The Three Commanders Part 24

"She has held together better than I could have supposed," said Higson.

"Put the s.h.i.+p's head off-sh.o.r.e; we will bring up," said Jack.

As soon as the s.h.i.+p came to an anchor, two of the boats were lowered, Jack himself going in one, with Hamed and Tom and Desmond, Jack knowing that the latter was eager to gain the first tidings of his uncle. They pulled in with some faint hopes of finding the people still on board, or encamped on the sh.o.r.e; but no signal was seen, and their hopes grew less and less.

Jack now looked out for a place suitable for landing, and as he approached, he saw several small sandy beaches, where a boat could land without danger. He chose one nearest the wreck, and both boats steered in for it; still not a sign of human beings could be seen. He at once landed, with Matson, who was in the second boat, and accompanied by him and the two mids.h.i.+pmen, and a party of his crew, well armed, proceeded at once to the wreck. It being now low water, they could almost reach her by clambering along the rocks. On getting close to her, it was seen that she had suffered more severely than had been supposed; her whole stem frame was knocked in, and the sea must have made a clean breach through her, so that no one could have remained on board. Her masts and guns were gone, and the whole of her stores had either been washed out of her, or had since been carried away. There were signs, indeed, that she had been plundered by a large party, as the marks of numerous feet were discerned on the sand above high-water mark.

While Jack and most of the party had been examining the rock, Hamed, with Desmond and Tim Nolan, had gone on towards a height some distance from the sh.o.r.e, under the expectation of being able to obtain from its summit an extensive view inland. After leaving the rock, Jack sent the party, two or three together, to examine the rocks, to ascertain if the bodies of any of the crew had been washed up upon them. Jack still had hopes that the crew had been able to hold on to the wreck, till the falling tide should have allowed them to reach the sh.o.r.e. Still he could discover nothing to settle the point; it was only evident that the guns must have been thrown overboard, and the masts cut away, before she reached the sh.o.r.e. Perhaps Adair might afterwards have set off overland to try and reach one of the Arab towns belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar, where he could obtain provisions, and from whence he could send notice to the consul where he was, so that a s.h.i.+p of war might be despatched to render him a.s.sistance.

Jack was looking out for Hamed, when he caught sight of a figure running along at full speed from the direction of the hill, and every now and then casting a look behind him indicative of alarm. Jack immediately summoned the men from the rocks, and, as he hurried forward, he recognised Tim Nolan.

"Yer honour, it's bad news I bring!" he exclaimed, panting for breath, though he did not forget to touch his hat to his commander; "the spalpeens of Arabs have been and taken Mr Desmond, and our 'terpreter Hamed, and they'll be after cutting their throats if we don't look sharp and carry them help. As they were hurrying them down the hill, and looking thunder and lightning at them, Hamed cried out to me, 'Run for your life and tell the captain!' and shure, run I did, for they'd have been after cutting my throat if I hadn't."

On receiving this intelligence, Jack immediately despatched Mr Matson's boat to the s.h.i.+p with directions to signalise Murray to send his boats, well armed, on sh.o.r.e, desiring his own lieutenant to return with two more from the s.h.i.+p. He immediately, with his boat's crew, pushed on in the direction Tim believed Desmond and Hamed had been carried. Instead, however, of going over the hill, he led his men round it at a turn, hoping by this to cut off the Arabs as they descended into the plain.

Tim, one of the most active of the party, kept well ahead. He had just rounded the rocky point, when he caught sight of a party of Arabs, twenty or more in number, with Desmond and Hamed in their midst. Hamed, by the gesticulations he was employing, was apparently expostulating with his captors; while Desmond was using strenuous means to show them that he was disinclined to move forward.

The Arabs were so engaged with their prisoners, that they did not observe the approach of the English till they were close upon them.

Jack and his companions redoubled their speed.

"Hurrah!" shouted Tim. "Knock the blackamoors down right and left, and we'll be up soon."

Desmond was perfectly ready to follow this advice, and two or three well-directed blows enabled him to spring out from among the astonished Arabs and join his friends. Hamed made a similar attempt, but, being tripped up, was caught by the Arabs, two of whom held their daggers at his breast.

"They stickee into me, they stickee into me!" shouted poor Hamed, "if you not doee what they ask."

"What is it?" inquired Jack, who continued advancing towards the Arabs.

"Dey let goee if not shootee," answered Hamed.

"Tell them that, though they deserve to be punished for daring to capture Her Majesty's officers, I will not injure them if they will inform me in what direction our friends have gone," said Jack.

Hamed on this appeared greatly relieved, and a long parley ensued between him and the Arabs. Their chief, a ragged old fellow, with somewhat tattered, though once rich, garments, stepped forward, and, making a profound salaam, uttered a long address, which Hamed briefly interpreted. "He say you pay him a hundred dollars, he takee where English stop, and fightee black fellows." The Arab himself and his followers were as black as negroes, by the bye, having probably more African than Asiatic blood in their veins.

"The rascals!" exclaimed Jack; "why, we are sparing their lives, and they have the impudence to name their own terms. Tell them we'll shoot every one of them if they refuse to guide us to our friends."

Hamed had another talk with the chief. "He say very well, you shootee his people, and be no wiser than at first."

"The old fellow's got sense in his brains," observed Jack, "and as we can't pay him the dollars till we get back to the s.h.i.+p, the bribe may prevent him from acting treacherously and leading us into an ambush.

Tell him that if through his means we recover our friends, I promise him the hundred dollars, though he must come on board my s.h.i.+p to receive them."

The old slave-dealer again salaamed, and, through Hamed, expressed his perfect satisfaction with the arrangements. Jack would gladly have set off at once, for he suspected, from what Hamed had learned from the chief, that Adair and his crew must be very hard pressed, and dest.i.tute both of provisions and water. The Arabs looked greatly astonished at the strong force which landed, and became very humble and submissive.

Perhaps Jack might have saved the hundred dollars, which were certain to be employed in the slave-trade, had he waited the arrival of the other boats. He had, however, promised them, and there was no help for it; he could only hope that the old fellow and his crew might be caught with a full cargo of slaves on board their dhow.

To Jack's surprise, instead of proceeding south, their guides led the way to the northward. Hamed explained that so large a force had appeared in the south, that the s.h.i.+pwrecked crew had been compelled to retire northward; and Jack concluded that they had done so in the hopes of being able to communicate with the corvette, which Adair knew to be in that direction, or perhaps with some of the _Romp's_ boats which might be cruising in the same quarter.

Sailors are always in high spirits when tramping overland, in the hopes either of having a fight, or succouring those in distress. If the chief was to be believed, there was a fair probability of both these events occurring. Murray, as senior officer, of course took command of the expedition. He and Jack marched on together. Not entirely trusting their guides, they sent out scouts on either hand to feel the way, while the men were ordered to keep well together, and to be in readiness at any moment, in case of a surprise.

"Arrah, now," exclaimed Desmond, who with Tom and Archie were in the rear, "I hope we may get a scrimmage with these blackamoors; the spalpeens, to be attacking my uncle and his s.h.i.+pwrecked crew instead of lending them a hand, as any decent people would, when we want to help them and to put a stop to slavery."

"That's the very thing they don't want to have stopped," observed Archie; "as long as they can make more money by selling their fellow-creatures, though no blacker than themselves, they'll do it."

"If we had a fleet of merchantmen on the coast," said Desmond, "ready to give good prices for their ivory and ostrich feathers, and anything else their country produces, while all and every slave-trader knew that if caught he was to be hung up, I fancy that the slave-trade would soon be knocked on the head."

"A very good idea of yours, Desmond, but it may be a difficult matter to induce merchants to send their vessels out. It will be done in time if they find out that it is to their advantage," said Archie.

"If I had the management of affairs, I'd make them do it!" cried Desmond. "When a thing ought to be done, the sooner it is done the better; and if, as you say, it is the only way to stop this abominable slave-trade, and the misery and death of tens of thousands of Africans, we Englishmen shouldn't stop haggling about the cost, but do it at once."

"That's my notion," said Tom; "and when my eldest brother gets into Parliament, I'll give him no rest till he gets the thing done, somehow or other."

The other mids.h.i.+pmen were all of accord on the matter, but their conversation was interrupted by one of the scouts coming in with the information that he had seen a large party of men at the foot of a rocky height in the distance ahead, very busy about something or other, but what it was he could not make out. Hamed, after questioning the old chief, informed Murray and Jack that the people seen were undoubtedly those who had followed Adair and his crew, who were in all probability not far off.

The force therefore pushed on, and, pa.s.sing over some very rough ground, reached a spot whence they could make out three or four hundred people on the low ground, and a small party on a rocky height. Two or three tiny jets of smoke, sent forth every now and then by the latter, showed that they had firearms, though very few; and, from the intervals which elapsed between each shot, it was evident that they were husbanding their ammunition, and only firing when necessity compelled them to keep their a.s.sailants in check.

On observing this, Murray ordered his party at once to fire a volley, which would inspirit their friends, and intimidate the enemy.

"Forward!" cried their commanders; and they pushed on at a rate which quickly brought them close to the scene of action. As they advanced, leaping over rocks and all impediments, towards the mongrel army, the leaders of the latter were seen to be moving about in evident alarm. At the instant a shower of bullets was sent rattling among them, they, to a man, faced about, and scampered off as fast as their legs could carry them. The relieving force quickly surmounted the height, where they found Adair with six or seven of his officers, and little more than half his crew. Jack and Murray were soon shaking him warmly by the hand; his and his companions' appearance showed, before a word had been spoken, that succour had come most opportunely. Their emaciated looks and hollow eyes told too plainly how they had suffered from hunger; not a particle of food remained in the camp, or a drop of water; and not more than three rounds of ammunition for the six muskets which had been saved from the wreck.

"If you hadn't come, my dear fellows, it would have been all up with us, I fear," said Adair; "we'd made up our minds to rush down on the enemy and try to put them to flight; but without food, and no chance of getting any, we should only have gained the advantage of being allowed to die in peace, unless one of our boats had appeared, for which we came here to look out. It is the saddest thing which has ever happened to me; twenty poor fellows drowned, besides the loss of the brig; and as we have seen nothing of our boats, I am afraid some harm must have happened to them."

Jack and Murray did their best to comfort him, while all hands were employed in serving out the provisions and water which had so thoughtfully been brought. As the _Romp's_ crew were too weak to march, the party bivouacked on the hill, with plenty of camp-fires, for which the blacks collected abundance of fuel.

Just as they were about to start at daylight, two boats were seen rounding a point, and Adair had the satisfaction of finding that they were those which had been despatched from the brig some weeks before, and which had since been cruising in search of her. The more sickly men were at once placed on board them, and they were sent round to join the _Gauntlet_; while the rest of the party set off overland, accompanied by their Arab guide, who kept close to them for fear of losing his dollars.

On getting on board, Jack paid him punctually, with a warning, imparted through Hamed, that if they were employed in the slave-trade he would lose them again, and get himself into further trouble. Whether or not the old fellow followed the advice he received, Jack had no means of ascertaining.

On their return to Zanzibar, the _Opal_ and _Gauntlet_ received orders to proceed to the Cape. Loud cheers rose from the decks of both s.h.i.+ps as the news was announced on board; and even poor Adair, though he had the unpleasant antic.i.p.ation of a court-martial for the loss of the brig, felt his spirits rise considerably. Jack comforted him with the a.s.surance that the evidence his officers had to give must acquit him of all blame, and that he himself had done everything possible to save the brig.

"But I had no business to have been caught in the bay," sighed Adair.

"My prospects in the service are ruined, and I shall never get another s.h.i.+p."

"Never fear," answered Jack; "we shall have perhaps a war before long, and, depend upon it, you will not be overlooked when s.h.i.+ps are fitting out. Officers of dash and determination will be wanted, and you possess the required qualities."

The packet from England had come in the day before they arrived at the Cape, and Jack found a letter from Admiral Triton. "We shall have some of the old work again before long, my boy, depend upon that," he wrote.

"I have it from the best authority that the Russians have made up their minds to quarrel with the Turks, and take possession of Constantinople.

They have been for some time past badgering them about the Holy Places, and insisting that their co-religionists are ill-treated by the Moslems,--not that they really care about the matter,--and that is sufficient to convince anyone who has got his weather-eye open that they only want a pretext for war, decent or indecent. The news has just arrived, though it has not yet been made public, that we should be suspicious of the designs of Louis Napoleon, who has so wonderfully been transmogrified into an emperor--though for my part, I believe that no ruler of France has ever been more friendly disposed towards us, and the Russians will find that they are mistaken in wis.h.i.+ng to set us by the ears. That Prince Menzikoff, their amba.s.sador to the Porte, has presented the ultimatum of the Russian Government, which means war, for the Turks are certain not to knock under; and we and the French would not let them, if they thought of doing so. The Russians intend to invade Turkey with all possible despatch; indeed, they have an army all ready to throw across the frontier. Menzikoff will be away from Constantinople in the course of a day or two, and then the business will begin. Our Government intends to send a fleet through the Dardanelles without delay, and as the Russians have no small number of s.h.i.+ps in the Black Sea, we may hope to have a brush with them. I wish you were here, Jack, to take a part in whatever goes on; and I am glad to find that your s.h.i.+p is ordered home, so that there is a chance of your being in time; you will not let the gra.s.s grow under your feet; and as you can steam through the calm lat.i.tudes, we may hope to see you here before long. I never liked steamers, but they have their advantages, there's no doubt about that. In the meantime, I'll use all the influence I possess to get you a craft you'll like; and as I fancy that more work is to be done in a steam-vessel than in a sailing-s.h.i.+p, I'll try and get one for you."

The admiral's letter contained a good deal more in his usual style of chit-chat; Mrs Murray had gone to stay with her friend Lucy at Halliburton Hall, though he expected both of them back again, and hoped that they would be with him when Jack arrived. Jack showed the letter to Terence, who sighed when he read it.

"What's the matter?" asked Jack.

"I'm only thinking that an unlucky dog like myself, who has lost his s.h.i.+p, has very little chance of getting another," said Adair; "and that the bright hopes I entertained of soon getting my post-rank must be abandoned for ever."

Jack, of course, did his best to console him. "Come along," he said; "there's a grand ball to-night at the governor's, and we're asked; we'll take the youngsters--it is a good thing to let them enjoy a little society, and will help to polish them up before they return home."

Adair was unwilling to appear in public, but he yielded to Jack's wishes. The three mids.h.i.+pmen were of course delighted, and busily employed themselves, with the aid of their marines, in burnis.h.i.+ng up their long unused uniforms; so that when they entered the ballroom they presented a very respectable appearance following in the wake of their commanders.

Adair soon recovered his spirits, and Jack laughed as he watched him whirling round and round in the valse, or prancing away in the galop with true Hibernian vehemence. The mids.h.i.+pmen had entered into a compact to introduce each other to their partners. They did not fail to admire the blue eyes, light hair, and fair complexions of the Dutch damsels.

"Never saw so many pretty girls under one roof in my life!" exclaimed Tom; "I'm over head and ears in love with every one of them."