Having come to this conclusion, the next thing was to devise a plan of
some sort; but upon attempting to do this, I soon discovered that it was
wholly impossible, so much depending upon circumstances over which I had
no control whatever, that I might have formed a dozen plans with never a
chance to carry any one of them through. The only thing, therefore, was
to await an opportunity, and be prepared to seize it the moment that it
presented itself. Perhaps the most difficult part of my task was to
preserve all through this trying time such a demeanour as would
effectually conceal from Dominguez the fact that I was alert and on the
watch for something; but I managed it somehow, by leading him to believe
that, rather than suffer torture, I had determined to provoke Morillo
into killing me outright; a plan of which Dominguez highly approved,
while expressing his doubts as to the possibility of its achievement.
In suggesting--as I find I have in the above paragraph--that I had no
plan whatever, I have perhaps conveyed a wrong impression; what I
intended the reader to understand was that I had no _finished_ scheme,
complete in all its details, to depend upon. A plan of a sort I
certainly had, but it was of the vaguest and most nebulous kind,
consisting in nothing more specific than the mere determination to seize
the felucca at the first favourable opportunity, and sail her, single-
handed, to the nearest British port; but of _how_ this was to be
accomplished I had not the most remote idea. The only point upon which
I was at all clear was that it would be inadvisable, for two reasons, to
make my attempt too early: my first reason for arriving at this
conclusion being that, the longer I deferred action the nearer should we
be to Barbadoes, for which island I intended to make; while my second
reason was that, should Dominguez perchance suspect me of any sinister
design, the longer the delay on my part the less suspicious and watchful
would he be likely to become. Fortunately for my purpose, we were
making rather a long passage of it, the little hooker not being by any
means a particularly weatherly craft; consequently our first land-fall--
on our sixth day out--was the curious shoal and accompanying group of
rocky islets called Los Roques, or The Roccas, off La Guayra, close to
which we hove about and stood to the northward on the starboard tack.
This occurred during the early morning, about an hour after sunrise.
The trade wind was then blowing steadily but moderately, and the weather
was, as usual, fine and clear. Toward noon, however, it became
noticeable that the wind was very decidedly softening down; and when
Dominguez took his meridian observation of the sun, we were not going
more than four knots. It was the custom aboard the felucca to dine in
the middle of the day, as soon as Dominguez had worked out his
calculations, the skipper and I dining first, and then going on deck
while Miguel, the mate, took his meal. While Miguel was below Dominguez
usually took the tiller, but of late I had occasionally relieved him--
with a vague idea that possibly it might, at some opportune moment, be
an advantage for me to be at the helm. And, as it happened, I chanced
to be first on deck on this particular day, and, without any
premeditation, went aft and relieved Miguel; so that, when a few minutes
later Dominguez came on deck, he found me in possession of the tiller,
and staring intently at some floating object about a quarter of a mile
away, and slightly on our weather bow, that kept rising into view and
vanishing again as the long, lazy undulations of the swell swept past
it.
"What are you staring at so hard, Senor Courtenay? Do you see
anything?" demanded Dominguez, as he sauntered aft toward me from the
companion, cigar in mouth.
"Yes," answered I, replying to his last question first, "there is
something out there, but what it is I cannot for the life of me make
out. There--there it is! You can see it now lifting on the back of the
swell, about a point on the weather bow."
"Ay," he answered eagerly, "I see it, and, unless I am greatly mistaken,
I know what it is. Keep her away a little, senor, if you please; let
her go off a point. I do not want to pass too close to that object if
it be what I imagine."
"And pray what do you imagine it to be, senor, if one may be permitted
to ask the question?" inquired I, as I gave a pull upon the tiller rope
and kept the felucca away, as requested.
"A turtle! a sleeping turtle, and an unusually fine one, too!" answered
Dominguez, in a low voice, as he stood staring out away over the weather
bow, with one hand shading his eyes while the other held his smouldering
cigar.
As Dominguez spoke a little thrill of sudden excitement swept over me,
for I thought, "Just so; I know what he means. He intends to make an
effort to capture that turtle,--probably by means of the boat,--and, if
he does, my chance will have come!" But I steadied myself instantly,
and returned, in a perfectly nonchalant tone of voice--
"And supposing that it be, as you imagine, a sleeping turtle, what then,
senor?"
"Hush, senor, I pray you!" replied Dominguez, in a low, excited whisper.
"Keep silence; you will soon see!"
Presently the object lifted into view again, only some ten or a dozen
fathoms away; and as it went drifting quietly past, we got so distinct
and prolonged a view of it as to render its identity unquestionable. It
was, as Dominguez had imagined, a sleeping turtle of enormous size.
"Holy Virgin, what a magnificent fellow!" ejaculated Dominguez, as the
creature vanished in the trough on our weather quarter, "we _must_ have
him! Senor, if we lower the sail, so that the felucca cannot drift far,
will you have any objection to being left by yourself for a few minutes,
while Miguel and I and the boy go after that turtle with the boat?" he
demanded eagerly.
So my chance _had_ come, if I could but so demean myself for a _few_
minutes as not to arouse the suspicions of this man by any ill-timed
exhibition of eagerness or too earnest assent to his proposal. I took a
second or two to steady my nerves, and then asked--
"Cannot we _all_ go in the boat together? I have never yet seen a
turtle captured, and should greatly like to witness the operation."
"No, senor; I am sorry, but it is out of the question," answered
Dominguez hastily. "The boat is but small, and I am very doubtful
whether she will be capable of carrying three of us and that great
brute--if we are so fortunate as to catch him. I would send Miguel and
Luis only, but that I know they would not be able to secure him unaided.
We shall not be gone long, senor, and the felucca _cannot_ drift far in
this light breeze and with so little swell running."
"N-o, I suppose not," I answered, with just the slightest imaginable
show of reluctance. "All right, senor," I continued, "away with you, by
all means; I should be sorry to spoil your sport for you. Shall I lower
the sail?"
"Not just for a moment, senor," answered Dominguez; "we must creep far
enough away that the flapping of the canvas may not wake our friend
yonder, or we shall lose him." Then, poking his head through the open
skylight, he called softly, in Spanish--
"Miguel! Miguel! come on deck at once, friend; there is a large turtle
out here floating, fast asleep, and I want to catch him."
Miguel mumbled a reply of some sort,--what it was I could not tell,--and
Dominguez briskly withdrew his head from the skylight and sprang upon
the rail, looking away out on the weather quarter for the turtle. It
was still visible, at intervals, but fully a quarter of a mile astern
now.
"There, that will do; we are far enough away now, I think," he muttered,
stepping lightly off the felucca's low rail to the deck. "Here,
Miguel," as that worthy emerged from the companion, wiping his lips with
the back of his hand, "help me to lower the sail, quick! And you, Senor
Courtenay, will you do me the favour to haul taut the sheet as the sail
comes down, so that it may not flap about and make more noise than we
can help?"
"Certainly," I answered cheerfully, letting go the tiller rope and
seizing the fall of the sheet. "Lower away whenever you like."
The single lateen sail, stretched upon its long, heavy, tapering yard,
came sliding down the mast, rustling heavily, despite all that I could
do to prevent it; and presently it lay quiescent, stretched along the
deck, with the after yardarm projecting far over the taffrail. I sprang
up on the companion slide to see whether the turtle was still visible,
and was rejoiced to find that he _was_,--floating, an unconspicuous and
unrecognisable object by this time,--nearly half a mile away, apparently
quite undisturbed by the rustling sounds of the canvas.
"Is he still there, senor?" demanded Dominguez, in an eager half-
whisper.
I nodded, pointing silently to where I could see the creature appearing
at intervals on the ridges and backs of the swell.
"Good!" ejaculated Dominguez. "Now, where is Luis? Oh, here you are!"
as that individual poked his head up through the fore-scuttle to see
what was going on, his still working jaws betraying that he too had been
disturbed during the process of consuming the midday meal. "Just look
into the boat, Luis, my son, and see that the oars and baler are in her,
while Miguel and I unship the gangway. Can you still see him, Senor
Courtenay?"
"Yes," I replied, "he is still there, but a long way off now. I think I
had better keep my eye on him, and direct you by an occasional wave of
the hand, as you pull down, or you will have a job to find him."
"Thank you," answered Dominguez; "if it will not be troubling you too
much I shall be greatly obliged."
"Oh, no trouble at all," responded I. "I should stand here to watch the
fun in any case."
Dominguez and Miguel soon managed, between them, to unship the gangway,
which done, they lifted the boat--a mere dinghy--out of her chocks on
top of the main hatchway, slued her bows round toward the gangway, and
ran her over the side, fisherman fashion, the three of them immediately
jumping in and shoving off from the felucca's side; Dominguez, who
steered the boat, looking round at me from time to time for directions
as to the way in which he was to head the boat.
Released now from the scrutiny of the Spaniard's eyes, it was no longer
necessary for me to maintain that painful self-restraint which had cost
me so severe an effort in order that I might not by look or gesture
arouse the ghost of a suspicion as to my intentions; so, while I
continued to mechanically wave the boat to the right or the left, as
circumstances demanded, I now gave my mind to the task of determining
the details of my proposed line of action.
To begin with, I was fully resolved that Dominguez and his companions
having left the felucca, they should never again return to her, if I
could possibly prevent it. At the right moment I would make sail upon
the little craft and head her for Barbadoes, leaving them to get ashore
as best they could. And here my conscience pricked me a little, for I
had already had experience of a voyage in an open boat, and knew what it
meant. On the other hand, however, my life was at stake; for it had by
this time become perfectly apparent to me that unless I could raise the
sum of ten thousand pounds demanded by Dominguez--which was a simple
impossibility--that individual would most certainly deliver me over to
Morillo; in which case there was every reason to believe that I should
die a cruel and lingering death of torment--which I considered myself
quite justified in avoiding by every means in my power. Moreover, we
were not very far from the land. The Roccas were only some twenty-five
miles away, at the utmost, and could easily be reached by Dominguez
before midnight; and the weather was fine, and the water smooth. The
voyage of the dinghy was therefore not likely to be of a very
adventurous or dangerous character; so that, by taking possession of the
felucca and turning the Spaniard and his companions adrift, I should
only be inflicting upon them a very mild punishment for their unlawful
seizure of my person, especially when the cruel object of that seizure
came to be taken into consideration. I would not leave them, however,
wholly without provisions and water, if I could help it. My first
thought, therefore, was how I might be able to convey to them a small
supply of each without affording them an opportunity to regain
possession of the felucca; and after a few minutes' deliberation I
thought I could see a way by which this might be accomplished.
Meanwhile the dinghy went drifting rapidly away astern, propelled by
Miguel and Luis, who stood up at their oars, looking ahead, while
Dominguez stood up in the stern-sheets, looking over their shoulders and
occasionally glancing back at me for guidance. At length, however, he
caught sight for himself of the turtle, and thenceforward kept his
attention wholly fixed upon it. As soon as I became fully satisfied of
this I jumped down off the companion, for the moment for action on my
part had now arrived.
The first thing was to get sail upon the felucca again; and to masthead
the long, heavy lateen yard, with its big sail, was no easy task for one
man. There was, however, a little winch affixed to the fore part of the
mast, chiefly used for this very purpose; so, upon jumping down off the
companion, my first act was to assure myself that the mainsheet was
securely belayed, after which I rushed forward, and, setting hand-taut
the main halliard, threw two or three turns of the fall round the barrel
of the winch. I then ran aft again and sprang once more upon the
companion to see what was happening aboard the dinghy. She was by this
time drawing pretty close up to the sleeping turtle, and the whole
attention of the trio aboard her appeared to be absorbed in the effort
to get alongside the creature without waking him. Now, therefore, was
my time for action. I accordingly dashed forward to the mast, and,
shipping the crank handle of the winch, hove away upon the halliard for
dear life. The yard and sail crept slowly--oh, how _very_ slowly--up
the mast, the canvas rustling in the wind noisily enough to wake the
dead, still more to reach the ears and give the alarm to those in the
dinghy. But, having once begun, there was nothing now for it but to go
on with the work, and get the yard mastheaded and good way upon the
felucca before those in the dinghy could pull back and get alongside.
At length, after what seemed to be an interminable time,--although the
rapid _click, click_ of the pawls told me that in reality I was
accomplishing my task very smartly,--I managed to get the yard some two-
thirds of the way up the mast, when I took a turn with the halliards and
once more rushed aft to get a look at the boat. As I had expected, the
slatting of the canvas had reached and given them the alarm, and the
boat was now round and heading back after the felucca, Miguel and
Dominguez straining frantically at the oars, while Luis had taken the
place of the latter at the tiller. The little craft was being pushed
furiously along--as I could tell by the manner in which her nose dipped
and the white foam boiled round it at every stroke of the oars; but the
felucca was gathering way, and with the wind square abeam and her
imperfectly hoisted sail ramping full, seemed to be quite holding her
own. I seized the tiller and kept her away another point, carefully
watching both her progress and that of the boat, and ten minutes later I
experienced the satisfying, conviction that she was steadily leaving her
pursuers. Once fully assured of this, I lashed the tiller, and once
more running forward, completed the setting of the sail, when I let the
little hooker come up to "full and by."
The next matter demanding my attention was that of conveying a supply of
food and water to the luckless occupants of the dinghy without
permitting them to come alongside. There were several small breakers of
fresh water on deck, constituting the supply of the felucca, and one of
these would be ample for the occupants of the dinghy until they could
get ashore or were picked up--indeed, the boat had not capacity for more
than one. They were all carefully bunged with cork and canvas, so I
could safely launch one of them overboard for the dinghy to pick up. I
therefore proceeded to unlash one and roll it toward the still open
gangway; and then came the question of provisions. There was a large
wash-deck tub on the forecastle which I knew to be water-tight, and it
struck me that this might be utilised to float the dry provisions until
the dinghy could pick them up; so--first making sure of the position of
the boat--I dived below and routed out of Dominguez' bunk a large canvas
ditty-bag that I had often seen there, and, emptying out the clothing
which it contained, proceeded to fill it with bread and such other
provisions as I could most readily lay hands on. This, when full, I
tied securely at the neck and took on deck, placing it in the wash-deck
tub after I had dragged the latter conveniently close to the gangway.
Then, going below again, I brought up three plates, some knives and
forks, three tin pannikins, and a few other oddments that I knew would
be useful, and placed them in the wash-deck tub with the provisions.
Then, when I thought that all was ready, the boat's mast and sail caught
my eye as it lay upon the hatchway,--having been flung there by Luis
when he cleared out the boat,--and this I determined they should also
have, as, while quite resolved to abandon them, I was most anxious that
they should be afforded every opportunity to reach the shore alive and
well. Then, everything being ready, I once more ran aft to see
whereabout the boat now was.
She was a long way astern--quite two miles--and, as I looked, it
appeared as though Dominguez had already given up the pursuit, for the
boat did not seem to be moving. Her occupants were, however, all on
their feet, staring hard in my direction and waving their arms
frantically. I therefore put the helm up, and, jibing round, proceeded
to run down toward them. This was rather a risky thing to do, but I
thought that with care I could accomplish what I wanted, and still evade
recapture. When they saw me returning for them--as they doubtless
thought--they started pulling again for a minute or two, then once more
lay upon their oars, watching. On my part I also was careful to keep a
keen watch upon their movements, my intention being to pass within
hailing distance of them, if possible, without giving them a chance to
dash alongside. That this was their intention I soon became aware, for
as the felucca swept down toward them I could see that their oars were
in the water and that they were quietly manoeuvring to get the dinghy
head-on and as close as possible to the spot over which they expected me
to pass. But I was not to be quite so easily caught napping; so,
carefully measuring the distance with my eye, I again put the helm up,
just at the right moment, and, sweeping past the dinghy within half a
dozen fathoms, hailed her discomfited occupants somewhat to this
effect:--
"Dinghy ahoy! I am not going to allow you to come alongside again, so I
would recommend you to make the best of your way to the Roccas, which,
as you know, bear south-south-west, some twenty-five miles distant. I
have no doubt that, if you can reach them, you are certain to be taken
off sooner or later. Meanwhile, I do not wish you to starve, so I am
going to launch overboard some provisions and water for you to pick up;
also the boat's mast and sail. The weather promises to hold fine, so
you ought to make a fairly good and quick passage of it."
Meanwhile, the moment that Dominguez became aware of what I was doing he
swept the boat round with a couple of powerful strokes of his oar, and
once again they gave chase with might and main, Dominguez at the same
time shouting to me that if I would allow them to return on board they
would land me wherever I pleased, and never ask so much as a penny-piece
by way of ransom. Could I have trusted the fellow, I would willingly
have acceded to his proposal; but I could not. He had already shown
himself to be so coldly callous, so absolutely indifferent to the
fearful fate to which he had undertaken to consign me, that I felt it
would be the sheerest, most insane folly to place myself in his power
again. I therefore kept the felucca away until I found that she was
rather more than holding her own in the race, when I once more lashed
the tiller, and, calling to Dominguez to look out for the things that I
was about to launch overboard, ran to the gangway, and first
successfully set the wash-deck tub afloat, then rolled the breaker of
water out through the open _gangway_, and finally sent the mast and sail
adrift; after which I returned to the tiller and watched the process of
picking up the several articles, as I gradually brought the felucca to
her former course, close-hauled upon the starboard tack.