Part 24 (2/2)
he said, with a laugh. He pulled and pulled again. 'I must climb in at the window if we can't awake them any other way, though maybe I shall be shot if I do,' he added, looking up to see if there was one he could reach. 'Do you, Needham, just lift me up on your shoulders, and I am sure I can reach that balcony, and it will be hard if I don't get a window open, and once in the house I'll go round and knock at all the doors till I rouse up some one.' No sooner said than done; the mids.h.i.+pman disappeared over my head, and I was left standing below wondering what next would happen. I knew from the sounds which reached me that he was trying one window after another, at last I heard a loud crash, which showed that he had got through some way or other. Again all was silent. Presently there came cries, and squealing, and shouts, through the lattice which there always is in Spanish doors, so that the people from within may talk to any one outside without opening them; then there came a man's gruff voice, and Mr Desmond's, talking away as fast as his tongue could move, trying to explain what it all meant.
This went on for some time, till the gruff voice grew calmer, and Mr Desmond began to talk slower, and I heard women's and girls' voices uttering all sorts of exclamations. Says I to myself, 'It's all right now.'
”At last the door opened, and Mr Desmond told me to come in, that he was thankful to say that the vice-consul would do all he could, and that the consul himself had gone away to a place a mile or two along the coast. 'Then the best thing we can do is to go after him,' said Mr Desmond. 'Can you find us a boat and crew, sir?' he asked of the vice-consul.
”'That will be a difficult thing, young sir,' he answered. 'A boat may be found, but no crew would go without the permission of the general.'
”'Well, then, if you will find us a boat we will go alone,' said Mr Desmond; 'and if the place is only a mile or two off, and you'll instruct us how to find it, we can have no difficulty in doing so.'
”This idea seemed to please the vice-consul, who, though he spoke English, was not an Englishman; he would have acted, I've a notion, very differently if he had been. His wife and the young ladies, his daughters, whose voices I had heard when Mr Desmond roused them out of their sleep, seemed much interested at hearing about Miss O'Regan, and they all urged the old gentleman to help us, and told him that he must go in the morning and see what could be done for the young lady at least. He called up a black servant somewhere from the bottom of the house, and told him to lead us down to the harbour and show us a boat we might take.
”The old lady pressed us to stop and have some supper, but Mr Desmond was in a hurry to get off, and the vice-consul, I have a notion, wanted to be rid of us.
”'Why, my dears,' he exclaimed, 'I wonder you like to be seen by the young officer and the sailor, such figures as you are.'
”In truth, both the old lady and the young ones, as well as two or three black girls, were dressed, I must say, in a funny fas.h.i.+on, with such things as they had clapped on when Mr Desmond roused them up. The old gentleman had put on his breeches hind part before, while she had got into his dress-coat with the tails in front, and little else on beside her night-gown, and a big shawl over her shoulders. I won't say how the young ladies looked, only I couldn't help remarking that they were not over-dressed, so that when their father made this remark, away they all scuttled in a desperate hurry, each trying not to be last, and I've a notion that they had forgotten what might be thought of them. We could hear them giggling and laughing at each other as they reached their rooms. We were, you may suppose, not much in a mood to laugh just then, and, as soon as the old black was ready we started off. He seemed in a desperate fright, expecting every moment that he should be seen, and carried off to prison. We met no one, however, and soon reached the water's edge. The black who was sent with us, I forgot to say because he could speak English, showed us a boat hauled up on a slip, and, going to a shed near, brought out a pair of oars, a mast and sail.
”'Dare; you steer for de point up dare,' he said. 'When you round it, pull on for about three miles, when you come to anoder harbour, then you pull up it, and in de biggest house in de place you find de consul.'
”'Why,' says Mr Desmond, 'the vice-consul told us it was not more than a mile or so away.'
”'Ma.s.sa not know, den,' answered the old black, as soon as he had helped us to launch the boat; and without stopping a moment to watch us while we shoved off, he ran away as fast as his old legs could carry him. We had to pull along-sh.o.r.e some distance to keep clear of the corvette, then the night-breeze freshening we stepped our mast and made sail, steering as the black had told us to do.
”The boat was somewhat crank, and I had to keep my weather-eye open, and to hold the sheet in my hand to escape being capsized. However, the boat sailed fast, and soon weathering the point we found our way at last into the harbour. We hauled up the boat on the beach, and ran along till we came to the big house the vice-consul had told us of.
”'This must be the place,' said Mr Desmond, giving a pull at the door-bell.
”Again we had to ring and shout as before. No one coming to the door, Mr Desmond proposed trying the old dodge, and getting in at the window.
We went round the house, and knocked at all the windows we could reach.
At last an old gentleman poked out his head from an upper window, and threatened in Spanish to blow out our brains with a blunderbuss, if we didn't take ourselves off. Mr Desmond understood what he said, and that he meant it was clear, for I caught sight of the muzzle of his piece resting on the window-sill.
”'Don't do that same, if you please, sir,' answered Mr Desmond. 'I am an officer of her Majesty's sloop of war, the _Tudor_, and my companion is one of her crew, and we have come to get the a.s.sistance of the consul, who, I presume, you are.'
”I can't say that he looked much like one in his white night-cap. The old gentleman then asked a number of questions of Mr Desmond, who told him all about what had happened, and at last, having taken some time, however, to dress himself, he came down and let us in. He was polite enough then, for he showed us into a room and begged us to sit down, while he listened to what Mr Desmond had further to say to him.
”He told us in reply that he had but little influence with General Carmona, and that he had, therefore, some time back written to Jamaica, begging that a s.h.i.+p of war might be sent to protect the English on the coast, as their position was far from pleasant. He promised, however, to return to Carthagena the next morning, and to try what he could do to save the colonel's life, and obtain the liberation of the other prisoners. He advised us to wait till the morning, but Mr Desmond was in a hurry to go back and report to Miss O'Regan and his messmates what we had done; he thought that we could get into the prison before daylight by the way we had come. The consul seemed very much astonished at his determination, but he was firm, and I was ready to do whatever he proposed.
”'After all you may be right, if you manage to do so without being discovered,' answered the old gentleman. 'It will save me also from being accused of a.s.sisting in the escape of the prisoners.'
”Having wished the consul good-bye we hastened back to the boat, and once more making sail, stood out of the harbour. The wind, however, s.h.i.+fting shortly afterwards, we made a stretch out to sea, thinking to fetch Carthagena the next tack, when, suddenly, it again s.h.i.+fted, and blew directly off the land; not a foot would the boat sail to windward, and as to pulling against it, that was more than we could do. When daylight broke, we found ourselves five or six miles off the sh.o.r.e, and drifting farther and farther away. Mr Desmond was in a great taking at not getting back to the sh.o.r.e; we lowered our sail, and I took to the oars, but it was all of no use. There was a good deal of sea on, and we did not even hold our own. The sea-breeze was longer than usual coming, and it was pretty well mid-day already. We had nothing to eat or drink since our supper in the prison. All we could hope was that the consul would get back and help our friends. At last it fell a dead calm; we then got the oars out again, and were about to pull back when we heard guns in the offing, and I guessed that they must be fired by the s.h.i.+p of war the consul had told us of. Mr Desmond thought I was right, and we agreed that we should serve our friends better by pulling off towards her. We had a long pull as you know, sir, and I am thankful that I was right; and I am certain it won't be Mr Murray's fault if he don't give the Dons a lesson which will teach them not to play tricks with Englishmen in future.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
PREPARED FOR ACTION--A MESSAGE SENT TO THE CARTHAGENAN COMMODORE--HIS CONTEMPTUOUS REPLY--THE SUPPLEJACK BRINGS THE CORVETTE TO ACTION AND TAKES HER--SINKS A BRIG AND CAPTURES THREE SCHOONERS--MURRAY VISITS THE CARTHAGENAN GENERAL, AND DEMANDS THE LIBERATION OF THE PRISONERS--AN OMINOUS REPLY.
The boats were manned, and every preparation made for the intended expedition. The danger was great, but Lieutenant Murray determined to risk everything for the sake of the object. Even had he not been deeply interested, he would not have allowed the insult to the British flag to pa.s.s unquestioned. His small crew were in high spirits, determined to dare and do everything to rescue the young lady and the mids.h.i.+pmen.
They, at all events, the Carthagenans had no right to detain whatever might have been the case with regard to the colonel, and the officers and the crews of the merchant vessels.
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