Crown and Anchor Part 30

"You then left the cabin?"

"Yes, senor. My brother barricaded the door behind me and kept watch with his revolver, while I crept forwards stealthily. I reached the steward's pantry in the deckhouse amids.h.i.+ps, without being seen and secured some polenta and a baraca of water; when, as I was creeping aft again and close to the p.o.o.p, that villain of a mate caught hold of my arm, pointing a stiletto in my face at the same time, and threatening to stab me if I uttered a cry. But, before I could open my mouth, he shoved a gag in it and then proceeded to drag me to the side of the s.h.i.+p, las.h.i.+ng me to the spot whence your two officers released me some three days afterwards, if my calculation is correct."

"Good heavens!" exclaimed the captain. "What agony you must have suffered tied up like that, and without anything to eat or drink, I suppose, all the while?"

"Nothing, not a bite or drop, pa.s.sed my lips from the time of the night of the mutiny until your brave officers and men, Senor Capitano, so n.o.bly came to my a.s.sistance."

"You must then have been quite five days without sustenance," said Captain Farmer, astonished at his endurance. "I wonder you lived through it, with all that exposure to the weather, too!"

"Ah, it was nothing. I did not think of myself," replied the other. "I was in torture for my brother and his poor wife and little child, for, as soon as I was gagged and bound, I saw Gomez and six of the villains all draw their knives and start towards the p.o.o.p; and, presently, I heard the shriek of a woman's voice which I recognised as my sister's, the senora, and then four pistol-shots in rapid succession, after which I don't know what happened for a time. I must have lost my senses or fainted."

"And then?"

"When I came to myself again," continued the Spanish captain, as we all listened breathlessly to his narrative, "it was near morning and the light of the coming dawn beginning to show in the eastern sky; so, hearing a lot of talking and quarrelling going on, I looked towards the forecastle, whence the sound seemed to proceed."

"Well," said Captain Farmer, who was as interested apparently as I was, "what did you see?"

"I saw a lot of the crew sitting round a tub of brandy, some of which we had s.h.i.+pped along with the wine as part of our cargo, although it had escaped their observation at first, being stowed low down, under the casks of the sherry. However, they had discovered it now, and had evidently been having an orgie, all of them being more than half drunk.

They were swearing and fighting, playing cards by the dim light of one of the s.h.i.+p's lanterns, which was stuck up on the deck beside them. I noticed, too, that a heap of gold was piled up on top of an empty brandy tub, standing to the right of the man dealing the cards, which showed that they had managed to break open the treasure chest containing the government specie; and, I was in an agony of apprehension about my brother's fate, not to speak of his wife and child, when, with a wild shout, one of the villains threw down his cards and clutched at the pile of gold, scrambling up on his feet at the same time and making for the side of the s.h.i.+p where I was lashed against the bulwarks. It was that scoundrel Gomez."

"The mate, eh?"

"Yes, Senor Capitano. He had a revolver, I saw, in his hand, which he must have got from the cabin after murdering my brother. This thought flashed through my mind instantly, and as it did so, the wretch advanced nearer to the break of the forecastle and fired at me, calling out at the same time, 'Carramba, I've settled your dog of a brother and now I am going to finish you off!' The good G.o.d, however, defeated his purpose, for the bullet did not penetrate my brain as he intended. No, strange to say, it shot away the knot of the rope's-end that was pa.s.sed across my mouth to gag me, relieving me at once from considerable pain."

"Did he not fire again?"

"No," replied the Spaniard, his countenance lighting up with a sort of ferocious joy that made me think for the moment he had gone suddenly mad at the recollection of his past sufferings. "Before the villain could aim a second shot in my direction, the most wonderful thing happened that, I believe, could ever have occurred. Yes, Senor Capitano, I declare to you, it was the most wonderful thing, now that I recall it again in speaking to you, that I have ever heard of in all my life. Ay, so wonderful and providential, that it would seem incredible to me were I not certain by this very occurrence, which has brought it home to me, that there is a Power above which watches over us and preserves us from danger, no matter how imminent that danger may be, and when the help of man is of no avail; a Power, too, that as frequently punishes the wicked in the very act of their wickedness, as happened in this case."

At that moment, the sentry who always stood on guard without the door of the sick bay entered the cabin, and saluting Captain Farmer, said the first lieutenant wished to speak to him; whereupon the captain, apologising for having to absent himself at such a critical point, at once withdrew, saying that he would not be long away.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

"A DIOS!"

"I can quite believe you, senor," said Captain Farmer on his return after a very brief interval, resuming the thread of the discourse as if no interruption had occurred. "Pray continue your story. I am dying to know what happened to checkmate that scoundrel of a mate as he was going to take another shot at you, thus defeating the design of the murdering ruffian."

"Without doubt, Senor Capitano, I will tell you," replied the Spaniard, drawing a long breath as he recommenced his yarn. "As the villain Gomez c.o.c.ked and raised the revolver again--for I could see him plainly from the light of the s.h.i.+p's lantern flas.h.i.+ng on the barrel--Dios! I perceived under the sheet of the foresail, which was flapping loosely about, for we were becalmed and the vessel was drifting aimlessly as she pleased, the mutineers taking no heed of anything but their accursed drink--I perceived, I say, a steamer approaching, end on and going apparently at full speed. I could have shouted out to warn the men on the forecastle, for the gag had been miraculously removed from my mouth, as I have told you, only a minute or so. But, Carramba, I would not have lifted my voice to have saved them, had I possessed a hundred mouths; for, I thought of my brother and his wife and child, and I exulted at their coming fate--Dios! My heart was throbbing with joy."

"How awful," said Captain Farmer, on the Spaniard's voice failing him at the terrible recollection of his experiences; "but, I can sympathise with you."

"Es Verdad, it was awful--so awful, that my heart was nigh bursting and my brain seemed on fire," replied the other in a calmer tone. "However, I had not long to wait, the whole thing, from the first moment I observed the steamer to the collision, lasting barely a second of time, although to me it was an eternity; for, as I saw the steamer, and heard the sound of her paddle-wheels, even as the villain Gomez aimed at me, the prow of the avenging vessel--which I regarded then, as now, as an instrument in the hand of G.o.d--came cras.h.i.+ng into the bows of our s.h.i.+p, cutting through her hull and deck, and crumpling up the forecastle, senor, as if it had been a paper bag."

"And the mutineers?"

"Carramba!" cried the Spaniard, whose vindictiveness I thought appalling; only, of course, one had to make allowances for what he had suffered and the crimes the men of whom he spoke had committed. "They were all mangled and crushed in a moment, in the midst of their game of monte, as they were fighting and quarrelling over the stakes. The villain Gomez had his skull cracked like an eggsh.e.l.l by the foremast coming down on top of him, as it went by the board with all its yards and gear. The maintopmast, then fell also leaving _La Bella Catarina_ the wreck you saw, Senor Lieutenant, and you, young gentleman, before she foundered."

He bowed to Mr Jellaby, as well as to myself, on saying this, as if to emphasise his description.

"Did not the steamer stop?"

"No, Senor Capitano," replied he in answer to this question of Captain Farmer's. "Everybody must have been asleep aboard, I think, just before it happened, and they had no lookout man on the watch; although as it was in the early grey of the morning, and we had no lights except that lantern on the forecastle, which could not have been seen at any distance, and was, of course, extinguished in the general smash-up afterwards, it was perhaps not to be wondered that they ran us down.

The collision, though, appeared to wake them up, for I saw a dark figure on the paddle-box nearest to me as the steamer swung herself clear of us and forged ahead again. She had a good deal of way on, and by the time she stopped her engines she was some distance away and lost to sight in the darkness, there being a slight surface fog on the water; so, hearing nothing and seeing nothing of us, her people must have come to the conclusion that we had gone to the bottom, and so put her on her course again."

"Why," inquired the captain, "did not those wretched scoundrels cry out when the steamer came on them like that?"

"How could they? It was all done in a moment, as I have told you. One instant the devils were there, gambling and drinking and swearing amongst themselves, and the next, cr-r-r-ash, and they were gone to their patron saint below!"

"And then you were alone?"

"Yes, so far as I knew; but I was not quite certain yet that the scoundrel Gomez had not lied merely to sport with my misery, and that, perhaps, my poor brother might be still alive. However as the hours wore on without him ever making his appearance, and the crash of the collision would have well-nigh wakened the dead, I gave up hope, beginning to wonder then, as the sun rose up and the sea became illumined with light, whether some pa.s.sing vessel might not sight the wreck and bear down to rescue me. By-and-by, though, on morning melting into day, and, later on, the afternoon waning on the approach of the shades of night, without ever a distant sail coming in sight to banish my despair, this hope, too, fled."

"You saw nothing, then?"

"Nothing but the seagulls, which swooped down over my head to see whether I were alive or dead; and it was fortunate my hands were free, or else they would have pecked out my eyes. Nothing but these and the boundless waste of the ocean, whose waters lapped the sides of the s.h.i.+p, which kept afloat, much to my surprise. Her buoyant cargo supported her, although her hold was full up to the main deck, and the sea was.h.i.+ng in and out of her forwards; and, there was I, tied up there in the rigging like a dog, listening to the melancholy sound of the breaking waves. I was, you must recollect, utterly unable to help myself, for my arms were pinioned like my legs, although my hands were loose and I could move them about: but, otherwise, I was powerless and could not stir from the place where I was lashed, the ropes binding me being just secured beyond my reach by that villain Gomez, so as to make my agony all the greater."

"It must have been fearful," said Captain Farmer. "I wonder your brain did not give way."

"Thanks be to G.o.d, no! My reason was preserved throughout this terrible ordeal for some wise purpose or other; though, I must say, I prayed for death to release me from my sufferings, a maddening thirst now consuming me, to add to the torture that was preying on my mind," replied the other, shuddering at the recollection. "At last, the wind began to blow more strongly and the sea to get up. This lessened my pangs of thirst; but, the waves, constantly breaking over the side, almost drowned me, so one evil took the place of another, and this was all the benefit I reaped from the change. It must have been the following day, I think, for I became so numbed with the cold and exposure, the circulation of my blood being arrested by my cramped position, that I took no heed how the time went, when a s.h.i.+p at length hove in sight, and my heart began to beat again with renewed hope, in spite of my despairing thoughts and misery. Oh, heavens! The s.h.i.+p came nearer and nearer, so that I could see she was a vessel of war belonging to the French nation, and my torturing hope became a certainty. But, would you believe it, senor, when she had closed the wreck so that I could see the gun-ports on her upper deck, she luffed up and bore away again, hoisting her tricolour flag, which I shall always loathe the sight of now, as if in mockery of my condition. Fancy, deserting a s.h.i.+pwrecked man like that!"

"The commander of this very s.h.i.+p stopped us to say he had sighted the wreck of your vessel; but, unhappily, he was unable to lay-to to send a boat aboard," explained Captain Farmer, to excuse the French captain's conduct. "If he had not done this, perhaps we would never have come across you and been able to take you off, which I am heartily glad we were fortunate enough to succeed in doing!"

"Gracias, senor," rejoined the Spaniard, stretching out his hand, which our captain gripped in cordial interchange of friends.h.i.+p, "but _you_ did not tell another s.h.i.+p to go to my rescue, _you came yourself_! The English are always brave and generous!"

"By Jove, he's right about that French s.h.i.+p," observed Mr Jellaby to me, aside, when the captain had translated this remark of the Spaniard, leaving out, however, his personal compliment to himself and our nation.

"It was a scurvy trick to sail off like that, without examining the wreck. But it's just like those Johnny c.r.a.pauds, youngster. They're deuced good fair-weather friends but never stand by a fellow in distress!"

"I have not much more to tell you," went on the Spaniard after those little reciprocities between him and the captain. "It was one morning that the French vessel abandoned me and the next that yours came to my help. Dios, I could not believe I was in my senses when I heard the voices of your officers! I thought I was in a state of delirium and that the sight of your s.h.i.+p, especially after the disappointment of the preceding day, was only a mirage of my imagination, like the Fata Morgana!"

"But, you hailed us, sir," I said here, on the captain motioning me to come forward. "Why, you answered me when I spoke to you, sir!"

"I may have done so, my dear young gentleman," he replied with a faint smile, patting me on the head in an affectionate sort of way, as if he were caressing a pet poodle, so at least Mr Jellaby said afterwards to the other fellows; "but, I have no recollection of it, I a.s.sure you.

Still, I must say that your voice seemed familiar to me just now, when you first came into the cabin here and addressed me. It seemed to me a voice that I had heard in a dream."

He then proceeded to compliment me on my Spanish, saying, in true hidalgo fas.h.i.+on, that I spoke it better than himself, which, as Mr Jellaby remarked, had to be taken "with a good deal of side on!"

Don Ferdinando Olivarez, to give him his rightful name, concluded his narrative by asking Captain Farmer to land him at Madeira, where he had friends who would supply all his needs, giving him the means to return home to Cadiz, to which port, he said, he must go back for business reasons; besides having to report the loss of his s.h.i.+p, though, as he added with a sigh, he no longer had a "home" there, now that his poor brother was dead, for he was the last of his race!

Of course, the captain promised to comply with his request, explaining that, although he had not intended stopping at the island, we would in any case have pa.s.sed pretty close to it in our pa.s.sage to the Cape; and that he would be only too glad to call in and put our pa.s.senger ash.o.r.e, regretting, however, that he should have to lose the pleasure of his company so soon.

Dr Nettleby at this point interrupted any further exchange of civilities between the captain and the Spaniard, who was profuse in his thanks, declaring that his patient required rest, or he would not be able to go ash.o.r.e either at Madeira or any other place on this planet.

The stern medico, who had been very much interested in Don Ferdinando's story, or he would never have permitted so much talking, then bundled us all incontinently out of the sick bay, Captain Farmer included.

Four days later we arrived off Funchal, pa.s.sing, at the eastern extremity of the island, Machico Bay, where the lovers mentioned by Larkyns landed and lived and died, according to the legend. This, the Spanish captain said was quite true, for he had seen the grave himself and the little church erected to their memory, a statement that quite delighted our friend Larkyns, as he was able to throw it in the teeth of Mr Stormc.o.c.k as soon as he heard it, in refutation of the base calumny of the latter in a.s.serting that he had invented the yarn he told us at mess.

I was very sorry when Don Ferdinando left the s.h.i.+p, for his misfortunes and the fact of my having been in the boat that rescued him, made him seem like an old friend whom I had known for years, although we had only been such a short time acquainted.