Part 2 (2/2)
”The speaker was a tall and very handsome woman, and I now understood how it was that my captor spoke such excellent English. There was a deep expression of melancholy on her face, but she smiled when speaking to the pirate, and her tone was one of affection.
”'I have brought home a countryman of yours, Ellen. I forgot to allot him quarters until it was too late, so please give him over to the care of Zoe and ask her to give him some supper and a blanket; he will sleep in the veranda.'
”The first look which the woman gave me as the captain spoke made me wish that instead of speaking to the captain I had lain down fasting under a tree, there was so much contempt and horror in it; then, as I suppose she saw I was but a boy, it changed, and it seemed to me that she pitied me from her heart; however, she clapped her hands and a negress entered. She said something to her in Spanish, and the old woman beckoned me to follow her, and I was soon sitting in front of a better meal than I had tasted for many a month, perhaps the best meal I had tasted in my life.
”As she couldn't speak English there was no talking with the old woman. She gave me a tumbler of stiff rum and water to drink with my supper, and after I had done she handed me a blanket, took me out into the veranda, pointed to the side where I should get the sea breeze, and left me. I smoked a pipe or two and then went to sleep. I was awakened in the morning by some one coming along the veranda, and, sitting up, saw the lady I had seen the night before. 'So you are English?' she said. 'Yes, ma'am,' says I, touching my hat sailor fas.h.i.+on. 'Are you lately from home?' she asked. 'Not very late, ma'am,' says I; 'we went to Rio first, and not filling up there were cruising about picking up a cargo when-' and I stopped, not knowing, you see, how I should put it. 'Are there any more of you?' she asked after awhile in a low sort of voice. 'No, ma'am,' says I; 'I am the only one.' 'I did not ask,' she said almost in a whisper, and I could see her face was 'most as white as a sheet, 'I never ask. And so you have joined them?' 'Yes,' says I, 'I couldn't help it, ma'am. I was the last, you see; if there had been any one else to have encouraged me I should have said no, but being alone-' 'Don't excuse yourself, poor boy,' she said; 'don't think I blame you. Who am I that I should blame any one? It is little I can do for you, but if you should want anything I will do my best to befriend you.' I heard the captain's voice calling. Suddenly she put her finger to her lips, as a hint to me to hold my tongue, and off she went.
”I don't know whether the captain's wife spoke to him about me or not, but at any rate he didn't tell me off to any of the huts, but kept me at the house. I used to go down in the day to work with the other men unloading the s.h.i.+p and stowing away the stores, but they only worked for a few hours morning and evening, lying in hammocks slung under the trees during the heat of the day. I made myself useful about the house, helped the old woman to chop wood, drew water for her, attended to the plants in the little garden round the house, trained the creepers up the veranda, and lent a hand at all sorts of odd jobs, just as a sailor will do.
”When, ten days after we arrived, the s.h.i.+ps got ready for another cruise, I was afraid they would take me with them, and I lay awake at nights sweating as I thought over the fearful deeds I should have to take part in; but the captain gave me no orders, and to my delight the men embarked and the s.h.i.+ps sailed away without me. I found there were some forty men left behind, whose duty it was to keep a sharp lookout and man the batteries they had got at the entrance to the cove in case any of our cruisers came in sight.
”The man who was in command was a Spaniard, a sulky, cruel looking scoundrel. However, he didn't have much to do with me; I took my turn at the lookout with the rest of them, and besides that there was nothing to do. The men on sh.o.r.e had all been in one or other of the s.h.i.+ps when I was taken; for I found there were about a hundred and sixty of them, and a quarter stayed at home by turns, changing after each cruise, whether it was a long or short one.
”The captain's wife often spoke to me now; she would come out and sit in the veranda while I was at work. She asked me what part I came from, and where I had sailed, and what friends I had at home. But she never said a word to me about the capture of the s.h.i.+p. She always looked sad now, while she had been cheerful and bright while the captain was on sh.o.r.e. In time she got quite friendly with me, and one day she said, 'Peter, you will have to go to sea next time, what will you do?'
”'I must do as the others do, G.o.d forgive me,' says I; 'but don't think, ma'am, as ever I shall do it willing. It may be years before I gets a chance, but if ever I does I shall make a run for it, whatever the risk may be. I speaks free to you, ma'am, for I feel sure as you won't say a word to no man, for it would cost me my life if they thought that I wasn't with them willing.'
”'I will not tell any one, Peter, you may be sure,' she said; 'but I do not think you will ever have a chance of getting away-no one ever does who once comes here.'
”Well, in time, lad, she lets out bit by bit a little about herself. She had been on her way out to join her father, who was an officer of the East Indy Company, when the s.h.i.+p was taken by the pirates. The men was all killed, but she and some other women was taken on board the pirate and at last brought there. The French captain took a fancy to her from the first, and after she had been there a year brought a Spanish priest they captured on board a s.h.i.+p and he married them. The pirates seemed to think it was a joke, and lots of them followed the captain's example and got married to the women there. What they did with the priest afterward, whether they cut his throat or landed him in some place thousands of miles away, or entered him on board s.h.i.+p, is more nor I know.
”There's no doubt the captain's wife was fond of her husband; pirate as he was, he had not behaved so bad to her-but except when he was with her she was always sad.
”She had an awful horror of the life he led, and with this was a terror lest he should fall into the hands of a cruiser, for she knew that if he hadn't the good luck to be killed in the fight, he would be tried and hung at the nearest port. It was a kind of mixed feeling, you see; she would have given everything to be free from the life she was leading, and yet even had she had the chance she would not have left her husband. I believe he had promised her to give it up, but she must have knowed that he never would do it; besides, if he had slipped away from the s.h.i.+p at any place where they touched he could not have got her away, and her life would have paid for his desertion.
”But I don't think he would have gone if he could, for, quiet and nice as he was when at home, he was a demon at sea. Ruffians and scoundrels as were his crew, the boldest of them were afraid of him. It was not a word and a blow, but a word and a pistol shot with him; and if it hadn't been that he was a first rate seaman, that he fought his s.h.i.+ps splendidly, and that there was no one who could have kept any show of order or discipline had he not been there, I don't believe they would have put up with him for a day.
”Well, lad, I sailed with them for three voyages. I won't tell you what I saw and heard, but it was years before I could sleep 'well at night, but would start up in a cold sweat with those scenes before my eyes and those screams ringing in my ears. I can say that I never took the life of a man or woman. Of course I had to help to load the cannon, and when the time for boarding came would wave my cutla.s.s and fire my pistols with the best of them; but I took good care never to be in the front line, and the others were too busy with their b.l.o.o.d.y doings to notice what share I took in them.
”We had been out about a fortnight on my third voyage, and the schooner and brig were lying in a little bay when we saw what we took to be a large merchant s.h.i.+p coming along. She was all painted black, her rigging was badly set up, her sails were dirty and some of them patched, she was steering east, and seemed as if she was homeward bound after a long voyage. Off we went in pursuit, thinking we had got a prize. She clapped on more sail, but we came up to her hand over hand. She opened fire with two eight pounders over her stern. We didn't waste a shot in reply, but ranged up alongside, one on each beam. Then suddenly her sides seemed to open, fifteen ports on each side went up, and her deck swarmed with men.
”A yell of dismay went up from the schooner which I was on. In a moment a flash of fire ran along the frigate's broadside; there was a crash of timber, and the schooner shook as if she had struck on a rock. There was a cry, 'We are sinking!' Some made a wild rush for the boats, others in their despair jumped overboard, some cursed and swore like madmen and shook their fists at the frigate. It seemed no time when another broadside came.
”Down came the foremast, crus.h.i.+ng half a dozen men as she fell. Her deck was nearly level with the water now. I climbed over the wreck of the foremast, and run out along the bowsprit. I looked round just as I leaped. The pirate captain was standing at the wheel. He had a pistol to his head, and I saw the flash, and he fell. Then I dived off and swam under water as hard as I could to get away from the sinking s.h.i.+p. When I came up I looked round. I just saw the flutter of a black flag above the water and she was gone. I was a good swimmer, and got rid of my shoes and jacket, and made up my mind for a long swim, for the frigate was too busy with the brig for any one to pay attention to us, but it did not take long to finish it.
”In five minutes it was over. The brig lay dismasted, and scarce a dozen men out of the forty she carried were alive to throw down their arms on deck and cry that they surrendered. Then the frigate's boats were lowered; two rowed in our direction, while two put off to the brig. There were only nine of us picked up, for from the first broadside till we sank a heavy musketry fire had been poured down upon the deck, and as we were not more than fifty yards away from the frigate, the men had been just mowed down. We were all ironed as soon as we were brought on board. After that we were brought up one by one and questioned.
”'You are young to be engaged in such work as this,' the captain said when my turn came.
”'I was forced into it against my will, sir,' I said.
”'Yes,' the captain said, 'I suppose so; that's the story each of the prisoners tells. How long have you been with them?'
”'Less than six months, sir.'
”'How old are you?'
”'I am not seventeen yet. I was boy on board the Jane and William. We were taken by the pirates on our way back from Rio, and all except me killed or thrown overboard.'
”'And you bought your life by agreeing to sail with them, I suppose?' the captain said contemptuously.
”'I did, sir,' I said; 'but I was the last they asked; all the others had gone, and there warn't no one to back me up.'
”'Well, boy, you know what your fate will be,' the captain said; 'there's no mercy for pirates.'
”The next day the captain sent for me again, and I took heart a little, for I thought if they had made up their minds to hang me they wouldn't have questioned me.
”'Look here, lad,' the captain said; 'you are the youngest of the prisoners, and less steeped in crime than any here, therefore I will at once make you an offer. If you will direct us to the lair of the pirates, I promise your life shall be spared.'
”'I don't know the lat.i.tude and longitudes sir,' I said, 'and I doubt if any besides the captain and one or two others do, but I know pretty well whereabout it is. We always set sail at night and came in at night, and none was allowed on deck except the helmsman and two or three old hands till morning; but when I was ash.o.r.e and on duty at the lookout I noticed three trees growing together just at the edge of the cliff at the point where it was highest, two miles away from the entrance to the cove. They were a big un and two little uns, and I feel sure if I were to see them again I should know them.'
”'Very well,' the captain said, 'I shall make for port at once, and hand over the prisoners to the Spanish authorities, then I will start on a cruise with you, and see if we can find your trees.'
”From the description I could give him of the islands we pa.s.sed after we had been at sea a few hours, and the time it took us to sail from them to some known points, the captain was able to form a sort of idea as to which group of islands it belonged to, and when he had reached port and got rid of his prisoners, all of whom were garroted-that's a sort of strangling, you know-by the Spaniards, a week afterward, we set out again on our search for the island.”
CHAPTER V: THE PIRATE HOLD
”The frigate was again disguised as a merchantman, as, if she had pa.s.sed within sight of the island looking like a s.h.i.+p of war, it would have put the pirates on their guard, and I had told the captain there were guns enough at the mouth of the cove to blow the s.h.i.+p's boats out of the water. As to the frigate getting in, I knew she couldn't, for there was only just enough water at the entrance for the pirate vessels to enter in. I was not in irons now, but spent my time on deck; and a wretched time it was, I can tell you, for not a sailor on board would speak to me.
”For three weeks we cruised about, sailing round island after island, but at last as we were approaching one of them I saw the three trees.
”'That's the place,' I said to the boatswain, who was standing near me, and he carried the news to the quarterdeck, and brought back word I was to go to the captain.
”You are sure those are the trees?'
”'Quite sure, sir.'
”'They answer to your description certainly,' the captain said. 'Keep her away, master, I don't want them to think we are steering for the island.'
”The s.h.i.+p's course was altered, and she sailed along parallel with the coast.
”'I beg your pardon, sir,' I said, touching my hat, 'but they have got some wonderful good gla.s.ses up at the lookout, and if I might make so bold I should say that they will make out that we have got a lot more men on deck than a merchant s.h.i.+p would carry.'
”'You are right, lad,' the captain said, and he at once gave orders that all hands with the exception of half a dozen should sit down under the bulwarks or go below. The captain and first lieutenant kept a sharp lookout through their gla.s.ses until we had pa.s.sed the end of the island. I pointed out to them the exact position of the cove, but it was so shut in that even when I showed where it was, it was as much as they could do to make it out.
”'Now, lad, do you know of any other landing places on the other side of the island?'
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