The Three Commanders Part 9

Adair, however, interfered, and prevented the men from giving the old chief as much liquor as they were ready to bestow on him, lest he might get drunk, and take it into his head to run a-muck or jump overboard.

He had taken enough, however, to send him fast asleep in the bottom of the boat, where he lay, as Jerry observed, "like a porpus in a gale of wind."

CHAPTER FIVE.

THREE DHOWS CHASED--ONE IS CAPTURED AND LEFT IN CHARGE OF DESMOND AND ARCHIE--FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF SLAVES ON BOARD--HORRIBLE CRUELTIES PRACTISED BY ARABS--JERRY BIRD SETS THE SLAVES DANCING TO KEEP UP THEIR SPIRITS--DESMOND'S WATCH--HE AND ARCHIE THROWN OVERBOARD.

As the breeze continued light and favourable, the boat ran on all night under easy sail. A bright look-out was kept, however, in the possibility of meeting a dhow creeping along-sh.o.r.e. Just as morning dawned, and they arrived abreast of a deep bay which Adair intended to explore, three dhows were seen standing out from under the land, with their wide spread of canvas wooing the light breeze.

It was pretty evident that the boat had been discovered. Adair therefore ordered the crew to lower the sails, and to take to their oars, which they did with right goodwill, hoping to catch two, at least, of the strangers in sight.

The smallest and leading vessel showed Arab colours. A shot across her fore-foot quickly made her haul them down. The other two exhibited no bunting. From the efforts they were making to escape, it was pretty evident they were full slavers. As soon as Adair reached the first dhow, he leaped on board; but a glance told him that she was a legal trader, with not a slave in her, as far as he could judge; although there were several black men, whom the neG.o.da affirmed belonged to the vessel.

"We'll give you the advantage of believing you," said Adair, jumping back into his boat, which pulled away to the nearest of the other vessels. Just then she lowered her sail.

"Hurrah!" cried Desmond; "she has given in."

"Not a bit of it," answered Adair; "see, she is going to set a wider spread of canvas than before."

He was right. Presently a long tapering yard rose to the head of the stern, the sail swelling out like the balloon jib of a racing yacht, and s.h.i.+ning brightly in the rising sun.

"Should the breeze increase, she will walk away from us like greased lightning, as the Yankees say," observed Adair.

"We'll hope, then, it will remain calm," said Archie. As it was, though the men strained at their oars, it taxed their utmost strength to gain on her. Still, they were gaining. Desmond and Archie stepped forward to a.s.sist Jerry in getting the gun ready to fire a shot as soon as they got near enough to make her heave-to. Light as was the breeze, the dhow continued to slip rapidly through the water. It was evident, however, that the boat was gaining on her, and the men redoubled their efforts.

"Shall we fire, sir?" asked Archie. "We might manage to bring down her sail."

"Fire over her," answered Adair; "a shot might chance to hurt some of the poor slaves, instead of the rascally Arabs."

Jerry elevated the gun, and pulled the trigger. Away flew the shot right through the dhow's huge sail; but her crew, looking to windward, fancied that the breeze was about to freshen. The gun was quickly sponged and again loaded.

"Try another shot," cried Adair; "if you can hit the yard or mast, it will save us a long pull."

Jerry willingly obeyed; but again the shot, though well aimed, only went through the sail.

"Very good practice," said Adair, "but just let it be a little better."

Jerry Bird, though watching the chase, could not help now and then taking a look at the countenance of the old chief,--Mustapha Longchops, the sailors called him,--but whether he wished the dhow to escape or not, it was difficult to say. Jerry had again got the gun ready, and, putting it on the breech, he exhorted it this time to do its duty.

Again he pulled the trigger, when the next instant down came the long yard by the run on deck. The mids.h.i.+pmen uttered a hearty cheer, taken up by Adair and the crew, and in a few minutes they were alongside the vessel.

The Arabs, however, seeing only a single boat, and unsupported, had made up their minds, it seems, not to yield without a struggle. Some twenty savage-looking fellows, some armed with two-handed swords, others with muskets and a.s.segais, stood ready to defend their vessel. As the pinnace ranged up alongside, several shots were fired and a.s.segais hurled at them, one of which, whizzing close to Adair's ear, stuck quivering in the sternsheets as he was springing up the side. The dauntless seamen, however, were not to be stopped by their show of weapons and threatening gestures. In spite of the Arabs, who cut and slashed right and left with their two-handed swords, several of the bluejackets were about to spring up the vessel's side, when one of the former, aiming a blow at the head of the boat-hook, with which Jerry Bird was holding on, cut it right through; and at the same instant some of the Arab crew, who had in the meantime been bending on fresh halyards, hoisted away on the sail, the dhow forging ahead.

"Fire at those fellows!" cried Adair to the small-armed men; who, letting fly with their muskets, bowled over three at once. The oars were meantime again got out, and the sail having come down on deck, the boat once more dashed up, this time making for the starboard bow. Jerry took the precaution of making fast with a stout rope; and, led by Adair, all hands were quickly on board, two more of the Arabs being shot down.

The others, however, still bravely attempted to defend their vessel, wielding their weapons with the same vigour as before; but, desperate as they were, they could not withstand the British cutla.s.ses, and were driven aft for refuge in the cabin, crying out for mercy. All this time shrieks and groans arose from the hold, while the vilest of odours, a mixture of everything abominable, pervaded the vessel, leaving not a doubt, even had the crew not attempted to defend her, that she was a full slaver, and a legal capture.

"Hand over your arms," cried Adair, "and we'll spare your lives." It is possible some one among the Arabs might have understood English; at all events, the whole of the crew soon hurried up and handed over their swords and other weapons to the victors.

"Tumble their arms into the pinnace," said Adair; "we must have that other dhow. Gordon and Desmond, I'll leave you with five men to manage these fellows, while I go in chase of her. If I take her, keep close to me. Signalise should they show any inclination to be mutinous, and I'll bear down and help you. I'll leave you the canoe; we shall make better way without her." Saying this, Adair shoved off and pulled away in chase of the third dhow.

The first care of the mids.h.i.+pmen was to complete the task in performing which the three Arabs had been killed, and to hoist up the sail, aided by several of the crew, whom they compelled at the point of their swords to lend a hand; while, one of the seamen being sent to the helm, the dhow steered after the pinnace in hot chase of the still uncaptured slaver, the canoe, which had hitherto been alongside, being stowed astern.

The deck of the dhow, on board which the mids.h.i.+pmen found themselves, presented a horrible appearance. The three men who had first been shot lay stiff and stark, weltering in their blood at the foot of the mast.

Farther off sat the neG.o.da, with a shot through his leg and another in his body, glaring fiercely at them; while another man lay not far off, writhing in agony, with life ebbing fast. The rest of the crew, greasy, dirty ruffians, with close-fitting turbans and caps on their heads, baggy trousers, and vests covering their bodies, stood about with sulky, hang-dog looks, regarding the victors.

"We must keep an eye on these fellows," said Jerry Bird to Archie; "they'll not mind cutting our throats if they have the chance."

"Little doot aboot that," said Archie; "but hallo! here's our old friend Mustapha Longchops. How did he get on board?"

It was very evident that the old chief must have scrambled up after the seamen boarded, and stowed himself away till the fight was over. What was his object in so doing was difficult to ascertain.

"It wasn't with any good intention, I've a notion," said Desmond; "however, we'll be up to him."

"I think, sir," said Jerry Bird, "we may as well see if they've got any more arms stowed away. If they have, the sooner they're hove overboard the better; for if they get hold of them, the Arabs would prove somewhat ugly customers on a dark night."

Jerry's advice was followed. While two of the hands kept an eye on the crew on deck, Jerry and Desmond, with the rest, searched the after-cabin, and discovered no less than a dozen muskets, several pistols and swords, and some formidable-looking knives or daggers, which would have proved deadly weapons in the hands of the Arabs. They were all quickly hove overboard, greatly to the disgust of their former owners. They were, however, not the only articles discovered.

"Hallo! what's this?" cried Jerry, drawing out a box from the locker; "it seems pretty heavy for its size. Shouldn't be surprised to find it full of gold."

Desmond, who was superintending the search, laughed. "We can scarcely expect such good luck as that," he answered.

"We'll try, sir," said Jerry, prising open the top with one of the daggers which he had retained. "Hurrah! I was right, sir," he sang out; "golden pieces every one of them, four or five hundred, at least!"

"No doubt about it," observed Desmond, examining the box; "it is not ours, however, after all. We must hand it over to the commander as part of the cargo found in the prize, as well as every other article of value; though we shall get our share in due time."

"To be sure, sir, to be sure," answered Jerry, with a sigh. "At first I thought you and Mr Gordon, and the rest of us, might pocket it; but it's all right--we must share and share alike."

Desmond ordered the box to be stowed away in the forepart of the cabin, which he and Archie intended to occupy. The Arab captain cast a longing glance at his treasure as it was carried away, possibly regarding the present possessors with no friendly feeling. The discovery induced the seamen to make a further search, and jewellery, pieces of cloth and silk, and numerous rich Arab garments were brought to light, sufficient altogether to fill a considerable portion of the cabin.

"Now let's look after the slaves below," said Archie; "the poor fellows must have been in a fearful quandary while the fighting was going forward."

Whatever feeling of pity the condition of the wounded Arabs might have excited in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the English was removed when they came to examine the hold. Indeed, the horrible state of the unhappy beings surpa.s.ses all description. Upwards of two hundred human beings were found stowed away in the hold of the craft, which could not have measured more than a hundred tons. On a bamboo deck, scarcely raised high enough above the keel to be free of the abominably-smelling bilge-water which occupied her lowest depths, lay some eighty or ninety men, doubled up, and packed so closely together that it was utterly impossible for them to stretch their legs; while there was not room enough for them to raise their heads without touching the deck above.

They were stowed away, indeed, literally, as Jerry Bird observed, "like herrings in a cask." Above them were an equal number of women huddled together, doubled up in the same fas.h.i.+on, the s.p.a.ce being insufficient for them to sit or recline. On the highest deck were penned away a still larger number of children of various ages, ranging from six years old to twelve or thirteen, girls and boys, with even less s.p.a.ce allowed them, in proportion to their size, than their elders. The miserable wretches were evidently suffering fearfully from starvation and dysentery. Many were too weak to move, and several on the point of breathing their last. Five or six of the women had infants in their arms but a few weeks old. As one of the mothers was brought on deck, she exhibited her child with its head crushed in, which she intimated had been done, just after the boat had been discovered in pursuit, by one of the Arabs, because the child had been crying somewhat l.u.s.tily.

"Let's see the fellow who did it," exclaimed Desmond, "and we'll pay him off for his barbarity."

The woman understood him, and looked about among the crew till her eye fell on the wounded Arab, who still lay writhing on the deck.

"Is that he?" asked Desmond. "Well, he has got his due, and little pity any of us can feel for him."

The mids.h.i.+pmen, with their cargo of slaves and villainous prisoners, found themselves in a very trying position, requiring the full exercise of all their wits and energies. Probably, had Adair had time to consider, he would not have left them with so small a force on board; but his eagerness to overtake the other dhow prevented him from reflecting on the difficulties and dangers they would have to encounter.

Their first care was to try and ameliorate the condition of the slaves.

Search was made for such food and water as the dhow contained, and the Arabs were ordered to prepare a hearty meal for them--a task they set about with no very good grace. The only provisions they discovered were rice and millet seed, with scarcely drinkable water, and of these in most limited portions, on which the slaves would have had to subsist till the termination of their voyage. No wonder that many had died, and that nearly all looked more like living skeletons than human beings.

"If we'd had d.i.c.k Needham on board, he'd have told us how they managed with slavers captured on the West Coast," observed Archie.

"I'll tell you," said Jerry Bird; "I've seen many a one taken. The best way is to get up forty or fifty at a time on deck and set them dancing.