I had brought wine on board, but before a bottle was opened I said,
with a wink at the lieutenant:
"I fear this wine of the country will taste somewhat thin after
English rum, monsieur."
"We have a great quantity of it in the hold, monsieur," he said
laughing, "and with your leave I will order my men to broach a
cask."
He shouted his command to the men on deck. Instantly Joe, who was
behind him, threw his arm round the officer's neck, thrust a gag
into his mouth, and with the bosun's aid deftly tied his arms and
legs together. Then all three of us ran up the companion way. In
obedience to the lieutenant's command two of the men had gone
forward and were descending through the open hatchway into the
hold. While the deserters held the rest of the men in talk, the
bosun strolled carelessly after the two, and as soon as they had
disappeared, quietly clapped on the hatch and battened it down.
Meanwhile Joe and I joined the group at the bulwarks, without
awakening suspicion among the crew. At a signal from me the men
tripped them up, and in another two minutes they were lying gagged
and bound on the deck.
It was scarcely ten minutes since we came on board, and we had done
everything without the least noise to alarm the town. Then, leaving
the deserters to guard the ship, I returned in all haste with the
others to the maire.
"What shall we do with our prisoners, Joe?" I asked, as we hurried
along.
"Leave 'em locked up, sir, and lock the maire up with them in case
of accidents."
"But I think we will bring the captain and the sergeant," I said.
"You see, they have got our clothes."
"But these are better, sir," he replied, "and you make a rare fine
captain, smite my timbers if you don't."
"Still, we will bring them; a taste of prison may do the captain,
at any rate, a world of good."
And so, when we got to the mairie, I unlocked the door where the
prisoners were confined, told my comrades in a few words what had
happened, and bade them go forth into the street, when Joe and the
bosun had loosed their bands and hasten to the harbor.
The maire, learning that I had returned, had followed me in, and
hearing these words of English, and seeing Joe and the bosun
untying the cords, he cried to me to know what I was about. The
bosun instantly laid hands on him and began to truss him up. He
gave one shout of alarm, which Joe deftly checked with a gag made
of the bandage he had stripped from his head, and then he was laid
on the floor beside the Frenchmen. Then we seized the captain and
sergeant, and having locked the door again, marched them among us
at a brisk pace to the harbor and on to the brig.
"Now, man, we have no time to lose," I said, as we stepped aboard.
"'Tis nearly dark, and Doggy-Trang, as you call him, may return any
minute. Luckily the tide is fast ebbing.
"Cast off, Joe; Bosun, run up the sail. And we are only just in
time. Here they come."
And indeed we had escaped only by the skin of our teeth, for I saw
a number of French seamen coming down the streets and a horseman
behind them. No doubt it was Duguay-Trouin himself, and his coming
had caused his men to turn out of the cabarets. The brig was
already moving from the jetty; the practised hands of my comrades
were at work with the sails; and as the vessel slipped away quickly
on the ebbing tide, from sheer lightheartedness and pleasure at the
success of our trick they made the welkin ring with their cheers.
I was as hilarious as they. The Frenchmen were crowding on the
jetty, shouting, cursing, actually screaming to us to come back. I
mounted the bulwarks, and, clinging to the shrouds, took off my hat
(or rather the captain's) and waved it gaily towards Duguay-Trouin,
who, having dismounted, had pushed through his men, and was
evidently angrily demanding an explanation of the extraordinary
scene he had arrived in time to witness. The townsfolk and fishers
were flocking down now in great numbers; the shouting increased to
a veritable pandemonium, and as we scudded away farther and farther
into the growing darkness I heard the scurrying of feet on the
cobble stones and the creaking of blocks as the sails were run up
on the smacks in the harbor.
They were going to pursue us, then! I laughed aloud. With nine good
English tars aboard an English brig I thought I could snap my
fingers at Duguay-Trouin in a smack.
But there was one danger, which, after the flush of jubilation had
died down, I was quick to appreciate. Duguay-Trouin's privateer was
lying off the point a few miles northward, and if, in answer to a
signal, she were to join in the chase, I saw that our chances of
getting away were small enough. Even as the thought struck me, two
musket shots were fired from the harbor. These were doubtless a
signal, but they could scarcely convey any real information: the
capture of the brig at its moorings was too unlikely a thing to
have been provided against. But the shots would set the privateer
on the alert, and we must run no risks of encountering her. So,
instead of running straight out into the channel, we stood away up
the coast, keeping the brig close-hauled. She proved somewhat slow
in working to windward, but we were now almost totally enveloped in
darkness, and by hugging the shore were not so likely to be
descried from the privateer as if we ran out to sea.
Unluckily this gave the pursuers some advantage of us. Looking in
our wake, I by and by discerned three smacks in full chase, and
perceived that they were steadily overhauling us. The brig carried
a brass gun, and I thought it well to get her ready for use, though
I was determined not to fire save in extremity, since the flash
would apprise the privateer of our direction and bring her on our
track. But the distance between us and the leading smack grew less
and less, and knowing that we dare not allow them to close in upon
us (for doubtless their crews vastly outnumbered ours and would
overpower us if they got the chance to board), I at length, when
our enemy was within about half a cable's length of us, called to
the bosun to fire, aiming to hull her just below water line.
He set his match to the touch hole, and the round shot flew forth.
I could not tell whether the smack was hit or not, but 'twas clear
that she had suffered little or no damage, for she came on as fast
as ever. The bosun reloaded in all haste, and fired again when she
could not have been above fifty yards distant. This time I knew the
shot had struck her, but she still came on, and as she was now
below our line of fire I feared it would come to push of pike after
all. But a moment or two afterwards I rejoiced to see that she was
losing way: our shot had gone home. The other two smacks overtook
her, and then began a dropping fire of musketry from all three.
Clearly it was no longer expedient to hull them merely. Their speed
was so much superior to the brig's that even if we hit one or other
of them they might close in before their pace was much checked by
the inrush of water. Loath as I was to spill blood, I bade the
bosun now load the gun with grape, and my qualms were banished when
I heard cries of pain, and learned that Runnles and another had
been hit by musket shots. The smack that was leading was coming up
directly in our wake.
"Give it her, Bosun!" I cried.
"She shall have it," he answered, and immediately she was swept by
the grape shot from stem to stern, yells and execrations telling
that the bosun had not aimed in vain. She at once paid off before
the wind: 'twas clear the steersman had been hit; and before
another man could take his place and bring her head round the smack
behind crashed into her.
I had good hope that the chase was now ended, and we might go
rejoicing on our way to the white shores of England. But I was
reckoning without Duguay-Trouin. For a few moments we drew away
from our pursuers; but then I saw that the third smack had cleared
herself from the one she had run into and was again sailing swiftly
in our wake, having apparently suffered no injury. The bosun had
already re-charged the gun with grape, but when he fired, at a
range which forbade the possibility of missing, there were only one
or two cries instead of the chorus we had heard before.
"Burst me if they be not lying down in the bottom," said Joe,
standing at my side, "and the shot have passed clean over them."
"And 'tis no good firing again," I said. "We can't depress the gun
enough to hull her or hit the men, and the shot will only cut holes
in the rigging. Would we had tried round shot and brought down her
mast."
"'Tis all hands to repel boarders now," returned Joe, "and there'll
be a few broken heads afore we are done."
Runnles meanwhile had had the good sense and the ready wit to load
three muskets apiece from the ship's armory. We each of us took
one, having the other two in reserve at our feet. The smack came on
bravely, and I could now see that her deck was swarming with men.
She had deflected somewhat from her straight course, and was coming
up on our larboard quarter, whither we hastened to meet the attempt
to board us. In another minute the vessels touched, and a few shots
were fired from the smack, but without damage to us, for the impact
had set her rocking, so that 'twas impossible for the Frenchmen to
take good aim. Next moment they threw grapnels into our rigging,
and the vessels were locked together.
The whole of our company, save Dilly at the wheel, was spread along
the bulwarks, and at my word twelve muskets sped their slugs among
the men endeavoring to swarm up our side. There were cries and
groans enough now, and not merely from the enemy, for while the
foremost of them was attempting to board, others beyond fired at
us, and I knew from the bosun's bellow of rage that he for one had
been hit. We snatched up a second musket each, but before we could
turn to fire them, three of the Frenchmen had gained a footing on
our deck.
Making a rush for these, we shoved them by main force back over the
side, only just in time to meet another group who had scrambled up.
It was no longer possible to fire. We clubbed our muskets and dealt
about us lustily, cheers and yells and groans mingling in a babel
the like of which I had never heard before. I reckoned that there
were at least three Frenchmen to every one of us, and Duguay-Trouin
was with them; I heard his voice shouting encouragement. 'Twas
lucky that their deck was lower than ours, for if we had been level
I doubt not we had soon been overpowered by the weight of numbers.
But they, being below us, and crowded to boot, could not use their
superiority to advantage, and though they did what mortal men might
to get at us, we beat them back time after time.
Joe, beside me, was a host in himself. 'Twas clear fighting and not
coopering was the trade he was born to; he cut and thrust and
jabbed and smote with his musket, and more than once drove a
Frenchman backward by mere shoving with his mighty shoulders,
breathing hard, shouting loving farewells to the men he heaved into
the smack or the sea, some of them, I fear, never to fight again.
But in truth we all fought with might and main; we knew how much
depended on the issue.
And let no Englishman ever despise the French as an enemy, as 'tis
the fashion with some vainglorious folk to do. I have fought them,
and I know, and I say they are gallant fighters, and as brave as
men can be.
How long the light continued I could not tell; but all at once, as
it seemed to me, the enemy disappeared; there was no one in front
of me to hit.
"Fling off the grappling irons," I shouted, and in a trice we
disengaged them and cast them back whence they came. The two
vessels broke apart, and though ere we had left the smack behind, a
volley of bullets fell among us, hitting three of our men, and
giving me a burning wound in the leg, the fight was over. We hailed
our victory with a true English cheer, and I own I felt no little
pride in having worsted so renowned a captain as Duguay-Trouin.
But I was by no means sure that we were wholly out of peril. The
sound of firing must have been heard for miles around, and we could
not tell but that Duguay-Trouin's own vessel, and maybe others,
too, were making sail towards us. Dilly had now set the course of
the vessel due north, but the wind was against us, and we had still
many hours to sail before we gained the open Channel. A big red
moon was peering above the horizon, and (having stanched my wound
and done what was possible for my comrades who were hurt, none
seriously, thank God!) I looked anxiously for signs of vessels.
By and by, as the light increased with the whitening moon, I did
indeed behold a large vessel under full sail beating towards us,
and I made no doubt 'twas Duguay-Trouin's privateer. The bosun said
her course would bring her athwart ours, and I felt how barren our
late victory would prove if she came to grips with us. 'Twas clear
she was outsailing us, and the seasoned mariners among my comrades
foretold that in a couple of hours we should be at her mercy.
We had spread all the canvas we could carry, and could only wait
and hope. I sat on a coil of rope, suffering much pain from my
wound, and trembling with anxiety as I watched the vessel drawing
nearer and nearer. A shifting of the wind helped us to mend our
pace a little; two hours, three hours, four hours passed, and still
the enemy had not come within range of us. And then, as day began
to dawn, I gave up hope, foreseeing a speedy end to the chase and
an enforced surrender.
But a cry from Runnles, who had gone aloft, raised my drooping
spirits.
"Four sail, sir, on the larboard bow," he shouted.
I sprang up (forgetting my wounded leg), and looked eagerly across
the sea. By and by I discovered four vessels of a large size
bearing down upon us from the west. Whether friend or foe I could
not tell until I saw the privateer change her course and at last
head directly back towards the shore. Then a great shout of
thankfulness broke from the throats of us tired men. We could no
longer doubt that these were English ships, and we were alive with
excitement when we saw two of them part from the others and go in
chase of the privateer. Would they catch her? We forgot our fatigue
and wounds, so fascinated were we in watching the pursuit, and the
other two vessels were within hailing distance of us almost before
we were aware. English colors were now flying at our masthead, and
a voice through a speaking trumpet called to know who we were.
"The brig Polly of Southampton," roared the bosun in reply, "run
a-truant from Doggy-Trang. And who be you?
"Ads bobs, sir," he added in a breath to me, "there be a white flag
at her fore topmast."
"What's that mean?" I asked.
But I had my answer from the other vessel.
"The frigate Gloucester, with Admiral Benbow aboard."
And then Joe Punchard danced a pirouette ('twas a comical sight, he
being so bandy), and shouted:
"'Tis my captain, my captain, dash my bowlines and binnacle."
And he caught the arm of one of the deserters, and danced him round
the deck till he was dizzy.