and spray from the sea, rusted andate into the iron. There was no chain factory nearer than Europe, andfetters were not easily renewable in Spanish America. In fact, thebonds of the slaves were by no means secure; but they were quitesufficient for their purpose, seeing that the men were keenly watchedby day, and when in harbour shackled and manacled at night.

  There was a buzz of talking, and plenty of weary shuffling and moaningdown on the slaves' deck. Chains clanked and rattled incessantly, andwould never be silent for long all through the night, for restlesssleepers would toss and turn on their hard couches to relieve pressureon limbs only too often covered with festering and verminous sores.Still, the noise of a file might be detected as an unusual sound; butHernando and Johnnie took the ring tightly in the palm of the hand, andfiled so carefully that Jeffreys, by droning a doleful tune, was ableto cover all the noise they made.

  The worn ring was soon filed through, and ten minutes later Jeffreyshad detached himself, and the bench chain was swinging free under theseat. The files were passed along to the sailors from the _GoldenBoar_, and after a while they were free. No man moved so as to betraythe fact. The files came across the gangway, and were passed to theIndians behind. Hernando had let them into the plot, preferring totrust them rather than the white scum. Nine men were soon able tomove; the waist chains still girdled them, but this did not interferewith freedom and action, and no time was thrown away in an attempt tocut them through. The three Indians behind the sailors were nextliberated. A dozen eager and desperate men were ready to make a dashfor life, and hardly two hours had gone by.

  "How many more?" whispered Johnnie.

  "We must wait before trusting any others," replied the wary Spaniard.

  About an hour was allowed to slip by. The freed men laid themselves ontheir benches and feigned slumber. Twice during the time a sentinelpassed along the gangway, and flashed a lantern here and there on tothe huddled forms. His glance was of a cursory description. Thetoil-worn lines of wretched beings lay just as he had seen them ahundred times: some were still as dead logs; others moved and babbledin their sleep; here and there one sat with his head in his hands,bowed down with sleep or agonizing thought. There was nothing unusual;only the familiar scenes and sounds of the slave deck at night. Thesentinel walked off to the fore-deck to get a breath of sweeter air andthe company of a sailor comrade.

  The slaves slept. Being, for the most part, without hope of anythingbetter than a few hours of forgetfulness between the sun-setting andthe dawn, the majority gave themselves willingly and thankfully toslumber as soon as the scanty supper was eaten. No flash of asentinel's lantern, no tramping of feet, no cry of nocturnal bird orbeast would waken them; they sank into sleep as into some deep,soundless, lightless pit. God rest all such unhappy ones!

  The sentry showed no signs of paying any further visit; the captain wasashore. Hernando slipped from his seat, cautiously wakened the fourthEnglish sailor, and gave him a file with whispered instructions; thenhe passed on to a trustworthy fellow-countryman of his own and gave himthe other. He came back to his bench, and waited for about anotherquarter of an hour. "Now," he whispered to his two companions. Hedropped to the floor and crawled on all fours to the after-part of theship. No one else moved. After what seemed almost an endless time, hecrawled back again. "The way is clear; not three men are awake aboveour heads. I'll take the Indians; they move as noiselessly as cats."

  The Spaniard went to the fore-part of the ship, and three Indiansbehind him in single file. The other three moved stealthily from benchto bench and awoke their fellows. Hardly a sound had been made. Thethree sailors from the _Golden Boar_ and Master Jeffreys crawled abovedeck; Morgan remained in command below.

  Minutes passed. A slight sound of a scuffle, a cry, came faintly fromthe fore-deck. Then dead silence fell again. Time flew on. The tidewas beginning to run out; the galley swung with it. The Indians,stolid enough as a rule, began to fidget on their seats. A lanternappeared at the fore end of the rowers' pit. Jeffreys came along.

  "Well?" asked Morgan anxiously.

  "Ugh! an ugly business. Not a man lives of the crew or guard in thefore-part of the vessel. Hernando's knives and Indian fingers havedone their deadly work. Are all awake?"

  "Not the Europeans."

  "Awaken them; here's a hammer and chisel; get their chains off.Hernando and his Indians are gone to the after-deck to block up thecabin doors. Our three boys are at the anchor. Keep this lantern. Wehave padded the hawse-hole, but there'll be some noise getting theanchor up. Have the rowers ready for my signal."

  There was soon clatter and even clamour amongst the slaves, and Morganhad much ado to keep the wilder ones from shouting and running on deck.One Spaniard who tried to do so, intent upon robbery, was promptlyknocked down. "You're not safe yet," cried Johnnie; "you're still inharbour and under the fort guns; you'll sit down and row, or gooverboard to the sharks." The fellow poured out a torrent of foullanguage, but the En
glishman's fist was hard, his own oar-comrades wereagainst him, so he sat down and made ready for work.

  "Ready?"--Jeffreys' voice.

  "Yes."

  The anchor rattled on the deck.

  "Pull for life and liberty!" called Morgan.

  A great sigh ran along the benches; dark figures swayed in the faintlight; the splash of oars sounded above the lap of the tide; the greatgalley was under way and going seawards. The time was some minutesshort of midnight.

  Panama was asleep. The men rowed slowly, making as little noise aspossible until clear of the swarm of canoes and small craft that hungabout in the bay. Then they went to work with a will. The oarscreaked and groaned; the vessel rolled to the ocean swell. Theofficers awoke in their cabins only to find themselves trapped. Dawnfound the galley well out of sight of land and going northwards.