Part 8 (2/2)
The information respecting the doings of the _Adventure_, communicated to them by their fair friends the Senoritas Clara and Dolores, left little doubt in their minds that the crew, thoroughly discouraged at the disastrous result of their adventure in Cartagena, had decided to rest satisfied with the treasure which they had already acquired--and which, indeed, was considerable enough to satisfy most reasonable people--and had sailed direct for England upon quitting the harbour, too hastily concluding, perhaps, that all the missing were dead; or, if not dead, at least captive beyond all hope of deliverance. This a.s.sumption seemed to Stukely and Chichester to be the only one at which they could reasonably arrive; and since its acceptance shut them out from all hope of ever again seeing the _Adventure_ and being able to rejoin her, the question that naturally arose in their minds was: What were they to do now?
It was d.i.c.k who first put this question into words; and by way of reply Stukely put another question--”Why did we come here at all?”
”Well,” retorted plain, matter-of-fact d.i.c.k, ”because we couldn't help ourselves, I suppose.”
”Very well,” agreed Stukely, ”I will concede that, if you like. We came because we could not help ourselves; because, in other words, after we were picked up by the _Adventure_, no opportunity occurred to land us again, and therefore we had no choice but to remain in the s.h.i.+p. But why did we consent to become members of her crew?”
”Why, in the hope of making our fortunes, of course,” returned d.i.c.k.
”And we did so, too; or should have done so, rather, if thicky stone had not cracked my skull for me.”
”Precisely,” agreed Stukely. ”If your skull had not been cracked, and if we had both contrived to get back to the s.h.i.+p, as some of the others appear to have done. But it is just those little ifs, my dear d.i.c.k, that rule the destinies of men. If this, that, or the other thing had, or had not, happened, everything would have been very different. Now, for my own part, I am a great believer in destiny; I do not believe that there is such a thing as accident or chance, but that what we usually call by one or the other of those names is ordered by what some men call Fate, but what I prefer to call Providence. I will not attempt to argue this matter out with you just now, but will simply content myself with the a.s.sertion that you and I were destined to be left behind. If you ask, for what purpose, I reply that I do not know; I cannot even guess; but I have no doubt that it will be revealed in due time. If my theory is correct and Providence is indeed interfering in our affairs, we may do as we will, but we shall be guided and governed, in spite of ourselves, until we have accomplished the work which we are destined to do. That being the case, let us leave ourselves in the hands of Destiny, to do as she will with us, watching for such right impulses as she may impart to us, and following them implicitly, under the belief and conviction that she is guiding us.
”Now, why did we come to this Golden West? Was it not to make our fortunes, to acquire a share of the wealth with which the land teems?
Of course it was; and since we are here, and cannot get away, I say let us push into the interior and see if we cannot find for ourselves some of the gold, or gems, with which the soil is said to abound. There must be scores, nay, hundreds, of undiscovered mines in the lonely fastnesses to which no man has thus far penetrated; and I can see no reason why we should not find one of them. Now, what say you?”
”Simply, that I agree with every word you have said, Phil, and am quite ready to go to the world's end with you,” answered d.i.c.k. ”Now, when do we start, and which way do we go?”
”Well,” returned Stukely, ”our first business is to get safely away from Cartagena; and the sooner the better. For it is evident that the authorities have somehow obtained an inkling of the fact that two Englishmen belonging to the band who have wrought them so much damage have been lurking hidden in the city; and if my estimate of the Spanish character be correct I believe they will take a good deal of trouble to find us; and if they find us we may rest a.s.sured that they will clap us into the Inquisition, by hook or by crook. Therefore, I say, let us get away to-night, immediately after dark, so that we may have a chance to put as many miles as possible between ourselves and Cartagena before daylight. Then, as to which way we should go, the interior is where we are bound for, and the interior lies to the southward, therefore when we get out to sea, let us steer south, and enter the first river of any importance that we happen to come to, knowing that all rivers lead to the interior.”
”Agreed!” exclaimed d.i.c.k. ”We will leave here as soon as the darkness is deep enough to conceal our movements; and we will begin our voyage by slipping across the bay and going out to sea by way of the channel at the back of the island of Baru, by which means we shall reach the open sea some twenty-five miles south of Cartagena, and so avoid the risk of being seen and informed upon by any of the local fis.h.i.+ng boats. I would that I had one of Mr Bas...o...b..s charts with me; but as I haven't we must e'en do without it and trust to memory. I have some recollection of having seen a river of some importance marked on the chart not very far south of this; and if we hug the sh.o.r.e pretty closely we can scarcely fail to find it.”
This matter settled, they proceeded to take stock of their possessions, which totalled as follows: a pair of pistols each, the locks of which had fortunately been fitted with new flints immediately before the disastrous attempt to force a way to the Inquisition at Cartagena; two powder horns full of powder; thirty bullets each, together with a considerable quant.i.ty of greased rags to serve as wadding; a good, serviceable hanger, each; and last, but not least, the splendid sword which d.i.c.k had taken from the Spanish cavalier during the fight in the square. These, the clothes which they stood up in, and the boat in which they had made their escape, were all that they possessed in the world; and thus scantily provided these two young men were calmly about to plunge into the very heart of a hostile country, of which they knew nothing, in search of fortune! Truly was it said of these men and their contemporaries that ”they feared G.o.d and naught else!” and it was they who laid the foundations of that greatness among the nations of the world which Britain enjoys to-day. May she have the wisdom to retain it!
All day the two fugitives lay in their place of concealment, resting and otherwise preparing for a wakeful and busy night; and when at length the sun plunged down into the western sea in a transient blaze of glory, and the sea breeze began to die away, they cautiously pushed out from underneath their leafy screen and proceeded to paddle quietly down the little cove toward the south bay, which they reached just as the last of the daylight was fading out of the sky and the stars were beginning to twinkle out, one after the other, in swift succession, in the great purple dome of heaven above. The evanescent twilight now shrouded everything in mystery; a few boats could be seen moving about here and there, but only by the lingering golden light in the western sky reflected gleamingly from the ripple of bow or paddle, and the fugitives pa.s.sed across the bay and entered the narrow channel between the island of Baru and the main, just as the first soft breathings of the land wind began to make themselves felt. To these they gladly spread their sail-- for paddling was rather too warm work to be agreeable--and went gliding easily and pleasantly along, closely hugging the weather sh.o.r.e, for the sake of the smooth water and the deep shadow afforded by the mangroves that thickly lined the beach.
They had reached thus along the sh.o.r.e for about an hour and a half when a sudden brightening of the sky to the eastward heralded the rising of the moon; and presently the orb, now nearly at the full, sailed up over the tops of the trees which lined the sh.o.r.e, and flooded the entire scene with her soft orange radiance. And the first thing upon which the eyes of the fugitives fell was a large galley lying at anchor right in the middle of the fairway, scarcely a mile ahead. There were no lights visible on board her; but the frequent flash of the moonlight upon polished steel showed that someone at least, probably a sentinel, was moving and presumably on the watch on board her.
Now arose the question: What was to be done? Should they stand boldly on and take the risk of being challenged; or should they run the boat ash.o.r.e and take to the woods? Everything depended upon the question of what was the galley's business just there, of all places in the world; and it did not take the Englishmen long to make up their minds that in all probability she had been stationed there to keep a lookout for them, as the pa.s.sage out at the back of Baru was so obviously the one that would be most likely to be taken by people anxious to escape from Cartagena by water. If that were the case they could not possibly hope to slip past the craft unchallenged, for the moon was every moment soaring higher into the sky and more clearly lighting up the scene, and especially the surface of the water. And if they were challenged and, refusing to reply, attempted to escape, what hope of success had they?
Absolutely none! Therefore they put down their helm, hove the boat about, and headed in for the land.
If any doubt remained in their minds as to the character and intentions of the galley, it was speedily dissipated, for they had scarcely got their boat round upon the other tack when a musket was discharged on board the craft, and a hail was faintly heard pealing across the water from her, and some two minutes later a ruddy flash succeeded by a puff of smoke leapt from her forecastle, followed, a second or two later, by the splash of a heavy shot in the water a dozen yards or so astern of the boat. Five breathless minutes followed for the fugitives, and then a whole forest of oars suddenly sprang from the galley's sides, plunged into the water, and she was under way, heading straight after the boat.
”Shall we do it, d.i.c.k, think you?” demanded Stukely, as he peered anxiously under the foot of the sail.
”Yes,” answered d.i.c.k, ”if the wind holds. Blow, good breezes, blow!” he murmured, and began to whistle softly. Suddenly he sat more upright in the boat and gazed eagerly ahead.
”Look ahead and all along past our weather bow, Phil,” he said. ”Is my sight deceiving me, or do I see a number of water channels running into the land there? To me it looks as though there was an indentation of some sort, like--well, like the mouth of a river choked with islands, away ahead of us. And, if so, we are saved, for it will be strange indeed if we cannot dodge the galley among those islands--even if she can get in among them,” he added. ”For unless I am very greatly mistaken the water shoals close insh.o.r.e of us. Do you notice how smooth it is?”
”I do,” said Stukely. ”I humbly hope it may not be too shoal for us as well as for the galley. All right, fire away,” he continued, apostrophising the galley; ”fire away and waste your powder! You will have to shoot a good deal better than that to hit us.” For the people in the galley were loading and firing in feverish haste, evidently anxious to hit the boat before she should reach the shelter of the islands, now less than a quarter of a mile ahead.
Presently the boat shot into the belt of smooth water that d.i.c.k's keen eye had detected, and Phil seized a paddle and plunged it over the side, to withdraw it a moment later and inspect it by the light of the moon.
”Four foot of water, with any quant.i.ty of soft black mud under it,” he announced. ”If thicky galley keeps as she is going for another five minutes, d.i.c.k, she'll be stuck so hard and fast in that same mud that she'll have something else to think about than chasing us. Ah!” as the boat luffed round a small mangrove-covered island, and the galley was shut out from view, ”there goes their last chance of hitting us with their footy ordnance--with a murrain on them!”
The fugitives now suddenly found themselves sailing through a labyrinth of small, mangrove-covered islets intersected by water lanes so narrow and winding that they were only able to sail the boat along them by exercising the utmost care and vigilance. This intricate and difficult navigation continued for nearly three hours, at the end of which time they suddenly emerged from the maze of islets and found themselves in a stream of thick, muddy water, averaging about a quarter of a mile in width, with low banks fringed by mangrove trees, beyond which it was occasionally possible to catch glimpses of more lofty vegetation. The water here was so deep that, except when close to the bank on either side, it was impossible to reach bottom with a six-foot paddle; but when they had traversed the river far enough to enable them to get a vista of a clear mile astern of them there was still no sign of the galley, which they therefore concluded had been unable to pa.s.s the mud bar at the entrance of the river.
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