A Roving Commission; Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER IV

  A SHARP FIGHT

  Mr. Playford and Nat were still talking when a sailor came up to himwith one of the negroes.

  "What is it, Tomkins?" the lieutenant asked.

  "Well, sir, this 'ere black seems to hear something; he keeps pointingup into the wood and whispering something in his own lingo and lookingvery excited, so I thought I had better bring him here to you."

  "Quite right, Tomkins; no doubt he does hear something, their ears are agood deal better than ours are. I will go up with you."

  Accompanied by Nat, Mr. Playford went up on to the bank of earth thathad been thrown up against the palisade, and found that the negroesthere were all in a state of excitement, pointing in various directionsand shaking their pikes angrily.

  "They are coming, there is no doubt of that," he said. "I should say, bythe motions of the blacks, that they are scattered through the wood.Well, we are ready for them. You had better get your slow matchesalight, my lads; don't take the covers off the vents until the lastmoment, the dew is heavy."

  They were joined now by Lieutenant Boldero. "I think I can hear them,"he said.

  "Yes. I should not have noticed if it had not been for the blacks, butthere is certainly a confused noise in the air."

  Listening attentively, they could hear a low rustling sound, withsometimes a faint crack as of a breaking stick.

  "As soon as we think that they have got to the edge of the trees wewill throw a fireball out in that direction, and then let them have it.We must keep them from getting closer if we can; when they once get nearthe foot of the palisade we shall not be able to depress our guns enoughto fire upon them."

  In a short time there was no question that a large number of men weremaking their way down through the wood. The blacks were now brought outfrom the houses and ranged along at the foot of the bank, where theywere ordered to stay for the present, as were they to man the line theywould be exposed to the assailants' bullets, while powerless to do anyservice until the latter began to attempt to scale the stockade.

  "They must be gathering at the edge of the trees now," the lieutenantsaid at last. "Now, Tomkins, light that fireball and heave it over."

  The ball, which was formed of old junk, was about the size of a man'shead. The material had been smeared with tar mixed with sulphur, andTomkins held in his hand the lanyard attached to it. He applied a slowmatch to it, and it broke into a blaze at once. Swinging it round hishead, he hurled it far in front of him. By its light as it fell a crowdof figures could be seen gathered along the edge of the forest. A fierceyell broke from them, and loud shouts were raised by the leadersordering them to charge, but before they could get into motion four gunspoured a storm of grape among them, followed directly afterwards by thecontents of four others. An appalling din of yells and shrieks washeard, but without an instant's hesitation a score of figures inEuropean dress darted forward, followed by a mass of blacks, behind whomcame another thirty or forty Europeans or mulattoes driving the negroesbefore them.

  "Pick off the whites!" Lieutenant Boldero shouted to the marines, and adropping fire of musketry was at once opened.

  The distance, however, from the edge of the trees to the palisades wasbut some fifty yards; the light was dim and uncertain, and in a minutefrom the first shot being fired the assailants were swarming along thefoot of the palisade. There was no hesitation, and it was evident thatthe men who led the attack had made every preparation. A number of theassailants carried ladders; these were placed against the wall, and thewhites and mulattoes swarmed up, closely followed by the negroes. Sosudden and unexpected was this assault that in several places theyobtained a footing inside the palisades, but with a wild yell the slavesat once rushed up the bank and fell upon them. At the same moment theboom of the schooner's guns told that they had made out parties of theenemy advancing against the flanks of the works.

  The arrival of the slaves soon changed the position. The assailants werecut down, run through, or forced to leap down over the stockade thatthey had just crossed. In spite of the shouts of the lieutenant, theslaves, thirsting for vengeance, leapt down after them, and fell withsuch fury upon the assailants that these, seized with a panic, fled. Atthe edge of the trees, however, the efforts of the whites checked theflight. Guns and pistols were discharged for the first time, and afierce fight presently raged.

  "We must go down and lend them a hand," the lieutenant said. "Keep yourmen here, Mr. Glover, to get the guns loaded again; I will take myblue-jackets and the marines. Light a port fire or two, else, in spiteof their white head-gear, we shall be hurting our friends."

  The sailors and marines soon scrambled down the ladders, and, led bytheir officers, rushed forward with loud cheers. Their arrival at oncedecided the fortune of the fray. Rushing through their black allies,they fell with sword and cutlass, musket and bayonet, upon theEuropeans, whose pistols had given them a decided advantage over theslaves, but who could not stand the charge of the marines and seamen.These pursued them for some little distance, but when beyond the rangeof the lights of the stockade Lieutenant Playford halted them. Theslaves, however, continued the pursuit for some time, and then they,too, returned, having overtaken and killed many of their flying enemies.

  "There is nothing more to be done till daylight," Mr. Playford said."Indeed, I do not think that we shall hear any more of these fellows,who, to do them justice, fought well. Our guns must have done a gooddeal of execution, though they would have done much more had they notbeen so close; the bullets had hardly begun to scatter. However, weshall see in the morning. It is lucky that we armed the slaves, or itwould have gone very hard with us. You see, we had half our men at theguns, and the others were too thinly scattered along the line to be ableto defend it against so determined an attack. I expect they nevercalculated on the slaves being armed, and thought that they had onlyforty or fifty men to deal with. After the lesson that they have had Idon't think they will molest us again, unless there are any troops inthe neighbourhood that they can bring up."

  The palisades were recrossed and sentries set; grog was served out tothe seamen and marines; the slaves were mad with delight, and danced andsang songs of triumph for some time. As soon, however, as the lieutenantmotioned them to return to their huts they did so at once. Many of themwere wounded more or less severely, but they seemed to think nothing ofthis, being too much pleased with the vengeance they had taken to careaught for the pain. Nat prepared to return to the schooner with his men,none of whom were, however, seriously hurt, as they had been held inreserve. Altogether, three sailors and a marine had been killed and sixseverely wounded.

  "Are you going on board, Mr. Playford?"

  "No; I shall stay ashore till morning. I do not think that there is theremotest chance of the attack being renewed; however, it is clearly myduty to stay here."

  As soon as it was daylight Nat went on shore again, and with ten of hisown men, ten marines, and a hundred of the slaves, went over the groundto collect the wounded, and learn the loss of the assailants. All thewounded sailors had been carried into the fort when the fight ceased.Six Spaniards and nine mulattoes lay dead either on the earthen rampartor at the foot of the palisade. All of them were pierced in severalplaces by pikes, or mutilated with blows of axes. Round them lay sometwenty plantation negroes, and thirty others had fallen at the edge ofthe wood, shattered by the discharges of the cannon or killed in thehand-to-hand conflict; among them were twelve of the released slaves.Not a single white or mulatto was found alive.

  The party pursued their way for a quarter of a mile into the wood. Hereand there were scattered the bodies of the assailants who had beenovertaken by their pursuers. The latter had done their work thoroughly,for not a single man was found to be breathing. When they came to apoint beyond which the slaves by signs apprised them that they had notgone, they returned, collecting and carrying down the bodies of the deadas they went. They found on their return that two trenches, four feetdeep and thirty feet long, had already been dug, at
the edge of theforest and as far from the camp as possible. In one of these the bodiesof the Spaniards and mulattoes were laid, and in the other that of thenegroes. The earth was then filled in.

  "It has been an unpleasant job, but a necessary one," LieutenantPlayford said, when he knew that the work was done, and the whole partyre-entered the fort. "In a climate like this the place would have beenuninhabitable in a couple of days if we had not buried them all."

  In the afternoon two fresh graves were made, and the fallen sailors werereverently laid to rest in one, the dead slaves in the other. Water wasbrought up in buckets by the negroes from the edge of the creek, and allsigns of the conflict on the rampart and at the foot of the palisadeeither washed away or covered with earth. Then matters resumed theirformer aspect.

  Early the next morning the look-out on the cliff ran down and reportedthat a large brigantine was just entering the inlet. Mr. Playfordshouted the news to Nat.

  "I will send off the marines to you," he said. "I will remain here withthe blue-jackets."

  The Spanish flag was at once run up to the peak. In two or three minutesthe boat with the marines came alongside. They and the greater part ofthe sailors at once lay down on the deck, while the few who remained onfoot took off their straw hats and white jumpers, tied handkerchiefsround their heads, and gave themselves as unseamanlike an appearance aspossible. Ten minutes later the brigantine appeared round the point;there was scarce a breath of wind, and she had two boats towing her. Aflag hung from her mast-head, and as Nat turned his glass upon it heexclaimed to Boldero, who, having removed his coat and cap, was standingby his side:

  "It is the black flag; the fellow must be pretty sure of his welcome orhe would never venture to haul it up."

  In the meantime the guns ashore had been slued round, and were nowpointed on a spot somewhat ahead of the schooner. She came slowly alonguntil within some four or five lengths of the latter, then there was asudden shout on board, followed by a tremendous hubbub. It was clearthat the line of palisades surrounding the huts had been noticed andthe guns seen.

  The brigantine was crowded with men. She carried twelve guns in herports, and a long swivel eighteen-pounder in her bow. There was now nolonger any motive for concealment, the marines and seamen leapt to theirfeet with a cheer, and a moment later the schooner's two foremost guns,which would alone bear on the boats, spoke out, while almost at the samemoment two of those on the rampart sent a shower of grape into them.Both boats sank immediately, those of the crews who were uninjuredswimming to the brigantine. Contradictory orders were shouted on boardthe pirate. One by one her guns on the port side answered those on theramparts.

  "Get ready, my lads!" Nat shouted, "she will be alongside directly."

  The impetus of the schooner's way was indeed sufficient to take herslowly but surely forward, and the pirate slightly changed his course soas to bring her outside the schooner. Playford saw what his object was,and the remaining guns poured their charges of grape across the deck ofthe brigantine, committing terrible havoc. Before they could be loadedagain she was alongside the schooner, and so covered by her from thefire of the guns on shore. As the vessels came abreast of each other ata distance of two or three feet only, Nat and the young marine officerleapt on to the pirate's deck followed by their men. The resistance ofthe pirates was desperate. Although they had suffered much loss from thefire of the guns, they were still numerically stronger than theirassailants, and, fighting as they did with the desperation of despair,they not only held their ground, but pushed their assailants backtowards the bulwark.

  THE GUNS ON THE RAMPART SEND A SHOWER OF GRAPE INTO THEPIRATE.]

  For three or four minutes the fight continued without any markedadvantage to either party; the pistols of the seamen and pirates and themuskets of the marines were empty, and they were fighting hand to hand.Then slowly the advantage turned against the pirates, but the issue wasstill undecided when there was a loud cheer, and Mr. Playford withfifteen sailors leapt on the deck of the pirate from the other side, theapproach of the boat having been unnoticed in the heat of the fray. Thepirates now broke; their captain had fallen, and, outnumbered andhopeless, some threw down their arms, while others jumped overboard.Those who surrendered were at once bound and battened down in the holdof the schooner, some eight or ten only gained the opposite shore andtook to the woods. The victory had not been a bloodless one. Five of thefrigate's crew had been killed, and there were few among Nat's commandwho were not more or less severely wounded.

  "It was a sharp fight, Mr. Glover," Mr. Playford said.

  "It was indeed, sir. At one time they fairly drove us back, but I thinkthat we should have beaten them even if you had not brought help to us."

  "I am sure you would," the lieutenant said warmly. "I could see as Iboarded that although the men in front were fighting hard, those in therear were hanging back as if they had had enough of it. Still, you mighthave lost more men than you did before you finished with them if we hadnot turned up. You see, fighting with pirates is quite a different thingfrom fighting with any other opponents. These fellows know well enoughthat there is no mercy for them, and that they have nothing before thembut to fight until they die, or to be tried and hanged. The veriestcoward would fight till the last with such an alternative as that beforehim. I would rather fight a hundred and fifty French or Spanish seamenthan a hundred pirates. She is a fine roomy craft that we have taken,and I think we shall now be able to carry off all these blacks. Nodoubt it will be a close pack for them, but for a short voyage that willnot matter. Now let us see to our wounded. After that is done we can getoff the hatches and have a look round below. Of course she may have comein here for water, but it is likely that she has at least some booty inher hold."

  This proved to be the case. She was half full of goods of a more or lessvaluable kind, and these, by the marks on the bales and boxes, hadevidently formed part of the cargoes of three ships. Two days later the_Orpheus_ was seen returning along the coast, and Nat was at once sentoff by the lieutenant with his written report of what had taken placesince she had sailed. The gig reached the side of the frigate just asthe anchor was let go.

  "I see your right arm is in a sling, Mr. Glover," the captain said as hehanded him the report, "so I suppose that you have had some fighting."

  "Yes, sir, we have had some pretty sharp fighting."

  "What is your wound?"

  "Only a chop with a cutlass, sir."

  "Oh, you came to hand-to-hand work, did you?"

  Nat gave no answer, for the captain had opened the report and was nowrunning his eye down it.

  "Very satisfactory," he said, as he handed it to the first lieutenant."An attacking force handsomely repulsed and a pirate captured. Very goodwork indeed, very good. I see Mr. Boldero was wounded, Mr. Glover."

  "Yes, sir, he was hit on the head with a pistol-shot. Fortunately theball glanced off the skull. He was stunned for a time, but is now nearlyhimself again."

  "Here is some work for you, Dr. Bemish," the captain said. "Mr. Playfordreports that ten of the cases are serious. I am going ashore in my gigat once, and will take you with me. You had better send the cutter atonce, Mr. Hill, to bring off the wounded. You may as well return in yourown boat, Mr. Glover, Mr. Curtis can go in charge of the cutter. Mr.Needham can go with me."

  Nat at once returned to his boat. He was overtaken by the captain's gigwhen half-way up the inlet. He rowed to the schooner, while the gig madestraight for the landing-place where the lieutenant was standing.

  "I congratulate you, Mr. Playford," the captain said as he steppedashore. "You seem to have had a pretty busy time of it since we havebeen away. I certainly did not think they would attempt to attack youwhen you had those guns in position, and I did not reckon on the pirate.She is a fine brigantine; the schooner looks quite small beside her."

  "Yes, sir, she is over three hundred tons. Her broadside guns are alltwelve-pounders, and she carries an eighteen-pounder as a swivel. Shehad a crew of seventy men, of who
m only eight or ten got ashore, therest were all accounted for except twelve, who are in irons below. Thecredit of capturing her, sir, really belongs to Mr. Glover, for althoughI went off to his assistance he would have taken her without my aid,though the pirates were still fighting strongly."

  "Well, it has been a very successful business altogether, Mr. Playford.The capture of the brigantine is specially fortunate, as I have failedto come across any native craft as I had hoped to do, but with thisextra accommodation we shall be able to manage to carry off all theslaves. I see by your account that Mr. Glover had the marines as well ashis own twenty men."

  "Yes, sir, I sent Lieutenant Boldero and fourteen marines on board; hehad lost six either killed or seriously wounded in the attack here. Iown that I had hardly calculated upon the brigantine getting alongsidethe schooner. I thought that when we had smashed up her boats, which Imade certain we should do, she would be so completely at our mercy that,being becalmed, she would haul down her flag; but she had sufficient wayon her to take her alongside the schooner, and her captain put her thereso cleverly that I could not fire at her except through the schooner. Isaw at once that the whole position was changed, for if he had capturedthe schooner he might have put all his men into the boats and made adash for shore; and as I had so few men fit for work it would have beenawkward, though with the aid of the blacks I have no doubt I should havedriven them off."

  "Then I suppose your discharge of grape did not do him very much harm?"

  "Not so much as it ought to have done, sir. You see the first two gunswe fired destroyed his boats. The other guns were all too weakly handledto be trained on the pirate as he forged ahead, and as far as I couldsee not one of them did any serious execution among his crew. YesterdayI told off four negroes to each gun, and kept them at work all daylearning how to train them under the direction of the sailors. If I hadthought of that before we should have swept his decks with such effectthat when she got alongside the schooner Mr. Glover's party would havehad easy work of it."

  "You could hardly think of everything, Mr. Playford, and you certainlydid right in sending the marines off to the schooner directly you hadnews that this brigantine was entering the inlet. No doubt if you hadwished to sink her it would have been better to have kept them on shoreto help work the guns, but as she is a valuable prize, and we wanted herbadly to help carry away the slaves, you were quite right not to try todamage her. You say she is half full of plunder?"

  "Yes, sir, and there were nearly eight hundred pounds in money andthirty-four watches and some jewellery found in the captain's cabin."

  "She is a valuable capture, and I should think the admiral would buy herinto the service. She is just the sort of craft that we want. Theschooner would be too small to tackle one of these heavily-armed pirateswith their crowds of men. So your slaves fought well?"

  "That they did, sir. If it had been daylight I doubt whether any of thewhites who led the attack would have escaped. Of course they had noparticular animosity against the negroes, but I believe that they wouldhave followed the whites and mulattoes half across the island."

  "Well, do you think that the two craft will carry all the slaves?"

  "Hardly, sir; the schooner can stow a hundred and fifty. Of course itwill be close work, but there will be room for that number to lie down,and with the hatches both open they will be all right. By rearrangingthe cargo a bit, two hundred could sleep in the hold of the brigantine.That would still leave rather over one hundred and fifty."

  "Well, we must give up part of the hold of the frigate to them," thecaptain said, "there is no help for it. There are about that number ofwomen and children, are there not?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "They had better go off in the frigate, then. Of course, the prisonerswill be sent off too--I will pay a visit to the brigantine, and then gooff myself, and will send the boats in as soon as I get there. You mayas well be getting the men on board at once. As soon as they are alloff, you will, of course, set fire to all the sheds here, but you may aswell send off a boat-load of stores suitable for them to the frigate,and will, of course, victual these two craft. I shall send you anotherforty men to fill up the vacancies that have been caused, and tofurnish a crew for the brigantine, of which, of course, you will takethe command. You and the schooner will keep in close company. Themarines will return to the ship. Mr. Needham will be your second on thebrigantine."

  "How about the guns, sir? They are all old pieces, and scarcely worthcarrying away."

  "Yes, but I won't leave them here to be used for defending this placeagain. You had better take them off their carriages, spike them, getthem into the boats, and heave them overboard, well out in deep water.Do you think that you will be able to get everything done before dark,Mr. Playford?"

  "Yes, sir, it is only nine o'clock now, and if you will send a strongworking party, in addition to those who will be taking the slaves onboard, to help with the stores and guns, I have no doubt that I shall beable to get the work done well before sunset."

  "Very well. Mr. Hill will come on shore as soon as I return to thefrigate."

  The work went on without ceasing all day, and the pinnace, which hadbeen recovered and repaired before the frigate sailed, and the launch,went backwards and forwards to the frigate with the women, children, andstores, while the boats of the brigantine and schooner carried the mento those craft, as soon as the stores for the voyage, and the bales ofcotton and other goods that would be useful, had been taken off. Whenthe two large boats had finished their work they were employed incarrying out the guns, which had, before the slaves embarked, beenbrought down by them to the edge of the water. By three o'clock all wasfinished, and the last boat-load of the sailors rowed out to the prizes,after having set fire to all the huts. These were soon in a blaze, tothe delight of the negroes, who danced and shouted for joy. Half ofthese were sent below at once, as they crowded the decks to such anextent as to render it impossible for the sailors to work.

  Those who remained were ranged in rows by the bulwarks from end to endof the craft; then the anchors were got up, and the sails dropped andsheeted home. The wind was very light, but was sufficient to givesteerage-way, and with the British ensign flying at the peak the twovessels sailed out of the inlet and joined the frigate, which began tomake sail as soon as they were seen issuing from the narrow mouth. Gladindeed were all on board the three vessels when, after a voyage unmarkedby any adventure, they entered Port Royal, for although the negroes,feeling confident that they were in good hands, had been docile andobedient, they were still terribly in the way.

  Though all had been made to take a bath every morning, the odour in thecrowded prizes was almost overpoweringly strong. On arrival, the negroeswere landed and lodged in some large government storehouses near thefort. Each was presented with ten yards of cloth on leaving for theshore, and they were, before being housed, permitted to sort themselves,so that families and friends might be together. Interpreters explainedto them that it would be impossible to send them back to their friendsin Africa, but that they would be apportioned out among the plantationsof the island. The wages they were to receive were explained to them,and they were told that a government official would visit eachplantation in turn, and would listen to any complaints that might bemade as to their food and treatment, and at the end of three years allwho wished it could either change masters or take up a piece of land,build a hut, and cultivate it on their own account.

  The poor creatures were well satisfied with this. They were overjoyed atbeing united to their relations and friends, and to know that theywould still be together; and were assured that they would be well caredfor, and in time be as much their own masters as if at their villages inAfrica. The schooner was sold; the brigantine was, as the captain hadexpected, bought into the service; Mr. Playford was offered and acceptedthe command of her. Mr. Normandy took his place as second lieutenant ofthe _Orpheus_, and Mr. Marston received his promotion and the post ofthird officer. As the _Cerf_--which was the name of the brigantine
--wasto be considered as a tender of the frigate, those on board her werestill borne on her books. Curtis and Glover were appointed to her, witha petty officer and forty men.

  The pirates were tried and executed, with the exception of one, who wasa mere lad. He had, he asserted, been forced to join the pirates--beingspared by them when the rest of his comrades had been murdered, as theyhad lost their cook's mate, and required someone to fill his place.This, however, would not have saved his life had he not promised to leadhis new captors to the chief rendezvous of the pirates, which had solong eluded the search that had been made for it. He acknowledged,however, that he was not acquainted with its exact position. He hadsailed in and out four or five times, and had only a general idea of itsposition, but asserted that he should certainly know the island if hesaw it. A fortnight after reaching Port Royal, the frigate andbrigantine sailed in company.

  The indications given by the boy pointed to an island lying a shortdistance off the northern coast of Venezuela.

  There were originally, he said, four vessels working together, threebrigantines and a large schooner, one of which had arrived from Franceonly a short time before the _Cerf_ sailed on her last voyage. Theentrance to the pirates' stronghold was on the south side of the island,and was, he said, so well concealed that vessels might sail past theplace a thousand times without noticing it. There were two batteries atthe water's edge, inside the entrance, each mounting twelveeighteen-pounder guns that had been taken from prizes. The channel herewas not more than fifty yards across. A very heavy boom was at all timesswung across it just above the batteries, and this was opened only whenone of the craft entered or left.

  There was, however, he said, a spot on the outer side of the islandwhere a landing could be effected, at a little ravine that ran down tothe shore. This was thickly wooded, and some large trees growing at itsmouth almost hid it from passing vessels. At other points the shore wassteep, but there was so much vegetation on every ledge where trees orbushes could obtain a foothold, that from the sea it would seem that thecliffs were not too steep to scale.

  The prisoner had been placed on board the _Cerf_, which, as soon as shewas fairly at sea, was altered as far as possible in appearance by awhite band with ports painted along her sides; a false stem of anentirely different shape from her own was fastened to her, her lightupper spars sent down and replaced by stumpy ones, and other changesmade that would help to alter her appearance.

  Were she recognized by the pirates as she sailed past their island itwould at once be suspected that one of the men recently captured hadrevealed the rendezvous, and that she was cruising near it to obtain anexact idea of the best mode of attack before other craft came up toassist her. They had no doubt that the pirates had already received newsof the surprise and capture of the brigantine. Some of the men whoescaped would doubtless have made for the nearest port, and hired anegro craft to take them to their own island, which they would havereached before the _Orpheus_ arrived at Port Royal with her prizes. Thepirates would therefore be on their guard, and would either havedeserted their head-quarters altogether or have added to their defences.The sight of their late consort would confirm their fears that theirwhereabouts had become known, and it was therefore of importance thather identity should not be suspected.

  Changed as she now was, she might be taken for a man-of-war brigantine.Her height out of water had been increased by four feet by paintedcanvas fastened to battens. She had ten ports painted on each side, andlooked a very different craft from the smart brigantine that had sailedaway from the island. It had at first been suggested by Mr. Playfordthat she should be disguised so as to look like a trader, but CaptainCrosbie had decided against this.

  "There are," he said, "three of these pirates, and even two of themmight together be more than a match for you. By all accounts they areeach of them as strong as you are in point of armament, and would carryat least twice as many men as you have. Even if you beat them off itcould only be at a very great cost of life, and I certainly should notlike you to undertake such an enterprise unless you had at least doublethe strength of men, which I could not spare you. By going in the guiseof a vessel of war they would not care to meddle with you. They wouldknow that there would be no chance of booty and a certainty of hardfighting, and of getting their own craft badly knocked about, so that itwill be in all respects best to avoid a fight. They may in that case notconnect you with us at all, but take you to be some freshly-arrivedcraft. You had best hoist the Stars and Stripes as you pass along thecoast."

  When the changes were all effected the ships parted company. Thebrigantine was to sail east until within a short distance of Grenada,then to cruise westward along the coast of the mainland; thus going,there would be less suspicion on the part of those who saw her that shewas coming from Jamaica. A rendezvous was appointed at the island ofOruba, lying off the mouth of the Gulf of Venezuela.

  Their prisoner was French, and he was very closely questioned byLieutenant Playford, who spoke that language well. He said that theyalways sailed north to begin with, then sometimes they kept east, andcertainly he heard the names of Guadeloupe and St. Lucia. At othertimes, after sailing north they steered north-west, and came to a greatisland, which he had no doubt was San Domingo. It was not in this craftthat he sailed, he was only transferred to her with some of the othersfor that cruise only. After they had once made either the westernislands or San Domingo, they cruised about in all directions.

  "The great point is," Mr. Playford said to the midshipmen after a longtalk with the prisoner, "that at starting they generally hung aboutthese islands, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, and so on, for some time, and itwas considered their best cruising ground, though also the mostdangerous one, as we have always some cruisers in those waters. Thatwould certainly place the island somewhere off the north coast ofCaracas. He declared that the first day out they generally passed thewestern point of an island of considerable size with some high hills.The only island that answers to that account is, as you see in thechart, Margarita. Therefore I feel convinced that the pirate hold is inone of these groups, off Caracas, either Chimana, Borrshcha, or thesetwo islets called Piritu Islands. Altogether, you see, there are over adozen of these islands scattered along near the mainland.

  "It is quite out of the general course of trade, as nothing would gointo that bay except a craft bound for San Diego, or this place markedBarcelona, lying a short distance up the river. They would take carenot to molest any of the little traders frequenting these ports, andmight lie in an inlet in one of these islands for years without theirbeing ever suspected, unless perhaps by some of the native fishermen,who probably supply them with fish and fruit from the mainland. Anyhow,I don't suppose a British cruiser is seen along that coast once a year."