Part 38 (1/2)
Jack ordered a boat to be lowered, and directed Needham and the only mids.h.i.+pman remaining with him to board the prize; his other officers, the doctor and purser, being busily engaged with the wounded men.
Needham was quickly alongside, and stepping on board he found that out of her crew of forty hands, six had been killed and eight or ten severely wounded, while her bulwarks and the companion-hatch had been considerably knocked about. Among the killed was her first officer, whilst the captain and several others were wounded.
Needham, as directed, inquired for her papers--
”And what is the name of this craft of yours?” he asked, when they were given to him.
”The _Black Swan_,” was the answer.
”Well now, I shouldn't be surprised if you called her the _Caterina_, you would be somewhere nearer the truth.”
The captain started, but made no reply.
”Come, I am to take you on board our brig,” continued Needham, making a sign to the captain to get into the boat.
Jack, as soon as he could possibly be spared off the deck, went below to ascertain how Don Lopez and his companions had made their escape from the cabin. It was very evident that they had broken open the door, that the sentry had been surprised and overpowered before he could use his musket. Instead of murdering him, which it was a wonder they had not done, they had gagged and put him into the irons from which they had released one of their companions. He still sat in a corner of the gunroom, looking very much alarmed, and not a little ashamed of himself.
In a short time the schooner and corvette, brought up by the freshening breeze, were close to, and Murray at once came on board the _Supplejack_.
”I heartily congratulate you on having captured the brig before I came up,” he exclaimed, as he and Jack shook hands; ”I should have been sorry to have deprived you of the honour which is your due.”
”Thank you,” answered Jack; ”but I suspect that we should not have found it so easy a matter to capture her, had you not made your appearance in the nick of time. We were hard pressed I can a.s.sure you, for the Dons fought well, and it was all we could do to drive them back when they attempted to board us; besides which, our prisoners broke loose, and would have given us a good deal of trouble, before we had knocked them on the head. But how came you to arrive so opportunely?”
”I was sent by the admiral in quest of you, to direct you to return to Port Royal, from whence we are to sail immediately in company for Trinidad. We are not likely to remain there long, and are afterwards, the admiral tells me, not a usual proceeding, to be placed under the orders of the admiral on the South American station.”
”For your sake I am sorry that you are to leave the West Indies, though I shall not be sorry to visit fresh scenes, and get a little cooling after a two years broiling in these seas,” said Jack; ”but how did you leave your friends at Saint David's?”
Murray looked grave as he answered--
”Miss O'Regan has not recovered as rapidly as I trusted she would, from the trials she has gone through, and I think it probable that she will accompany some of her relatives to England, so that I cannot hope to meet her again till we return home; indeed, she is firm in her determination not to marry, at all events, till I pay off the corvette, and I suppose she is right, although I would rather make her mine at once. Archy Gordon, I am thankful to say, under her and her friends'
care, is gradually recovering, and will, I hope, in a few weeks, join the frigate. However, you must not forget your prize. Here comes your boat with her skipper.”
The Spanish captain now stepped on board, and protested loudly against the legality of his capture, and declared that the English brig-of-war had fired into him without provocation, and that he had been obliged to board her, as the only means of saving his vessel.
”Very probably,” answered Jack, ”and you expected to take us and our prizes into the bargain. As to the legality of the affair, that will be decided when we arrive at Jamaica. In the meantime, as I am overcrowded, you and your officers will go on board the corvette, where your wounds will be attended to.”
Murray had agreed to relieve Jack of some of his prisoners, and to send a prize-crew on board the _Caterina_. All arrangements having been made, the two men-of-war and four prizes made sail for Port Royal.
Scarcely had they got their tacks aboard than a large s.h.i.+p was sighted from the masthead of the _Tudor_, standing off the land. She was soon made out to be the _Plantagenet_, which had sailed from Port Royal ten days before her. The frigate made the signal to close, and the small squadron was soon hove to at a short distance from her. As directly afterwards it fell calm, visits were exchanged between the officers of the different s.h.i.+ps. Murray and Jack went on board the _Plantagenet_ to make their report to Captain Hemming.
”You have had better fortune than we can boast of, Rogers,” he said, laughing in a tone which showed his vexation; ”those rascally slave-dealers have contrived to do us, though, as we are up to their tricks, I hope that we shall turn the tables on them another time.”
When Jack went into the gunroom, Adair gave him an account of the circ.u.mstance to which the captain alluded.
”We were on our way from Jamaica to Havannah, to look after you, Jack, and to prevent you from getting into mischief or catching a Tartar, as it seems you nearly did, when the captain thought fit to stand into the Bay of Guantimo; it's away there on the southern coast of Cuba, towards the east end. The admiral had received information that Don Pepe, the very rascal whose acquaintance we made on the coast of Africa, and who is now settled at Havannah, was fitting out a large and powerful craft, calculated to give a little pigmy, like you, some trouble.
”We came off Guantimo just before dark. It is, I should say, a beautiful and deep bay, with numerous small harbours in it, in which slavers may hide securely without any risk of being seen by our cruisers, unless expressly looked for. As we were standing in, intending to run up the bay, we made out a large brig at anchor with sails loose, ready for sea. She had a suspicious look about her, unusually square yards, taunt and raking masts, and low black hull.
Though she might be well armed and disposed to show fight, had you for instance attempted to question her, she would not, of course, dare to resist the frigate; and as she could not escape us, we felt pretty sure that, should she be what we suspected, she would soon become our prize.
”We had got some little way up the bay, and within half a mile of her, when the wind fell. We were by this time more certain than ever, from her appearance, that she was a slaver, and the captain therefore ordered a shot to be fired close ahead of her, that we might see how she would take it. She made no reply, neither hoisted colours, nor attempted to get under weigh.