Part 14 (1/2)
With this answer the little girl was satisfied. At length we started.
I had a very pleasant journey, and collected a great deal of information as to the manners and customs of the Javanese. We saw several tigers, and deer, and wild hogs, and monkeys innumerable, and snakes and other reptiles; but had no adventure worth recording, and reached Sourabaya in safety.
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
We entered Sourabaya in the evening, when the streets were still crowded with the mixed population of the town, in their varied and picturesque dresses, each speaking their own language, or uttering the various cries of their respective trades. I directly rode to the hotel in the hopes of finding Fairburn there, as I was eager to learn how he was progressing with the schooner. He had not returned; and I was setting off to the docks when I met him coming in.
”How do you get on?” I exclaimed, as soon as I saw him. ”Are we likely soon to be able to start?”
”We have gone ahead more rapidly than I expected,” he answered. ”What by good wages and encouragement, and constant supervision, the carpenters and riggers have got on so well, that I expect she will be ready for sea in a few days. The more I see of the little craft, the more I like her; for she is a beauty, I can a.s.sure you, and will sail well too.”
”I am delighted to hear it, and thank you for all your exertions in my cause,” I answered. ”I long to be fairly under weigh. But have you gained any more information about the _Emu_?”
”Nothing of importance,” he answered. ”A Dutch merchantman came in here a few days ago, and she reports that some months since, on her outward voyage, she was chased by a strange brig, which showed no colours; but, by carrying all sail, she got away from her. If that was the _Emu_, it shows that she has taken regularly to piracy, and that we must be prepared to encounter her.”
To this I agreed; but the thought that my sister and Mrs Clayton were among wretches who were pursuing such a course made me feel very wretched. The next morning I accompanied Fairburn down to the vessel.
I was indeed surprised with the appearance she presented. Indeed, she required little more than to get her sails bent and her stores on board to be ready for sea. She mounted four carronades, and one long bra.s.s gun amids.h.i.+ps, besides numerous swivels on her bulwarks, to enable her to contend in every way with any piratical prahus we might encounter.
Besides these, her arm-chests contained a good supply of muskets, pistols, and cutla.s.ses.
”I have engaged also the best part of our crew,” said Fairburn. ”They are all staunch fellows, or I am much mistaken. It is important that we should be well manned. There are eight Englishmen, four Dutchmen, two Americans, and six Javanese. The last are fine fellows, and, well treated, will labour hard; and if well led, and they can see that they may trust to their officers, they will prove as brave as any men in the world. See how they all go about their work. If I was a stranger to them, I should say they were the men to trust to. They have found out already that I chose all good men, and that there are no skulkers among them.”
We were standing on the quay at the time, and as he spoke he pointed to the schooner where all hands were actively employed in various avocations, setting up the rigging, bending sails, and hoisting in stores.
”And what sort or officers have you engaged?” I asked.
”Two; and both good. One is a Dutchman, and the other is English. I had some difficulty in arranging the papers, and in getting permission to carry arms but, thanks to the a.s.sistance of Mr Scott and the kindness of the Resident, the affair has been settled. I cannot however, go as master of the schooner.”
”You not master!” I exclaimed. ”Who, then, is to be?”
”The Dutchman, M. Van Graoul. He is a very good fellow in spite of his name,” he answered, laughing. ”The fact is, he is nominally captain, and is answerable for our good behaviour--that we will not turn pirates, or commit any other little irregularities. I am to have charge of the vessel, and he is to obey me in all things lawful; indeed, he is to act as my mate except on certain occasions, when we are to change places.
The arrangement is perfectly understood between us, and is not at all unusual.”
I replied that I was satisfied if he was, and thought that the arrangement would not inconvenience him.
”You are aware, also, that you must sail under the Dutch flag,” he continued. ”It is better known than the English in these seas, and so far that is an advantage; but I daresay you would rather, as I should when it comes to fighting, have our own glorious standard waving over our heads.”
I agreed with him there also; but I found that I was much indebted to the Dutch authorities, as so very strict is the government in all matters of the sort, that it was only in consequence of the peculiar circ.u.mstances of the case that I was allowed to fit out the vessel at all, many regulations being relaxed in my favour. I forgot to say that the schooner was called the _Fraulein_, which is the Dutch, or rather German, of _young lady_; and I thought the name pretty and appropriate.
Behold me, then, the owner of the schooner _Fraulein_, Captain Van Graoul, just ready for sea, and as complete a little man-of-war as ever floated. I was going to call her a yacht; but she was fitted more for fighting than pleasure, except that there was one cabin which, with a confidence I scarcely had a right to, I had had prepared for Eva and Mrs Clayton.
Our papers were all in order, and we had cleared out regularly. I had taken leave of the Resident and other authorities, and thanked Mr Scott to the utmost of my power for his liberality and confidence in me; and I had wished all the other friends I had formed good-bye, except Lieutenant Jeekel, who told me he intended to come and see the last of me on board. I felt that I had at length commenced my enterprise; my hopes rose with the occasion. There was an elasticity in my spirits, a buoyancy in my step, which I had never before experienced, as I walked the deck of the _Fraulein_, as she lay in the roads just before getting under weigh.
”There is a loaded boat coming off, and I think I see Lieutenant Jeekel in her,” said Captain Van Graoul, who had been looking through his gla.s.s towards the sh.o.r.e.
He was right; in a short time my friends came alongside in a boat laden with provisions and fruits, and luxuries of every kind and description which the country could produce. While I was welcoming him on board, the things were being handed up on deck.
”Oh, you must not thank me for anything there,” he exclaimed, with a smile, as he saw me looking at what was going forward. ”I have but performed a commission for a friend of ours, who charged me to see it executed, or not to venture into her presence again.”
”Oh, I understand,” I replied, laughing significantly. ”Pray, whenever you are tempted back to her neighbourhood, express my grat.i.tude, and a.s.sure her and Maria that I will not forget them, or the last mark of their kindness.”
I suspected that it would not be long before my message was delivered, if the lieutenant could get leave from his s.h.i.+p, which was then refitting. He gave me also a satisfactory piece of intelligence, to the effect, that as soon as his brig was ready for sea, she was to be sent to cruise in search of the _Emu_, should her piratical career not yet have terminated.
I was very unwilling to have to go so far out of my way as Batavia; for I felt certain that my search should be carried on among the wilder and less frequented islands lying to the east of Java, where the pirates would have little fear of being surprised. At the same time, I might obtain important information at Batavia; and I knew the necessity of beginning my search systematically.