James Braithwaite, the Supercargo: The Story of his Adventures Ashore and Afloat

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  PIRATES.

  My host, in spite of his annoyance, did not forget the duties ofhospitality, and warmly pressed our unwelcome visitor to take somerefreshment. The young officer, however, declined, on the plea that theday was already far spent, and that he had no time to spare. On goinground to the front of the house, I found two led horses under the chargeof a soldier. They were absurdly small for cavalry, and would have beenquickly ridden over by any one of our heavy regiments.

  I was about to bid Mynheer Van Deck farewell.

  "No, not yet, my friend," he answered. "I purpose accompanying you toCheribon, that I may render you any service in my power. I have ahorse, and will follow immediately."

  The officer made a sign of impatience, so I mounted one of the steeds,and Jack sprang on the back of the other, where he sat very much as abig monkey would have done, fully resolved, it seemed, to enjoy any funwhich might be forthcoming. As the French soldiers treated him kindly,and spoke in a good-natured tone to him, though he could not understandwhat they said, his fears quickly vanished, and he was speedily "hailfellow well met" with them all.

  The officer I found a very gentlemanly young man. He rode up alongsideme after we had proceeded a little way, and seemed eager enough to talkabout La Belle France and Paris; but when I endeavoured to draw anyinformation from him respecting the proceedings at the west end of theisland, he closed his mouth, or gave only vague answers. From this Iargued that affairs had not gone with the French in quite assatisfactory a manner as they wished. I asked him at last whether hethought that I should be detained or be otherwise inconvenienced by thecommandant at Cheribon.

  "We shoot spies," he answered laconically, at the same time shrugginghis shoulders as a Frenchman only can do. "C'est la fortune de laguerre."

  "But, my dear sir, I am no spy," I answered. "The governor, or nativechief, purposed to seize my vessel, and I was left on shore while shemade her escape. I am but a supercargo anxious to sell the goodsentrusted to me."

  The young officer gave a smile of incredulity, yet with an air of somuch politeness that I really could not be angry with him; indeed itwould have done me no good if I were. We were in a short time joined byMynheer Van Deck, who came galloping up on a much finer horse than anypossessed by the French soldiers. I found from my captor that thejourney would be far longer than I had expected, as we had to make aconsiderable _detour_ to visit a native chief, or prince, to whom he hada message. My belief was that he was beating up for native recruits tooppose the British force, which, if not arrived, must have been hourlyexpected. We had several natives with us, armed with long spears anddaggers, a few only having firelocks. Van Deck told me that we shouldsoon have to pass a river, rather a dangerous spot, on account of thenumber of tigers which came there to drink, and which had alreadycarried off several natives.

  "But surely they would not venture to attack so large a body of men asthis," I remarked.

  "Not if we could keep together, unless they happen to be very hungry,"he answered. "Unfortunately, however, the path in some places is sonarrow that we have to proceed in single file, and as there are fallentrees and other impediments in the way, travellers are apt to getseparated, when, of course, they are more liable to be picked off. Ialways keep my pistol cocked in my hand, that I may have a chance ofshooting my assailant."

  "But I came on shore unarmed, and have no pistols," I answered.

  "Then keep ahead of me, and if I see a tiger spring at you I will fireat him, and do my best to save you."

  "But the poor boy who is with me--he has a poor chance, I am afraid," Iobserved, after I had thanked my friend for his offer.

  "Oh, he is safe enough if he keeps close to the soldiers; the clatter oftheir arms frightens the beasts."

  While the Dutchman was speaking we came in sight of the river. It wasfordable, though rather deep, and as the leading men on their smallhorses plunged in the water was up to their saddle-girths. I naturallylooked out on either side for our expected enemies. Three or four largeanimals sprang off just as the leading horses reached the opposite bank.I thought they were tigers.

  "Oh, no, they are only wild cats," said Van Deck. "Rather unpleasant tobe caught by one of them asleep, but they are easily frightened."

  I thought to myself, If those creatures are Java wild cats, what mustJava tigers be like? We all passed across the stream without anyaccident, a small body of half-clad natives bringing up the rear. Theywere climbing up the somewhat steep bank, when a fearful shriek,followed by loud shouts and cries, made me turn my head, and I caughtsight of a monster bounding along the bank, with the writhing,struggling body of a human being between his huge jaws. The poorwretch's _sarong_, or plaid, had become loose, and dragged after him.Already several natives were setting off in chase, while others weredischarging their firearms at the animal, though at the risk of killingthe man. The French officer called out to them to desist, and seizing alance from one of the people, gallantly dashed after the tiger. Inaturally wished to join in the chase, but Van Deck entreated me tostop, telling me that I should very likely, if I went, be picked off byanother tiger on my return. As it would have been folly to disregardhis advice, we pushed on as fast as we could to get out of the narrowdefile. We could for several minutes hear the shouts of the nativesstill in pursuit of the tiger. After some time they rejoined us, butthey had not saved the poor man, and had, moreover, lost another oftheir number, who had been carried off by a tiger just as the firstleaped over a cliff fifty feet above the valley, with the man still inits mouth. It was followed triumphantly by its companion.

  "This is not the country I should choose to travel in, still less tolive in," I said.

  "It cannot be helped," observed the Dutchman. "I am well off here, agreat man among small people. I should be a beggar elsewhere. This isnot, however, the country in which a man of education and mind wouldchoose to pitch his tent."

  Torches were lit for the latter part of our journey. It will beremembered that so nearly under the equator as we were the days andnights are of equal length all the year round; we therefore did notenjoy the delightful twilight of a northern clime.

  Notice had been given of our proposed visit to the chief, or prince, whowas, I was told, of Malay descent. Preparations were therefore made forour reception, and very handsome they were. Though a prisoner, I wastreated like the rest of the guests. The house was much in the style ofthose I have before described. But I was not prepared to find a tableelegantly set out and spread with fine linen and beautiful silver plate.It was lighted by four large wax flambeaux in massive silvercandlesticks. The provisions were dressed in the Malay fashion, many ofthe dishes being very palatable, and toasts were drunk with three timesthree, the Malays of inferior rank, who sat round the room on the groundagainst the walls to the number of thirty, joining in the huzzas. Itwas altogether a curious scene of barbaric splendour. The princeescorted us to our rooms, where we found capital beds, beautiful linen,and very fine mosquito-nets, ornamented with fringe. The Malay servantsslept under the beds on mats, or in the corners of the rooms, to be inreadiness if required. Breakfast was prepared at daybreak, that wemight continue our journey in the cool of the morning.

  We rested under the shade of some trees during the day, the soldierskeeping up a fearful din to scare away any wild beast who might chanceto be prowling about in search of a dinner. The young officer hadfortunately a French cook among his men, who very soon contrived toplace before us a capital dinner, though of what it was composed I couldnot discover. I rather think that hashed monkey formed one of thedishes. As, towards night, we approached Cheribon, my kind Dutch frienddid his best to keep up my spirits, assuring me that he would spare nopains to prove that I was not a spy. He was not quite sure that theaccounts received of the defeat of the English were correct; and theFrench commandant would scarcely venture to hang me without very strongproofs of my guilt, and with the possibility of being made a prisonerhimself by
my countrymen ere long, should they have been victorious.Still it was with no very pleasant feelings that I was formallyconducted into the fort as a prisoner.

  The forts of Cheribon had been allowed to fall into decay by the Dutch,but since the French occupation of the island had been repaired andconsiderably strengthened. I was told that the commandant boasted thathe could hold out against any force likely to be sent against him, evenshould my countrymen gain the day. I was taken at once before him andexamined, but though he had no evidence to prove me guilty, as I wasaccused of being a spy he would not take my parole. I was by his ordersaccordingly locked up in a cell with iron bars to the windows, athree-legged stool, and a heap of straw in a corner for a bed. Mr VanDeck had not entered the fort. In a little time Jack was thrust intothe cell with very little ceremony. He brought me a message from myDutch friend, saying that there had been a battle, and he suspected thatthe French had been defeated. I heartily hoped that he was correct. Ihad reason to believe that my prison, bad as it was, was the best in thefort, for Jack told me that he had seen guards going round with messesof food which they had put into wretched dark holes, and in one, as hewas led along, he saw a miserable gaunt man, with long matted hair, putout a lean yellow hand to take the food. This information made me hopemore than ever than Van Deck was right in his suspicions, for I had nofancy to be shut up in a dark cell for months in such a climate, withthe possibility of being taken out and shot as a spy. Had I been anaval or military man I should not have been thus treated. Several veryunpleasant days and nights passed by, a scanty allowance of coarse foodonly being brought to me and my young companion.

  At length, one day the sergeant threw open my prison door, and Van Deckappearing, took me by the hand and led me out of my noisome dungeon,followed by Jack, who gave a shout of joy as he found himself in theopen air.

  "I sent to Batavia, where your ship has arrived, and where yourstatement was fully corroborated, and the commandant had therefore nofurther excuse for keeping you a prisoner," said my friend. "But thereis another reason why he would not venture to do so much longer. Lookthere!"

  He pointed seaward where several large ships were seen approaching theland. He handed me a glass. I examined them eagerly; they werefrigates, with the flag of Old England flying at their peaks. Jack,when he heard this, gave a loud huzza, and threw up his cap withdelight, jumping and clapping his hands, and committing otherextravagances, till I ordered him to be quiet lest the French soldiersshould put a sudden stop to the exhibition of his feelings.

  The frigates approached till they had got just within long gunshot rangeof the fort, when after some time a boat put off from one of them andapproached the fort, bearing a flag of truce. That was, at all events,pleasant. There was a chance of a battle being avoided, yet thecommandant had so loudly sworn that nothing should make him yield to theEnglish that I was afraid he might be obstinate and insist on holdingout. We were on the point of hurrying down to meet the boat, when asergeant with a guard stopped us and told us politely enough that wemust stay where we were, or that Jack and I must go back to prison.

  "We must obey orders," observed Van Deck. "The fact is, that thecommandant is aware that you are acquainted with the weak points of thefort, that the gun-carriages are rotten, and many of the guns arethemselves honeycombed or dismounted."

  We were conducted out of the way when the officer with the flag of truceentered the fort. Looking from the ramparts, however, we could see theboat and the people in her through Van Deck's glass, and a young middywas amusing himself, so it appeared to me, by daring some little Dutch,or rather native boys to come off and fight him, which they seemed in noway disposed to do, for whenever he held up his fists they ran off at agreat rate. Of one thing I was very sure, that if the French commandantdid not yield with a good grace he would be very soon compelled to doso. That squadron of frigates had not come merely to give a civilmessage and to sail away again. We walked up and down, impatientlywaiting to hear what was to be done.

  At length, after an hour's delay, the officer who had brought themessage--Captain Warren, of the _President_--issued from thecommandant's house with his coxswain bearing a flag under his arm. Downcame the tricolour of France, and up went the glorious flag of England.Jack was beside himself on seeing this, and I could scarcely refrainfrom joining in his "Hurra! hurra!" as I hurried forward to meet theEnglish captain, whose acquaintance I had made at the Mauritius. TheFrench commandant intimated, on this, that I was at liberty; but as Ifelt it would be ungrateful to leave my friend Van Deck abruptly, Iresolved to remain on shore for the present with him.

  In a very short time the marines came on shore to secure the thus easilyacquired possession, but scarcely had they formed on the beach than itwas ascertained that a large body of the enemy had entered the town.The order was given to charge through them, and, taken by surprise, theFrench and Dutchmen threw down their arms, and several officers andothers were taken prisoners. Among them was General Jumel, second incommand to General Janssen, and Colonel Knotzer, aide-de-camp to thelatter, who with others were at once carried off to the ships.

  Cheribon I found to be a much larger place than I at first supposed; thestreets are narrow but numerous, and in the outskirts especially thehouses of the natives are so completely surrounded by trees and bushesthat it is impossible to calculate their number. I heard that the_Phoebe_ was one of the squadron, and soon had the satisfaction ofshaking hands with my brother William, Toby Trundle, and other officersbelonging to her. From them I heard a full account of the engagementwhich had given the greater part of the magnificent island of Java tothe English. I was the more interested as my military brother had takenpart in it, and distinguished himself. I hoped to meet him when I gotto Batavia.

  The army which was commanded by Sir Samuel Auchmuty, consisting of11,000 men, half being Europeans, disembarked on the evening of the 5thof August at the village of Chillingchin, twelve miles north of Batavia.Colonel Gillespie advanced on the city of Batavia, of which he tookpossession, and beat off the enemy, who attempted to retake it. Ageneral engagement took place on the 10th at Welteureden, when theFrench were defeated and compelled to retire to the strongly entrenchedcamp of Cornells. It was supposed to contain 250 pieces of cannon.Here General Janssen commanded in person, with General Jumel, aFrenchman, under him, with an army of 13,000 men. Notwithstanding this,the forts were stormed and taken, and the greater number of the officerscaptured. The commander-in-chief, with General Jumel, escaped--thelatter, as I have mentioned, to fall very soon afterwards into ourhands.

  An expedition, consisting of marines and bluejackets, was now organisedto meet a body of the fugitive army said to be marching from Cornells.As William was of the party, I got leave to accompany it. That we mightmove the faster, horses had been obtained, and both marines andbluejackets were mounted--that is to say, they had horses given them toride, but as the animals, though small, were frisky and untrained, theywere sent very frequently sprawling into the dust, and were much ofteneron their feet than in their saddles. Our force, as we advanced,certainly presented a very unmilitary appearance, though we made clatterenough for a dozen regiments of dragoons. We were in search of themilitary chest said to be with the fugitives. We fell in with a largeparty, who, however, having had fighting enough, sent forward a flag oftruce and capitulated. We got possession, however, of some waggon-loadsof ingots, but they were ingots of copper, and were said to be of solittle value in the country as to have been fired as grape-shot fromCornells. The moon shone brightly forth for the first part of themarch, but no sooner did it become obscured than a considerable numberof the marines were seized with a temporary defective vision very commonwithin the tropics, called, "Nyctalopia," or night blindness. Theattack was sudden; the vision seldom became totally obscured, but soindistinct that the shape of objects could not be distinguished. Whilein this state the sufferers had to be led by their comrades. With someit lasted more than an hour, with others not more than twenty minut
es,and on the approach of day all traces of it had disappeared.

  On our march, during the heat of the day, we passed through a wood,every tree in which seemed to have been blasted by lightning. Not abranch nor leaf remained to afford us shelter from the scorching rays ofthe sun. Had I not known that the story of the noxious effects producedby the upas-tree was a fiction, I might have supposed that thedestruction had been caused by a blast passing amid the boughs of one ofthose so-called death-dealing trees in the neighbourhood. Probably theforest had been destroyed partly by lightning and partly by theconflagration it had caused.

  On returning to Cheribon, I found that my friend Van Deck was anxious toproceed to Batavia, and I was fortunate in being able to procure him apassage on board the _Phoebe_, which was going there at once.

  "Well, Braithwaite, I shall never despair of your turning up safe!"exclaimed Captain Hassall, shaking my hand warmly as I stepped on thedeck of the _Barbara_. "You saved the ship and cargo by yourpromptness, for had I not got your message by young Jack there I shouldhave been captured to a certainty. Garrard, Janrin and Company havereason to be grateful to you, and I have no doubt that they will be so."

  Everybody knows that Batavia is a large Dutch town built in thetropics--that is to say, it has broad streets, with rows of trees inthem, and canals in the centre of stagnant water, full of filth, andsurrounded by miasma-exuding marshes. But the neighbourhood is healthy,and the merchants and officials mostly only come into the town in thedaytime, and return to their country houses at night. Some seasons areworse than others, nobody knows why. Captain Cook was there on hisfirst voyage round the world during a very bad one, and, in spite of allhis care, lost a number of people. We were more fortunate, but did notescape without some sickness.

  Captain Hassall had disposed of most of that portion of our cargo suitedfor the Batavian market, so that I soon got rid of the rest. I thenmade arrangements for the purchase of sugar, tea, coffee, spices, andseveral other commodities which I believed would sell well at Sydney, towhich place we proposed to proceed, touching at a few other pointsperhaps on our way.

  The articles had, however, first to be collected, as the army hadconsumed the greater portion in store at Batavia. Part of the purchaseI made from a brother of my friend Van Deck. He was on the point ofsailing in a brig he owned along the coast to collect produce, andinvited me to accompany him. I gladly accepted his offer, as the_Barbara_ could not sail till his return.

  In those days, as well, indeed, as from the memory of man, these seasswarmed with pirates, many of whom had their headquarters on the coastof Borneo. Among them was a chief, or rajah, named Raga, notorious forthe boldness and success of his undertakings. We, however, believedthat with so many British men-of-war about he would seek some moredistant field for his operations. The harbour was full of native craftof all sorts. Of the native prahus alone there are many varieties, somebuilt after European models, and carrying sails similar to those of ourEnglish luggers. Others are of native construction, with lateen sails;and many, built with high stems and sterns, have the square mat-sail,such as impels the Batavian fishing prahus. Of course, among so manycraft a pirate chief could easily find spies ready to give himinformation of all that was going forward. However, we troubled ourheads very little about the pirates.

  By-the-bye, I have not said anything about the alligators of Java, whichare, I believe, larger than in any other part of the world. TheGovernment will not allow those in the harbour of Batavia to bedisturbed, as they act the part of scavengers by eating up the garbagewhich floats on the water, and might otherwise produce a pestilence. Ioften passed them floating on the surface, and snapping at the morselswhich came in their way, quite indifferent to the boats going to and froclose to them. Captain Beaver, of the _Nisus_ frigate, described to meone he saw in another part of the island when on an exploringexpedition. It was first discovered basking on a mud-bank, and neitherhe nor the officers with him would believe that it was an animal, butthought at first that it was the huge trunk of a tree. At the lowestcomputation it was forty feet in length. The circumference of thethickest part of the body seemed nearly that of a bullock, and thiscontinued for about double the length. The extent of the jaws wascalculated to be at least eight feet. The eyes glistened like two largeemeralds, but with a lustre which nothing inanimate could express. Theofficers examined it through their glasses, and came to the conclusionthat it was asleep, but the native guides assured them that it was not.To prove this, one of them fearlessly leaped on shore and approached thecreature, when it glided into the water, creating a commotion like thatproduced by the launch of a small vessel.

  I bade farewell to William and my friends of the _Phoebe_, not withoutsome sadness at my heart. In those time of active warfare it might bewe should never meet again. Of my soldier brother I got but a hurriedglimpse before he embarked on an expedition which was sent to captureSourabaya, at the other end of the island. A few words of greeting, andinquiries and remarks, a warm long grasp of hands, and we parted.Directly I stepped on board Van Deck's brig the _Theodora_, the anchorwas weighed, and we stood out of the harbour with a strong land breeze.The easterly monsoon which prevailed was in our teeth, so that we wereonly able to progress by taking advantage of the land and sea-breezes.The land breeze commenced about midnight, and as it blew directly fromthe shore, we were able to steer our course the greater part of thenight; but after sunrise the wind always drew round to the eastward, andwe were consequently forced off the shore. The anchor was then droppedtill towards noon, when the sea-breeze set in. Again we weighed, andstood towards the shore, as near as possible to which we anchored, andwaited for the land breeze at night.

  We had thus slowly proceeded for three or four days, having called offtwo estates for cargo, when, as we lay at anchor, a fleet of five or sixprahus was seen standing towards us with the sea-breeze, which had notyet filled our sails. Van Deck, after examining them through his glass,said that he did not at all like their appearance, and that he fearedthey intended us no good. On they came, still directly for us. We gotup all the arms on deck and distributed them to the crew, who, to thenumber of thirty, promised to fight to the last. Then we weighed anchorand made sail, ready for the breeze. It came at last, but not till theprahus were close up to us. Under sail we were more likely to beat themoff than at anchor. They soon swarmed round us, but their courage wasdamped by the sight of our muskets and guns. Of their character,however, we had not a shadow of doubt. After a short time of mostpainful suspense to us they lowered their sails and allowed us to sailon towards the shore. Here we anchored, as usual, to wait for the landbreeze. Had there been a harbour, we would gladly have taken shelterwithin it, for the merchant, the elder Van Deck, said that he knew thepirates too well, and that they might still be waiting for anopportunity to attack us. There was, however, no harbour, and so we hadto wait in our exposed situation, in the full belief that the pirateswere still in the offing, and might any moment pounce down upon us. TheVan Decks agreed that we might beat them off, but that if they shouldgain the upper hand they would murder every one on board the vessel."We might abandon the vessel and so escape any risk," observed themerchant--not in a tone as if he intended to do so. "You, at allevents, Mr Braithwaite, can be landed, and you can easily get back toBatavia." Against this proposal of course my manhood rebelled, though Ihad a presentiment, if I may use the expression, that we should beattacked. "No, no! I will stay by you and share your fate, whateverthat may be," I replied. Night came on, and darkness hid all distantobjects from view.

  We were in the handsome, well-fitted-up cabin, enjoying our eveningmeal, when the mate, a Javanese, put his head down the skylight and saidsome words in his native tongue, which made the Dutchmen start fromtheir seats, and, seizing their pistols and swords, rush on deck. I hadno difficulty, when I followed them, in interpreting what had been said.The pirate prahus were close upon us.