Cormorant Crag Part 76

"_Non_; it would be a pity. I nevaire like to shoot good stuff. You are a brave boy, and I vill make you a fine man. And you too, _mon garcon_."

He laid his hands on the boys' shoulders, and pressed them hard, smiling as he said,--

"_Non_, I sink I am not a coward, _mon enfant_, but I tie you bose up vis ze hant behint, so you sall not run avay. Aha! Eh? You not run avay vis ze hant, _mais_ vis ze foot? _Eh bien: n'importe_: it does not mattaire. You ugly boy," he continued, striking Vince a sharp rap in the chest with the back of the hand, "I like you. _Yais_. You have saucy tongue. You are a bouledogue boy. I vill see you two 'ave a fight some days. Now, my lad, take zem bose into ze boat. Ah, _yah, bete cochon_--big peegue!" he roared, as he examined the way in which the boys' wrists were tied behind their backs. "I tell you to lash zem fast. I did not say, 'Cut off ze hant.' Cast zem off."

The man who had secured Vince sulkily obeyed, and the captain looked on till the line was untied, leaving the boys' wrists with white marks round and blackened swellings on either side.

"Ah, he is a fool," said the captain, taking up first one and then the other hand. "Vy you do not squeak and pipe ze eye?"

Vince frowned, but made no reply.

"Zere, valk down to ze boat vis me. Say you vill not run avay."

"No: I mean to escape," said Vince.

"Bah! It is sillee. You cannot, _mon garcon_. Come, ze _parole d'honneur_. Be a man."

Vince glanced at Mike, who gave him an imploring look, which seemed to say: "Pray give it."

"Yais," said the captain, smiling: "_Parole d'honneur_. If you try to run _il faut_ shooter zis time."

"_Parole d'honneur_ for to-day," said Vince. "After to-day I shall try to escape."

"It is _bon_--good," said the captain, laughing. "After to-day--yais.

Zere, valk you down to ze boat. I like you bose. If you had been cry boy, and go down on your knees, and zay, 'Oh, pray don't,' I kick you.

_En avant_!"

He clapped his hand upon Vince's shoulder, and walked with both to the boat, signing to them to enter and go right forward, where they seated themselves in the bows while he took his place in the stern.

"Oh, Cinder!" whispered Mike, with a look of admiration at his friend, "I wish I'd had the heart to speak to him like that."

"What?" whispered back Vince, "why, I never felt so frightened in my life. I thought he was going to shoot."

"I don't believe it," said Mike quietly. "I say, now let's see how they manage to get out of this great whirling pool."

They were not kept waiting long, for the boat was thrust off, sent into the stream, and away they went, skirting the long, low rock which rose in their way; and then, just as it seemed that they were going to be sunk by the tremendous rush of water pa.s.sing in between two huge ma.s.ses, the boat was thrust into another sharply marked current, hung in suspense for a few moments, and then glided along the backwater and out at last into the pool. Here the gla.s.sy surface streaked with numerous lines told of the rapid currents following their well-marked courses, and the eddies and reflections of the water known to the men and taken advantage of, so that the vessel's side was reached with ease.

As they neared the side the captain, who had been keenly watching the boys and reading their thoughts, came slowly past his men, so quietly that Vince and Mike started on hearing him speak.

"You could manage ze boat now and take him vere you vill? _Non, mes enfans_. It take long time to find ze vay. I sink you bose drown last night, but you have _bonne fortune_ and escape. But you get avay till I say go? Nevaire! Shump."

He pointed upward, and the lads climbed aboard, looking wistfully to right and left as they recalled their adventures along the side in the dark, and saw old Daygo's boat hanging by her painter close under the stern.

"Took a lot of trouble for nothing, Cinder," said Mike sadly.

"Yes: can't always win," replied Vince. "Never mind: I'm glad we tried."

Mike had not the heart to say "So am I," though he felt that he ought to have done so; but, catching sight of the old fisherman leaning over the bulwark forward, he said instead,--

"There's that old wretch again! Oh, how I should like to--"

He did not say what, but turned his back upon him in disgust.

"Yes--a beauty!" said Vince, scowling. "I say, Mike, no wonder old Joe was always so well off that he never had to work. Pst! here's the skipper."

"_Non, mon ami_--ze capitaine. _Eh bien_--ah, vell! you are on board again. I sall lock you down upon ze powdaire again and keep you prisonaire? My faith, no! It is vord of honnaire to-day, and to-day last _vingt-quatre heures_--till zis time to-morrow: you understand?"

"Yes," said Vince; and then, frankly, "I beg your pardon, skip--"

"Eh?"

"Captain," said Vince quickly: "I beg your pardon, captain, for calling you a coward."

The Frenchman looked at him searchingly, and then clapped down both hands on the boy's shoulders and held him firmly.

"_Bon_!" he said; "_bon_! Zat is all gone now. I sall not call you out and say vill you have ze pistol or ze arm _blanc_--ze sword. You bose come dine vis me _ce soir_--zis evening, and you not make fool of ze comestible, as ve call him, eh? Now go valk about ze deck. You like to see ze vay out? No; ve leave all zat to my good _ami_, Joseph Daygo.

He take ze _Belle-Marie_ out to sea vile ve dine. It is ze secret know only to Joseph. I could not do him myselfs."

This only increased Vince's desire to discover by what means the lugger was piloted out from its moorings beneath the towering rocks, where it was completely shut-in, though it seemed that there was a channel behind the rock which spread out in front.

Sunset was drawing near, and it became evident that the time was approaching for a start to be made, for the boat in which they came from the cave had been hoisted up to the davits, and the men were busy preparing for hoisting sails. The hatches were in their places, and the vessel looked wonderfully orderly, being very different in aspect from those of its cla.s.s. In fact, from stem to stern she was nearly as neat as a king's s.h.i.+p.

Meanwhile Joe Daygo kept close to the bulwark, turning from time to time to note how the men were progressing, and then leaning over the bulwark again to gaze at the perpendicular wall of rock before him, which towered up to a great height and went apparently straight down into the sea. "I know," said Vince at last, in a whisper. "Know what?"

"Joe Daygo is watching that streak of white paint on the rock over yonder."

"I see no streak of white paint," said Mike. "Yes, I do. But what of that?"

"It's his mark," said Vince. "He's going to wait till the tide touches that, and then going to cast off."

"Think so?"

"Sure of it."

But Vince had no opportunity for waiting to see. The gla.s.sy current was still a couple of inches below the dimly seen white mark, when there was a peculiar odour which came from a tureen that the cook carried along the deck towards the cabin; and almost at the same moment a hand was laid upon the boy's shoulder.

"Come," said the captain; "it is time for ze dinnaire. You are bose hungry?--yais, I know."

Vince would have liked to decline, so strong was his desire to study the key to the entrance of the secret little port; but to refuse to go down was impossible, and he preceded his host through the cabin-hatch, where a swinging lamp was burning and the deadlights were closed so that not a gleam could escape. The tureen steamed on the table, they were in no danger, and healthy young appet.i.te prevailed, for the soup was good even if the biscuits were flinty and hard.

As for the captain, it seemed absurd to a.s.sociate him with smuggling or pistols, for he played the host in the most amiable manner when fish succeeded the soup; but as it was being discussed there were hurried sounds on deck. Men were running to and fro; then came the peculiar dull, rasping sound of cables being hauled in through hawser holes, and a slight motion told that they were starting.

Vince ceased eating, and his eyes were involuntarily turned to the side, when the captain said laughingly,--

"It is nozing, my younger _ami_, and ze bulkhead side is not gla.s.s: you cannot see nozing. You vant to know? Vell, my sheep is in ze sharge of ze pilot, and ze men cast off. If he take her out quite vell, sank you, ve sall soon be at sea. If he make ze grand error he put my sheep on ze rock, vich make ze hole and you sall hear ze vater run in. You bose can svim? Yais? Good, but you need not try: you stay down here vis me and not take trouble, but go to ze bottom like ze brave _homme_, for ze big tide on'y take you avay and knock you against ze rock. Now eat you feesh."

It was not a pleasant addition to the boys' dinner, but they went on listening in the intervals of the captain's many speeches, and picturing to themselves how the great lugger was being carefully piloted along a sharp current and steered here and there, apparently doubling upon her course more than once. But by the time the boiled fowl was nearly eaten there was a steady heeling over, following the sound of the hoisting of a sail. Then the vessel heeled over a little more, and seemed to dance for a minute in rough water, as if she were pa.s.sing over some awkward place. The captain smiled.

"My sheep she is lively," he said. "She sink it vas time not to be tied by ze head and tail, so she commence to dance. Zat is a vairy bad place, but Joseph is a grand pilot; he know vat to do, and I am nevaire in his way."