James Silver and his men reached the first house, discovering that it was directly across the street from a tavern. The sound of snoring coming from the tavern was so loud that it could be heard in the street outside, where several drunk sailors lay asleep or unconscious in the dirt. On instructions from James Silver, two of his men dragged the bodies of the drunken sailors into the shadows and quickly slit their throats. They then slowly opened the door to the tavern, counting twenty further drunkards lying on the tables and the tavern floor. They were all snoring and sleeping so deeply that they posed no risk to the pirates: cannon fire itself would possibly not wake them!
The door to the house opposite the tavern was not locked, and James Silver led the first of the pirates inside, discovering several men sleeping on the floor on mats in the main room. Silver killed them all himself, by slitting their throats with his cutlass. His men looked on as he worked swiftly.
Some stairs led upstairs to another floor, and Silver sent some men up with a wave of his hand. His men knew what to do.
At the back of the main room, some stairs led down into a cellar which had beer barrels and water casks lined up against the far wall, just as Richard Tyler had said they would find.
James Silver's pulse quickened. He could almost smell the gold!
They went to work quickly, moving the barrels and casks to the upstairs room and starting to dig furiously in the ground with their spades.
They worked silently in candlelight, the heat in the room building up quickly and forcing some of the pirates to strip down to their breeches, wrapping their headscarves around their necks, mouths and noses to stop them breathing in the dust.
The dirt piled up swiftly against the other walls of the room, until at last one of the pirates shouted loudly with excitement, only to receive a quick bash on the head from James Silver for his trouble.
"Shut up, man, lest ye wake the devil himself!"
James Silver snatched the man's spade from him, jumped down into the small pit,
and dug around the chest that was slowly emerging from the ground. After he and two other men cleared the soil away, they tried lifting it but discovered they couldn't. It was too heavy.
Swearing loudly, Silver beckoned for help from some others, and slowly they managed to pull it up and out of the small trench.
The lid was locked, a small padlock preventing anyone from opening it.
Swinging the back of the spade down from above his head, James Silver eventually managed to crack the rusting padlock open, and it dropped to the floor. While the other men in the room stopped digging and stood around him, gawking at the chest, James Silver slowly opened the lid.
Their jaws dropped wide open and profanities in four languages filled the air.
"By the big, black beard of Beelzebub," James Silver exclaimed aloud, throwing the lid open wide, "Richard Tyler was telling the truth, God Bless Him! Take a look at that, my boys..."
The chest was full of gold coins. Thousands of them. They glinted in the light of the oil lamps which the pirates raised above the chest. James Silver put both hands in the chest, rummaging around in the coins, and laughing aloud. He took one out, examined it closely and then bit it between his teeth, appraising it.
"Spanish doubloons. We're rich lads. Rich. And if the Cap'n is right, there's a lot more here besides. You boys, keep digging. You lads, get this chest topside, and give the signal for the First Mate to bring up the carts. As soon as you can, load this up and get it down to the boats!"
Shortly after, the men in the first house found another chest, this one being full of jewelry, plate, goblets and candles, in a delightful mixture of gold and silver.
This was followed by three large sacks full of silver pieces of eight and other coins, and another three large chests full of coins, gold, silver or copper metal ingots, jewels, uncut sapphires, emeralds, and rubies, cutlery, candles, goblets, and other bits and pieces, including small statues and what looked like little crowns or tiaras.
Some of the pirates had been pillaging ships in the Caribbean for many years, but none had ever seen so much precious booty in the same stash before. It was almost too much to comprehend. In the whole history of mankind and seafaring, few would ever have seen a sight that came close to this, including the Kings and Queens of all Christendom!
Such was the weight and amount of the treasure, that they found it difficult to carry it up and out of the house. Two of the chests had to be partially emptied before they could be lifted, and their contents carried in swift relay by men running back and forward, up and down the streets to the bay.
Several times, unlucky inhabitants of Puerto Bello de la Cruz stumbled to their doorways to relieve themselves in the trees, and were met by cold steel and an unexpected death.
It took two hours for James Silver and his men to transport his share of the treasure from the house they found it in, into the boats, and back to the Sea Dancer. James Silver later boasted that they didn't spill a single coin, and manage to recover every piece of treasure without leaving a penny behind.
Captain Rob was not so fortunate.
He had found and located the treasure as quickly as Silver, unearthing exactly the same number of chests and sacks, but while transporting it back to the boats, one of the sacks had split open aboard a bouncing cart, and the coins had spilled all over the ground. The pirates had rushed around, filling their pockets and hats, and putting as much as possible back on the cart, but as the last of the coins were being recovered their luck ran out and the alarm was raised.
The sun was just tipping the horizon when some dogs started barking loudly, and then someone in the town spotted them, fired a musket shot and shouted a loud warning to everyone else. At first, there was little response, giving Captain Rob's team extra precious minutes in hurrying down the hill with the final cart to the shore, but then when a second musket shot rang out, men started appearing in doorways, and running into the streets, in various states of attire and drunkenness.
As the last cart trundled and bounced down the hill towards the boats which had been ferrying the treasure back and forward to the ships for the past hour, more coins began to spill out of the cart.
Captain Rob left the shore, running back up the main street with a group of reinforcements, and shouting at the men in front to leave the coins in the dirt and make good their escape.
His band of pirates, all carrying muskets, split into two groups. Under the command of Robert Grieves, a mate aboard the Eagle, one group took up position at the bottom of the other main street that led down amongst the houses to the harbor.
Luckily, some of Kidd's men coming fast down the other street, stopped and started scratching in the dirt to pick up the fallen coins from the cart. Others behind them fell over the ones in front, and soon the street was blocked, a m?l?e of drunken pirates fighting over the spilt coins. It was a short reprieve. Other locals and pirates from Kidd's command were pouring down the other side streets, shouting and waving their cutlasses.
About ten pirates escorting the cart down the hill broke off and started engaging Kidd's men as they chased after them. The cart was now close to the beach, and at James Silver's beckoning, those carrying coins and any loot were immediately loaded into the boats with the coins from the cart.
As Captain Rob's men approached those involved in the skirmishing, he gave a command and his men stopped running and formed two lines across the width of the street. In a move which Captain Rob had practiced and honed with his men aboard ship during the months spent at sea, he had taught the rear line to lift their muskets and prepare to fire a volley into the oncoming enemy in front.
The line in front were kneeling awaiting the command to stand, raise muskets and fire, then step forward, kneel and reload.
Together, they would form a moving wall of musket fire that would advance up the street, issuing a cloud of musket fire that would stop the enemy dead in their advance and cut them down quickly.
As soon as they were ready and i
n place, Cap'n Rob shouted loudly, "On me, boys!" and those holding back the oncoming pirates in front, disengaged and ran quickly down the hill, behind the wall of muskets, and down to the boats.
"Fire!" Captain Rob gave the command, and a cloud of fire and smoke erupted from the muskets. The front row of Kidd's men fell to the ground.
"Advance...Kneel, ...Raise....FIRE!" Captain Robb shouted again, and another line of Kidd's men fell.
"Advance...," he shouted again, and again. Each time a line of pirates falling in quick succession.
Such military-like discipline was almost unheard of amongst pirate crews at this time, and the effect it had on the enemy pirates was devastating. They fell quickly, blocking the street, and making it difficult for those behind to clamber over them. The others soon stopped in their tracks and hesitated. As they stood, more men fell to the ground under another wall of musket fire.
This broke their resolve, and they turned and started to retreat back up the hill and into the side streets.
The men under Robert Grieves' command had also advanced up the hill along the street they had stationed themselves in, but a group of Kidd's men coming down a side street had managed to destabilize their line, and they were all soon embroiled in hand to hand fighting.
By this time the boats with the last of the coins and booty had left the shore and were almost back at the ships. Other empty boats had now returned to the beach, and Captain Rob shouted at James Silver to start loading the men back into the boats. At the bottom of the street he was covering, Captain Rob left a single line of men issuing musket fire, and took the rest up the other street to the rescue of those involved in hand to hand combat. Seeing what was happening, James Silver sent another twenty men from the beach up to help, and soon Kidd's men were being beaten and were in full retreat.
A number of Captain Rob's men had fallen, and in the lull between the fighting, a band of men were sent out to recover the dying and wounded, and whatever dead bodies they could.
Steadily the boats were loaded with men and they started rowing back out to the ships, the wounded being put aboard the Thistle and tended by Mr Bones, the physician.
Gun smoke, the smell of burnt powder, and smoke from some fires which had started in some of the houses, now filled the air.
As soon as the last of the men arrived on the beach, Captain Rob gave the order to deploy the howitzers. Next, he turned towards the ships and gave a signal to the gunners aboard the Sea Dancer.
Within seconds a volley of cannon fire landed amongst the houses on the shore. A second volley swiftly followed.
The effect of this was to create fear, confusion and turmoil amongst Kidd's men on shore, who were regrouping and preparing for another attack on Captain Rob's men.
As the cannon balls ripped through the dry wooden houses, they started fired where they landed.
When a third volley of cannon arrived, the town of Puerto Bello de la Cruz began to burn.
Amidst the fear and confusion, the inhabitants began to flee in two directions: either back into the town and then up towards the fort and into the woods beyond, seeking sanctuary in the hills and trees, or down towards the beach and shore line.
As another wave of Kidd's pirates ran down towards the beach, the howitzers were fired, cutting down the front row of men en masse, the grape shot slicing through them, ripping open and disemboweling many of those caught in the blast. Those behind kept running in pure panic, and were soon killed by a second wave of howitzer fire, their gunners well trained and practiced in reloading their weapons fast and efficiently.
The raid had become a massacre, and the blood of Kidd's men was now running down the streets, congealing in the dirt or forming here and there into disgusting pools of red which now shimmered in the rising sun.
Captain Rob stood on the beach, watching dispassionately at the carnage he had created.
His mission, started many years before in a secret room in London, was now almost complete.
When the battle had started ashore, Captain Richard Wainright had led his men up the anchor lines of Kidd's ships in the harbor. They had met little resistance, all of which was dealt with quickly and ruthlessly. After looting the ship for water, grog, food and provisions, they had selected the largest vessel of all and started to move it towards the harbor mouth and into position.
On the other two ships, they pointed two of their cannons downwards, fired, and put large holes in their hulls. Both ships began to sink, bust just to make sure, Wainright set them on fire before he abandoned them and headed back to the Thistle.
With the loss of only two men during the onboard skirmishes, his part of the mission had been a success.
Within an hour, and by the time the sun had fully dawned, the last of Captain Rob's men were climbing aboard.
Their haul of treasure had been split between the three ships: the booty from the Fort had been loaded onto the Eagle, the treasure retrieved by James Silver onto the Sea Dancer, and the rest onto the Royal Thistle.
On board the Sea Dancer, Captain Rob gave the signal, and the three ships under his command weighed anchor and headed towards the harbor mouth and the open sea. The Royal Thistle had waited just outside the harbor entrance, to pick up the last of Wainright's men who had rowed out in a pinnace, having successfully just sunk Kidd's last remaining ship in the mouth of the harbor.
Then with all the men aboard and accounted for, Captain Robb's fleet set sail around the island, planning to meet up with the Albatross and offer assistance in finding and retrieving the last of the booty which was hidden in the cave.
As they sailed away, the mission a complete success, Puerto Bello De La Cruz lay destroyed and burning.
Aboard his three vessels, Captain Rob McGregor now carried the greatest treasure ever assembled and afloat at the same time in the history of mankind.
Looking up at the sun, smiling, Captain Rob thanked God.
It could not have gone better.
Just then the sun slipped behind a bank of cloud, and it began to rain.
Chapter 6
The Sea Dancer
Sunday Morning
7.30 a.m.
Time Ship (Book One): A Time Travel Romantic Adventure Page 6
