by John Jarvis
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jamie was aghast at first at the disparity in ages of the village war party. They were either youths or old men, but what they lacked in experience or young muscles they made up in enthusiasm. It was Jamie’s party that lagged behind, burdened by arms and equipment; the natives carried only their traditional krisess and a small pouch of food. They sweated on, hoping to reach the center of the island by midday. Jamie judged it to be late morning when they were stopped by a commotion ahead of them. A few minutes later, the natives that had been scouting ahead came back looking upset and embarrassed. It took Saka some time to explain by mime and drawing in the soil what had happened. Jamie swore and explained to his men: “It seems like one of the young villagers was an informant for the pirates and has run ahead to warn them.”
The crew looked alarmed, knowing full well what the loss of surprise could mean, and in the worst case, an ambush.
“What have the Duskies done about it?” one of the crew asked. Jamie engaged in more sign language with Saka.
“They have sent two of their fleetest youngsters in pursuit but they don’t seem hopeful, so we must increase our pace.” The crew needed no further encouragement for hefting their gear and moving quickly through the jungle. After an hour they were stopped once more, and the crew dropped for a rest. A smiling Saka took Jamie’s hand and led him up a side path to a clearing dominated by high rocks. There, basking in the noon sun, were the largest lizards Jamie had ever seen. They were giants as large as cows with ribs of spikes down their backs, and he could make out sharp teeth in their crocodile type jaws. Jamie unslung his musket in case the monsters attacked, but Saka put a restraining hand on his arm and patted his stomach: the creatures had recently eaten. Jamie realized then what, or rather, whom they had eaten: a bloody leather sandal could be seen near one of the lizards and a half-eaten foot by another. Saka added a nod to his smile: the pirates would not be forewarned after all.
It was at midday, when Jamie thought all was going to plan, when they were stopped for the third time. A fearful looking tribe who inhabited the midlands was forcing the delay on them. They were of a more primitive race than the coasters of darker skin, taller in stature and large boned. Bones also adorned their noses ears and hair but they did not appear to be hostile; on the contrary, they insisted in joining the war party after the rituals of hospitality had been completed.
Jamie and his party were escorted to a large long house elevated on poles in the center of the village. Removing their shoes and stacking their weapons, they entered a windowless and smoke-filled room. The only light came from the door and cracks in the walls. An old man dressed in skins and feathers gave a long speech of obvious welcome and then invited everyone to partake in food and the local beverage. The food lacked meat apart from small blackened portions that could have been anything, but the root vegetables and fruit were delicious. The local beverage was something else: bitter and packing a powerful punch, but Saka mimed they must drink and then pointed to the crew’s water flasks. One by one the powerful warriors drank their fill and collapsed into a drunken trance. Jamie hoped their limited imbibing and the draining of their water flasks would avoid the same fate, but one by one the crew’s eyes closed and they fell asleep.
Saka shaking his arm and the uniformed stamp of heavy feet on floorboards awakened Jamie. It was pitch dark. With a final co-coordinated stamp the warriors ran out of the hall and into the forest accompanied by the screams of their women and the shouts of older men. Saka and the villagers followed and Jamie’s crew, nursing terrible headaches, gathered up their weapons and struggled to catch up. The darkness forced a single file and it was as well that the path was all downhill, but Jamie and his men still tripped over vines, had bushes snap back into their faces and clothing torn by thorns. The gap between the three parties lengthened and this had the benefit of giving Jamie time to deploy in the event of an ambush. Jamie, aware that his time cushion had disappeared, pushed his men relentlessly.
“Why don’t the blacks turn around and smile so we know where they are,” lamented some wag; Jamie cursed him into silence. After several hours of terrain torture Jamie missed observing that a streak of light had entered the new day: the forest canopy had extended the night. The sound of cannon fire below them announced the arrival of dawn and a battle. Jamie and his men redoubled their efforts, fearful of arriving too late. There was never going to be a chance to observe and deploy; the islanders charged into the town, spearing and clubbing any and everyone down. The pirates seemed terrified of them and fled away and on to the knives of the coasters. Jamie and his party charged to the docks in time to see two boats about to hurriedly cast off. A ragged volley of musketry cut down the pirates attempting to drop the mooring lines, and Jamie ran to the far vessel, discharged his pistol into the face of a pirate and swung himself on board. His six men, now reloaded, attempted to follow, but Jamie directed them to board the other vessel. Jamie spent an anxious minute reloading and wondering what was going to come at him from below decks until the arrival of Saka and a dozen men eased the situation. Jamie’s crew had cleared the hold of the second ship their pistols and cutlasses giving them an advantage and now five of them arrived to repeat the process. There was time to rest and assess the situation. The town was on fire and Subtile was bearing down on the remaining two pirate ships.
“You will only have one shot from your bow chaser guns, before I present the port side, so make it count,” the Captain turned and issued orders to his sailing master. Subtile’s maneuvering had made the nearest pirate ship blanket the other, causing it to desperately shorten sail; this made it almost a sitting duck. The 18 pound shot smashed into it amid ships and dismasted the main sail. Subtile dropped all sails and the helmsman put the rudder hard down to swing her to starboard, both six pounders added to the pirates’ misery as their ship lost its way and floated towards the cliffs. The remaining pirate vessel plied on sail in an attempt to sail out of range and out of the bay. Subtile, unable to sail close to the wind, could only fire a farewell shot from its bow chaser as the pirates disappeared around the headland.
“It is not over yet Sir, I fear,” said the Third Officer. The Captain looked back into the bay. Scores of fishing vessels loaded to the gunnels with men sailed and paddled towards them.
“Damnation!” cursed the Captain, “man the swivel guns and prepare to sail through them, and this could be tricky.” There was no need for concern: the fishermen had personal scores to settle and descended on those pirates that had elected to swim to the cliffs with a vengeance. Their trident spears were not for fish this morning; they rose and fell amongst the screaming pirates without mercy and the sea turned red.
Jamie left the pier secured by a detail of coastal villages and returned with Saka to the town to reassess the situation. The fires had died down and the midlanders were rounding up young and older plump pirates. The pirates wailed, screamed, tore at their hair and at their rope fetters, all to no avail. The grinning midlanders clubbed down the most belligerent. Jamie pointed to where Saka had worn his leg iron and pointed to the captive pirates; Saka shook his head sadly and pointed to his stomach. ‘Dear God,’ thought Jamie, ‘the bastards are cannibals, hence the use of clubs to secure their supply of meat.’
Jamie was relieved when the sound of a shot redirected his attention to the last remaining pirate stronghold. It was a substantial stone edifice complete with ramparts and two solid hard wood gates studded in bronze. The cannibals showed no inclination to attack stone and were already herding their human booty into the jungle. Saka and his war party had no means to scale the walls and their krisses would be no match for the pirates’ odd firearm and boarding spears. Jamie decided to wait for his Captain.
The wind in the inner harbor was light and Subtile had no problem in easing alongside the pier. The Captain had already ascertained the problem with the roundhouse and positioned his ship so the bow chaser could train on the heavy gates. Jamie reported to his Captain, who instead of commenting
on his tardiness issued orders to attack the pirate fortification.
“Ranks of muskets and pistols thirty paces away from the gates, First: it is my earnest desire to prevent further casualties, so we will reduce the fort with cannon fire. Keep your flanks clear, the Gunnery Officer has some new toys to deploy after he has knocked on the door.” It took only three knocks with the eighteen pounder to shatter the doors off their hinges and open up the fort.
When the dust and splinters had settled, the landing party were greeted by silence. Guns used the lull to deploy his new toys. He had commissioned the carpenter to build carriages for the swivel guns to his plans . The carpenter had not the skills of a wheelwright and could not build spokes, but his small solid oak wheels were sufficient to support the frame that received the swivel gun’s spike. Guns had them trundled into position to cover the gaping gateway and ordered them loaded with grapeshot. It was time for lunch and adding anxiety to the pirate defenders. When the noon heat had passed Saka and the villages applied more pressure to the defenders by heaving torches over the walls and firing the thatched roves. The heat became unbearable and the pirates sallied through the gate and into a hail of lead. It did not take long: the pirates, possibly terrified by the specter of cannibalism, attacked with a fatalism that shocked the besiegers and within minutes it was over. Silence, this time permanent, returned to the fort.
The doctor came ashore, set up a surgery in the long house and began to treat allies and pirates alike; there was only one death of a sailor in Jamie’s boarding party. Richard was glad to have Saka working alongside him because he made the locals feel more at ease and soon became skilled at cleaning and bandaging wounds. Guns busied himself repairing the coastal battery but could not salvage the destroyed gun. He replenished Subtile’s supply of powder and shot, resealed the remaining gun’s platform and had no need of Richard’s assistance. It was the discovery of gold silver and jewels secured in charred chests inside the sacked fort that had Richard recalled to the ship to laboriously record every crewmember’s share in the hoard. The dispensations applied were the same as the navy’s share in prizes. It was another day before Richard could escape the Purser’s meticulous mathematics and join Saka in diving for booty on the now sunken pirate ship, but first he had to learn to swim. Saka demonstrated how kick out the legs, his svelte body gliding through the water, and Richard soon announced his mastery of the technique by making a frog’s fribit noise. Saka giggled and added the arm’s arrow and sweeping action to the sides. Richard was a quick learner. Diving was a different kettle of fish, and Saka made Richard join him in a breath holding contest. Richard exploded and gulped in air after half a minute, but Saka continued on for another minute until Richard tickled him into capitulation. Saka showed Richard how to breathe in and out rapidly until his head spun, and then take a normal breath and hold. It worked and Richard could now hold enough air to reach the wreck laying in three fathoms and back to the surface.
The inside of the pirate ship was dark and spooky, with evidence of a hurried departure from the docks and an even more hurried abandon ship everywhere. Items of clothing floated in the coastal current, containers of food spilled their contents onto the deck and unopened chests lay abandoned, but it was a heavily jeweled kris that Richard scooped up before kicking violently towards the surface. Sitting on a rock and waiting for their chests to stop heaving, Richard wiped the magnificent weapon on his shorts and presented it to his friend Saka. Saka’s eyes widened, he shook his head and tried to hand it back to Richard ,but Richard pretended to be insulted until Saka smiling widely accepted the gift. Richard also smiled widely: it was one item of booty that would not be recorded by the tight-arse Purser.
Subtile replenished its supply of fresh water, fruit, vegetables, salted fish and the meats of large game birds and small mammals. All unwanted or unusable booty was gifted to the locals. This included fine garments and cloths, richly adorned utensils and hundreds of strange Eastern coins, many of them with round or square holes in the center. All the pirate prisoners begged to be allowed to stay, promising to mend their ways, and this caused much dissent among the locals. It was the fishermen who provided the cull, dragging those pirates that had transgressed in the past to one of the ships that had been stripped of everything but the bare essentials. They were provided with enough food and water for seven days and escorted out of the bay to search for their lost comrades. The locals hosted a farewell party during which the Captain noticed a well-dressed man sitting apart from everyone else and partaking sparingly at selected foods. The Captain enquired as to whom the stranger was and, after much mime and sand sketches by Saka, it transpired that the stranger had been a hostage taken by the pirates who had been awaiting the arrival of his ransom. The Captain expressed his desire to meet the man and was at once impressed by his demeanor and self-confidence. He was further impressed when the man spoke passable Spanish.
“Send for the Bosun: he once spent time in a Spanish gaol and has a smattering of the language,” he ordered. The Bosun duly arrived, received his instructions and retreated with Saka and the stranger to a quiet place well clear of the huge bonfire. After an hour he returned with an intriguing proposal.
“He is a Muslim, Sir, and has some standing in his community in the south of the Philippines. He has no love of the Spanish who repeatedly try to repress and force conversions to Christianity, so far with little success. He knows these waters well, having traded here, and proposes that in return for a passage back to his homeland he will act as your pilot and offer you his ransom on arrival. His name is Sulamen something; I could not pronounce it,” the Bosun reported.
The Captain made an instant decision:
“Invite the gentleman aboard Bosun, and inform him the payment of his ransom will not be necessary.” It was a decision that would have far reaching consequences for the voyage of Subtile.
After the all night farewell party Subtile prepared to sail on the morning tide, but not before Saka presented Richard with his own gift: a fierce and bad tempered looking tiger striped cat. Saka pointed to the cat and said, “Kucing,” and then drew a picture of a rat in the sand. Nursing several bad scratches, Richard deposited the feisty feline in his cabin and went on deck to wave goodbye. Subtile pulled away and clearing the bay headed northeast.
