CHAPTER XIII
THE HOSTAGES ARE MADE USE OF
ON returning to his prison cabin, Fielding communicated the detailsof his interview with the pirate captain to his companions. One andall agreed that the outlook, unless a warship intervened, lookedgloomy, but the news was borne with surprising fortitude.
"I suppose he's bound for the east coast of Greenland," said the sub."There are hundreds of creeks and inlets where a vessel of this sizecould lay without fear of discovery; and, beyond a few whalers, thereare not many ships in those waters."
"What is the object in going to the Arctic?" asked Cardyke.
"To lie low, and also to economise the oil-fuel," replied Fielding."To keep the sea means a heavy consumption of stores, and those takenfrom _L'?galit?_ won't last much more than a month. That's one reasonwhy we are to be marooned. Thirty or forty hostages who won't pay fortheir keep are bound to make a hole in the commissariat."
"So he means to set us ashore and let us starve to death, or perishwith cold?"
"Seems like it; but I'll have a few words to say to the greasy Dago,"replied the sub., tapping the revolver with the heel of his rightfoot. "It's a pity we haven't more cartridges."
"We could hold the cabin for a good while," remarked the mid.,tentatively.
"And get starved out in forty-eight hours. Won't do, Cardyke. Ifthings come to the worst, we must sally out, try and release theother unfortunate beings who have fallen into Cervillo's clutches,and sell our lives as dearly as possible. What say you, general?"
"I tink we might capture ship," replied Oki. "Clear dis end, takepistols from arms-rack, and turn this part into castle."
"We'll have a shot at it, at all events," exclaimed Fielding,enthusiastically. "If only we had more ammunition, I'd tackle the jobto-night."
"Better wait till we're within the Arctic circle," observed Cardyke.
"Why?"
"Those Spaniards and Italians, to say nothing of the Algerines andthe blacks, won't be able to stand the cold as well as we can.They'll be torpid."
"Something in that," agreed Fielding. "But at present it's hot enoughfor my liking. I vote we turn in."
Shortly after midnight Cardyke awoke to find the two Japs up andabout. Hokosuka was kneeling in front of the door with one ear closeagainst the lock, while Oki was standing with a lighted lamp in hishand. Seeing the mid. stir, Oki placed a finger on his lips to enjoinsilence and pointed towards Fielding's bunk, indicating that the sub.was to be aroused.
One touch of Cardyke's hand was enough. Fielding opened his eyes, andwithout uttering a sound, sprang to his feet.
"Mukyima outside!" explained the general.
The two British officers listened. There was a faint scraping in thelock, like a rat gnawing wood. Then Hokosuka whispered a few words,and his compatriot instantly placed the lantern behind a curtain. Inthe semi-gloom Cardyke saw the door open, a lithe figure glided in,and the door closed gently after him. Then Oki uncovered the lamp,and Mukyima stood revealed to the occupants of the cabin.
The Jap wore nothing but a loin-cloth. From head to foot he wascovered with a mixture of oil and soot. In his hands he carried arifle and two revolvers, while across his shoulder hung a canvas bagfilled with cartridges.
The three Japanese conversed in low toner, then Oki turned to hisEnglish friends.
"Mukyima has come back not to stop," he explained. "Give sentry-manoutside the long sleep, leave cartridges and guns, then go back. Himalso lock door again, then no can tell pirates that door was opened."
Fielding and Cardyke nodded approval at Oki's words. Mukyima hadcontrived to slip away from his prison on the orlop-deck, and, layinghold of the arms and ammunition, made his way aft. On the half-deckall was quiet; the sentry over the cabin door where the prisonerswere confined was dozing at his post. The Jap gripped the sentry bythe throat, and choked him into insensibility in less than fifteenseconds. This done, he scratched in a peculiar manner on the cabinbulkhead, and Hokosuka, recognising the signal, replied. The lock ofthe cabin door was picked, and Mukyima rejoined his companions.
It was not his intention to remain. His absence from the orlop-deckwould soon be discovered, and the pirates would naturally search thecabin occupied by the Jap's compatriots. So, in less than fiveminutes from his arrival Mukyima left, the wards of the locks wereshot back again, and nothing remained to give rise to suspicion onthe part of the pirates with the exception of the body of theluckless sentry. This discovery caused some consternation, butfinding the cabin door apparently intact the pirates concluded thattheir comrade had died from natural causes.
Nevertheless, although Hokosuka sat up all the following night therewas no indication of his fellow-countryman's presence without.Mukyima did make a second attempt, but finding two sentries on thehalf-deck, realised that discretion was the better part of valour,and returned to his place of detention on the orlop-deck.
Fielding and his companions had good cause to be satisfied with theprogress made. They had acquired more than enough firearms for eachman and a good store of ammunition. Prudence compelled them torefrain from relieving the petty officer who was periodically loweredto inspect the iron bar over the scuttle of another weapon; but, ifthe worst came to the worst, the courage and resolution of a fewwell-armed men might achieve wonders against the ill-disciplined mobof international scoundrels who manned the _Independencia_.
At daybreak on the morning of the third day following the capture ofthe _Duke of Negropont_ a body of armed men burst into the cabin, andunceremoniously hauled the live prisoners from their berths.Fortunately the hostages made a point of sleeping in theirclothes--even their boots--and in consequence their revolvers weresafe from observation. The rifles and spare ammunition had beencleverly concealed in a blank recess behind one of the lowermostbunks, and nothing short of another systematic search would result inthe discovery of these precious articles. Without a word ofexplanation Fielding and his companions were marched out and taken upthe half-deck accommodation ladder. Expecting that Juan Cervillo hadtaken it into his head to either coerce the hostages to accept histerms or else to carry out his threat earlier than he had decided todo, Fielding made a sign to his comrades to be on the alert. Shouldthe Spaniard give the word to murder his prisoners, the five were tostoop, draw their revolvers, and open a sudden and unexpected fireupon their captors, Cervillo being especially marked down as atarget.
But as soon as the captives reached the upper deck they could see atonce the reason for their removal. Less than two miles away, andslightly on the starboard bow, was a United States cruiser. Althoughconsiderably smaller than the _Independencia_, she was by no meansdaunted by the appearance of her gigantic antagonist. This was to acertain extent to be accounted for by the fact that it was now amatter of general knowledge that the eight 12 in. guns that formedthe pirate-cruiser's principal armament were perfectly useless asweapons; but, being heavily armoured, the _Independencia_ had a greatadvantage over the American vessel, which was of the type known as"protected," or, in other words, having armour over only the mostvital parts.
Already the cool, business-like determination of the Americancruiser, which Fielding recognised as the almost obsolete _Denver_,had begun to tell upon the "jumpy" assortment of cosmopolitans whoformed the crew of the pirate vessel. Most of the _Independencia's_quick-firers were manned, but many of the officers and men wererunning aimlessly hither and thither; some dived below to avoid, ifpossible, the bursting shells that might at any moment hurtle fromthe _Denver_, others besought Juan Cervillo to put the ship about,and seek safety in flight.
But the Spanish captain had set his mind on going northward. He wasnot wholly without courage, and the presence of an insignificantcruiser would not deter him from his course. The hostages would beexposed on deck. Should the accursed Americans open fire they wouldblow their compatriots and representatives of Great Britain, France,Holland, and Japan to atoms.
There was no attempt made to clear the _Independencia's_ decks foraction. Her fo'c's
le stanchion rails were lined with human beings,each prisoner being secured by the simple device of a cord passingthrough the links of a chain and the ends fastened to the prisonersthumbs. A few of the hostages, Fielding and Cardyke amongst thenumber, resisted, but were soon overpowered; while so dubious wasCervillo as to whether this means of securing the Japanese was quiteefficient, that he ordered Oki and Hokosuka to be additionallypinioned by means of handcuffs. Luckily no attempt was made to bindthe prisoners' legs, otherwise the concealed revolvers might havebeen discovered.
Cardyke made good use of the occasion by confiding to his nearestcompanion in misfortune--an American iron merchant and colonel ofKentucky militia--the news of their probable fate should Cervillosucceed in reaching the Arctic Ocean, and the steps that he and hiscompanions had decided upon at the critical moment. The Americanstoutly asserted his determination to take advantage of anyopportunity of joining forces with the British and Japanese captivesin a desperate bid for life and freedom.
Nearer and nearer steamed the _Independencia_ at a steady ten knots.The hostages, torn by hopes and fears, could do nothing but keeptheir attention on the American cruiser, alternately hoping that the_Denver_ would not open fire, or that she would take drastic steps toeffect the capture of the modern buccaneer.
On board the _Denver_ all was ready for opening fire. Five of her ten5 in. guns were trained upon the oncoming pirate, while hersix-pounders, working smoothly and easily on the mountings, turnedtheir muzzles to and fro, up and down, as if looking for a vital spotwhere a shell might burst without injury to the luckless hostages;for by the aid of their glasses the officers of the United Statescruiser could easily determine the nature of the callous artificethat Juan Cervillo had adopted.
It was an anxious, nerve-racking time; the men at the pirate vessel'squick-firers kept every available gun trained upon one particularplace in the side of the _Denver_, ready at the order to deliver asimultaneous volley that would in all probability deal the protectedcruiser a mortal blow. In return the American cruiser's 5 in. gunswould be able to deal a devastating blow at comparatively shortrange, but she hesitated to begin the conflict owing to the hostagesupon the pirate's deck.
Nearer and nearer; now the _Independencia_ was crossing the_Denver's_ bows, barely three hundred yards separating the twovessels. Slowly the guns of both vessels were trained as theirrelative positions altered, till the pirate-cruiser was almost sternon to the baffled American. Hard-a-starboard went the _Denver's_ helmas she swung round in pursuit of her enemy. Even should she be unableto have her by gun-fire she could at least hang on doggedly inpursuit, calling for assistance till the pirate was hemmed in onevery side.
Now that the _Independencia_ was leading, it was a question offlight, not fight. Telegraphing for full speed Cervillo stood uponthe after-bridge and made a disdainful gesture towards the shipastern, then at twenty-two knots the pirate-cruiser simply walkedaway from her antagonist, whose speed, even in her prime, was sevenand a half knots less than that of the _Independencia_.
"Take those men below," ordered the Spanish captain. "It is well Ihad them on board. They will be more useful still to us veryshortly."
The Stolen Cruiser Page 13
