Part 12 (1/2)
”I don't know,” said Sibylla, somewhat ruefully, ”a year is a long time, isn't it? However,” she continued, rather more cheerfully, ”I hope we may not have to wait so long as that; Mr Damerell is wonderfully clever--as well as brave and gentle--and I know he is always thinking of some plan of escape, and he speaks so cheerfully and hopefully that I cannot but believe he will succeed. And if he does not we are still not absolutely helpless. The mutineers are quite as much in Mr Damerell's power as we are in theirs, for he says that not one of them possesses the least knowledge of the science of navigation, and he therefore believes that, for their own sakes, they will be civil to us both.”
”Well, you are a plucky girl to keep up your spirits so well, and no mistake!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper admiringly. ”I am glad to see it, and shall now be able to say good-bye with an easier mind. Keep up your courage, my dear, and trust in G.o.d; He is as well able to take care of you here as anywhere else, and He will, too, I am convinced. And, after G.o.d, my dear girl, put your trust in Ned; he is a true gentleman and a brave, clever lad. He will outwit those rascals yet, you mark my word; and when he gives them the slip he is not the sort of lad to secure his own safety and run off, leaving you in the lurch, so--”
”Boat's all ready, and waiting, gents, so look alive, please,” here interrupted Rogers, poking his head in at the cabin door, and as hastily withdrawing it again.
”Well, then, the time has come for us to say good-bye,” resumed the skipper. ”I have said pretty nearly all I wanted to say, and the rest is not of much consequence. I am glad I have had the opportunity for this little chat, and more glad than I can say to find you so brave and hopeful. Keep up your courage, my dear young lady; put your trust in G.o.d, and whatever Ted tells you to do, do it at once and without asking any questions, because whenever the moment for action comes, it will be suddenly, unexpectedly, and there will be no time to spare for explanations. And now, good-bye, my dear girl; good-bye, and G.o.d bless you.”
In another moment the parting was over, and the two men stood at the gangway, beneath which the boat was lying loaded and manned, and only waiting for them to step into her before shoving off for the sh.o.r.e.
Young Manners at once went down the side and seated himself in the gig's stern-sheets, and Captain Blyth prepared to follow him. As he stood on the rail, however, he turned and faced the men, who had all gathered in the waist to witness his departure, and raised his hand for silence; a signal which was instantly obeyed.
”Just a word or two before we part for ever, men,” he said. ”You have a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p under your feet, and you are doubtless flattering yourselves that when you have once fairly rid yourselves of my presence, your troubles--whatever they may be--will all be at an end. You are mistaken, however. Until you and I are parted your crime is not irreparable; it is even now not too late for you to repent and make rest.i.tution, and so stave off the punishment which _must_ follow the consummation of your wickedness. You have a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p under you feet, I say; and you probably think that in her you can defy the law, and laugh to scorn the idea of capture. But, men, whether you believe it or not, _there is a G.o.d_ whose power is great enough to overturn your best planned schemes in a moment, and think not that He will allow your sin to go unpunished, or your plans for future crime to prosper. At the moment when you least expect it--when you are feeling most secure--His vengeance will fall upon you as a consuming fire. In His hands I leave you.”
And turning his back upon the mutineers, Captain Blyth quietly descended the side-ladder, seated himself alongside Manners, and gave the order to shove oh.
CHAPTER TEN.
REFUGE HARBOUR.
Captain Blyth's valedictory speech was not without its effect upon some at least of the mutineers, who regarded each other with startled eyes, which dumbly but plainly asked the question:
”Is what we are doing worth the risk?”
Williams--who, it need scarcely be said, was one of the hardened ones upon whom the skipper's words produced no impression--saw plainly what was pa.s.sing in the minds of the others, and hastened to annul the effect produced.
”That was a very clever speech of the old man's--very clever,” he remarked sardonically. ”There was only one fault about it, and that was that he didn't speak the truth. He spoke of our seizure of the s.h.i.+p as a crime. Well, maybe it is, according to the law, but we all know by this time that the laws are made in favour of the rich and against the poor; and we know, too, that law is not justice. For my own part, when I perform an act of justice I don't feel very particular about whether what I am doing is legal or illegal, if it is _just_ it is quite sufficient to satisfy my conscience. The law, s.h.i.+pmates, is nothing--is no safe guide for a man's conscience, for we know that many a wrong, cruel, and unjust act is still perfectly legal--more shame to those that have the making and the powers of the laws in their hands. If you and I had been dealt with _justly_ instead of merely legally, the money that bought this s.h.i.+p and cargo would have gone into our pockets as wages for the toil and hards.h.i.+p, the suffering and danger that we have been daily exposed to, instead of going as profit into the pockets of the merchants. Therefore I maintain that in seizing this s.h.i.+p and her cargo we have acted with strict justice, inasmuch as that we have merely taken possession of what ought in justice to have been ours at the outset--we have repaid ourselves a portion of the wages that we have been defrauded of during the many years that we have followed the sea. Why, mates, is it fair, or reasonable, or just, to ask a man to risk his life every day, as we do, for _three pounds a month_? Why, if our wages were _three pounds a day_ it would not be too much. Reckon that up, you Bill Rogers, for all the years you've been following the sea, and how much will it amount to? Why, a precious sight more than your share of this s.h.i.+p and her cargo. But, lads, we've agreed to have our dues, and we'll have them, too, every penny of them; and if our only way of getting them is by turning pirates, why let the blame rest with those who have driven us to it. Justice is our right, and we will have it, let who will suffer for it, and upon that point we are all agreed. Aren't we, s.h.i.+pmates?”
”Ay, ay, of course we are--certainly, give us justice--give us our just rights, we want no more,” murmured the men in response to Williams'
appeal.
”There is only one thing I should like to know,” remarked one man timidly, ”and that is, how we are going to manage without murder if we're going into the pirating business?”
”Ha! is that you, Tom?” remarked Williams satirically. ”You are a cautious one, _you_ are; don't want to run your neck into a noose, eh?
Well, you are quite right, s.h.i.+pmate, quite right. But you need not trouble yourselves, any of you, there will be no murder. I have a plan whereby we can avoid all unpleasantness of that kind, and still make ourselves perfectly secure, and I will explain that plan to you in due time, but not now; there are more important matters claiming my attention at this moment. Where is Ned? Here, Ned, bring out the chart and spread it upon the capstan-head, and you, lads, go to your stations.”
Upon which the men retired, their torpid consciences silenced, and themselves more than half convinced of the righteousness of their actions. As for Ned, he muttered to himself as he went off to get the chart:
”Clever fellow--very; a regular sea-lawyer! Wonder who he is, and what he was before he took to the sea? Shall have all my work cut out to get to windward of _him_.”
Ned soon returned with the chart, which he spread open upon the capstan- head as desired, when Williams and Rogers approached and regarded the doc.u.ment with looks of the profoundest wisdom.
”A queer-looking spot, isn't it?” remarked Williams to his companion, indicating with a rapid motion of his finger the entire area of ocean lying between Celebes, New Guinea, and the northern coast of Australia.
”Very queer!” a.s.sented Rogers, with a solemnity in keeping with the subject.
Whereupon the pair once more inspected the chart for several minutes with the same look of preternatural wisdom as before, to Ned's intense but covert amus.e.m.e.nt.
”Very well,” said Williams at length, as though he had finally settled some knotty point to his complete satisfaction. ”Now then, Ned, where are we?”
Ned placed his finger on a blank part of the chart and answered, ”Just there.”