Part 16 (1/2)
In the Captain's cabin under the poop, to which Miss Bishop had been conducted for safety, Lord Julian was seeking to coe her, with assurances that all would yet be well, at the veryaboard Lord Julian himself was none so steady, and his face was undoubtedly pale Not that he was by anyon an unknown eleht at any moment founder under his feet into the depths of ocean was disturbing to one who could be brave enough ashore Fortunately Miss Bishop did not appear to be in desperate need of the poor comfort he was in case to offer Certainly she, too, was pale, and her hazel eyes er than usual But she had herself well in hand Half sitting, half leaning on the Captain's table, she preserved her courage sufficiently to seek to cal at her feet in a state of terror
And then the cabin-door flew open, and Don Miguel himself, tall, sunburned, and aquiline of face, strode in Lord Julian span round, to face him, and clapped a hand to his sword
The Spaniard was brisk and to the point
”Don't be a fool,” he said in his own tongue, ”or you'll co”
There were three or four uel, and Lord Julian realized the position He released his hilt, and a couple of feet or so of steel slid softly back into the scabbard But Don Miguel srizzled beard, and held out his hand
”If you please,” he said
Lord Julian hesitated His eyes strayed to Miss Bishop's ”I think you had better,” said that co his lordshi+p made the required surrender
”Couel invited the the Spaniard had force to compel the offered theer than was necessary to enable Miss Bishop to collect some spare articles of dress and my lord to snatch up his valise
As for the survivors in that ghastly shambles that had been the Royal Mary, they were abandoned by the Spaniards to their own resources Let them take to the boats, and if those did not suffice them, let them swim or drown If Lord Julian and Miss Bishop were retained, it was because Don Miguel perceived their obvious value He received thereat urbanity Urbanely he desired to have the honour of being acquainted with their names
Lord Julian, sick with horror of the spectacle he had just witnessed, cohtily he deressor He was in an exceedingly ill te positively discreditable in the unusual and difficult position into which Fate had thrust hiht have mattered less but that the spectator of his indifferent performance was a lady He was deteruel de Espinosa,” he was answered ”Adasped If Spain ate adventurer like Captain Blood, what could not England answer now?
”Will you tell me, then, why you behave like a damned pirate?” he asked And added: ”I hope you realize ill be the consequences, and the strict account to which you shall be brought for this day's work, for the blood you have murderously shed, and for your violence to this lady and to myself”
”I offer you no violence,” said the Ad, as only the man who holds the trumps can smile ”On the contrary, I have saved your lives”
”Saved our lives!” Lord Julian was momentarily speechless before such callous impudence ”And what of the lives you have destroyed in wanton butchery? By God, uel's ss are possible Meantime it is your own lives that will cost you dear Colonel Bishop is a rich man; and you, milord, are no doubt also rich I will consider and fix your ransom”
”So that you're just the da you,” stormed his lordshi+p ”And you have the impudence to call yourself the Ad? We shall see what your Catholic King will have to say to it”
The Ade that had eaten into his brain ”You do not understand,” he said ”It is that I treat you English heretic dogs just as you English heretic dogs have treated Spaniards upon the seas - you robbers and thieves out of hell! I have the honesty to do it in my own name - but you, you perfidious beasts, you send your Captain Bloods, your Hagthorpes, and your Morgans against us and disclaim responsibility for what they do Like Pilate, you wash your hands” He laughed savagely ”Let Spain play the part of Pilate Let her disclaim responsibility forto the Supreuel de Espinosa”
”Captain Blood and the rest are not adland!” cried Lord Julian
”Are they not? How do I kno does Spain know? Are you not liars all, you English heretics?”
”Sir!” Lord Julian's voice was harsh as a rasp, his eyes flashed Instinctively he swung a hand to the place where his sword habitually hung Then he shrugged and sneered: ”Of course,” said he, ”it sorts with all I have heard of Spanish honour and all that I have seen of yours that you should insult a man who is unarmed and your prisoner”
The Admiral's face flamed scarlet He half raised his hand to strike And then, restrained, perhaps, by the very words that had cloaked the retorting insult, he turned on his heel abruptly and went out without answering
CHAPTER XIX
THE MEETING
As the door sla Admiral, Lord Julian turned to Arabella, and actually sathered from it an almost childish satisfaction - childish in all the circumstances ”Decidedly I think I had the last word there,” he said, with a toss of his golden ringlets
Miss Bishop, seated at the cabin-table, looked at hi his s the last word? I a of those poor fellows on the Royal Mary Many of them have had their last word, indeed And for what? A fine shi+p sunk, a score of lives lost, thrice that number now in jeopardy, and all for what?”
”You are overwrought, le sharp note of laughter ”I assure you I a you a question, Lord Julian Why has this Spaniard done all this? To what purpose?”
”You heard hirily ”Blood-lust,” he explained shortly
”Blood-lust?” she asked She was a exist, then? It is insane, reed ”Devil's work”
”I don't understand At Bridgetown three years ago there was a Spanish raid, and things were done that should have been is which strain belief, which seem, when I think of them now, like the illusions of some evil dream Are”Say Spaniards, and I'll agree” He was an English of hereditary foes And yet there was a measure of truth in what he said ”This is the Spanish way in the New World Faith, almost it justifies such men as Blood of what they do”
She shi+vered, as if cold, and setting her elbows on the table, she took her chin in her hands, and sat staring before her
Observing her, his lordshi+p noticed hon and white her face had grown There was reason enough for that, and for worse Not any other woman of his acquaintance would have preserved her self-control in such an ordeal; and of fear, at least, at no tin It is impossible that he did not find her ad a silver chocolate service and a box of Peruvian candies, which he placed on the table before the lady
”With the Ade,” he said, then bowed, and withdrew
Miss Bishop took no heed of hi, but continued to stare before her, lost in thought Lord Julian took a turn in the long low cabin, which was lighted by a skylight above and great square s astern It was luxuriously appointed: there were rich Eastern rugs on the floor, well-filled bookcases stood against the bulkheads, and there was a carved walnut sideboard laden with silverware On a long, low chest standing under the ay with ribbons Lord Julian picked it up, twanged the strings once as if moved by nervous irritation, and put it down
He turned again to face Miss Bishop
”I came out here,” he said, ”to put down piracy But - blisterpiracy to continue as a curb upon these Spanish scoundrels”
He was to be strongly confirmed in that opinion before many hours were past Meanwhile their treatuel was considerate and courteous It confirmed the opinion, contemptuously expressed to his lordshi+p by Miss Bishop, that since they were to be held to ransom they need not fear any violence or hurt A cabin was placed at the disposal of the lady and her terrified woiven the freedom of the shi+p, and bidden to dine at the Ad them rosa, with her consort the Hidalga rolling after her, steered a south by westerly course, then veered to the southeast round Cape Tiburon, and thereafter, standing well out to sea, with the land no more than a cloudy outline to larboard, she headed directly east, and so ran straight into the are, as we know That happened early on the followingsysteuel chanced upon him in this unexpected and entirely fortuitous fashi+on But that is the ironic way of Fortune It was also the way of Fortune that Don Miguel should thus come upon the Arabella at a time when, separated froe It looked to Don Miguel as if the luck which so long had been on Blood's side had at last veered in his own favour
Miss Bishop, newly risen, had come out to take the air on the quarter-deck with his lordshi+p in attendance - as you would expect of so gallant a gentle red shi+p that had once been the Cinco Llagas out of Cadiz The vessel was bearing down upon the pennon with the cross of St George fluttering froilded portholes in her red hull and the gilded beak-head aflash in the nize this for that saic day in Barbados three years ago To her it was just a great shi+p that was heading resolutely, e by the pennon she was flying The sight thrilled her curiously; it awoke in her an uplifting sense of pride that took no account of the danger to herself in the encounter that must now be inevitable
Beside her on the poop, whither they had cliaze, stood Lord Julian But he shared none of her exultation He had been in his first sea-fight yesterday, and he felt that the experience would suffice him for a very considerable tie
”Look,” said Miss Bishop, pointing; and to his infinite a Did she realize, he wondered, as afoot? Her next sentence resolved his doubt ”She is English, and she coht”
”God help her, then,” said his lordshi+p glooainst two such heavy hulks as these? If they could so easily blow the Royal Mary out of the water, ill they do to this vessel? Look at that devil Don Miguel He's utterly disgusting in his glee”
From the quarter-deck, where he moved amid the frenzy of preparation, the Adlance at his prisoners His eyes were alight, his face transfigured He flung out an ar in Spanish that was lost to the crew
They advanced to the poop-rail, and watched the bustle Telescope in hand on the quarter-deck, Don Miguel was issuing his orders Already the gunners were kindling theirin sail; others were spreading a stout rope net above the waist, as a protection against falling spars Andto his consort, in response to which the Hidalga had drawn steadily forward until she was now abeath to starboard, and froht of the tall poop my lord and Miss Bishop could see her own bustle of preparation And they could discern signs of it now aboard the advancing English shi+p as well She was furling tops andaction Thus, alnals, had action been mutually determined