The Three Commanders Part 47

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A HARD TRIAL FOR JACK AND TERENCE--THE DRAGON AND EOLUS SAIL FOR THE PACIFIC--THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN, VALPARAISO, CALLAO--PERUVIAN KIDNAPPERS--A STRANGE TALE--SAIL FOR TAHITI--FALL IN WITH A KIDNAPPER--A FEARFUL ATROCITY--A CORAL ISLAND--TAHITI--ITS PRESENT STATE--SAMOA.

"Those Lords of the Admiralty are the most horribly cruel, tyrannical, hard-hearted set I ever heard of. Why could they not have appointed another officer who is not just married? There are numbers of single men who would have been delighted to take command of the _Dragon_; and to think of their sending you, my dear, dear Jack, all the way out to the Pacific, for I don't know how many years, among coral reefs and cannibals, and all sorts of fearful dangers;" and Mrs Jack Rogers put her handkerchief to her eyes and sobbed as if her heart would break.

Her husband, who held an official-looking letter, which he had just read, in his hand, looked as he felt, much distressed; but at the same time, it never occurred to him that he could possibly refuse the appointment to the fine new screw-steamer which had just been offered him, although her destination was the Pacific, and she might be kept out there three or four years. It was the first trial of his married life-- a very great one--and he had had no other as yet to break him in. He in vain tried to comfort his young wife; it was very, very hard to them both; and, indeed, it was very difficult to discover any sort of comfort, and the more he said the more poor Julia wept.

"Could you not say that, under your circ.u.mstances, you would rather be appointed to the coastguard?" she exclaimed at length; "then you might stay at home, and I should not be separated from you in the unnatural way the Admiralty propose."

"It would be equivalent to desiring to be shelved, and I aspire to become a post-captain and to get my flag some day," answered Jack. "Our case is not worse than that of many others. Some friends of mine have been sent off to sea a few days only after they have been married."

"It was a shame, then, and they had no business to go," answered Julia indignantly. "I wonder how those horrid lords themselves would like being separated from their wives, unless, as is possible, they are incapable of feeling the slightest love for them."

"I a.s.sure you, my dear Julia, that, though in the aggregate they are somewhat inconsiderate of the feelings of naval officers, they are individually as amiable gentlemen and affectionate husbands as any other men," said Jack. "My friend, Tom Somers, one of the most lucky dogs in the service, who was a post-captain at five-and-twenty, tells a capital story on the subject. He is, I must confess, impudence personified. He was one day at the Admiralty, complaining to one of the lords, much in the way that you are now doing, of their want of consideration for the feelings of junior officers. The lord heard him out, and then asked him to come and dine with him, which Tom condescended to do; and a very good dinner, with a number of excellent wines, he enjoyed. His host produced one bottle after the other of different descriptions, and of the choicest. 'And you like my wines?' he asked. 'Excellent, all of them, sir,' answered Tom. 'I shouldn't mind dining with you once a week while I remain on sh.o.r.e.' 'Very well,' answered the lord: 'but as I am leaving home, and cannot have the pleasure of seeing you, I'll send you a bottle, and you shall tell me how you like it.'

"The next day Tom received a bottle, tied significantly round with red tape, for his host was somewhat of a wag. On tasting it, Tom poured out a gla.s.s and drank it off, but the instant afterwards regretted his precipitancy, for he declared that he had never tasted anything so execrable. Just then his friend looked in upon him. 'Well, Somers, how did you like my wine?' he asked. 'I can't say that I ever wish to take another drop of it,' answered Tom. 'Well, I sent you exactly the wines you tasted at my house,' answered his visitor. 'You, however, drank them separately; I mixed them together, and you complain of the result.

Now if you take each of us lords by ourselves, you will find us as well-disposed and amiable as most other men; but when we act together we put aside all the gentle feelings of our nature, and form the stern, unrelenting body you and others find us.' I believe, Julia, Tom gave a very exact description of the Admiralty; and however much some of the lords might be disposed to befriend me individually, I should ruin myself in the service were I to plead that I have just married a wife, and would rather not go to sea."

"Then is there no chance of your getting some other appointment?" asked Julia, in a faltering tone.

"Not the slightest, I am afraid," answered Jack; "however, we must make the best of a bad case. Some weeks may pa.s.s before the s.h.i.+p is ready for sea, and perhaps before that time you will have got tired of me."

Julia gave a melancholy smile, as she looked up in her husband's face.

"I am jealous of Lucy," she said after some time; "I suppose the Admiralty will not also be appointing Commander Adair to a s.h.i.+p."

"I am not so certain of that," said Jack; "I know that they talk of sending out several to put a stop to the kidnapping system which has of late prevailed in the Pacific, as also to keep some of the black and brown island-chiefs in order, and they may fix on Adair as likely as on anyone else."

"Poor Lucy!" said Julia; "I am sure I don't really wish her to share my fate."

This conversation took place at Colonel Giffard's, where Jack and his bride were staying. The very next day he got a letter from Adair, who with Lucy was at Southsea, saying that he had been appointed to the _Eolus_, to proceed forthwith to the Pacific station.

"Lucy behaves capitally, like a sailor's wife, and says she knows I ought to go--though it is a cruel affair to us both. However, Jack, I know that you will compa.s.sionate us, and that your wife will do her best to comfort her when I am away. I tell her that I have hopes of coming back in a couple of years, as I will try at the end of that time to get superseded, which, with the help of the admiral, I hope I may succeed in doing."

"Poor Lucy!" said Julia, "we must support each other; but when we married, I little thought such would be our fate."

Jack, of course, took his wife down to Southsea, as, fortunately for him, the _Dragon_ was fitting out at Portsmouth, as was also the _Eolus_. The young ladies, having got over their first sensations of grief when they met, wisely determined to make the most of their husbands during the time they remained with them. The _Eolus_ was almost ready for sea, and sailed about a fortnight after Adair had commissioned her. Curiously enough, Desmond had been previously appointed to her; so he once more accompanied his uncle.

The _Dragon_ was not ready till the week afterwards. Jack was glad to get Jos Green as master, with Mr Mildmay as his first lieutenant. His brother Tom, who had been taking a spell on sh.o.r.e, was appointed to her, and, just before she sailed, Archie Gordon joined her. d.i.c.k Needham, though eligible for a much higher rate, had joined as gunner, with Mr Large, who had been with Jack in the _Gauntlet_, as boatswain. When it was known that Jack was to command the _Dragon_, several old s.h.i.+pmates volunteered, Jerry Bird and Tim Nolan among them. Tom was much pleased to have his old messmate Billy Blueblazes. d.i.c.ky Duff had joined the _Eolus_. Altogether Jack was well satisfied with his officers and s.h.i.+p's company.

We cannot venture to describe the parting, as it might be too touching to the feelings of our fair readers. Lucy, having had to undergo the same ordeal just before, was able to console her sister-in-law. Jack's manly heart felt very full, but he tore himself away, and, hastening on board, ordered the s.h.i.+p, which was at Spithead, to be got under weigh.

Round went the men at the capstan, the merry pipe sounding, and under all sail the _Dragon_ stood down Channel. She was directed not to use her coal except in case of necessity. Having touched at Madeira, where she took in a cask of wine for the admiral, and oranges enough to keep scurvy at bay for many a month, and having sighted the Cape de Verdes in the distance, she stood across to Rio. That city had improved greatly since Jack was last there, the enlightened Emperor being the advocate of liberal inst.i.tutions, which have done much to advance the social as well as the material interests of the inhabitants. Mildmay, who still, notwithstanding he was first lieutenant, indulged his poetical fancies, wrote a sonnet on the benign rule of the Emperor, which, unfortunately, having been blown overboard, cannot be given.

Touching at the Falkland Islands for a supply of fresh beef and vegetables, the _Dragon_ steered for the Straits of Magellan, which Jack had determined to run through. She called off Sandy Point, near the eastern entrance of the Straits, where the Chilian Government have formed a settlement for the purpose of working a coal mine. Some copper-coloured natives, with broad faces and high cheek-bones, and dressed in guanaco robes and skin boots, came off to the s.h.i.+p, princ.i.p.ally to obtain some liquor, though they brought some ostrich, fox, and guanaco skins to exchange for guns and gunpowder or spirits.

The pa.s.sage of the Straits being broad and well known, the s.h.i.+p steamed rapidly on till she reached Cape Pillar at the western end, beyond which the Pacific Ocean burst on their view. Instead, however, of entering it, she steered north into Smith's Channel, the southern end of a pa.s.sage which runs due north between the mainland and a chain of islands, two hundred miles in length. Nothing could be grander than the scenery which those on board the _Dragon_ beheld, as the s.h.i.+p threaded her way through this intricate channel, with the islands on the left hand, and lofty snow-capped mountains towering up on the right. As she proceeded northward, their bases appeared covered with trees, reaching almost to the water's edge, deep bays and gulfs running up far inland; indeed, the whole scenery was grand and beautiful. It required careful steering and a bright look-out ahead to avoid running on sh.o.r.e, a hot tide being frequently met with which might quickly have whirled the s.h.i.+p round on the rocks.

At length, a heavy gale blowing outside, in order to avoid it she ran through a narrow pa.s.sage, and entered a small harbour known as Connor Cove. The mountains, thickly covered with trees for some distance up, rose around the harbour, their snowy summits towering to the sky. The scene was grand and sombre, a few sea-birds only appearing, who, with their loud, wild shrieks increased its melancholy character. Though several of the officers landed, they could make no progress through the dense forest, the whole ground being one ma.s.s of rotten timber, amid which grew ferns and moss of various descriptions. Here, though the gale raged overhead, she lay as securely as in a dock, moored by the stern with a hawser to a large tree on sh.o.r.e. The gale having ceased, steam was again got up, and about forty miles on she entered the open sea, and pa.s.sed several Chilian towns, the most northern being Lota and Coronel, at both of which places extensive coal-mining operations were carried on. At the latter, the _Dragon_ took in a fresh supply of coal, which would carry her, if properly husbanded, across the Pacific.

Steaming northward, she entered the bay of Valparaiso, which Tom, as he looked at the barren, red, and bare hills surrounding it, with scarce a bush except the cactus to be seen, p.r.o.nounced a very odd sort of Paradise. The town stands partly on the sh.o.r.es of the bay, and chiefly on a number of hills separated by valleys, with the mighty Cordilleras rising beyond, giving the scenery, in spite of the barren aspect of the foreground, a grand and picturesque character. The bay was full of vessels, showing that a considerable amount of trade is carried on in the place. Jack and his officers received numerous invitations both from the English merchants and the native residents of rank; a ball being given by them in honour of the _Dragon's_ officers, at which Tom lost his heart, as did several of his companions theirs.

"What, you don't mean to say you have forgotten the fair Feodorowna?"

said Archie, as Tom was expatiating on the beauty of the black-eyed damsel who had attracted his admiration.

"Well, as you know, she is in another hemisphere, and as I never expect to see her again, and she has probably forgotten me, I don't think I ought to wear the willow for her any longer," said Tom; "and Dona Seraphina is, you'll allow, very beautiful."

"Granted," answered Archie; "but as the s.h.i.+p sails tomorrow, and Dona Seraphina will probably forget you in the course of a day or two, even if she happens to distinguish you from the rest of us, you'll not, I hope, break your heart about her."

"Not if we happen to touch at another port soon, and a ball is given to us there," said Tom, with a demure look; "provided I have the luck to meet a partner with attractions equal to Dona Seraphina's."

"You're all right, my lad," said Archie, clapping him on the back; "and Mr Mildmay won't have to write your epitaph, '_Hic jacet_ Tom Rogers, who died of a broken heart, etcetera, etcetera.'"

About three weeks after this the _Dragon_ entered the bay of Callao, pa.s.sing round the barren island of San Lorenzo, long the burying-place of Protestants, who were denied sepulture on the mainland. At the farther end of the plain, between the lofty Cordilleras and the sh.o.r.e, could be seen the spires and fanes of Pizarro's "City of a thousand towers and a hundred gates," while on the island were basking numbers of drowsy seals and sea-lions with sleek skins and s.h.a.ggy manes. The s.h.i.+p came to an anchor about a mile from the mole, outside the merchant-vessels. Jack had been looking out for the _Eolus_, and was somewhat disappointed at not hearing of her at any of the ports at which he had touched. As they had been ordered to cruise in company, he determined to wait here for her. This gave an opportunity to several of the officers to visit Lima. Those who went there p.r.o.nounced the city a very fine one, and declared that it was more worthy to be called the Vale of Paradise than the Chilian town to the southward.

The s.h.i.+p had been there some days, when some time after sunset a schooner was observed gliding into the harbour. She came to an anchor among several other vessels which concealed her from sight. Jack, who had been on deck enjoying the cool air of the evening, was about to turn in, when the sentry hailed a small boat which was seen approaching. An English voice answered, and asked leave to come on board; it was granted, and a middle-aged seafaring man stepped up the side.

"Who are you, and what do you want, my man?" asked Jack.

"Please you, sir, I am an Englishman; my name is Ralph Hake, of Plymouth; and I belonged till half an hour ago to a Peruvian schooner, the _Saltador_, which now lies inside of us; but I've taken French leave of her, and don't want to go back," answered the man.

"A very clear statement of yours; but what brought you on board this s.h.i.+p?" asked Jack.

"Because I had nowhere else to go to, sir, and that's why. I'd like to enter with you, sir; I'm sick of the craft I was serving aboard, and of the work she was carrying on," answered the man.

"What was that?" asked Jack.

"Just kidnapping poor natives in the different islands away to the westward whenever she could get hold of them, and bringing them here as slaves, to labour in the mines, or at any other task their masters may think fit to put them to," answered Hake. "You see, sir, I was left on sh.o.r.e sick, from a whaler, which, as she never came back for me, was, I suppose, lost, and as I was starving, not knowing how this craft was to be employed, I s.h.i.+pped on board her, being promised high wages and thinking I should like the trip; but when I came to see the sort of work she was carrying on, I made up my mind to leave her on the first opportunity, though I never found that till to-night, when, getting hold of the dingy which was alongside, I slipped my bag into her, and pulled away before anyone found me out. I can tell you, sir, I never saw more cruel work than that craft carried on. When the skipper could, he enticed the natives on board, and clapped them under hatches. Sometimes he pretended to trade with them, and got them below under the pretence of looking at his goods; at others, he asked them into the cabin to have a bit of something to eat, and, making them drunk, slipped their hands into handcuffs before they knew what was happening. At some places where this did not answer he sent the boats' crews armed on sh.o.r.e, and seized as many as he could fall in with, and not unfrequently took the people out of fis.h.i.+ng-canoes, which he sent to the bottom. I have known him run down three or four canoes one after the other, to get hold of some of the people in them, not minding what became of the rest. At one place the people must have been Christians, for when we went on sh.o.r.e we found a number of them in a large chapel, and a brown man preaching to them. We got hold of nearly a score, and when their friends attempted to rescue them, we shot or cut down all who interfered, and carried away a dozen or more. When we got them on board, instead of complaining, they sat together and sang psalms, and one of them, who I found knew a little English, talked to me, and told me that two of their number were elders of their church, and that he and all the rest were Christians.

When I told the skipper, he only laughed, and said that they were only Protestants, and that when they got on sh.o.r.e the priests would make them into real Christians. The native, when I told him this, sighed, and said he hoped he and his friends would remain faithful. On another occasion we enticed a whole fleet of canoes some distance off the sh.o.r.e; when they, taking the alarm, were pulling back, he fired among them, and when they took fright and were paddling away, we sunk the whole of them, giving some the stem, throwing shot into others, and firing at the rest.

We picked up as many people as we could, but not a few were drowned, and the remainder managed to swim on sh.o.r.e. At last, with a full cargo, though some died on board, we came in here. I found that this was not the first trip on this business the schooner had made, and that half a dozen more craft were employed in the same way, so that many hundreds of the poor natives must have been carried off from their homes to die up among the snowy mountains of cold, starvation, and hard work, or else of broken hearts."

"This is important information, my man; you should at once have informed the consul, who might have taken steps to get the natives liberated,"

observed Jack.

"If I had gone on sh.o.r.e, sir, I should have had a sharp knife stuck under my ribs before I was many hours older," answered Hake. "By that time, and long before the consul could have interfered, the whole cargo would have been miles away up the country; even now there is not one left in the schooner."

Jack reflected on what the man had told him, and, believing the account, gave him leave to remain on board during the night, resolving to look into the matter the next morning. A hand was sent to secure his punt; but it was found that when he stepped out of her he had given her a shove, and sent her drifting away, and she was nowhere to be seen.

The next morning Jack went on sh.o.r.e to communicate with the acting consul, who acknowledged that he had had information on the subject; but though aware that several vessels had been fitted out for the purpose mentioned, he had been unable to take any steps for putting a stop to their proceedings.

"Then I must see what we can do!" exclaimed Jack indignantly.

"If we can find out from what islands people have been taken, and the inhabitants ask for our protection, we shall have the right to afford them all the a.s.sistance in our power. You may be very certain, should you seize any vessels engaged in carrying off the natives, no one will interfere; for their Government, even should they be aware of their proceedings, will not dare to acknowledge that they are so, or protect them; and I am very sure that the French will be ready to a.s.sist in capturing the villains who may have ventured to visit any of the islands under their rule," observed the consul.

"Then I will go to Tahiti, and ascertain what the French Government knows about the matter," said Jack; "possibly on my way I may fall in with some of the kidnappers, and it will be a satisfaction to release the slaves they may have taken, and to put a stop to their proceedings."

That evening the s.h.i.+p sailed for the westward. A look-out was kept for any craft which might answer to Hake's description of the vessels engaged in the traffic. The _Dragon_ had been nearly three weeks at sea when a vessel was seen ahead steering to the eastward. As she drew nearer, she was seen to be a brigantine, and Hake declared that she was one of the vessels sent out to collect natives. Hopes were entertained that she might have some on board, and that they should have the pleasure of releasing them and taking them back to their homes, if such could be found. As the _Dragon_ drew nearer, Jack made a signal for the stranger to heave-to; and as she did not appear to understand it, he fired a shot across her bows, which had the desired effect. A boat was lowered, and Jos Green, with Tom and Archie, were sent to examine her, and should natives be found, to bring her close up to the s.h.i.+p, so that they might be transferred on board.

Jos and his companions pulled away in high glee, fully hoping that they should have the satisfaction of liberating some of their fellow-creatures.

"It is too bad," observed Green, "that we should be spending our energies on the West and East Coasts of Africa, and all the time that these degenerate descendants of Spaniards out here in the Pacific should be endeavouring to drag our fellow-creatures into a far worse slavery than the Africans have to endure. These poor islanders, accustomed to the perfect freedom of the breezes of the ocean, must perish miserably in the course of a few months if compelled to work in the mines, or even in the fields on the mainland."