Across the Spanish Main Part 18

Irwin and Bevan looked somewhat taken aback at this brusque harangue, but Roger, stepping forward, said:

"I do not know you, sir, but my name is Roger Trevose, and I am an officer on board the flag-s.h.i.+p. This is fresh turtle meat, for the most part, and I am sure your captain would not grudge the few extra moments spent in taking that aboard."

"I beg your pardon, Mr Trevose," replied the officer; "I did not recognise you. My name is Reynolds--Ralph Reynolds, and, as you say, seeing that your cargo consists of fresh meat, I think we can spare time to take it aboard, pressed though we are for time."

In a brace of shakes the meat was transferred to the boat. Roger, following the two seamen, stepped into the boat, and she instantly shoved off. Roger sat next to Ralph Reynolds in the stern-sheets, and, as they made their way at top speed towards the s.h.i.+p, Reynolds said to Roger:

"Young man, let me tell you that you and your two seamen have had a very narrow escape from imprisonment on that island for the remainder of your lives! We were running up before a fine breeze, this morning, for that wretched sand-bank of yours, intending to take you off, when we saw a craft steal out from under the lee of the island. One of the men aboard at once recognised her as the _Black Pearl_--the s.h.i.+p of that arch-scoundrel Jose Leirya. We signalled the commodore to that effect, and he replied, ordering all the s.h.i.+ps to make sail and chase; for, you see, there is no doubt he very naturally supposed that the pirate had carried you off with him. Of course, sooner or later we should have brought the rogue to action; but that would not have helped you, as by all accounts he is the sort of man who goes down fighting his s.h.i.+p to the very last, rather than surrender, and that, I fully expect, is what will happen. Then the captain, I take it, thinking, of course, that you had gone down with the s.h.i.+p, would have dismissed you from his mind; and in yonder bit of an island you would have remained for the rest of your lives, or until taken off by some pa.s.sing s.h.i.+p. The latter contingency, however, is a very unlikely one, so far as English s.h.i.+ps are concerned, since the island is unknown to the English. And I have a notion that you would find it much more comfortable to die there, than be taken off by a Spanish vessel and delivered into the clutches of the Dons. The fact is, that all hands were too busily engaged in watching the chase to take much notice of your island. But here we are alongside. Now, men, up you come on deck smartly, and get that boat hoisted in. Hook on the falls there, and up with her!"

Reynolds sprang up the side ladder and, reaching the deck, closely followed by Roger, saluted the captain, who was waiting for him at the gangway, and reported himself.

"Very well," said the captain, "get that boat lifted out the water. She must be hauled up and secured after we have swung the yards and are once more on the move. Up helm, Mr Widdicombe, and get way on her!"

Then he turned to Roger and welcomed him on board the s.h.i.+p; commiserating with him on his discomforts while on the sand-bank, and congratulating him upon his as yet unexplained and inexplicable escape from the pirates. He then recommended Roger to the care of one of his officers, and, directing Jake and Bevan to take up their quarters and duties with the other seamen until such time as they could be transferred to their own craft, turned away to give orders and attend to the sailing of his s.h.i.+p.

Even as the cutter had dashed alongside, the vessel, as though impatient to resume the chase, had paid off and had begun to move through the water, her bows having been turned in the direction of the other s.h.i.+ps, and the craft herself merely thrown into the wind for a moment to lessen her way while the boat came up to her and the falls were hooked on.

Then the helm was put up and the s.h.i.+p was away on her old course once more, cracking on and showing every st.i.tch of canvas to the freshening breeze, in full and eager pursuit of her consorts and the pirate, the latter now being hull-down on the southern horizon with nothing below her topsail-yard showing. The flag-s.h.i.+p was the leading s.h.i.+p of the three pursuing vessels; and she was distant some nine miles from the _Elizabeth. El Capitan_--or the _Tiger_ as she was now named--was two miles astern of the flag-s.h.i.+p, and some seven miles ahead of the _Elizabeth_; the latter vessel therefore had some considerable distance to cover before she could overtake her consorts. Night was now beginning to fall, and the masts of the _Black Pearl_ gradually disappeared from the sight of those aboard the _Elizabeth_; but the flag-s.h.i.+p, being so far in advance, still had the pirate well in view; and now she lighted her three p.o.o.p-lanterns as a guide to the _Tiger_, which in turn lighted hers to pilot the way for the _Elizabeth_. The darkness soon falls in those regions, and in a very few minutes, as it seemed, night enveloped them like a pall. There was no moon, and, the night being cloudy, no stars were visible; the blackness, consequently, was intense.

All that could be seen was the triangle of lights in the flag-s.h.i.+p, very dim in the distance, and those on the _Tiger_, s.h.i.+ning somewhat more brightly because nearer at hand. The captain of the _Elizabeth_ commanded that no lanterns should be lighted on board his s.h.i.+p, and indeed that no lights of any kind should be shown on board at all.

"For," said he, "we sail somewhat faster than the _Tiger_ and the _Good Adventure_, and can see their lights, so that we can tell where they are. But it is in my mind to have a little sport with good Mr Cavendish, by letting him find us alongside him at daybreak. We will, therefore, carry on as hard as our spars and gear will suffer us, all through the night; and, not to give the others an inkling of our purpose, will edge away to the westward sufficiently to enable us to pa.s.s the _Tiger_ about a mile to starboard of her, and the same with the flag-s.h.i.+p."

At this time it was about two bells in the first dog-watch, and they could therefore reckon on some ten hours of complete darkness-- sufficient, as the captain believed and hoped, to allow them to overtake the other two s.h.i.+ps of the squadron. They continued to crack on; and, as the skipper had enjoined the maintenance of strict silence, the s.h.i.+p seemed to those on board to resemble some dim phantom vessel, leaping ghost-like from wave to wave before the strengthening wind. No sound whatever was to be heard on board save the "swish" of the water alongside, the low roar of the bow-wave as she plunged through it and turned it aside from her bows, the weird crying of the wind through her maze of rigging aloft, and the occasional "cheep" of parral or block-sheave to the 'scend of the s.h.i.+p.

At about ten o'clock, much to the captain's satisfaction, the lights at the stern of the _Tiger_ could be much more distinctly seen; and he judged that she could at that time be only some four miles distant, showing that in the past three hours they had gained some three miles on her, which was good sailing. They were also, at this time, a good mile to the westward of the starboard quarter of the _Tiger_, and, if anything, edging a trifle more to starboard of her as they went along.

The reason for this was that the captain did not wish to pa.s.s the _Tiger_ at a less distance than a mile; because, although it certainly was a very dark night, on even the blackest of nights, if the weather be clear, there is always a certain "loom" or faint image of a s.h.i.+p thrown against the sky; and this loom would be visible to sharp eyes unless the _Elizabeth_ kept some distance away from her consort.

Little by little they crept up, overtaking the _Tiger_; and bit by bit her triangle of lights at the stern was becoming merged into one; then the one light became gradually eclipsed, until at length they could not see it at all, and by one o'clock in the morning they knew that they must be running parallel with the _Tiger_ and at a distance of about a mile and a half on her starboard beam.

It was possible now to make out the light of her battle-lanterns in her interior, s.h.i.+ning through her open port-holes, through which the gun muzzles also showed, all in readiness for the attack as soon as the pirate was brought to bay. As they opened her up, and came abreast of her, they could see that she was lit up fore-and-aft, and it became perfectly clear that not only was she cleared for action, but that her captain had given orders to his men to sleep at their quarters, and thus be ready for the fight at a moment's notice.

Having overtaken the _Tiger_, the _Elizabeth_ began to draw ahead perceptibly, and the brilliantly lighted interior of her consort was soon eclipsed, while the bright triangle of lights at the stern of the _Good Adventure_ now showed up clearly about two and a half miles distant, broad on the port bow.

Captain Pryce was in great glee, for, if all went well, his little jest would be a brilliant success, and by daybreak his would be the foremost vessel of the squadron, and therefore the first to come up with the _Black Pearl_.

But where was the pirate? It seemed certain that the flag-s.h.i.+p must have her in view, since she was standing steadily along on her course; but not a sign of the schooner could be made out by the people on board the _Elizabeth_.

"Surely," said the captain, who, in his keenness, was spending the night on deck, "we ought by this time to be able to see something of that craft, a binnacle light, or a glimmer of some sort, to show us where she is! We are nearly abreast of the flag-s.h.i.+p, and I cannot see a trace of the _Black Pearl_; yet Mr Cavendish seems to be standing on with perfect confidence, which he would hardly do were she not within his view. Still, it may be that he has lost her, and is merely trusting that she will hold her course, and has the hope of sighting her at daybreak."

He had barely finished speaking, when Roger, who had been gazing long and earnestly into the dusky blackness to the south-west, came up beside him and said in a low tone of voice:

"Sir, I have been looking for some time over in that direction, and within the last few minutes it has come to me that there is a black something over there--can you not see it, sir?--that is growing very rapidly bigger!"

"You are very right, Mr Trevose," replied the captain; "you have done well to tell me. There is, indeed, something away there; I can make out the loom of a vessel's sails quite plainly. Now, who or what may she be? Ah! I have it. The flag-s.h.i.+p is sailing at haphazard after all.

The pirate has doubled and, putting out all lights, has trusted to his luck to run past the squadron in the darkness. What good fortune for us that he doubled to starboard, and that I took it into this noddle of mine to have a jest against the commodore to-night! Had he turned the other way he would certainly have escaped, as there is no s.h.i.+p over there to see him, while here are we, with all lights out, and he will run right into our arms in a few moments. Let her go off a couple of points, Mr Reynolds."

Orders were now given by pa.s.sing the word instead of by drum or whistle, and in a few minutes the men were all standing silently at quarters, with battle-lanterns lighted but carefully masked, and everything ready to pour in a deadly broadside as the pirate came abreast of their s.h.i.+p.

As she approached, the p.o.o.p-lanterns on the stern of the _Elizabeth_ were lighted to serve as a guide to the _Tiger's_ people, who, for their part, were vastly astonished at their sudden appearance, and a light was also displayed in the port mizzen rigging, to enable the flag-s.h.i.+p to distinguish friend from foe.

Of course all disguise and concealment was now at an end; the pirate had seen them, but--too late! She was now less than a cable's length distant from the _Elizabeth_, and as she was bearing up, and before even her men could leap to their quarters, the _Elizabeth_ had luffed and delivered her starboard broadside with murderous effect. Down came the mainmast, severed just above the deck, bringing the fore-topgallant-mast with it; down on her crowded decks crashed the wreckage, adding its own quota of killed and wounded to that effected by the guns of the English vessel.

The flag-s.h.i.+p had already borne up, and now came foaming down to the scene of the combat, with the _Tiger_ lumbering along astern.

The pitchy blackness of the night was illuminated redly and vividly by the flashes of the guns. The _Black Pearl_, finding escape impossible, had determined to fight to the bitter end. Her guns were run out, and they at once opened a galling and well-directed fire upon the _Elizabeth_, which replied in kind, and the night air resounded with the report of cannon and small-arms, and was rent with cries, groans, and screams from the wounded, and shouts and oaths from all.

The flag-s.h.i.+p now arrived on the scene, and, taking a wide sweep and luffing up with main-topsail aback under the stern of the _Black Pearl_, poured in a raking broadside that traversed the whole length of the pirate's decks, leaving them a very shambles of dead and wounded.

The artillery tight did not last very long. Anxious to capture Jose Leirya alive, Cavendish--perhaps not too well advisedly--laid his s.h.i.+p alongside the schooner, and poured his men on to the pirate's decks.

Seeing this, the captain of the _Elizabeth_, not to be behindhand, did the same. Ordering his men away from the guns, and forming them up, he led them in person over the side on to the decks of the _Pearl_, which was by this time a scene of dreadful carnage. Blood was everywhere; her planking was so slimy with it that men slipped and fell in it. It ran in little rivulets from the scuppers.

Roger, who followed close upon the heels of the captain, thought involuntarily of William Evans's description of how Jose Leirya had captured this very vessel, cutting her out from under San Juan fort in Puerto Rico; and his tale of how freely the blood flowed on these same decks then.

But he had no time for mere thought; his attention was wholly taken up with the fighting, and the problem of how to avoid being impaled or cut down by some furious pirate.

The villains knew that they were fighting with halters round their necks, and laid about them like very demons from the pit. Cut and thrust, cut and thrust, they came at the Englishmen, and, headed by Jose himself, for several moments swept the invaders before them.

Roger was, as ever, well in the front rank of the combatants, and was carrying himself right manfully, when he saw one of his countrymen slip and fall in a pool of blood, losing his sword as he fell. A burly black-bearded ruffian, whom he had been engaging, instantly set his foot on the prostrate body, and shortened his hanger to thrust him through; but Roger, who was engaged with another pirate, nimbly evaded the blow aimed at him, and, with one spring, like a young leopard, was on the would-be slayer, and, taking him before he could turn, pa.s.sed his sword through the pirate's body with such force that it penetrated to the hilt, while both rescuer and corpse went rolling to the deck together.

Roger disenc.u.mbered himself from the dead body, and, setting his foot upon it, pulled violently at his sword to get it free again.

Then another hand was laid over his on the hilt of the weapon, and a well-known voice said in his ear: "Pull, Roger, lad, pull, and out she'll come." And out she did come; and Roger faced round right into the arms of his friend Harry.

"What, Harry," said he joyfully, "you here! So you were the man whom I was lucky enough to rescue from that black-bearded rascal just now. How on earth did you get here?"

"Yes, lad," replied Harry; "you have saved my life again, and I am once more in your debt. And as for how I got here, why, how otherwise than over the bulwarks from my s.h.i.+p? I might rather ask how you came here.

But we must leave our experiences until a more convenient season, or we shall not live to see the end of this good fight."

The pirates were fighting now with the fury of desperation, and, encouraged by the bull voice of Jose Leirya--who seemed to bear a charmed life,--they prepared to form up into line and attempt with one furious charge to sweep the English from the decks of their beloved schooner.

The Englishmen, however, who were more or less separated and scattered about the decks, each engaging his own antagonist, saw the move, and themselves retreated to their own main body in order to strengthen it for the threatened rally of the pirates.

At this moment Harry and Roger found themselves isolated from their own countrymen, and in great danger, as the whole surviving pirate crew was between them and their friends.

Luckily for them, however, only four of the enemy turned their attention to the two friends, the others being too busy preparing to attack the English main body to think about them. Yet, even as it was, the odds were quite unequal enough--four stalwart men in the very prime of life, and hardened by years of toil and activity on the seas, against two youngsters who were but little more than boys!

Harry and Roger knew, of course, that they were fighting for their lives, and as both had their long swords as against the shorter weapon of the pirates, they contrived to keep them at a safe distance for some time.

Meanwhile the pirates had ma.s.sed together, and the whole body of them, even to such of the wounded as could stand, and excepting only the four men who were attacking the two chums, had charged the Englishmen with irresistible fury, driving them along the deck as chaff is swept before the wind. After the first rush, however, the Englishmen rallied again, and were now slowly but surely driving the pirates back along their own deck, and recovering their lost ground. The carnage was fearful; the dead and dying were everywhere; the decks were heaped with them; both sides had lost an enormous proportion of men, and it seemed as though the fight could only end in both parties being exterminated.

Roger and Harry were still fighting doggedly for their lives; but their countrymen were now very widely separated from them, and their strength was fast-failing them in face of the furious and persistent attack of their four a.s.sailants.

They were driven back, and still back, until they were forced against the port bulwarks, and could retreat no farther. Blow after blow was aimed at them by their foes, and the best that they could do was to ward off the blows, without daring to a.s.sume the offensive.

They were at their very last gasp, and had mentally resigned themselves to death, when there came a tremendous shock, throwing the two lads off their feet only just in time to avoid the final thrusts from the two pirates, to which fortuitous circ.u.mstance they owed their lives. As they lay on the deck, struggling to regain their footing, they were trampled on and knocked over again by a swarm of men who were rus.h.i.+ng in over the port bulwarks. It was the _Tiger's_ crew, who had boarded in the very nick of time. With this reinforcement the English very quickly turned the tables; and, all ma.s.sing in one body, swept the deck, compelling the few surviving pirates--among whom was the redoubtable Jose Leirya himself--to surrender at discretion.

The fierce conflict was at last over, and the pirate, long a terror in the Caribbean Sea, was a captive, while his dreaded but beautiful schooner, the _Black Pearl_, was a prize in the hands of the English.