Across the Spanish Main Part 12

"Now, men," said Cavendish, who had a habit of taking his crew into his confidence, "before we go any further, let me tell you that I believe this inlet to be a pirate's resort, which they visit periodically for the purpose of effecting repairs. If so, we must capture them if we can. We must, therefore, be careful to leave no traces of our own visit here or they may become alarmed and desert the place. Therefore all this gear must be replaced exactly as we found it, before we sail, and this box must not be broken open, but the lock must be picked instead.

And if we replace everything exactly as we found it, the pirates--if such they be--will not suspect that anyone else has been here; they will still continue to use the inlet, and some day they will walk right into the little trap that I intend to set for them. Now, lads, up with that chest, and be careful with it. Pa.s.s the word for the carpenter and armourer to come here and bring their tools."

These two men were soon on the spot, and between them they had the chest open in a few minutes. An eager examination of its contents showed that there was nothing of any intrinsic value contained therein; but there were doc.u.ments and papers written in Spanish which abundantly verified the captain's conjecture. For from these Cavendish, who could read and understand Spanish perfectly, learned that the bay where they were now lying was indeed the resort of a pirate crew; while the name of the chief miscreant, as ascertained from the papers, was Jose Leirya. The doc.u.ments gave, among other particulars, a detailed account of the scoundrel's doings ever since he had started his nefarious trade on the Spanish Main; and the mere recital of his atrocities proved enough to make every man of them there present swear a great oath to hunt the villain down wherever he might be, and hang him, with all his rascally crew, from the yard-arms of his own s.h.i.+p.

Nothing else of any importance having been found, the chest was carefully locked up again, after the papers had been put back, everything replaced in its former position and buried in the sand once more, the utmost care being taken to destroy all evidence of the things having been disturbed.

After this little episode the work on the s.h.i.+ps went steadily forward.

The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were soon finished, and the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_ took their places.

These last-named vessels received the same attention as their consorts, and were in a fortnight p.r.o.nounced quite sound and once more ready for sea. They were hauled off the beach, and Cavendish had the great satisfaction of seeing his little squadron of four s.h.i.+ps once more all ataunto and ready to sail.

The next morning Cavendish called a meeting of his officers in his cabin, and their long and earnest consultation resulted in the decision that they should cruise, as originally intended, up the Mexican coast and in the Caribbean, with an addendum to the effect that special efforts should be made to capture the pirate Jose Leirya, whose atrocious deeds, as recorded by his own hand, had made every man in the fleet his enemy, determined to hunt him ruthlessly to his death.

This having been arranged, preparations were forthwith made for leaving.

The Spaniards were brought on deck in squads, and armed with weapons sufficient to enable them to obtain food, or successfully defend themselves against the attacks of savages. They were then sent ash.o.r.e in boat-loads, the s.h.i.+ps all having their broadsides trained on the beach where they landed, to prevent treachery on their part.

In the last boat-load went Alvarez and de Soto, both of whom Roger had seen on the _Gloria del Mundo_ at the time of the engagement with the Spanish fleet.

De Soto gracefully thanked his captors for their courtesy and kindness as he went over the side, but Alvarez scowled heavily round him, and looked attentively at every face near him before he went, as though he meant to fix their features on his memory, that he might recognise them again in the event of a future meeting. Then, with a glare of hatred at the retreating form of de Soto, he turned his back without a word and went also.

This completed the landing of the prisoners, and very glad the Englishmen were to be rid of the responsibility and risk.

"That fellow Alvarez will know us again when next we meet," said Cavendish with a laugh, to Roger, who was standing by his side watching the Spaniards on the beach.

"Yes," replied Roger, "and he means mischief, I am sure. I should be very sorry for any one of us who might be unfortunate enough to get into his power."

"He seems to hate de Soto also pretty thoroughly," said Harry. "Did you see the look he gave him as he went over the side?"

"Ay," answered Roger, who went on to tell of Alvarez's little soliloquy relative to de Soto while searching for the papers in the cabin of the sinking _Gloria del Mundo_. "He will do de Soto a bad turn, of that I am sure, if he ever gets the opportunity," remarked Roger in conclusion.

All was now ready for their departure. The Spaniards had formed up on the beach and marched off in order into the bush, and were by this time nowhere to be seen.

Sail was hoisted and, the flag-s.h.i.+p leading, the little squadron pa.s.sed out between the heads one after another on their way to the coast of Mexico; and by evening the island was merely a long grey line on the eastern horizon, while all eyes were strained toward the golden west, each man eager for the first sight of a sail that might prove to be a richly-laden galleon, or even the pirate Jose Leirya. Later in the evening the moon rose in all her tropic glory, and the sea in her wake gleamed like one huge speckless sheet of silver.

Behind them, in the bush on the island, by the evening camp-fire, Alvarez, with certain other choice spirits of his own stamp, was plotting grim and deadly evil by the light of the same moon which lit the English adventurers on their way.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

ROGER GOES ASh.o.r.e TO RESCUE A MAROONED MAN, AND IS HIMSELF LEFT IN THE LURCH.

The days now slipped by uneventfully, and morning after morning broke without either land or s.h.i.+p making its appearance to break the monotony of a perfectly clear horizon.

Slipping down the Windward Channel, and sailing on a South-South-West course, they had left Morant Point, at the eastern end of Jamaica, on their starboard beam; and after keeping to their South-South-West course for the five succeeding days, they had turned the vessels' heads to the East-South-East, intending to sail as far in that direction as La Guayra, where they hoped to find a plate galleon in the harbour, and make an attempt to cut her out. Thence they planned to change their course once more, standing westward along the coast of Venezuela, crossing the Gulf of Darien, the Mosquito Gulf, and the Bay of Honduras, and so up through the Yucatan Channel, leaving the western end of the island of Cuba on their starboard hand, and into the Gulf of Mexico, where they intended to cruise for some time, feeling tolerably certain of picking up a treasure-s.h.i.+p there at any rate, even if they were not fortunate enough to snap one up whilst cruising on their way.

They could, of course, have reached the Gulf of Mexico much more quickly by sailing down the Windward Channel and along the southern coast of Cuba, and by the Yucatan Channel into the gulf; but they had heard of the treasure-s.h.i.+ps that made La Guayra their port of departure, and were anxious not to miss any of them. Also, they believed that, by taking the longer course, there would be more likelihood of their falling in with that most ferocious and b.l.o.o.d.y pirate, Jose Leirya, as he was called, or Jose de Leirya, as he loved to call himself--for he was said to claim descent from a grandee of Spain, although those who knew the man were well aware that his birth and parentage were obscure.

As has already been related, one of the seamen on board the flag-s.h.i.+p one night gave some account of the pirate's former doings, and the discovery that the buried gear found at the Careenage--as Cavendish had named the spot where the squadron refitted--was the property of the pirate was proof positive that the scoundrel was still prowling somewhere in those seas. Likewise, it will be remembered, every man in the fleet had sworn to do his utmost to bring the villain to justice.

The anxiety, therefore, to catch him was such that officers, even, not infrequently spent hours at the mast-heads in the hope of seeing his topgallantsails showing above the horizon. Old Cary--the man who claimed to possess some knowledge of Leirya--said that when he last sailed in these seas the pirate was cruising in a schooner of unusual length, and lying very low in the water, her hull painted black, with a broad scarlet riband, in which her open gun-ports looked like a number of gaping mouths, having been built very large to enable the broadside guns to be trained almost fore and aft. The craft's masts were, furthermore, said to be of great height, and might be recognised by their remarkable and excessive rake aft; indeed--so a.s.serted Cary--her spars were of such extraordinary length, and the vessel herself lay so very low in the water, that she had the appearance of being perilously overmasted and topheavy. This appearance, however, Cary explained, was altogether deceptive. The vessel sat low in the water indeed, but she was not the shallow craft that she looked; there was more of her below than above the surface, and she drew a great deal of water for a vessel of her tonnage. This great draught of water enabled her to carry a heavy load of ballast, tall masts, and a correspondingly heavy press of sail; thus she was an enormously fast vessel, and had up till now easily eluded capture, being able to run away from and out-weather many vessels more powerful than herself.

In justice to the pirate, however, it must be admitted that he had seldom been known to run away. His vessel was exceptionally heavily armed, and, if his antagonist happened to be not very much more powerful than himself, he invariably stayed and fought the action out, always succeeding in beating off his opponent, while in many cases he had captured her. The fate of the unfortunate crews that fell into his hands was--if his own records were to be credited--not to be dwelt upon; for he described himself as guilty of the most awful atrocities to men, women, and even children. The fights, of course, occurred only between himself and war-vessels; merchant-s.h.i.+ps never attempted such an impossible task as to fight the pirate, and very often seemed too completely paralysed with terror even to attempt the equally impossible task of running away!

Such was the vessel that everyone in Cavendish's squadron was so eagerly looking for, their eagerness being further stimulated by the fact that the captain had offered as a prize, to the first seaman who sighted her, the best weapon that should be taken out of her after her capture-- which, of course, all on board considered as absolutely certain, could they but once succeed in coming up with her; while to the first officer or gentleman who saw her he offered as reward the best suit of clothing to be found in her. Such, however, was the eagerness of all hands to come up with and destroy the vessel, and her rascally crew and leader, that the lookout would have been just as keenly kept if no reward whatever had been offered.

But there was a still further stimulus in the not unnatural hope that Jose Leirya would have on board some, at least, of that vast treasure of his, with the possession of which he was credited by every man who had ever heard of him; and visions of much prize-money to spend on their return to Plymouth were always before the eager eyes of the Englishmen.

Regulating the speed of the whole squadron by that of the slowest s.h.i.+p-- which happened to be the _Tiger_, the rechristened _El Capitan_--the fleet went slowly to the East-South-East on its appointed course.

In those days, as, of course, it is hardly necessary to remind the reader, charts were few, and those few were not to be relied upon as more than approximately accurate.

On the course that the commodore had marked out for his little squadron they would, according to their chart, fall in with no land until they made Oruba Island, after which Cavendish intended to steer a course between the island of Oruba and what is now known as the Paraguena Peninsula, leaving the other two islands of Curazao and Buen Ayre on his port hand, and then heading straight for La Guayra.

Several sailors, and one or two officers, among whom were Roger and Harry, were as usual perched upon the cross-trees, the yards, or at the mast-heads, on the lookout for the first sight of the infamous Jose Leirya's schooner, and with no idea whatever of sighting land. So everybody on deck was much astonished when, on a certain morning, the cry came down from the masthead of the _Stag Royal_ of "Land ho, bearing dead ahead!" At the same moment a string of flags fluttered up to the main truck of the _Tiger_, which was signalling that she also had caught sight of land of some description.

"What do you make of it, Roger?" shouted Cavendish, for it was Roger's sharp eyes that had caught the first glimpse of the unexpected land as he was aloft straining his eyes in a search for the raking masts of Jose Leirya's craft.

"Well, sir," responded the boy, "it is an island of some kind, a very small one, and lying low in the water. I can make out what I take to be a few trees, probably palms, and I think--nay, I am quite sure now--that I can see a thin column of smoke rising from about the centre of the island."

"In that case," said Cavendish, turning to Leigh, who was standing at his elbow trying to catch sight of the land from the level of the deck, "there is evidently a human being on that island who has seen the sails of our fleet, and wishes to attract our attention and be taken off. I suspect there has been a s.h.i.+pwreck there, and very likely there may be more than one man. Now, I should not at all object to find and take off a whole crew of s.h.i.+pwrecked seamen--provided that they were English,-- for what with our fight with the Spaniards, that brush with the savages, and sickness, we have had our crews thinned down very considerably. G.o.d grant that they be not Spaniards; for if they are, and are in distress there, I must take them off in common humanity--though, were we in like case, I doubt if they would do the same for us,--and then I shall have my vessels again lumbered up with a lot of useless fellows until I can land them somewhere. Moreover, that same landing will be very difficult now, for we shall not be likely to find down here another place which will serve our purpose so well as did the Careenage, all these islands and land hereabouts being already occupied by Spaniards, and we should be running our own heads into danger in attempting to get rid of them.

Mr Leigh, be good enough to work out our dead-reckoning up to this hour, and let us see exactly where we are on the chart, for there is no island or land of any description marked where we are at present sailing."

Leigh did as the captain had ordered him, and found that the s.h.i.+ps were at that moment in longitude 73 degrees west and lat.i.tude 15 degrees North; so that, going by the chart, there ought not to be any land in sight for several days at least.

"This particular part of the Caribbean Sea, sir, is not very greatly frequented by English s.h.i.+ps," said Leigh in explanation; "but the Spaniards, no doubt, know these waters well, and yonder island may perhaps be laid down on one of their charts."

"Very possibly," answered the skipper; "but we have no Spanish charts.

The next Spaniard we capture, however, we will search for her charts, which will certainly be of the utmost use to us."

During the foregoing conversation Roger had come down from aloft to report still further to the captain, and he had overheard the last remark, which immediately reminded him that he had brought certain charts away from the cabin of the _Gloria del Mundo_; in fact, Harry and he had found their cipher concealed in the folds of one of them. He had intended to give them to his captain, but subsequent stirring events had driven the idea out of his mind.

Having now recollected them, however, he explained the matter to Cavendish, and asked if he should bring the charts up on deck.

"By all means," replied the skipper; "let us have them at once, Trevose, my man."

Roger dived below, and soon reappeared with the charts under his arm.

They were immediately spread open on the deck and overhauled, and all were found to be of the utmost importance; some papers also being found among them giving the bearings and soundings of certain secret channels leading to ports on the South American coast. There were also found plans of towns and fortresses that would prove of inestimable value to them. These last were forthwith placed in safety for future reference, and a chart was presently discovered showing that particular portion of the ocean upon which they were now sailing; and, sure enough, there was a small island marked in the precise spot occupied by the one for which they were heading. There was, in ink, a description of the island-- written, of course, in Spanish,--setting forth that it had been named "Isla de Corsarios", and that it was, according to English measurements, two and a half miles long by one mile broad; also that it was uninhabited. The description, written as a marginal note, further stated that there was a spring of fresh water on the island, and that there were palm-trees thereon; that the islet was of sandy soil, and supported no vegetation beyond the few palms mentioned.

"This, then, explains the matter," said Cavendish. "Evidently it has been missed by our vessels, but the Dons have located it. I can clearly see that these charts will be indeed very useful to us."

By this time the island could be made out from the level of the deck, as also the smoke, which was undoubtedly rising from a signal-fire that had been lighted on the beach. The s.h.i.+ps were, however, not yet near enough to make out who the inhabitants were, nor how many of them there might be. Indeed, had it not been for the sight of the smoke, the captain would have imagined the island to be totally uninhabited, and would not have thought it worth while to stop thereat; and, but for the fact of the smoke being observed, this veracious yarn would most probably have had a very different ending.

All the officers of the s.h.i.+p, including Cavendish, Roger, and Harry, were now standing in the eyes of the vessel; some had mounted the bulwarks, and were supporting themselves thereon by holding on to the rigging, and one and all were shading their eyes with their hands against the powerful rays of an almost vertical sun, each anxious to catch the first sight of the man, or men, who had built that signal-fire on the beach.

In obedience to an order from Cavendish, old Martin, who was credited with having the sharpest eyes in the s.h.i.+p, went aloft to the foremast-head, on the lookout, with instructions to let those on deck know when he first caught sight of the inhabitants of the island.

In about a quarter of an hour they had very perceptibly neared the sh.o.r.e, which lay very low, and presented, at a closer view, more the appearance of a mud or sand-bank, with a few dwarfed trees and shrubs growing thereon, than an island in its accepted sense of the word; and shortly afterward Martin's voice came down from aloft in accents of excitement: "I see un, zir; there 'a be. 'Tes only one man, zir, so far as Ai can mek out, and 'a be a-waving of a red s.h.i.+rt, or zummat laike that, Ai think, zir."