We lay all next day in the forest, maintaining an irksome silence,
and continually on our guard against intrusion. Uncle Moses told me
that the wagons would not leave Dry Harbor on their return journey
until the heat of the day was past--a circumstance which favored
our design. The spot we had determined on for the ambush was five
miles from our lurking place, and we should have cover all the way
save where we must needs cross the road. When the time came for our
setting forth, I went myself to the edge of the woodland to spy out
and see if the coast was clear. Not a soul was in sight; we were at
the portion of the estate which was given over to pasture; if it
had been sugar land we must have inevitably met negro laborers.
I was about to return and acquaint the others that we might safely
start when I heard a trotting horse, and from my place of
concealment among the trees, I soon afterwards saw a horseman
appear from the direction of Spanish Town and ride by towards the
big house two miles or more away. He was beyond doubt one of
Vetch's gang: 'twas impossible to mistake the thick ungainly
figure, and the exceedingly nautical way he had of sitting his
horse. 'Twas lucky indeed that we had not already begun the
crossing, for he must have seen us, the road being straight: and
for that same reason I deemed it well to delay a little, lest he
should chance to look back. And so 'twas a good half hour later
when, nothing further having happened to give us pause, we ran in a
compact body for the edge of the forest, crossed the road and a
long stretch of grass land, and arrived at the clump I have before
mentioned, where we stood a little while to recover breath.
And then we were amazed to hear the sound of singing--amazed, for
it was not the uncouth singing of negroes (who in happy
circumstances delight to uplift their voices in psalms) nor yet the
boisterous untuneable roaring of rough seamen, like Vetch's
buccaneers, but a most melodious and pleasing sound, which put me
in mind (and Cludde also) of the madrigal singers of our good town
of Shrewsbury. And as it drew nearer there seemed to be a something
familiar in the tone, though being quite without ear for music, as
I have confessed, I could not tell whether it was a known tune or
not.
With one consent, we had waited, held, I suppose, by the same
feeling of wonderment and curiosity. The sound continually
approached; 'twas from the direction of Spanish Town; and from our
vantage ground we should soon see the singer as he passed along the
road. But before he came within sight, the words of the song came
distinctly to my ears, and though I knew not one tune from another,
I started with a thrill of delight.
"What's that for?" cries out Salem Dick.
"What for, my jumping beau?
Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!"
Yo ho, with the rum below.
Thus rang the voice, and there ambled into view Joe Punchard,
perched upon a mule, and on mules behind him two negroes, their
countenances shining, their teeth flashing, with a happy smile.
"Joe!" I cried, in defiance of all caution.
"Ahoy ho!" he cried in return, pulling up his mule. "Who be that
a-calling of Joe?"
I broke away from Cludde's detaining arm, and ran to my old friend.
"Ahoy ho!" he shouted jovially when he saw me; but when I put my
fingers to my lips he dismounted clumsily, and met me with the
whispered question, "What be in the wind, Master Bold?"
I could not have taken ten minutes to possess him with the
necessary facts, so rapidly did I tell the gist of my story.
"Bless my buttons!" he ejaculated, "I reckoned there was somewhat
amiss. When I heard talk of you being ill, I was most desperate
uneasy, knowing you was in the latitude o' Vetch. And I said so to
my captain, and begged him to let me fetch a course this way to
make sure as you weren't run aground or wrecked on a sunken reef.
My captain he laughs and says you'd steered clear so often that
he'd no fears of you not coming safe to port; but seeing I was set
on it, he give me leave, and to make things reg'lar, as he said, he
told me being in these parts to keep an eye lifting for the
buccaneers as are said to be somewheres on this coast. And sink my
timbers, it do seem as how I'm on a rare voyage of discovery!"
I told him quickly of the purpose I had in view, and he at once
volunteered to join our party. But this I could not allow. I had no
doubt that the horseman whom I had previously seen riding to the
house was carrying thither news of his approach, as my own arrival
had been heralded. He would be expected, and if he did not appear
Vetch would be suspicious, and might despatch men in search of him,
and the footprints of his mule would bring them upon our track. I
urged him to go forward with his guides to the house, where it was
possible, if they left him free, that he might prove a useful
auxiliary if our ruse succeeded. To this he readily agreed,
declaring he would anchor at Vetch's door, and would not slip his
cable until I came up on his quarter. And he clambered to the
saddle again, called to the negroes to come on astern, and set
forth again towards the house, and as I rejoined my party among the
trees I heard his jolly voice ringing out:
"I 'llow this crazy hull o' mine
At sea has had its share;
Marooned three times an' wounded nine,
An' blowed up in the air."
We had wasted some eight or ten minutes on this interview, and
'twas high time to speed on our journey if we were to reach the
place of ambush before the convoy. As we marched, I told Cludde the
purport of my talk with Joe, and he agreed that the course I had
insisted on was the right one, though he feared Punchard would have
a sorry time when he came within the clutches of the man who bore a
long-standing grudge against him. I confess that I had clean
forgotten the matter of the barrel rolling, and being now reminded
of it, felt greatly concerned at having sent poor Joe into the very
jaws of danger, but 'tis idle to repent, and I could only hope that
we should get to the house in time to prevent any irremediable
harm.
'Twas nigh five o'clock when we came to the copse fringing the road
(a rough cart track) from the coast.
Noah went out stealthily to inspect the road for traces of the
convoy, and told us that we were in time; the wagons had not yet
come up. We waited patiently, and I took advantage of the interval
to repeat the instructions I had previously given to the negroes.
About half an hour after our arrival we heard a creaking in the
distance, and soon the convoy came in sight--three six-horsed
wagons, with two negroes in each, and two overseers on horseback,
carrying long whips, and riding side by side in the rear. These two
Cludde and I marked for our own, leaving the negroes to deal with
the men of their color. We two separated from the rest of the
party, so that the attack might be made on the whole line at the
same moment.
When we came opposite to the two riders, I gave a shrill whistle,
and with Cludde at my side dashed from among the trees. So sudden
and unexpected was the assault that the overseers had no time to
defend themselves. Cludde and I hauled them from their saddles and
held them fast while two of the negroes brought from the wagons
ropes wherewith to bind them. The negro drivers let forth a yell
and dropped their reins when the rest of our party sprang out from
the copse. The convoy halted and Uncle Moses in a very little time
made the drivers understand that they must either do what we bade
them or be trussed up and left in the woods. With night approaching
this latter alternative had too many terrors to make it acceptable,
and the men professed themselves willing to render utter obedience,
the more readily in that Vetch and his gang of desperadoes were
well hated by all the hands upon the estate.
One of them, who Uncle Moses told me, was a bad character, we bound
and placed with the overseers in one of the wagons, which we then
drew into the copse out of sight from the road.
Cludde and I deliberated for a moment whether we should mount the
overseers' horses and ride on with the wagons. But we decided not
to tempt fate. Before we reached the big house we should have to
pass that of the principal overseer of the estate, and though the
sky was already dusking, and it would be dark before we arrived,
there were many chances that we might be seen by the buccaneers or
others as we came within the bounds, and being in our officers'
habiliments we should be marked and the alarm given. So we resolved
to get into the first wagon, and cover ourselves with the sacking
it contained as soon as we came to the borders of the plantations.
Uncle Moses seated himself beside the driver of the first wagon,
Noah on the second, and the rest of our party got into this wagon
and likewise hid under sacking.
The stables, as I had learned from Uncle Moses, lay beyond the big
house, so that our driving by would awaken no suspicion. In order
that we might gain the further advantage of darkness, Uncle Moses
drove slowly, and there was but a glimmer of twilight when we
reached the house of the overseer. He had heard the rumbling of our
wheels, and was standing at his gate as we came up. Seeing only the
wagons and no horsemen, he cried out to know where the rest were.
The negro beside Uncle Moses (who shrank back to escape
recognition) made ready answer that the third wagon had broken
down, and would come on presently with the overseers. The white man
rapped out an oath, declaring (with what truth I know not) that the
cursed wagon was always breaking down, and we drove past. Two of
the buccaneers were smoking at the gates of the big house when we
came up, and they hailed us in rough sailor fashion, but showed no
curiosity; the work of the estate was no concern of theirs.
Uncle Moses had told me that there would certainly be a number of
the buccaneers in the kitchen of the big house, where they took
their supper and often sat far into the night drinking and dicing.
As we drew near, indeed, I heard through the sack that covered me
('twas very sticky and fraught with the cloying smell of sugar)
loud sounds of merriment proceeding from the house. Instead of
driving past in the direction of the stables, the negro, obeying
his instructions, pulled up his horses when the wagons came
opposite the kitchen door.
I did not need Uncle Moses' call to know that the moment had
arrived. Flinging off the sack that smothered us, Cludde and I
sprang from the wagon, our companions doing likewise, and we burst
headlong into the kitchen.
The merry sounds that we had heard were explained, but in an
unforeseen way. In the middle of the room sat Joe Punchard, tied to
a chair. Around him were half a dozen of Vetch's villainous crew
engaged in the pleasant sport of baiting their prisoner. At the
moment of our entrance they were rubbing the dregs of molasses into
his red hair. I learned afterwards from him that he had been seized
on approaching the house, and, Vetch being absent at the time, had
been carried into the kitchen for a preliminary inquisition. They
knew, doubtless on the information of the horseman I had seen, that
he was a seaman from a king's ship, and charged him with having
come to spy on them, shrewdly hitting the mark, though they could
hardly have believed in their accusation, seeing that he had
approached quite openly with no companions but a brace of negroes.
He had suffered many indignities before we arrived, and he
confessed to me that, though he had endured many a buffeting in the
first years of his life at sea, he had never spent so distressful a
couple of hours as those when the buccaneers put him to the
question.
They were, I say, rubbing a filthy black semi-fluid into his hair
at the moment when Cludde and I, with our negroes behind, made a
sudden irruption into the kitchen. We had our muskets with us, and
seizing mine by the barrel, I brought the stock down on the head of
the fellow nearest me, and he dropped heavily to the floor.
Springing past him, I cut Joe's cords with my knife, and then
turned to assist my companions in the fight that was raging. The
five buccaneers were sturdy villains, and after the first shock of
surprise they were more than a match for Cludde and the negroes.
One had wrested the musket from Cludde's hand, and now had his arms
about his body, endeavoring to throw him. The rest had drawn their
hangers and were pressing hard upon the negroes, who made play with
their knives, but were not equal to their opponents.
The entrance of Joe and myself into the fray, however, turned the
tide of battle in our favor. Joe had caught up the chair to which
he had been bound, and wielded it like a flail, with every swing of
it breaking a head or snapping an arm. And my musket took a heavy
toll. The room rang with the din of battle--the shouts of the men,
the whoops of the negroes, the clashing of our weapons. For half a
minute it was perfect pandemonium; then finding the odds hopelessly
against them, the two buccaneers who were not by this time on the
floor dashed through the open door and fled, pursued by the
negroes, who had no doubt long scores to pay off against them.
In the midst of the uproar I had not lost sight for a moment of the
main purpose of my errand, and as soon as I saw that the issue of
the fight was decided I called Uncle Moses to my side and asked him
eagerly to lead me to his mistress' sitting room. We went along a
passage and up a flight of stairs to the floor above, coming then
to another corridor which was in darkness.
"Missy's room at de end," said the negro.
With beating heart I hurried along behind him, and we came to an
open door. I knocked upon it, and entered. The room was dark, but
the window was open, and the jalousies not having been closed it
was possible to see that no one was there.
"Missy gone to bed," said Moses; "de bedroom is just dar."
He pointed to a closed door in the wall. Loath as I was to disturb
Mistress Lucy, I was still more anxious that she should know of my
presence; so I went to the door and rapped briskly upon it. There
was no answer. I rapped again, more loudly, but still without
result. She was either fast asleep or--and the thought struck me
with a chill--she was no longer there.
"Where is Mr. Vetch's room ?" I asked, beset by a great anxiety.
"I show Massa," replied Uncle Moses.
He led me from the room, and along a passage that branched from the
other. There was a thread of light beneath a door at the end.
"Dat is Massa Vetch's room," said the negro.
I went to it and tried the handle. The door was locked. I thumped
upon it with my fist, and was answered with a curse.
"Settle your drunken quarrels yourselves," cried the
well-remembered voice. "What is it to me if you break each other's
skulls?"
Clearly he had heard the uproar and taken it to be a brawl among
the buccaneers. 'Twas like Vetch to shut himself aloof from the
disputes of his hirelings; he was ever careful of his skin.
Affecting a harsh and surly voice I cried that the quarrel was over
and asked him to open the door: I had news from Spanish Town.
Another oath saluted me; then I heard the sound of movements
within, and the door was thrown open.
Instantly I sprang in, the negro at my heels; he closed the door
behind me; and I stood once more face to face with Cyrus Vetch.
His sallow cheeks blanched when lie saw me. No doubt 'twas the
apparition he least expected. He whips out his sword and springs
back to have space to cut at me; but I parried the stroke with my
musket, and he skipped back and entrenched himself behind the
table. I own that I could have cheerfully slain him there and then
but for my anxiety concerning Mistress Lucy's whereabouts. There
was Vetch, glaring at me from behind the table, upon which, as I
now saw, there were books and money, and two lighted candles.
"You have no right here," said Vetch, and his voice was unsteady,
"breaking into my house--"
"Your house!" I replied. "And as for right, I have the right of
every honest man to catch a villain and present him to the
hangman."
"Mind your words, sir," cries the fellow, and I saw by his manner
that he was desperately anxious to gain time. "I warn you I am
steward of this estate by virtue of authority deputed to me by Sir
Richard Cludde, the guardian appointed by the Court of Chancery."
"Your stewardship and Sir Richard's guardianship ended yesterday,"
I said curtly.
"You mistake," says he, beginning to recover himself, "I tell you
again that this is an unwarrantable intrusion, and you stand there
at your peril."
"Stuff!" I cried impatiently. "'Tis you who are an intruder, a
trespasser; you are in this house against the will of the owner,
who is now of full age. But I won't bandy words with you about
that. You and I have other accounts to settle, Cyrus Vetch, and if
you do not yield at once, I swear I will show you no mercy."
I advanced towards the table, and Vetch lifted his sword as though
to defend himself. But his courage failed him, and indeed his was a
hopeless case if it came to a tussle, as he very well knew.
Incontinently he dropped his sword point, and with a shrug of the
shoulders, said:
"I will not fight a couple of bullies. I yield now, but let me tell
you, Humphrey Bold, the law will have something to say to this."
"It will indeed," I said grimly. "Hand over your sword."
He took it by the blade; I placed my musket against the table and
reached forward to take the hilt, but with a sudden swift movement
he swept the candles to the floor and the room was in total
darkness. I sprang forward, but before I could vault over the
obstructing table Vetch had dashed through a door behind him that
opened on to the veranda. I was after him in an instant, and he
escaped me by no more than an arm's length. He had leapt over the
rail of the veranda, and I halted for a moment, supposing that he
must at least twist his ankles after a fall of some fifteen feet.
But I was amazed to see him swarming down one of the pillars that
supported the veranda.
I followed him in desperate haste, but the fellow was always very
light and nimble, and the fear of death lent him a marvelous new
agility. My heavier frame was slower in descending; yet I could not
have been much more than fifteen seconds behind him; but he had
vanished. There were bushes and palms growing to within a few feet
of the house. I ran among them, but could not hear his footsteps,
nor had I any means of judging of the direction of his flight. Mad
with disappointment, I rushed blindly on, and in a moment collided
with a man, whom seizing, I knew by the howl he emitted, no less
than by the feel of his bare skin, that I had laid hands on a
negro.
"Which way did he run?" I cried, shaking the man in my hot
impatience.
"Oh, Massa, I dunno nuffin'," said the trembling wretch.
I hurled him aside and sped off again, very soon encountering other
negroes, who in spite of their dread of the dark, had been drawn
from their huts, I doubt not, by the noise of the altercation.
"Where is your mistress?" I asked one of them.
He could tell me nothing. I asked the same question of another man
whom I met within a few yards.
"I see Missy going to Massa Wilkins' house," he said. "Two men take
her."
Wilkins was, I knew, the name of the principal overseer. Uncle
Moses coming up with me, I bade him lead me at once to Mr. Wilkins'
house. We ran on as fast as our legs could carry us, the other
negroes shuffling along behind, uttering cries and yells which
angered me beyond endurance. We had come some distance in the wrong
direction, and I fumed in vain and bitter rage at the loss of time.
Coming into the road that led to the house I heard the sound of
galloping horses, and though I continued to run until I was
breathless and dripping with sweat I knew I was too late. The thud
of the hoofs grew fainter and fainter. Without doubt Vetch had
seized Mistress Lucy, and was hurrying her away; the villain had
baffled me; Lucy, snatched from me, was hopelessly beyond my reach.