Picked up at Sea Part 23

"Murder! Help!" sang out the poor Jack tars; but, though caught unawares, they made a hard fight for their lives, one, a north-countryman, although stabbed in several places, s.n.a.t.c.hing up a capstan bar and braining the Greek nearest him like a bullock.

At the same time, the four other Greeks who were down below in the forecastle and supposed to be sleeping, crept up the hatchway forward, slipping on the cover as they got on deck, and went to the a.s.sistance of their companions, who, being thus reinforced, made short work of the two Englishmen, who presently sank senseless on the deck which was weltering with their gore, and then rushed aft in a body, brandis.h.i.+ng their knives and shouting like demons.

Mr Tompkins showed himself the coward he was, as Tom had antic.i.p.ated; for, after hammering on the top of the cabin skylight to rouse those below, with a belaying pin he had grasped hold of at the sight of the struggle in the waist, he incontinently scuttled up the mizzen shrouds, displaying an agility of which one would have never thought him capable.

The steersman followed his example; while the lookout man forward, hearing the yells and groans of his comrades, and seeing what was up, took refuge in the foretop, thus leaving the seven remaining Greeks, one or two of whom had suffered in the fray, practically masters of the s.h.i.+p, which was yawing about like a drunken man, and backing and filling as she veered this way and that without any guidance or control, n.o.body being at the helm.

Two of the Greeks placing themselves on either side of the cabin hatch to give a warm reception to the captain and the rest of the Englishmen whom the noise had fully wakened up, for they were heard stirring below, the remainder distributed themselves in the rigging, and started an exciting hunt after the three who had sought safety aloft.

The steersman was the first caught, and the sweep of a knife blade across the rope end by which he had lowered himself from the extreme tip of the mizzen yard-arm, sent him dropping into the sea with a faint despairing scream; but, the first mate and lookout man led them a fine dance, up the shrouds on one side and down on the other, and s.h.i.+fting from the mizzen to the mainmast, and from that to the foretop again by sliding down the stays, or catching hold of the falls and halliards when the pursuit grew too hot--until both parties, the hunters and the hunted alike, paused for a moment to draw breath.

As they did so, the two Englishmen who were now together in the mizzen-top, and the Greeks who were ascending the shrouds on either hand--the former looking down on the quarter-deck below them, and the latter gazing towards the land that had just been sighted--uttered as if in chorus an exclamation of joy, the echo of which from the others seemed to bewilder both the Greeks and Englishmen.

It was a curious coincidence, the opposite causes for the gratulation on either side coming together as it were, but so it was.

At the very moment the mutineers had stopped in their murderous chase of the first mate and the remaining British sailor, Captain Harding, holding a revolver in each hand, came up through the cabin skylight, as if propelled by some hidden machinery below--Tom, Charley, and the steward, all armed to the teeth, jumping up after him.

"Death to the traitorous scoundrels!" exclaimed Captain Harding, levelling the revolver in his right hand at one of the Greeks who remained by the companion, paralysed by the unexpected appearance of those below from a quarter he had never imagined, while he was looking out for them in a different direction.

A flash. Bang! and the man fell dead in his tracks; while Tom gave the other Greek sentry a wipe over the head with a cutla.s.s, which also sent him to the deck.

Just then, however, the felucca, which had been lost sight of so suddenly, and which no one had seen approaching the s.h.i.+p but the desperadoes aloft, and even they only at the end of the struggle--seemed to start up out of the deep in some mysterious fas.h.i.+on close to the _Muscadine_, and sheered alongside, with a triumphant cheer from the brutal-visaged ruffians who lined her deck that made Tom and Charley's blood run cold!

STORY TWO, CHAPTER FIVE.

CONQUERED, NOT BEATEN!

The situation had a.s.sumed a new phase.

Inspirited by the proximity of the pirate craft, with their comrades on board, the Greek sailors in the rigging, abandoning their pursuit of the first mate and the lookout man--a brave fellow named Jack Bower--began to descend the ratlins rapidly, with the view of making an onslaught on the captain and the others that were in possession of the quarter-deck, Jack, however, following closely after them now without a trace of fear, resolving to aid his fellow-countrymen in making a stand, although he had given them leg-bail when he stood alone against them, as the first mate had abandoned him at the wheel the moment the Greeks rushed aft, and even now remained trembling in the mizzen-top, instead of backing up Jack, and taking the mutineers in the rear as they scrambled down the shrouds without looking behind them.

The courage of the latter, however, did not suffice to take them very far.

The foremost man had hardly descended two steps, when "crack!" went Captain Harding's revolver; and, reeling backwards, his hands cleaving the air vainly for a hold, the Greek sailor toppled over into the sea with a splash, and sank like a stone to the bottom, dead as a herring!

Another would have followed suit, for the captain had rec.o.c.ked his pistol, and was in the act of taking aim, when a stern, commanding voice exclaimed, in accents that rang through the s.h.i.+p--

"Hold!"

Captain Harding, without lowering his weapon, looked hastily forward from whence this unexpected summons appeared to come; and there he saw a sight which might well make even a courageous man quail. The felucca had been run alongside the _Muscadine_ forward, under cover of the mainsail, her bow right under the s.h.i.+p's counter, and a crowd of fierce, bearded ruffians were pouring on board as fast as they could clamber up the side, led by a tall, athletic fellow, dressed rather better than themselves, with a crimson sash folded round his waist, who was so much in advance of his villainous crew that he was close upon the group on the quarter-deck before they were almost conscious of his presence. It was his voice, the voice and face of the man who had accosted Tom and Charley in the Turk Mohammed's coffee-house at Beyrout, and whom they at once now recognised again, that had arrested the action of the captain-- although only for an instant, as, undismayed by the numbers now opposed to him, and conscious that his little band and himself must be defeated in the long run, and meet their death in the struggle, he s.h.i.+fted his aim, and pointed his revolver without hesitation at the leader.

"Hold!" repeated the pirate chief again in warning accents, before the captain could fire. "Another shot, and I won't answer for your lives!"

"And who are you, sir, who dares to attack a peaceful merchant vessel on the high seas in this fas.h.i.+on?" demanded Captain Harding, without faltering, and still keeping his pistol levelled at the head of the other, who faced it with the utmost sangfroid, although he could perceive that the English sailor's blood was up and his finger trembling on the trigger.

"One who dares anything and everything, and never embarks in any enterprise unless he has weighed the consequences and can carry it through to a successful termination!" replied the desperado, with an a.s.sumption of stern dignity that was in harmony with his stalwart form and reckless air. "But, come," he continued, sinking his tone of bravado, and speaking in the same easy, polite manner which Charley had specially noticed when he addressed Tom and himself in the khan--a manner that showed a very considerably greater amount of breeding than could have been expected from a common seaman,--"you must see that you are powerless to resist us."

"There are six of us," interrupted Captain Harding, "and we can at all events make a fight for it!"

"To what purpose?" retorted the other. "You are six, truly; but two of your party are boys, and one a coward who wouldn't be of much help"-- glancing as he spoke from Tom and Charley, who stood beside the captain prepared to aid him to their last breath, upward to the mizzen-top, where the craven-faced Tompkins stood, looking down too much frightened to stir.

"Well, what then?" said the captain, impatiently. "Be quick with your palaver or I'll fire."

"You'll do so at your peril," retorted the other. "Captain Harding, you are a brave man, or I wouldn't waste so many words on you or spare your life. You are powerless to resist us, as I said before, for you are but six in number, including your boys and that cur aloft; you have three other men down in the foc's'le, but they cannot join you. We are fifty.

Show yourselves, my lads," he cried to his followers, who instantly ranged themselves, across the _Muscadine_ four deep, exhibiting their full strength, which was even more than he had stated.

"You see!" said the pirate chief, complacently. "Look, and count them."

"I see that we're outnumbered by a gang of cut-throats," said Captain Harding, bitterly.

"Gently, my friend," said the other, suavely. "Some of my men understand English like myself, and might not relish your compliments, although, as a man of the world, I can make excuses for you--ah--want of tact; yes, that's the word, is it not?"

"Cease your humbugging, sir, and come to the point," said the captain, trying to curb his anger, which he could hardly control in the face of the pirate's cynical impertinence. Had it not been for the sake of the boys by his side he would have let drive at the scoundrel at once, and risked his fate.

"That's just what I am about to do," said the other coolly, not one whit put out of his even temper apparently. "You confess you are outnumbered? Good! I, on my part, do not wish for any further bloodshed, if I can effect my purpose without it. Besides which, I have conceived quite an affection for you and those young gentlemen there, whom I first had the pleasure of meeting at Beyrout. Good morning, signors," he interposed, taking off his Greek cap and bowing politely to Tom and Charley. "It is morning, for it's nearly one o'clock now. I hope I see you well? But to resume, captain. As I said, there's no further necessity for our fighting that I can see. You have killed three of my men, whom I considerately placed on board your s.h.i.+p before she left port so as to get possession of her without any bloodshed at all, although the fates willed otherwise; and we, I believe, six of yours; so in losses we may, perhaps, have the advantage of you, although that fellow there"--pointing to the Greek sailor Tom had cut down with his cutla.s.s--"won't be worth much more to me, and that gives you only two more than ourselves in the casualty list. But I won't grumble. I'm satisfied to cry quits, and call a truce to hostilities."

"And, after that?" said the captain.--"I don't suppose you attacked us for nothing!"

"Your remark," said the pirate, smiling, "does credit to your good sense. I am not in the habit, strange to say, even in these heroic days, of doing anything for nothing. Am I, Calchas?" he added, turning to a ferocious-looking villain at his right hand.

The man evidently did not understand him, as he spoke still in English for the benefit of the captain's party; but he grinned in sympathy with the smile on the pirate chief's face--such a cruel, crafty smile as it was!

"You have got possession of the s.h.i.+p," said Captain Harding; "what more do you want, if you don't wish to murder us like the rest of my poor crew?"

"My dear sir, you certainly use very strong language; and I can't say I like it," said the pirate, playing carelessly with the handle of a long yataghan that was thrust through his crimson sash. "Murder is a nasty word, which should not really be mentioned in the company of gentlemen!

Your men fell in fair fighting."

"Yes, when they were taken unawares by a pack of traitors," put in the captain hotly. The other's cool a.s.surance was more than he could stomach.

"Pray don't interrupt me," said the pirate. "It is, to say the least of it, rude. But, now to business. I have possession of your s.h.i.+p, you say? That is true without doubt; now, my difficulty is, how to utilise that possession; and here, Captain Harding, I shall have to claim your a.s.sistance--"

"You may claim away till doomsday," said the captain with grim humour; "but as to my giving it, that's quite a different matter."

"Allow me to finish my sentence," continued the other--"claim your a.s.sistance in return for the lives of yourself and the remainder of your crew. Else, I shall be extremely sorry, but circ.u.mstances will compel my wis.h.i.+ng you all a speedy adieu."

And the cold-blooded desperado drew his hand across his throat and then pointed to the water over the s.h.i.+p's side, in a very suggestive way.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Captain Harding curtly.

"Nothing very alarming, or calculated to wound your honourable feelings," replied the pirate. "I simply want you to remain in command of your vessel."

The bluff, honest sailor stared at the other in amazement; he couldn't make out "what he was driving at," as he said to himself.

"In ostensible command of the s.h.i.+p, that is," said the pirate, correcting his previous expression. "I, of course, shall be virtually master, but you will navigate her under my orders, and answer--likewise under my directions--any curious questions that may be put to us from pa.s.sing vessels as to our destination and so on."

"Why, you want me, John Harding, to sail under false colours, and help you to make away with the s.h.i.+p as I've sailed in, man and boy, ever since I smelt salt water, not to speak of betraying my owners and their interests. I'll see you--a--a--shot first!"

As he spoke the captain pulled the trigger of his revolver, and would have settled all the pirate's chances of present and future booty if he had not with a rapid movement of his quickly-drawn yataghan struck up the muzzle of the weapon, causing the bullet to expend itself in the air harmlessly, although it went uncommonly close to the head of the trembling Tompkins above, who was waiting for a peaceful arrangement of the situation before he descended.