Part 36 (1/2)
”Now,” he said, ”push the irons higher up. That is right. Now I will loosen a bit farther at the top, and then you will be able to get your hands in at the bottom to steady it, and prevent its falling when the nails are quite drawn.”
Another effort, and the plank was free, and, being drawn in, was laid down. The delight of those who were standing in the dark, and could only judge how matters were going on from Francis's low spoken orders, was extreme.
”Can we get through?”
”No,” Francis replied. ”It will be necessary to remove another plank first, but perhaps one of the slighter among you might manage to squeeze through, and hold the plank at the back. We shall be able to work with more freedom, if we know that there is no danger of its falling.”
In a few minutes, the second plank was laid beside the first.
”What is to be done next?” Matteo asked.
”We must establish a communication with the sailors. I will take a working party of four. Paolo Parucchi, with four others, will relieve me. You, Matteo, will with the rest take the last spell. When we have entered the next compartment, we will put up the planks again, and press the nails in tightly enough to prevent their falling. Should, by some chance, anyone descend into the hold while we are working, we shall be hidden from their view. At the other end there are a number of sacks piled up, and we shall be working behind them.”
Francis, and the men he had chosen, made their way to the pile of arms they had observed through their peephole, moving with great precaution, so as to avoid falling over anything. Here, with some trouble, they succeeded in finding a dagger among the heap, and they then felt their way on, until they reached the pile of sacks. These were packed to within a foot of the deck beams, and there was but just room for them to crawl in at the top.
”Whatever you do, do not b.u.mp against the beams,” Francis said. ”Any noise of that sort, from below, would at once excite attention. Now do you be quiet, while I find a spot to begin upon.”
Commencing at a junction of two planks, Francis began, with the dagger, to cut a hole of some three or four inches across, but tapering rapidly as it went in. After waiting for some ten minutes, he touched the man lying next to him, placed his hand on the hole he had begun, and then moved aside to allow him to continue the work.
In an hour a hole was made in a two inch plank, and this was soon enlarged until it was an inch in diameter. Lying along the side of the bulkhead, so as to get his ear to the hole, Francis listened, but could hear no sound within. Then he put his mouth to the orifice and asked:
”Are you all asleep there?”
Then he listened again. Some of the men were speaking, and asking each other who it was that had suddenly spoken. No one replied; and some of them gave vent to angry threats, against whoever it might be who had just disturbed them from going off to sleep.
Directly the voices ceased again, Francis said:
”Let us have silence in there. Where is Rinaldo, the boatswain?”
”I am here,” a voice replied; ”but who is speaking? It sounds like the voice of Messer Hammond.”
”It is my voice, Rinaldo. We have worked through from the hold at the other end of the s.h.i.+p, having removed some of the planks of the bulkhead. Now it is for you to do the same. We will pa.s.s you some daggers through, when we have made this hole a bit larger. You must choose one of the planks in the corner, as this will be less likely to be observed.”
”They will not observe us, Messer Hammond. They never come down here at all, but pa.s.s our food down in buckets.”
”Nevertheless, begin at the plank next to the side,” Francis said. ”Possibly someone may come down before you have finished. You will have to remove two planks to get through. I will pa.s.s a javelin through. You can set to work with it, and bore holes through the plank close to the floor; and then, with the dagger, cut away the wood between them. When you have done them, set to at the top, close to the beams, and cut the two planks through there. There are sacks of grain piled up against them on this side, so that there is no fear of your being observed from here. The work must be carried on perfectly noiselessly, the men relieving each other every few minutes.
”When the planks are cut through, replace them in their former positions, and wedge some small pieces of wood in, so that there shall be no chance of their falling. You ought to finish the work by tomorrow. When you have done it, take no farther step until you get orders from me. It would not do to rise now, for we may be surrounded by other s.h.i.+ps, and if we overpowered the crew, we should at once be attacked and recaptured by them. You will, therefore, remain quiet until you have orders, whether it be one day or ten. All the arms they have taken from us are lying piled here, and when the time comes, we shall have no difficulty in overpowering the Genoese, and shall, I hope, bring the Pluto safely to anchor in the port of Venice before long.”
There was a murmur of delight among the sailors, pent up in their close quarters. Francis listened a moment, and heard one of the men say:
”What did I tell you? Didn't I tell you that Messer Hammond got us all out of a sc.r.a.pe before, when our s.h.i.+p was captured by the Genoese, and that I would be bound he would do the same again, if he had but the shadow of a chance.”
”You did, Pietro, and you have turned out right. That is the sort of fellow to have for a captain. He is not like one of those dainty young n.o.bles, who don't know one rope's end from another, and who turn up their noses at the thought of dirtying their hands. See how he looked after us through the winter. I wish we could give a cheer for him, but that would never do. But when we are out of this, I will give him the loudest shout I ever gave yet.
”Now then, Rinaldo, let us set to work without a moment's delay. There's a chance we aren't going to rot in the dungeons of Genoa, after all.”
Convinced that the work would be carried on in accordance with his orders, Francis withdrew his ear from the hole, and, crawling over the sacks again, made his way to the pile of arms, felt about until he found two javelins, and taking these back, pa.s.sed them one after the other through the hole.
”We have done our share now,” he said to his comrades. ”Paolo and his party will find it a comparatively easy task to enlarge the hole sufficiently to pa.s.s the daggers through.”