Part 7 (1/2)
”The boats were soon in the water, under our lee, thedown into them by the falls, each chap with his cutlass tucked into his waistband; and, in anothernearly swamped as we breasted the sea, we th from our vessel, which had drifted a bit astern
”'Put your backs into the stroke!' sang out Captain Wilson frori the water firth It was hard work against such a sea as was then running and in the face of the wind, which was still rising and side the chase, both the boats boarding her of course to leeward, although the captain in his gig dashed at the high poop astern, while we in the cutter made for her bohich lay lower in the water and would thus enable us to get ht in his suspicions about the Arab skipper's surrender Although he had waved that red rag of his to ive him a broadside as he probably expected--for of course he didn't know that ould not fire the big guns for fear of killing the poor slaves in the hold--no sooner had we got alongside than the beggars showed fight
”I and another chap ear to haul ourselves up by into the fo'c'sle of the dhohen chop ca us to let go and drop back again into the bottom of the cutter with a thump that nearly knocked the bottom out of her, while another Arab shoved out the st us and fired it off so closely that the charge singed ood job, however, for it ine, and the whole cutter's crew tumbled aboard in a way that astonished theh, but they wereus with their nails e had knocked their long knives out of their hands and disarmed them As for the skipper of the dhow, he was a perfect demon, and would have settled Captain Wilson had it not been for the coxswain of the gig giving hiot our captain down and, kneeling on his chest, was preparing coolly to cut his throat with the keen curving scimitar that we had seen in his belt Captain Wilson looked, sir, as pale as a ghost when he got on his feet again; for although he was as brave an officer as ever stepped, it does give a fellow a bit of a turn sometimes to be face to face with death, as he was then, and know that nothing, probably, can save you!
”When we had got the better hand of the slave crew, in which we did not quite get off scot-free, five of our ashes fro the hatches to release the slaves, who had all this while been kicking up a thundering row below, yelling and hollering as if they were all being murdered
”Well, bless you! why, there were no less than three hundred and fifty crammed in the hold fore and aft on the two decks that were underneath the main one, and which had not four feet of space between theether so close that you couldn't have got a sheet of paper edgeways between them As for the sas main just opened, or the foulest scent you could think of, to e all smelt in the hold of that there dhow; for it seeest irl does when she cuts her finger and sees the blood
”After releasing half of the them up on the upper deck of the dhow, for there was not space to let the whole of the up the ain so that she couldtoo ticklish for the _Dolphin_ to take her in tow; although she did so for awhile, just in order to get a little further away frohbour with a north-eastin towards the land
”By the tied up jury- the prize-crew that was on board, of which I was one, to keep a sharp look-out and mind that our tow-rope didn't part, Captain Wilson went back to his own vessel--he wouldn't leave us till everything was shi+p-shape again with the slaver and everybody see with him the majority of the Arabs who had been uninjured in the scuffle, and who ht have tried perhaps to recapture the dhow from the small lot of men whom our captain was able only to spare to man her Of course, there was very little chance of their atte this now that their skipper was dead, the coxswain's thrust with his cutlass having lost the dark gentleman the 'number of his mess'; but still, after the treachery they had already shown, it was best to take all proper precautions to spoil any little gaht, the _Dolphin_ kept under easy stea ashore, as our tow-rope was hardly ever taut the whole tily still from the northward and eastward, the very direction we had to make for to reach Zanzibar with our prize, that it was iainst it, especially with the dhow in tow The sea, too, was also very rough, breaking over the frail craft so frequently that we had to pack down all the slaves again below to prevent their being washed overboard
”Towards ns of shi+fting, which was to be expected at the season, being near the end of March The sea, too, calround-swell, and fro to be a squall, the an to rain heavily I had been left by Captain Wilson in charge of the prize-crew, and this change in the weatherfroh the labouring of the dhow; for I thought it would be better for both the _Dolphin_ and ourselves that we should cast loose and each sail on her own account, as at this time of the year the south-west monsoon, which takes the place of the north-eastern 'kizkasi,' as it is cabled, or Indian trade-wind, generally sets in with a violent tornado blowing froht I hailed the steamer to send a boat aboard forthe weather; for, while I was keeping watch during the night, I had heard some words dropped froht it best for him to know”
”Did you?” I said
”Yes,” said Ben, continuing his story ”While I was at Zanzibar I o of the natives there, and had learned a good ua Franca_ of the coast; and hearing these half-caste Arabs talking together I listened to what they said, for being a Feringhee in their eyes they did not think I could understand the I heard, soathered enough to learn that the dhoe had captured was in coe, loaded with slaves, that had got off clear and was now probablyits way towards the Persian Gulf out of reach of the _Dolphin_
”This would be good news, I knew, for Captain Wilson; for, although the Arabs believed that this dhow had escaped us, if the _Dolphin_ at once went in pursuit of her in the right direction there was not the slightest doubt of her being able to overhaul her before she reached her destination, which was, I learned through the chatter of the prisoners, first to Mafiyah, as a sort of hiding-place until we should be reported out of the way, and then on to Muscat on the Arabian coast
”I had no sooner got on board the _Dolphin_ in the dinghy sent for me, than, the skipper confirmed my own opinion as to the ih he said so ained for
”'You've done quite right, Calad you hailedup with a chase that has got such a good start I shall take care to iving allantry in the capture of the _Fatima_,'--that was the name of the one we had already taken, sir, and now had in tow
”So far Captain Wilson quite flabbergasted me with his compliments and made me feel as proud as Punch; but his next words lowered , I can tell you!
”'I'm sorry, however, I sha'n't be able to take you with me, Campion,'
he went on, 'to see the end of this other affair; for now that I have to start off in chase of the other slaver, which will take me off the station, where so to uarded, I intend leaving the pinnace behind to cruise about the Coet back with the _Dolphin_, and, as you are the only responsible e of the boat and crew, you must remain here Pass the word at once for the boatswain to pipe away the pinnace and see that she is properly stowed and provisioned'
”This was a good deal ht I should have been allowed to remain as prize-master of the _Fatima_ and sail her up to Zanzibar, as that hat the captain had hinted the night before However, of course I put the best face I could on thethat the water barricoes and stores were properly put on board the pinnace, while all the other men who had not to re ready for the fresh chase, the news being already whispered about in the e again as they had had the day before at the capture of the _Fatirow under his feet,' as the saying goes--though it's rather a queer one for a sea out what he had decided on
”Before the blazing African sun was an hour old, by which ti, the second lieutenant of the _Dolphin_ was transferred to the co been wounded, taking with him all the prisoners that had been previously reh they were now bound securely with ropes and had a guard set over the ate the _Fatiged up the previous evening, and casting off the _Dolphin's_ tow-rope, was soon standing up the coast on her way to Zanzibar, keeping well inshore now, as that course was safest since the wind had changed
”Hardly had the dhow got well off than the pinnace was lowered into the water alongside the stea in one by one, and I, of course, descending last We had provisions and water on board to last us for six weeks, the usual time that boats are sent away fro on the east coast when cruising independently, as they all take it in turn to do; and Captain Wilson told ascar and the ht expect hi allowances for his being detained at Zanzibar about the conde of the slave-dhohich we had already captured and the one which he now hoped to get hold of
”The _Dolphin_ then took us in tow till ere abreast of the Co off up the channel full speed and steering north-east and by north, so as to get well out to sea before stretching in to the land towards Mafiyah, where she expected to pick up the slaver; while we, hoisting the sails of the pinnace, and taking it easy under the boat's awning that was spread fore and aft, bore away for Madagascar Ah! sir, that was the coe, for it was months before some of those that forain on board the _Dolphin_; the majority of those with me in the boat never ain at all, nor will they till that great last day of all when the sea gives up its dead!”
”I suppose you refer to that tiascar, eh?” said I, noticing that Ben Campion paused at this point