The Three Commanders Part 5

"Bring a cup of hot coffee and some biscuit; it will restore the poor wretch, and help him to tell us what he wants," said the master.

After taking the food and liquid, the negro speedily revived, and, drawing his finger across his throat, with the addition of other signs, he intimated that his master was about to kill him, when he made his escape; and it was evident that he must have swum a distance of two miles or more at the risk of his life, to put himself under the protection of the British flag. His name, he intimated, was Pango; and that his master, if he should recapture him, would carry him off and kill him. Hamed, on being summoned, interrogated the black; and from the account he gave, Adair and Green were convinced that they had clearly understood Pango's pantomimic language.

The commander, who had not turned in, on coming on deck and hearing the case, promised poor Pango that he should be protected; and to do so effectually, at once entered him on the s.h.i.+p's books. The negro expressed his grat.i.tude by every means in his power, and, being taken below by Ben s.n.a.t.c.hblock the boatswain, was speedily, to his delight and satisfaction, rigged out in seaman's duck trousers and s.h.i.+rt. He was, notwithstanding, far from being at ease, dreading lest the tyrannical master from whom he had fled should discover his place of retreat, and claim him. Hamed, however, made him understand that he now belonged to the s.h.i.+p, and that all on board would fight for him with their big guns and small-arms, and go to the bottom rather than give him up. On comprehending this, he showed his joy by capering and singing, and making a variety of demonstrative gestures, signifying that if his former owner came to look for him, he would get more than he bargained for. At length he stopped, and a shade of melancholy came over his countenance. Hamed, who, in spite of his ugliness, possessed some of the better feelings of human nature, asked him what was the matter.

He sighed, and said that he had a brother on sh.o.r.e who was as badly off as he had been, and that he should now be parted from him for ever, as he could never venture back to Mozambique, or set his foot on sh.o.r.e in the neighbourhood, lest he should be kidnapped and carried back to a worse bondage than that from which he had escaped.

Hamed, of course, could give him little hope of rescuing his brother, and advised him to turn in and be thankful that he himself had escaped.

Notwithstanding poor Pango's fears, no one appeared to claim him, and the next morning he was seen among the men forward, lending a hand at all sorts of jobs, evidently anxious to make himself useful.

The pilot at length came off, announcing that the tide and wind would now serve for taking out the s.h.i.+p. "Hands shorten in cable!" shouted Ben s.n.a.t.c.hblock, his pipe sounding shrilly along the decks. Pango remained forward, concealing himself behind the foremast, though he every now and then took a glance at the ill-favoured pilot, a big, cut-throat, piratical-looking individual, who was standing aft near the master, while his boat hung on alongside the quarter.

Sail was made, the anchor lifted, and the s.h.i.+p was gathering way, when a black sprang out of the boat alongside through a port, and tried to hide himself under one of the mids.h.i.+p guns. The savage-looking pilot espied him, and ordered him back into the boat. Instead of obeying, he clung tightly to the gun. "Remove the man and put him back into the boat,"

said the commander; "but do not handle him roughly." Now, as the poor black clung with might and main to the gun, and shrieked loudly for mercy, the latter order prevented the seamen from executing the former.

"The n.i.g.g.e.r won't let go, sir," shouted the master-at-arms, Ned Lizard, "unless we cut off his hands and feet--might as well try to haul a cuttle-fish from a rock without leaving its feelers behind it."

"Let him alone, then," said Murray; and, turning to the pilot, he intimated that he must take his man himself if he wanted him, but that he must, in the meantime, look out not to run the s.h.i.+p on sh.o.r.e.

The pilot accordingly continued at his post, every now and then glaring savagely at the poor negro, and uttering a growl signifying that he would very soon have him in his power. Blackie still clung fast to the gun, casting a piteous look at the good-natured countenances of the seamen, imploring them to help him, which it was evident they would be very ready to do.

At length the s.h.i.+p was in the open sea, and the pilot, who had received his payment, was in a hurry to return. Approaching his slave, he ordered him to get into the boat; the latter only replied by piteous shrieks and cries, clinging as tightly as before to the gun with arms and legs, while he seized the tackle in his jaws.

"Tell the pilot, Hamed, that he must carry off the gun and all, if he wants the man; but take him by force he must not," said Adair.

No sooner had Hamed interpreted this than the pilot, drawing his dagger, would have plunged it into the back of the miserable slave, had not the master-at-arms seized his arm, exclaiming, "No, no, my fine fellow; we'll have none of that sort of thing on board here. If you want the man, as the lieutenant says, you must take him by fair means; and, if not, you must let him stay. Tell him, Hamed, if he tries that trick again, he'll be run up to the fore-yardarm there before he is many hours older."

The pilot stamped and swore all sorts of Mohammedan oaths, which might have shocked even the ears of the prophet, and appealed to the commander, who intimated, in return, that if the slave sought the protection of the British flag, it would be granted him, and that it was very evident he had no desire to go back to Mozambique. At last Mustapha saw that he must make up his mind to lose his slave, and, casting a last ferocious look at him, as much as to say, "If I ever catch you on sh.o.r.e, my fine fellow, your skin and bones will part company," he lowered himself down into the boat.

Blackie peered through the port till he saw that she had actually let go and was dropping astern, when he jumped up, and the next instant, Pango, coming from his hiding-place, rushed aft, and the two blacks, throwing their arms round each other, burst into tears of joy. The last runaway was no other than Pango's brother, who was forthwith christened Bango.

Not forgetting the pilot, they together ran aft, and waved their hands triumphantly at him, as the s.h.i.+p, increasing her speed, left the boat astern, he shouting and grinning with mad and impotent rage.

The corvette stood down the coast, a bright look-out being kept both for native dhows and square-rigged vessels, of which not a few Brazilians, Spaniards, and Americans were known to be engaged in the nefarious traffic. The carpenters had been busy fitting the boats, raising the gunwales of the smaller ones, and adding false keels to the larger, to enable them the better to carry sail; and all hands guessed that something was to be done, but what it was the commander kept to himself, or made known only to his lieutenants.

In spite of the utmost vigilance of the look-outs, not a vessel had been seen, till one morning, just at daybreak, as the s.h.i.+p was standing in for the land, the wind being to the southward, a dhow was discovered coming up before it, her canvas of snowy whiteness glittering in the rays of the rising sun. The commander, who was on deck, in a moment gave the order to lower the lifeboat; and Adair, with Ben s.n.a.t.c.hblock and Desmond, leaped into her and pulled away for the coast, so as to intercept the dhow should she attempt to pa.s.s ahead of the corvette.

"We've caught the dhow in a trap, at all events," observed Adair, "for she's no chance with the s.h.i.+p on a wind. She is certain to try and run for it close insh.o.r.e, when we shall as certainly catch her. Give way, my lads! she hasn't seen us as yet, and stands on with a flowing sheet, thinking that she has a good chance of slipping between the corvette and the land."

The wind being light, the corvette was making but little way through the water, and had a breeze come off the land, the dhow would have had a fair chance of escaping, had it not been for the boat ready to intercept her. The dhow, under her immense spread of canvas, glided on rapidly; and her Arab captain was probably congratulating himself on the prospect of escaping from his powerful foe, when he caught sight of the boat lying in wait for him. Heavy rollers broke on the sh.o.r.e, sending the surf flying up many yards over the beach. The dhow was seen suddenly to put up her helm and to steer directly for the sh.o.r.e.

"Good heavens!" cried Adair; "the Arab isn't going to attempt to carry his vessel through those breakers?"

"He is, though, sir," observed s.n.a.t.c.hblock. "It's a pretty sure sign that he has got a cargo of slaves aboard. Poor beings! not many of them will reach the beach alive."

Adair immediately steered the boat towards the dhow, though he had little hope of reaching her in time to prevent her from running on destruction. Several shots were fired to make her heave-to, but the Arab crew heeded them not; and Adair had got almost within a cable's length of the breakers when the doomed vessel was seen plunging in their midst, to be cast in a few seconds on the s.h.i.+ngly beach.

Wildly the sea broke over her, and almost as if by magic, her bulky hull, melting away, exposed to view a hundred or more black forms struggling in the water, endeavouring to make their way to dry land.

Some of the unfortunate beings succeeded, but others were carried back into the surf, and, hurled over and over, were lost to sight, none of them being drifted out as far as the boat.

All this time Adair was pulling in towards the breakers. He saw that the Arab crew, who had been the first to reach the sh.o.r.e, were urging on the blacks to run towards a thick wood, the outer edge of which was a few hundred yards only from the beach.

"I think we can do it," he said to s.n.a.t.c.hblock; "I have been through worse breakers than those in a less buoyant boat than ours. If we don't manage to get on sh.o.r.e, the Arabs will carry off every one of the slaves."

"She'll go through it, sir," answered s.n.a.t.c.hblock, looking round at the breakers.

"We might save some of the poor wretches, at all events. Give way, my lads!" cried Adair, and the boat, urged forward by the stout arms of the crew, was speedily in the midst of the breakers. The sea struck her abaft, and washed clean over her from stern to stem; and had not s.n.a.t.c.hblock aided Adair in hauling away on the yoke-line, she must have broached-to. A lifeboat alone could have existed amid those heavy breakers.

The next instant another sea struck her, was.h.i.+ng over her whole length, and covering everyone in her; but as it went right over the bows, only a few inches of water remained. A third time she was deluged, and then down she sank, it seemed, into comparatively smooth water, and glided up easily on to the shelving beach.

The firearms, having been fortunately covered up, were fit for use.

Calling to his men to follow, two only being left in the boat, Adair set off in pursuit of the Arabs and their captives. It seemed extraordinary that the latter should have been willing to run off when friends were at hand eager to rescue them from captivity, but they were evidently as eager to escape as their masters. The Arabs, seeing only a small number of Englishmen, would probably, as soon as they had gained the shelter of the wood, have turned round and fired, and Adair fully expected to be attacked. Fortunately, in their hurry to escape from the dhow, they had left their muskets behind them, and their only chance of safety was by flight. How the slaves, when they found them unarmed and in their power, might be inclined to treat them was a different question.

Several black forms were still seen running as fast as their legs could carry them towards the bush, and Adair and Desmond, who kept ahead, came up with two young men, looking more like skeletons than living beings.

As they caught them by the arm, the poor wretches sank down on the ground, shrieking with terror. s.n.a.t.c.hblock and the men caught three more, but it was no easy matter to induce them to run to the beach. Not one Arab was to be seen, and the remainder of the blacks disappeared among the thick bushes, where it would have been next to madness for so small a party to have followed them, not knowing what enemies might be lurking near at hand. After some persuasion the blacks were induced to come back to the beach, though trembling in every limb from terror and weakness as they walked along. Here four small children were found in the same emaciated condition as their elders, and one unhappy woman, to whom one of the children appeared to belong; she had injured her foot in landing, and had been unable to run away. From her cries and shrieks it was evident that she believed some dreadful fate was about to befall her. How many poor creatures had been lost in the surf it was impossible to say, and, as Hamed had not accompanied them, no information could be gained from the blacks.

Adair, indeed, had now to consider how they were to get off again. As from the higher ground on which he stood he looked over the wide belt of foaming breakers, it seemed almost impossible that the boat, buoyant as she was, could be forced through them. Even s.n.a.t.c.hblock eyed them anxiously. "We may do it, sir," he remarked, "if there comes a lull; if not, we shall have to wait here till the sea goes down. The worst is the want of grub and water, and we are not likely to find either in these parts, I've a notion, unless some wild beast or other comes to have a look at us; then we may give him a shot, and try what his flesh tastes like."

The day was by this time drawing on. As not a particle of food or a drop of water had been brought in the boat, all hands were excessively hungry and thirsty. It was dangerous to separate, though, in search of provisions, as it was more than possible that the Arabs might instigate the natives to attack them. s.n.a.t.c.hblock and Desmond, however, volunteered to go, taking different directions, each accompanied by one man. For the sake of the poor blacks, who seemed literally peris.h.i.+ng from starvation, Adair would willingly have consented, but it would be far better, he thought, if possible, to get off to the s.h.i.+p. Anxiously he watched the long line of breakers, but they extended up and down the coast as far as the eye could reach, without an opening through which the boat might possibly pa.s.s. Another hour or more went by; no shade was to be obtained except at a distance, under the trees of the forest; and Adair considered that it would be dangerous to venture so far from the sh.o.r.e, as the natives might then have the opportunity of stealing on them unawares. They accordingly sat down on the beach watching the breakers, in the hopes, as the tide rose, that their violence might decrease, and an opening appear through which the boat might be forced.

The rays of the sun struck down on their heads with terrific force, quickly drying their drenched clothes; but they would gladly have remained wet as they were, could they have found a few yards of shade beneath a neighbouring tree or rock.

The wretched blacks sat with stolid looks, as if totally unconscious that their liberators wished to benefit them. Every now and then, when they fancied that they were not observed, they cast frightened glances at the sailors. "I don't know what the poor n.i.g.g.e.rs are thinking of,"

observed s.n.a.t.c.hblock; "maybe they fancy that we're going to eat them, though it would be a hard matter to sc.r.a.pe enough off the bones of all of them to feed a young dog. I wish I knew something of their lingo, I'd try to make them understand that when we get on board we'll give them a good blow-out, and that in a week or two they'll not know themselves. I say, Sambo! we not want to mangy you, old chap," he added, to the black nearest him, and making significant signs; "we want to put some honest beef and pork flesh on that carca.s.s of yours and fill you out, boy; then you dance and sing, and become as merry as a cricket."

The black certainly did not understand what was said, and probably misunderstood his pantomimic gestures. One of them, the farthest off from the men, had been sitting with his head sunk down between his bent knees, apparently utterly unable to move; turning his head over his shoulder, he suddenly started up, and, before anyone could seize him, darted off towards the wood.

"Come back, you silly fellow!" cried Desmond, who, with two of the men, rose to follow him; but before they had got many paces, a large party of natives armed with bows, arrows, and spears, accompanied by several of the Arab crew, rushed out from among the trees, uttering threatening shouts, as if to intimidate the Englishmen.

"Stand to your arms, my lads," cried Adair; "we must not let those fellows get near us, or we may be overpowered by numbers." Still the natives came on, some flouris.h.i.+ng their spears, and others preparing their bows to shoot. Adair lifted his rifle. "Don't any of you fire till I tell you," he said to his men, while he took aim so as to strike the ground a few yards in front of the headmost of the party. No one was. .h.i.t, but they knew enough of the effect of firearms to be aware that another bullet might find a billet in one of their bodies. Springing back, the foremost tumbling the rear-ranks over, they threw themselves flat on the ground, and began to creep away towards the shelter of the bush. Adair, shouting to them, pointed to his own rifle and to the muskets of his men, intimating that if they ventured to advance, they would have to receive their contents.

The hint, apparently, had the desired effect; for, though the Arabs seemed to be doing their utmost to induce the blacks to attack the strangers, they remained carefully hiding themselves among the trees.

As, however, they might at any moment rush forward, the seamen kept their muskets ready for instant service, with a watchful eye on their movements. In the meantime, the black who had escaped had joined them.

What account he had given of the white men it was impossible to say.

One thing was certain, that the presence of the natives would prevent any attempt to go in search of food and water, and that if they could not get off, their sufferings from thirst and hunger would become serious. With increased anxiety, Adair cast his eye over the foaming rollers, both up and down the coast. The breeze blew strong as ever, and not a break appeared in that long line of glittering surf. The party were literally hemmed in, almost without hope of escape. They might have beaten off the natives, and made their way into the interior till they could fall in with some game and a stream of water, but then they would have had to leave the boat and the blacks unprotected.

Still, to starve where they were was not to be thought of.

"Faith, I'm growing fearfully peckish," exclaimed Desmond; "if you'll let me, sir, we'll try and get hold of one of those fellows, and make him order the rest to bring us some grub; if the sea won't go down, it's the only chance we have."

s.n.a.t.c.hblock was of Desmond's opinion, and of course the men were ready to follow them. Still, Adair was unwilling to run the risk of being overpowered. "No, no," he answered; "we can hold out some time longer, and if at last we find it impossible to get off, we can but do as you propose."

"I think, sir, the sea is going somewhat down," said s.n.a.t.c.hblock, at length; "we might get through just a little to the right there. See, sir, some of the rollers come in with only just a slight top to them, and if we take the right moment, we may get through."

"We can but try it," cried Adair. "Lift the poor blacks into the boat; they'll not add much to her weight. Be smart about it, my lads, though."

The negroes seemed very unwilling to move, and shrieked out as if they were about to be put to death; but they were but as infants in the arms of the stout seamen. The woman clung to her child as she was lifted with it into the sternsheets. The men were carried next, and placed at the bottom of the boat with the little children between them. She was then run off into the smooth water inside the breakers, the crew jumping into her; but each time the water receded, she struck on the hard coral beneath, her admirable construction alone preventing her from being stove in. The oars were got out, and the boat pulled along till the spot s.n.a.t.c.hblock observed was reached. Her head was then put to the sea.

"Give way, my lads," cried Adair, he and Desmond holding on to one yoke-line, while the boatswain held the other, their eyes eagerly cast towards the foaming breakers, amid which they were about to force their way. The crew put forth all their strength. The first breaker was past. Though they bent to their oars like true British seamen, the second, as it came thundering on, hurled them back; and it required all the skill of Adair and his companions to manage the boat till they reached the smooth water.

"Never say die, lads!" cried Adair, after waiting a few minutes to allow the men to recover their strength; "we'll try it again; if the ash-sticks hold, your muscles will, I am sure."