Part 38 (2/2)
”'At all events we will see what she is,' said the captain. He then ordered me and Norris to take the pinnace and jollyboat, and board her.
The men had just time to buckle on their cutla.s.ses before they tumbled into the boats. I was sorry after we had shoved off that they were not better armed, for the Spaniards might very possibly try to play us some trick or other, such as heaving cold shot into our boat and knocking us on the head as we got alongside, though they were much more likely to blow up their vessel or to run her on sh.o.r.e and make their escape. As we pulled on, we observed numerous boats pa.s.sing from the brig to the sh.o.r.e, and we felt pretty certain that the fellows were landing the unfortunate slaves, so that we should not be in time to rescue them. I ordered our men to give way, in the hopes of saving some of the poor wretches, and a single slave remaining on board would, of course, be enough to condemn her. It was now nearly dark, though we could still make out the brig with her white canvas loose, not far ahead. I was somewhat surprised as we approached to observe no sign of life aboard her; not a man could I make out on her deck, no boat alongside. We had got almost up to her when we observed a large schooner lying close in sh.o.r.e on the farther side of a high point which had hitherto concealed her from us. Almost at the same instant a shot came flying from the schooner towards us, so well aimed that, as it struck the surface, it threw the water right over us. The splash of our oars must have shown the schooner's people where we were, for, although we could see her, they could not have made out in the dark such small objects as our boats.
”The first shot was followed by a second, which very nearly did for the jollyboat, as, after striking the water, it bounded over her, smas.h.i.+ng one of her oars, and knocking in her gunwale, happily hitting no one.
Not wis.h.i.+ng to be exposed to this sort of peppering, as shot after shot came in quick succession, giving us not a most agreeable kind of shower-bath, we at once dashed at the brig, I boarding on the starboard side, and Norris on the port. We fully expected to have some hot work, but on reaching the deck, not a soul appeared, and we found ourselves masters and, as we supposed, possessors of as fine a brig as I have ever seen engaged in the slave-trade.
”I could not help feeling, however, a little uncomfortable on recollecting the tricks the rascals are apt to play, and I half expected to find myself and my men hoisted into the air by the explosion of the magazine, when, as I was about to send below to examine the vessel, I heard voices in the after-cabin, and presently a Spanish officer in full rig appeared, followed by half a dozen men-of-war's men. He announced himself as a mids.h.i.+pman belonging to the Spanish man-of-war schooner which lay at anchor in sh.o.r.e, the same craft which had fired at us, and said that he had been put in charge of the brig, which had been captured by his vessel.
”'And pray, then, why did your schooner fire at our boats?' I asked, eyeing the young fellow narrowly, for I much doubted that he was really a mids.h.i.+pman.
”'Your boats were seen approaching our prize under suspicious circ.u.mstances in the dusk of evening, and you probably were taken for pirates,' he answered, quite coolly.
”'There was light enough when we were first seen to make out our ensign,' I answered. 'If that schooner is a man-of-war, her commander shall be made to apologise for the insult he has offered to the British flag.'
”'Of course he will, and if you choose to send on board you will find that what I have told you is the case,' he answered, biting his lips, as if, so I supposed, he disliked having his honour doubted.
”'Well, you will remain here, and I will send one of my boats on board the schooner. Should any treacherous trick be played, I shall make you answerable,' I said, eyeing him sternly. He did not quail, and I was pretty well satisfied that he spoke the truth. I accordingly ordered Norris to go on board the schooner and ascertain the facts of the case, and to tell the captain that I wished to see him immediately on board the brig; after he was gone, I felt no little anxiety as to the reception he might meet with. The Spanish mids.h.i.+pman, however, appeared at his ease, and accompanied me over the brig; I found that she was a brand-new vessel, having never before been to sea; she was laden with cotton goods, and had the planking for a slave-deck, with leaguers, and a large cauldron for boiling farina; indeed, she was in every way fitted for a slaver, and would, I felt sure, if we could not stop her career, bring back some seven or eight hundred slaves in her capacious hold.
”'She is a slaver, you will allow?' I said, turning to the mids.h.i.+pman.
”'A slaver!' he said, 'worse than that. She is a regular pirate; as such we captured her.'
”Notwithstanding what he said, I was convinced that she was simply a slaver, though the Spaniards are generally in no hurry to take such vessels. We returned on deck, and I kept my eye on my friend and his men.
”The brig's crew had all been removed, he told me.
”'We shall see them, then, hanging at your yardarm tomorrow morning,' I observed.
”'Oh no! we do not treat our prisoners in so summary a manner,' he answered.
”We paced the deck for some time together, while I turned a somewhat anxious eye towards the schooner, hoping soon to see Norris return.
”Norris, as I afterwards learnt, as he got near the Spanish schooner observed her guns pointed down at his boat, ready to sink her in a moment. Undaunted, however, he pulled alongside. No opposition was offered to his coming on board. When he got on deck he found the fighting-lanterns ranged along it, sixty marines drawn up with muskets in their hands and swords by their sides, and fully two hundred men at their quarters. At the gangway stood the captain, a thin, short, wizen-faced man, with an immense moustache, who, as Norris appeared, began stamping with his feet, and swearing roundly in Spanish--
”'Who are you? How dared you go on board yonder brig?' he asked.
”'I am an officer of her Britannic Majesty's frigate _Plantagenet_,'
answered Norris, having a good notion of the proper way to meet such a fellow. 'I obey the orders of my captain. He supposes her to be a slaver, and if she is not, all I can say is, she is very much like one.'
”'She is not a slaver, but a pirate, and I have captured her under the same treaty that you English take slavers, and she is therefore mine and under my charge, and no one shall interfere with her.'
”'In that case, why did you fire at us, I beg to know?' asked Norris.
”'Because it was dark, and I could not see your flag,' answered the little Don.
”'You could have seen our frigate, and you must have known perfectly well all the time that the boats you were firing at were English,'
replied Norris. 'My superior officer, who has taken possession of the brig, wishes to see you on board her immediately.'
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