Picked up at Sea Part 26

A signal was then made to the felucca, which had kept the s.h.i.+p in sight all the while, although close in to the land, and apparently proceeding on a coasting-voyage, and having nothing to do with the other vessel; and then, the course of the _Muscadine_ was altered and she bore up for the Cyclades.

"I have no further dread of meeting any of your floating bull dogs,"

said the pirate chief affably, as if in explanation of his motives.

"And none of the French cruisers are up here now; they are all too busy in Tunisian waters. So, I may as well s.h.i.+ft your cargo, captain, at the back of one of the little islands we are coming to, where we can lie by unseen without any interference."

During the whole of that day, the s.h.i.+p was steered amongst a parcel of shoals, which made poor Captain Harding tremble for her safety, albeit she was taken out of his control; and, towards nightfall, she was brought to anchor in sixteen fathoms, under the lea of a rocky cliff that projected up into a peak on one of the tiny islets by which they were encircled. Here, the felucca having followed them, the pick of her cargo was removed to the smaller craft--a few bales of silk, some tobacco, and a good portion of wine; the cases of dried fruit being left untouched, as taking them to any of the Greek ports with the idea of finding a market for their contents, as the corsair well knew, would have been like carrying coals to Newcastle.

Then, the Englishmen, who had been well treated all the day in the matter of food and drink--some books even were brought up by the orders of the leader from the cabin, for them to read, his courtesy and attention were so great--were removed to the felucca, being followed by the Greek sailors; Captain Harding and the others subsequently witnessing the melancholy sight of the ill-fated _Muscadine_ sinking at her anchors, for she had been scuttled in several places after the selected goods had been transferred to the pirate's own vessel, which remained on the spot till the other disappeared beneath the waves.

"I should have liked to have burnt her, as I said I would do," observed the corsair, as the _Muscadine_ went down bows foremost, "all standing,"

with a graceful plunge; "but I was afraid of attracting notice.

However, she is safe now at the bottom, at all events; and sunken s.h.i.+ps, like dead men, tell no tales!"

Captain Harding made no reply.

His heart was too full at seeing his s.h.i.+p, which he regarded almost like a living thing, so recklessly destroyed before his eyes; it was the s.h.i.+p which he had first gone to sea in as a boy, and which it had been the ambition of his life to command. It was too much, and turning his head away as the tips of her spars sank from view, he wiped away a tear from his eye with the back of his h.o.r.n.y hand.

Nothing that the pirates had done hitherto affected him like this.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT.

AMONGST THE BRIGANDS.

As soon as the _Muscadine_ had succ.u.mbed to her ill fate so tragically, the felucca made sail at once from the place, steering north, as well as Captain Harding could make out; for neither he nor the boys were allowed to look at the compa.s.s, and they none of them spoke to Tompkins since his betrayal of the captain's trust, although he could probably have told them, for he "appeared to be hail fellow well met" with his captors, as Charley said.

The night pa.s.sed, and again another day and night, without anything noteworthy happening, the swift craft sailing at racehorse speed, and always in the same direction, to the best of their belief, as if towards some fixed destination; but the corsair did not enlighten them, and, indeed, did not address them during the interval.

Towards the evening of the second day on which they were on board her, the felucca drew near land, from which she held off and on until the shades of night covered her movements, when she approached close to the sh.o.r.e, and a boat was lowered over her side.

The pirate chief then, for the first time since the _Muscadine_ disappeared under the waters of the Aegean Sea, addressed Captain Harding and his companions, who had found the time of their captivity hang wearily on their hands, although they were virtually free to walk about on board their prison-house, with the exception of speaking to any of the crew or looking at the compa.s.s, both of which were interdicted, with significant threats whenever they tried to evade the prohibition.

"Now, captain," said the corsair, with an oily smile, which sat worse upon his countenance than a frown, "I will thank you to sign this order," producing the skipper's bank-draft, and a pen and ink all ready for the purpose. "Just sign it, and I will put you and your brother Englishmen ash.o.r.e at once."

"Where are we?" asked the captain.

"On the coast of Greece," was the answer, "not far from Salonica, where I am going with the felucca to dispose of my cargo," with a naive candour which made Charley Onslow laugh outright.

"His cargo, indeed," he whispered to Tom. "You have often talked of my Irish impudence, but, bedad, that beats Banagher."

"Be quiet," replied Tom; "you'll only get us into a row."

But the leader of the pirates took no heed of the interruption; he was too busy about the money order.

"Come, sign," he repeated to the captain.

"And suppose I don't?" said he.

"Then you and your companions will be imprisoned in the mountains until you do, up to a certain period--until I have time to complete my business at Salonica, that is--and if, on my return from thence, you still continue obdurate, why, then all of you had better say your prayers--" completing his sentence with an emphatic gesture which could not be misunderstood.

The captain was obstinate. He thought that now they were near a well-known port, and in comparatively civilised regions, the pirate chief would not dare to carry out his threat, and after a time, if he only held out, would be satisfied with the share of booty he had already secured, particularly, as from some remarks which he casually let fall when the cargo was being s.h.i.+fted, it had turned out to be more valuable than he had antic.i.p.ated.

Once he had made up his mind, nothing would make the captain budge an inch from the position he had taken up. He could be as obstinate as a mule when he liked.

"I refuse to sign the draft, and you may whistle for the money," he said doggedly.

"You better had," urged the other. "I only advise you for your own good. Those brigand friends of mine in the mountains, who will be your jailers, are a rough lot, and not to be trifled with."

"I will see you hanged first!" shouted out the captain, out of all patience, and he then closed his lips together tightly to show that he did not intend saying another word.

"Absit omen," quoted the corsair; "hanging is a ticklish subject.

Polydori," turning to one of the Greeks, "take charge of these Englishmen, with ten others of your best men. Your lives will answer for theirs until you give them into Mocatto's keeping. You know the rendezvous, where to meet him and his band. Captain, and young gentlemen, adieu! May you be of a more practical mind when I see you again, which will not be long."

And, with these words, the corsair took leave of the captives, who, after being gagged again, and having their hands all tied behind them-- including Tompkins this time, much to the boys' satisfaction--were put into the boat that lay alongside, and rowed ash.o.r.e, under a strong guard, with the Greek Polydori at their head.

It was a change of scene from their cooped-up quarters on board the felucca; but after they had had a toilsome march, uphill all the way, through mountainous defiles and along the roughest of paths, they wished themselves back again in their floating prison.

Arrived at a cross-turning surrounded by a thicket of stunted shrubs, the leader of the guard that accompanied them cried a halt, uttering a shrill and prolonged whistle, which was presently repeated from the hills above.

An approaching footstep was then heard, and a challenge, to which Polydori replied with some pa.s.sword, after which there was a long colloquy between him and the stranger.

They were then ordered to resume their march, although they had been walking two hours since they had quitted the sh.o.r.e, Polydori and the stranger leading the column, with the prisoners in the centre and the other guards in the front and rear. In this manner they proceeded until the unfortunate captives were ready to drop with fatigue, while their board s.h.i.+p shoes were worn into shreds by the stones and p.r.i.c.kles of the path they had traversed, and their feet all bleeding and torn.

"I can't go a step farther!" exclaimed Tom, dropping in his footsteps.

"Good-bye all."

But the guards prodded him with their knives, and made him rise again.

So he tottered along, until the column, marching in a sort of military order, and pa.s.sing numerous sentinels, who challenged the leaders, and stopped them till they gave the countersign, entered suddenly on a large encampment of men, squatting on the ground amidst a circle of fires.

There were no tents nor waggons to bear out the illusion, but otherwise the scene resembled a bivouac of some expeditionary force.

The brigands, as the English readily guessed these gentry to be, were some forty or more in number, and were princ.i.p.ally Greeks and Albanians, clad in their picturesque dress--a short sleeveless jacket, coa.r.s.e gaiters and shoes, a kilt of some rough texture, and a fez; while across their chests they carried a cartridge belt, and around their waist a sash, in which were stuck pistols and knives, not forgetting the long yataghan, that hung to their sides in the same fas.h.i.+on as they had noticed with the crew of the pirate felucca.

Amongst this band of miscreants, who thought less of murder than they did of killing a fowl, the survivors of the _Muscadine_ suffered a species of moral torture for more than a week, being moved from place to place meanwhile, generally by night, as the brigands' encampment was s.h.i.+fted to evade the pursuit of the Turkish troops, who were wonderfully active in hunting the mountain gentry about--after Mr Suter's and Colonel Synge's release!

During this time, they heard nothing of the pirate chief, although the leader of the brigands--a gigantic Albanian named Mocatto--was continually engaged in pleasantly putting before Captain Harding what he and his countrymen might expect should the bank-draft remain unsigned after the corsair's return--of course acting under that worthy's instructions; pointing the moral of his remarks by practising the most unheard-of cruelties on such captives as the brigands brought in day by day, who were unable or unwilling to send to their friends to ransom them.

At last, one day, after witnessing the horrible exhibition of a poor Turk having his clothing saturated with paraffine oil, and then set fire to, the captain, urged more by considerations for the safety of Tom and Charley and his men, than for his own, gave in, and told Mocatto that he would sign the draft.

"That is good," said the brigand. "Demetri comes to-night, and you can sign it in the presence of the chief. If you do not, you know the consequences."

However, as it turned out, Captain Harding was fortunately able to keep his word to the corsair, when he said "he would see him hanged first"

before he should attach his name to the money order.

That very same afternoon, a whole battalion of Turkish troops, sent out from Salonica, surrounded one of the mountains in which the brigands'

stronghold was situated; and after desperate fighting, in which many men were killed on either side, compelled the surrender of Mocatto's band.

Demetri, the pirate chief, who was on his way, like Shylock, for his bond or pound of flesh from the captain, got captured amongst other prisoners, and was subsequently hanged along with them on the mountain side, as a warning to all dishonest folk.