Across the Spanish Main Part 9

Then out came the hangers, and the sailors charged the remaining a.s.sailants, who turned resolutely to meet them, while Harry and Roger, rising from the floor of the cave, dashed down on the rear, cutting and slas.h.i.+ng and thrusting with right good will, their strength renewed somewhat by a sight of their own countrymen.

Thus taken in front and rear, the blacks, seized with sudden panic, broke and fled, followed by another storm of shot from the sailors.

"Now," shouted Leigh, "make for the boats ere they return in overwhelming numbers!"

In response to this order the English all went off along the beach at the double, and soon reached the boats, which were not very far away.

They embarked forthwith, and were soon once more on board their respective s.h.i.+ps.

"Well, my boys," said Cavendish as the inseparables climbed the s.h.i.+p's side, "this morning's adventure was not enough for you, it would appear, so you must needs go and get yourselves into another mess. Now, mark my words, you will some day get into a sc.r.a.pe, and one or the other of you will fail to come out again alive!"

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THEY CAREEN THE s.h.i.+PS, ARE ATTACKED, AND DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE NOT THE FIRST TO VISIT THE INLET.

It was by this time fast approaching evening, and too late to start lightening the s.h.i.+ps that day, since in the tropics the transition from broad daylight to total darkness is extremely sudden, the light dying away after sunset like the drawing of a curtain. The men, therefore, immediately upon their arrival on board, were piped down to supper, and ordered by their several officers to turn in early, as the next day would be a long and arduous one for them.

There was no moon, and the figures of the various men on watch could be but dimly discerned in the starlight, while the stars themselves, reflected in the dark water, made the placid surface of the bay look as though studded with gems, presenting a most beautiful spectacle.

Roger and Harry, although they would have to work as hard as any of the others next morning, did not feel inclined to sleep, their minds being still in a state of unrest after their two hairbreadth escapes of the day. They therefore remained on deck, walking so softly up and down as to disturb n.o.body. They had taken but a few turns when their attention was attracted by the sound of low voices, being those of the men const.i.tuting the anchor watch. Roger and his friend strolled up to them, and, sitting down on the breech of a gun, prepared to listen to what was evidently a yarn that the old quarter-master, Cary, was spinning.

"Yes," they heard him say, "this arn't by no means the furst taime I was in thaise seas.--Good-even to ye, Mr Trevose and Mr Edgwyth!--No; I tall 'ee I was 'ere in the zummer of 1582, just after the taime that that there b.l.o.o.d.y pirate, Jose Leirya, was sailing of these vury seas.

'E was a fiend in 'uman shape, if there ever was one; n.o.body was zafe in anny of the s.h.i.+ps 'e tuk. All the men--pa.s.sengers or zeamen--that 'e captured 'e did bind and put under 'atches in their own s.h.i.+p, aifter 'e 'ad taken all out 'e wanted. Then 'e zet 'em adrift; but afore 'e zet 'em adrift 'e used to fire the s.h.i.+p in zeveral places, and all they poor creatures did roast. The childer 'e took aboard his own s.h.i.+p, keepin'

zum on 'em, and the others 'e zold to the plantations. 'E was a reg'ler devil, 'e was; and they do zay as 'ow 'e be about 'ere even now, although 'e baint been 'eard of for zum taime. And more; they zay that zumwheres near this vury plaace 'o 'as buried tons of goold and silver, precious stones, and all kinds of vallybles; but 'ow far that be true I doen't knaw. But I do knaw as 'ow I would laike to fall in with 'e with these 'ere s.h.i.+ps; we'd taich 'un a vaine lesson, wouldn't us, laads?"

"Harry, come here a moment," said Roger, jumping down from the gun at this point in the old man's narrative, and walking aft. Harry joined him.

"What do you want, old fellow?" said he.

"Well, lad," remarked his friend, "it has just come to me, somehow, as old Cary mentioned about the treasure of that scoundrel, Jose Leirya, being buried somewhere about here, that possibly that cipher of ours which we brought from the _Gloria del Mundo_ may refer to that very treasure. You see, Cary says that Leirya hasn't been heard of for some time. That seems to point either to his death or the disbandment of his crew.

"Now, Cary says he was here in 1582, in the summer, and mentions that that date was just after the time when Leirya was committing such atrocities on the high seas. There is what is presumably a date at the beginning of our doc.u.ment, and that date--if such it is--is 1581, the year before Cary came to these parts. People do not write in cipher save to conceal important information from the eyes of those not in the secret, do they? Very well.

"Now, what would any man wish to conceal by cipher save hidden treasure?

There are other things, certainly, he might wish to write about in such a way that the ordinary run of people should not understand the writing, but, to my mind, treasure is the most likely, and the dates coincide very well. Our date is 1581, and Cary says that when he was here in 1582 it was just after the pirate's depredations; and he has not, apparently, been heard of since. This, I say, points to his death or to the disbandment of his crew; and what more likely than that, before either of these occurrences, he should bury his acc.u.mulated booty and locate its position by cipher? I believe most strongly, Harry, that we have in our possession the key to the hiding-place of all the treasure of Jose Leirya--and he must have acc.u.mulated millions of dollars' worth in his time--if we can but come upon the translation of it. What do you think of it, Harry?"

"Well, Roger, lad," said Harry, "as you put it, certainly it does seem as though you might be right, and that there may be something in it. We must make another attempt to find the key to the cipher, and when that is found I certainly think we shall obtain something valuable for our trouble, even though it should not be this great treasure of Jose Leirya. But we had better go below now and try to get some sleep, for we shall have a hard day before us to-morrow."

They were roused early next morning by the boatswain's whistle, and, having dressed, came up on deck to find that the boats were just being got over the side again to take away the kedge anchors, by which to haul the s.h.i.+ps closer insh.o.r.e for careening purposes.

It was decided by Cavendish that, as the beach was very s.p.a.cious, and there were four s.h.i.+ps to be careened, they should careen two at a time, instead of one only, as usual. The vessels that most needed overhauling and repairing were the commander's own s.h.i.+p and the captured Spanish vessel, _El Capitan_, which had been rechristened the _Tiger_. So it was determined to careen the _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ first of all, leaving the other two vessels, the _Good Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_, afloat for purposes of defence, should an enemy appear in sight while the operations were being carried on.

The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were therefore swung broadside-on to the beach. The anchors were then taken ash.o.r.e in the boats and carried up the beach to above high-water mark, where they were buried in deep holes dug in the sand, with timbers laid lengthwise upon them to prevent them from being dragged out again when the strain was put on the cables.

The holes were then filled up and the sand heaped high above them, to get as much weight as possible upon the anchors, and to allow more purchase.

Then from the cables attached to the anchors themselves, at a distance of about twelve feet before they disappeared into the sand, a spring of stout manila rope was led, and fastened securely to a palm-tree at the edge of the brushwood in a direct line with the s.h.i.+p and the anchor, thus affording a doubly secure purchase when the time came to heave on the cable and haul the vessels up on the beach.

Roger and Harry had been sent ash.o.r.e by Cavendish to take part in this work, as he wished them to get an insight into every part of the duties of a sailor, and thus make themselves two useful members of the crew, for the captain could not afford to carry any man who was not thoroughly proficient, the capacity of his s.h.i.+ps being too small to afford accommodation to mere idlers.

The lads were, however, very quick to learn, and very anxious to master all the details of their profession, and therefore never complained, whatever the duty that was a.s.signed to them. They thus increased their knowledge and efficiency very quickly, and Cavendish had no grounds for regret that he had taken them on board his s.h.i.+p.

The anchor belonging to the flag-s.h.i.+p had been taken ash.o.r.e and securely buried, and the cable, with the rope attached, bent on to the anchor, and the _Stag Royal_ was ready for careening. The seamen then tramped off along the beach to where the anchor for the _Tiger_ had been brought ash.o.r.e and laid on the sand, and proceeded with their preparations for careening that craft also.

They had begun to dig the hole in the sand in which to deposit the anchor, when Roger's attention was attracted by a sound of rustling in the wood behind them. He looked round, and perceived that for a considerable distance along the beach the foliage appeared to be moving to and fro, as though stirred by a slight breeze. Yet, so far as he could tell, down there on the beach, there was no wind at all stirring, nor had there been a breath of air all the morning; the atmosphere, in fact, was so still, and withal so heavy, that a thunder-storm was antic.i.p.ated.

Another circ.u.mstance that he noted was that this peculiar movement in the bush extended only from just beyond where the seamen were now occupied to a point a trifle beyond where they had been at work a few minutes before, fixing the anchor of the flags.h.i.+p. Everywhere else the foliage was absolutely without movement of any kind, as it had been during the whole of the morning.

Much perplexed how to account for this singular phenomenon, he stood gazing at the moving foliage, and wondering what it could portend.

The movement seemed to be confined to the one place only, but as he gazed the motion suddenly ceased, and all was quiet as before.

He looked round to see if any of the other men had observed anything, but they were all much too intent on the work in hand to take notice of anything else; and his friend Harry was just as busy as the rest of the men. He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, thinking that his eyes might perhaps have deceived him, and set to work again with the other men.

The hole was soon dug and the anchor deposited therein, planks and baulks of timber being laid upon it as before. The sand was filled in and a mound raised above the work, and it only remained to further secure the anchor by putting a spring on to the cable, and fastening to a palm-tree as before.

As this last part of the work was being done, and the spring being lashed round the palm-tree, one of the seamen, named Martin, grasped Roger by the arm.

"Do you see that, Master Trevose?" said he, pointing.

"What do you mean, Martin?" answered Roger.

"Why, over there, sir," said the man, pointing in the same direction as that in which Roger had seen the peculiar movement of the foliage some little time before. "I be sure I saw something s.h.i.+ning among the trees just now. What d'ye think it can be? I only just caught a sight of it for a moment; but I be sure I beaint mistaken."

Roger looked in the direction indicated by the seaman, but could distinguish nothing.

"Are you sure, Martin?" asked he. "Because I fancied that I, too, saw a peculiar movement among the trees over in that direction a little time ago."

"Yes, I be sartin sure, master," replied Martin. "I only see'd it for a minute, 'tis true, but there warn't no mistake about it; and it seemed to me to be very like the glitter of steel."

Roger was much puzzled, and also somewhat perturbed; he therefore determined to inform the captain of what he and Martin had observed, immediately upon his return to the s.h.i.+p, but to say nothing to the men until the work on sh.o.r.e was finished, for fear of distracting their attention from the task in hand.

This was soon completed, and Roger, calling the men together, got them into the boats and they pulled back to the s.h.i.+ps, leaving the party of men from the _Tiger_ upon their own vessel, and taking his own crew on board the flag-s.h.i.+p.

He then sought out the captain, and found him seated in his cabin working out some observations. The lad duly reported that the work he had been sent to execute was completed satisfactorily.

"Very good, Roger; very good indeed!" replied the captain. "I will come on deck presently and see how the tide serves; and if it is suitable we will haul in at once. For I am anxious to get these repairs effected as soon as possible, and the sooner we start the sooner we shall be finished. By the way, Roger," he continued, "as you know, we are somewhere on the eastern coast of the Spanish island of Cuba; and while you were ash.o.r.e with the men just now I have been busy working out our exact position on the chart."

Cavendish here pointed to a chart which he had open on a table before him, together with a pair of compa.s.ses and a ruler.

"Here we are, you see," resumed the captain, pointing to a spot on the chart. "Here is the island of Cuba, and here"--pointing to a little indentation in the coast-line--"are we in lat.i.tude 20 north, and longitude 75 west.

"Now you had better remember that bearing, my boy, in case you should ever wish to return here when you get command of a s.h.i.+p of your own. We sailors would call this bearing '20 north, 75 west', leaving out the word degrees. You, Roger, if you will take my advice, my lad, and your friend Harry as well for that matter, will start in as soon as you can and thoroughly perfect yourselves in the science of navigation, for you never can tell, lad, when you may want it; and if you intend--as I suppose you do--to follow the sea as a business you will not be able to do anything without it.

"I will tell you all that you want to know about it if you will come to me from time to time when I am not busy; and I have here a book which you may study at your leisure. You will find it very interesting."

Roger thanked the commander both for himself and on Harry's account, and promised to take up the study as soon as they were again at sea, as he and his friend would be much too busy for anything of that kind while the vessels were in harbour undergoing repairs and overhaul. He was then on the point of informing the captain of what Martin and he had seen, when Cavendish interrupted him.