MY SCHEME.
I watched the boat until she entered the tremble of surf. ’Twas a mere
silver fringe of surf, so quiet was the water on this, the lee side of
the island. The sail of the boat shone in that slender edge of whiteness
like a snowflake; then vanished on a sudden. I looked through the glass,
and saw the men on either gunwale of the boat running her up the beach
clear of the wash.
I was so provoked by that sight, that I was mad then and there to start
on my scheme of release. The resolution seized me like a fit of fever,
and the blood surged through me in a flood of fire. I went to the lee
side of the deck to conceal my face. In a few minutes I had reconsidered
my resolution and was determined to wait. For, first, the afternoon was
advancing; the boat was not likely to stay long ashore; her sail might
be showing out on the blue water, under the dark height of cliffs, ere I
was half through with what lay before me. Next, the wind was very scant;
it was scarce a four-knot air of wind, though the brig should be able to
spread the canvas of a _Royal George_ to the off-shore draught. There
was nothing, then, to be done but wait; to pray for a continuance of
fine weather and a little more wind.
The brig lay very quiet. The swell of the sea ran softly, and the hush
that was upon the island--such a hush as was on the face of the earth
when it was first created--was spread, like something sensible,
throughout the atmosphere; and this silence of desolation was upon the
breast of the sea. I kept the deck throughout the afternoon, often
looking at the landing-place. The boat lay high and dry, watched by a
single figure; the others were gone inland. They had sailed away without
firearms--an oversight, I reckon; or they might have asked of one
another, “What was the good of going armed to a desolate island?” Yet I
had a sort of sympathy for that lonely figure down by the boat when I
thought of him as unarmed. Frightfully lonesome he looked, with the
great face of the cliff hanging high up behind him and spreading away,
huge and sullen, on either hand. I guess, had I been that man, I should
have yearned for a loaded musket. Crusoe carried two, and went the
easier for the burden.
The sun would set behind the island. It was sinking that way when I
spied the sail of the boat. The men had their oars over, and she came
along pretty fast. I calculated her speed, and cursed it. She drew
alongside, some of the men halloaing answers to questions bawled by
Teach and the others, who were on the forecastle. Bol scrambled up, and
shouting for all hands to get the boat inboard and stowed for the night,
he stepped up to me, who was standing aft with Miss Aurora, Call being
at the wheel.
“She vhas all right,” said he, thick of voice with fatigue.
“What was all right?”
“Vell, first of all, she vhas der prettiest leedle islandt in der whole
vorldt for hiding money in. Ve looked about us--all vhas still. Dere
vhas birdts in der air, und dot vhas all, und dey vhas still too. Dere
vhas no sign of man ever having landted upon dot island. Mr. Fielding,
she vhas still undiscovered.”
“Did you find any fresh water?”
“Blenty. Sweet und coldt.”
“Have you dug your pit?”
“Donnerwetter, no! Dot vhas to take a morning. Der ground vhas hard like
dis.” He stamped his foot. “Dere vhas no caves; ve look for a hole, und
dere vhas nothing so big ash a monkey might hide in.”
“Have you stowed the provisions securely away?”
“Dot vhas all right, Mr. Fielding. Everyting vhas ready for der
morning.” He cast his gaze round upon the sky.
“Have you found a place for the burial of the money?”
“Yaw, a first-rate place,” he answered, with a glance at the island.
“Shtop till der shob is over, den you und Teach und der odders dot stays
mit you goes ashore und you take der bearings of der place for
yourself.”
“I’ll do that. It’s fair, Bol.”
“She vhas fair,” he answered. “If you vhas villing, marm,” he continued,
addressing Miss Aurora, “you shall go mit us likewise. Dere vhas noting
so goodt for man, fimmin, und beast as a leedle run ashore after months
of board ship.”
She did not understand him. I explained, giving her a look; she
addressed me in Spanish and English.
“The lady will be glad to go ashore, and looks forward to it,” said I.
Nothing more was said. The huge bulk of the man seemed wearied out to
the heels of his feet; and, indeed, the straining and climbing involved
in the ascent of those inland steeps must have sorely tested the muscle
and bones whose load was Bol’s fat. He went forward and sat down. The
men had swayed the longboat inboard, had chocked her, and were now
shipping the gangway and clearing up.
I considered a little and then resolved to let the brig lie as she was.
We had a full two-mile offing, which was enough with a short lee-shore
to deal with in case of a heavy, sudden inshore gale.
The sun went down behind the island, as it had risen behind the island,
to our gaze when coming from the east. The western sky was a sheet of
red splendor, and the island stood in a deep purple against it until the
light went out of the heavens, when the land floated in shadow upon the
dusk like a vast thick smoke hovering. Never a light kindled by mortal
_there_! The whole mighty spirit of the great ocean solitude was in that
shadow. A few clouds hung high, and the stars were bright, with a merry
fair weather twinkling among them that made me hopeful of clear skies
and brisk winds.
The night passed quickly. I lay upon the cabin locker, fully dressed,
and was up and down every hour. The air was soft and mild, for Amsterdam
Island lies upon the pleasantest parallel in the world, where the
atmosphere is sweet and dry, where it is never too hot, though at
night-time it may be sometimes cold, and the wonder is that you should
find such hideous barrenness and nakedness as you observe in this island
in the most temperate, cheerful, and fruitful of climates.
Miss Aurora retired early, at my request. I was afraid of her on the eve
of such a day as to-morrow might prove. She was a little heedless in her
questions, talked somewhat loud, as the foreigner will when he
discourses in our tongue, and to provide against all risks of our
betraying ourselves by sitting in company below, or walking the deck
together, I told her to go to bed.
At midnight Bol relieved Galen. I walked with Bol awhile, and all our
talk was about the island, the depth at which the money should be
buried, the mark that was to denote the treasure, and so forth. He
wanted to know if money was to be injured by lying in the earth; I
answered that the metal out of which money was made came from the earth.
What would be a good mark to set up? I told him he was a carpenter and
ought to know; but I advised him not to bury the money so carefully that
we should never afterward be able to find out where it lay hid. He said
it would not do to erect a cross, or any sign that indicated human
handiwork, lest men should land after we had left the island, and
guessing at the meaning of the mark, fall a-digging. The place they had
settled on he informed me was at the foot of a peculiar rise of land of
a very strange shape. He described this rise of land and its appearance
seemed to be that of the head of a cat. Once beheld it could never be
forgotten. It was the wish of the men, however, when the money was
buried, and I went on shore to view the spot and take its correct
bearings from different points of the island, that I should make a
sketch in black and white of the peculiarly-shaped rise of land or
little hill; this would be copied, and each man hold a drawing of the
hill for himself with all particulars written underneath.
“I’ll do whatever is reasonable and right,” said I.
“Dere vhas two ton belonging to you, Mr. Fielding.”
“I don’t forget.”
In this walk we settled the next day’s proceedings. I advised Yan Bol to
take three tons of silver with him ashore when he started early in the
morning with his digging party.
“Shall ve not dig der pit first?”
“Yaw, but also take a portion of your cargo with you. The boat’s
capacity of five tons was right enough for Captain Greaves’ island; but
here a roller may catch and capsize you, even as you’re going ashore,
unless you show the best height of side you can manage. Three tons a
trip won’t hurt--I’ll not advise more.”
“Yaw, dot vhas right. I himself vhas for tree. But vhy take der silver
ashore before der pit vhas dig?”
“To save time. Then, with three tons, you’ll have boxes and chests to
enable you to gauge the depth and space you require. You don’t want to
dig forty feet when ten may do.”
“No, by Cott, Mr. Fielding, nor would you if you only shoost knew how
hardt vhas dot land. Vell, you vhas right. A leedle at a time, und ve
starts to-morrow mit a leedle; und vhen der pit vhas dig ve comes back
for more.”
“How long will it take you to dig the pit?”
“Vell, dot vill be ash she shall turn out. She may mean a morning’s
shob, but all vhas right und safe, I hope, before der sun vhas sunk.”
I went below and slept for an hour. The men got their breakfast early.
Hals lighted the caboose fire before the sun was up, and the hands
breakfasted when the east was still rosy with the dawn into which the
sun had sprung in glory. I say in glory, for it was a very perfect
morning, the sky of a deep blue, and the sea of a silver azure with the
sunlight upon it. The breeze was light out of the north; but, if it
held, it fanned with weight enough to serve my turn.
The men got the boats over as on the previous day. Yan Bol rolled up to
me, who had come on deck long before sunrise, and said, “Mr. Fielding,
how many cases vhas dere in tree tons?”
“About twenty,” said I, “they won’t all run alike in size. If they were
all alike of course there’d be thirty.”
“Vell, ve takes twenty.”
“Yes, a little at a time, if you please. Two tons are mine. If you
capsize, who bears the loss?”
“Dere vhas no capsize,” said he. “Look what a beautiful day she vhas!
Und how many dollars, Mr. Fielding, vhas dere in tree ton?”
“One hundred and ten thousand dollars.”
He rounded his little eyes and smacked his huge lips, and could find no
more to say than, “Vell, vell!”
He and Galen and three or four others shortly afterward went below and
got into the lazarette, whence they handed out twenty cases of the
silver. I feigned a prodigious interest, roaring out to the fellows in
the boat, as I hung over the rail, to trim more by the head, to trim
more by the stern, to keep the stuff amidships for the sake of
stability; and then I bid Teach observe that three tons were to the full
as much as should go per trip. “For,” says I, “look well, and you’ll
find her a ton deeper than, in my opinion, her safety allows. But what
are we sending ashore? Is it Thames ballast? Or is it something more
precious than all your eyeballs put together? I’ll have my two tons go
alone. No other man’s ton shall go along with mine,” and so I went on
shouting.
All being ready the crew of the boat entered her. They were the same as
on the preceding day. I regretted this, for I had hoped that Teach or
Travers or Meehan--Call I did not fear--would have taken the place of
Friend, who, as you know, was the mildest man of the whole bunch of
rogues; but I kept my mouth shut; I durst make no suggestion that way.
We are all good men, the fellows would have said; what reason has he in
wishing Friend to remain?
Call was at the wheel. I sung out to Meehan to lay aft and loose the
trysail, adding, that the others might hear me, that the brig wanted
more after-sail to keep her head to. The three men lay aft, and in a few
minutes the sail was set.
In this time the longboat was slipping through the water toward the
land. When the trysail was set I asked Meehan, who claimed to be a bit
of a cook in his way, to boil me a pot of cocoa; I had been up all
night, I said, and had breakfasted ill (the girl and I had not
breakfasted at all). Travers and Teach went on to the forecastle; I
watched them light their pipes, coming to the galley for a light, and
returning to the forecastle; they leaned upon the rail in the head, and
watched the boat.
“I shall be wanting a word with Teach below shortly,” said I to Call;
“does he know the Sydney coast? I’d like him to hit upon a spot for
casting this brig away--something to keep in mind. There’s no chart
aboard that’s going to help me in that job. Keep a lookout. Don’t leave
the wheel, and mind you hallo if I’m wanted.”
I entered the cabin, and found the lady Aurora standing at the table,
and the lad Jimmy near the door of my berth.
“The hour has come,” said I, feeling myself grown pale on a sudden, “and
the man’s at hand. How is it with you?”
I gently grasped her wrist and looked at her.
“Only be quick, Señor Fielding. It is this waiting and waiting that
tries the nerves,” she answered in effect.
“How is it with you, Jimmy?”
“I’m ready, master.”
“Where’s the bag?” said I to the señorita.
“It’s there,” said she, pointing to a locker.
“Sit upon it, for I am about to send.”
I entered my berth and brought out a chart of the continent of New
Holland. I carried it to the table on the same side on which the lady
had seated herself, and spread it, putting, as I well remember, a metal
mug at each corner to keep the curled sheet flat. I then stepped to a
scuttle and peered through it, and descried the sail of the boat close
in with the island. I turned to the table again and called to Jimmy.
“Go now and send Teach here,” and when he was gone I overhung the chart
in a posture of anxious scrutiny; though in this while I several times
glanced at the lady Aurora, who was sitting just behind me, and observed
that she sat very still, her face as composed as at any time since I had
known her, her eyes bent upon a book which she had taken from the table
before sitting. The motion of the brig was gentle; the cabin became
warm, almost hot; a little while before I descended I had looked through
the skylight at Jimmy, who stood beneath, and he had quietly closed and
secured the frames.
Teach came down, and behind him was Jimmy. He descended the steps
without the least manner of suspicion. He wore a round hat, and his feet
were naked, the bottoms of his trousers being turned up midway the
height of the calves of his legs. I bade him uncover in the presence of
a lady; he asked pardon, and threw his hat down upon the deck.
“Here’s a chart of New Holland,” said I, pointing to it. “D’ye know
anything of the coast down Port Jackson way?”
“No, sir,” said he.
“Where’s this brig to be wrecked? Come you here.” He came to my side,
and I put my finger upon the line that denoted the coast near Port
Jackson, holding my left hand behind me. “All hereabouts is wild ground,
I reckon--and if the brig’s to be stranded, the spot should be within a
comfortable tramp of the town of Sydney,” and as I pronounced these
words I motioned with my left hand, on which, as swiftly as you fetch a
breath, the lady Aurora whipped a big bag, thickened for the face with
wadding, over the head of Teach, dragging it down to his shoulders and
holding it there, and all as nimbly as the hangman pulls down the cap
over the malefactor’s face. In the same instant of her doing this I
grasped Teach by his right arm and Jimmy seized him by his left, and
pulling out a pair of handcuffs from my pocket I brought the fellow’s
wrists together and manacled him.
His first struggles were furious; but how should he be able to help
himself in the grasp of two men, each of whom was out and away stronger
than he? He kicked and plunged with frantic violence, but he could utter
no sound. He was fairly suffocated by the thickly-lined bag which Miss
Aurora had whipped down over his head.
Not an instant was to be lost; moreover, I had no intention to kill the
man, though I reckoned by the gathering faintness in the capers he cut
that his senses were going. Grasping him by the arms Jimmy and I dragged
him aft and thrust him into a spare berth that lay between mine and the
cabin I had occupied in Greaves’s time. Miss Aurora followed and handed
me a gag of her own manufacture. I pulled the cap off the man and found
him nearly gone; we sat him on a locker with his back against the ship’s
side and I gagged him, taking care to see that the nostrils were clear.
So there he was, gagged, handcuffed, and very nearly dead, and there was
nothing to fear from him at present.
I shut the door of the berth and went again to the chart, while Miss
Aurora sat behind me upon the bag as before. I slipped a second pair of
handcuffs from my left into my right pocket, and then told Jimmy to send
Travers below.
“If he asks you what I want,” said I, “answer that Mr. Fielding and
Teach are talking about casting away the brig and looking at the chart
of Australia.”
In a few moments Travers arrived. He was closely followed by Jimmy. He
descended the steps without the least appearance of misgiving. I
perceived, however, that in a moment he began to cast his eyes about for
Teach.
“D’ye know anything of the coast of New Holland, Travers?”
“Nothen, sir.”
“Teach and I have been talking about casting this brig away. Teach’ll be
here in a moment,” said I, with a significant sideways motion of my head
toward my berth, which I was willing the fellow should construe as he
pleased. “This is the spot which Teach recommends,” said I, putting my
finger upon the chart. “Draw near, will you. You’ll understand my
meaning when your eyes are on the drawing of the coast.”
He came at once to my side, cap in hand. I bade him observe the
conformation of the coast, and while I spoke I made a motion with my
left hand, whereupon, with lightning speed, the cap was on him! The man
halloed faintly inside: ’twas like a voice from the height of a tall
chimney; then, Jimmy and I bringing his brawny arms together, I slipped
the handcuffs on.
He was a more powerfully built man than Teach, but without that devil’s
desperate spirit. He appeared to understand what we meant to do, felt
his helplessness, and after a brief, fierce struggle stood quiet. We ran
him, silent and suffocating in his bag, to the forward cabin on the
larboard side, by which time he was nearly spent for want of air, so
that, when we drew the bag off his head, he was black in the face. I
waited a few minutes till he rallied somewhat, then gagged him with a
second gag of Miss Aurora’s manufacture. We next pulled off his boots,
to provide against his kicking at the door, and threw them into the
cabin, and shutting him up I went to the locker in which I had stored my
borrowings from the magazine, as you have heard, and thrust a couple of
loaded pistols into my pocket.
My lady Aurora had fallen into a chair: she was deadly white and
trembled violently, and seemed to be fainting. I told Jimmy to give her
a glass of brandy and follow me on deck. I dared not pause now, no, not
even though her life should be risked by my going. I went on deck and
stood a minute at the companion. Call was at the wheel, carelessly
grasping the spokes. I looked toward the island; the boat was clearly
ashore, her sail lowered, and nothing therefore to be seen of her, at
that distance, with the naked eye.
Taking no notice of Call I walked to the caboose and looked in,
expecting to see Meehan at work there boiling my cocoa. The caboose was
empty, but the fire burned briskly as though freshly trimmed, and a
saucepan was boiling upon it. I stepped swiftly to the fore-scuttle,
that is to say, to the hatch by which the sailors entered or left the
forecastle, and, when I was within a few feet of it, I spied Meehan’s
head in the act of rising to come on deck. I sprang and struck him hard,
crying out, “Keep below till you’re wanted.” He fell backward, and I
instantly drove the cover of the scuttle over the hatch and secured it
by its bar.
Call remained to be dealt with. As I walked aft Jimmy came up out of the
cabin. Call was very white. He let go the wheel, and cried out, “Mr.
Fielding, where’s my mates?”
“Where you’ll be in a minute, my man,” said I, pulling out one of the
two pistols I had pocketed; for I had not foreseen in the case of Meehan
so easy a capture.
“There’s no need to show me that,” said the fellow in his small voice,
nodding his head at the pistol, “I follows your meaning, and I’ll work
as a good man if ye’ll take me on.”
“No, I won’t trust you. Not yet, anyhow; though I should be mighty glad
to believe you trustworthy.”
“Try me, sir,” he exclaimed.
“No, by----! Jimmy, lay hold of that wheel and keep it steady. Call, get
you forward,” and I pointed with my pistol to the forecastle.
He went like a lamb, and I followed at his heels. Indeed, I needed no
weapon with this man; in strength I was twice his master; in nimbleness
and the art of fisticuffs he was not within a league of my longest
shadow. I could have tossed him by scruff and breech over the rail, and
have drunk a pint with the same breath I did it in.
When we came to the scuttle, I told him to open it and descend. Meehan
roared out, when he saw daylight; I answered that I would send a bullet
through his brains if he made any noise, that his and Call’s wants
should be seen to presently, and that I was going to sail the brig home
to save the men who had been left with me from the gallows.
“Where’s Teach and Travers?” bawled Meehan.
“Dead--dead--dead!” I cried, then closed and secured the scuttle as
before, and ran to the cabin.
I found my lady very much better. She had drunk a little brandy, and was
eating a biscuit; the trembling had left her, and her face was steady.
“All the men are secured,” said I.
She clapped her hands and cried, “You have been very quick,” and then
laughed with hysteric vehemence; and, no doubt, to satisfy me that she
was composed, she at the same moment got up from her chair, and said,
“What is next to be done?”
“Follow me,” said I.
I went on deck, and pointing the glass at the landing-place, took a long
look. The fellows had hauled the boat high and dry; I could not see what
sort of a beach it was; the boat lay beyond the thin line of feathering
surf. There were figures about her in motion. I counted all the men who
had gone in her. The telescope was poor--poor even for that age of
marine spy-glasses--and I was unable to distinguish clearly. But the
boat was high and dry, and the men were out of her and busy with their
cargo; _that_ was certain; so I put down the glass, and, going to the
wheel, called to the señorita to come to me.
“Hold it thus,” said I.
She at once stationed herself in Jimmy’s place and grasped the spokes.
Then, followed by the lad, I ran to the cabin, and, together, out of the
locker we brought up three rounds for the long brass pivoted twenty-four
pounder. We likewise loaded with all possible speed six muskets, which,
with the remaining pistols that lay in the locker, we conveyed on deck.
When this was done, I charged the long gun, taking care to see that all
was ready for quickly reloading.
“Now, Jimmy,” said I, “it is time to swing the main topsail yard and be
off.”
The wind hung in the north; it was a little pleasant breeze, with just
enough of weight to tremble the water into a darker dye of blue with the
summer rippling and wrinkling of it, and to put a dance into the
blinding sparkles under the sun. I went forward with the lad, and first
we hoisted the standing-jib; then went to the main braces and, the wind
being very light, we swung the yards easily. The topgallant sails had
been clewed up on the previous day, and had hung by their gear unstowed
all night. Both yards were heavy, for the _Black Watch_ was very square
in her rig; so to masthead the canvas we led the halliards to the little
capstan on the quarter-deck, and set the sails with fairly taut leeches.
A couple of staysails we also ran aloft, by which time the brig had
wore. We then trimmed for the northerly draught, and in less than twenty
minutes from the start of the operations the brig was standing
eastward, and slowly gathering way, with Jimmy at the wheel, holding the
little ship steady to my directions, myself near him, glass in hand,
watching the men ashore, and the girl at my side.
I had reckoned on this--that, when the men saw me fill on the brig
they’d suppose something to make me uneasy had hove into sight, or that
I was maneuvering to take up a new position. I guessed they’d never
imagine for a long while that I was running away with the brig. I had
taken particular care for weeks past that they should observe nothing in
me to excite distrust. And then there were Teach and the others; and I
counted upon Bol’s and upon Bol’s mates’ confidence in the loyalty of
those shipmates. So they’d watch us for some time without suspicion; and
every minute was precious, because every minute the distance widened and
the pace briskened.
Thus had my calculations forerun, and now I stood with the telescope at
my eye, watching and waiting.
Five minutes passed--no more. I had turned to look at the compass and to
glance aloft; and now I leveled the glass afresh.
“They’re after us!” I cried.
In those five minutes they had launched the boat and, as I looked, were
hoisting the sail and throwing their oars over. I was mightily startled
at first. I had never imagined they’d prove so keen in their guessing;
but reflection speedily cooled me, and brought my nerves to their proper
bearing.
The boat gained on us slowly. The pace of the brig was about four miles
an hour; the boat’s a mile faster than that. Presently I could count the
steady pulse of her five oars. I had no fear, but I was very eager to
come off with the brig without killing any of those men. The lady Aurora
said:
“They’re catching us up.”
“Yes,” said I; “and if they can come within hail they’ll make me a
hundred fine promises and entreat me to take them on board; and, a few
minutes after they are on board, my corpse will be floating
astern--another shocking example of forecastle gratitude. I’m done with
’em,” said I, scarcely supposing while I talked that she wholly
understood me; and, putting my hand upon the long brass gun, I moved it
until the muzzle was over the boat.
I knew the little fabric was out of range, but I wished the men to see
the feather-leap of white water, the flash of the missile, that they
might understand I shot with ball; and, having everything to my hand, I
bid Miss Aurora step a little aside, and fired. The gun roared in
thunder, and belched out a big cloud of smoke. I dodged the smoke to
mark the flight of the ball, which hit the water several cables’ lengths
this side the boat. If the spurt of it was plain to me, it was plain to
them. I put Jimmy to the gun to clean it while I watched the boat. She
continued in pursuit; but now, by aid of the glass, I made out something
white flying at her masthead--a signal of truce, as though the fellows
and I had been at war. Some man must have torn up his shirt to produce
that flag; for there were no white handkerchiefs in the longboat, and
nothing to answer to what was flying save what one or another carried on
his back.
“I want no truce! I want no peace! I want to have nothing whatever to do
with you!” I cried, while I went about to load the long gun again.
This time I resolved to load with case as well as round, that the splash
might emphasize my hint. I asked Aurora to hold the wheel, and bid Jimmy
rush into the cabin and bring up some canister out of the locker. I
clapped in some case on top of the ball, took aim, and fired. The brig
thrilled to the explosion. I wondered to myself what the imprisoned
fellows forward and the two men below would be thinking of this
bellowing of artillery.
The ball and musket-shot struck the sea before I saw the splash; the
smoke of the gunpowder hung a bit, clouding aft before blowing clear,
and I could not spring to the side in time to see. I ordered Jimmy to
make ready the gun for loading afresh, being now hot in heart with the
noise of the firing and angry, too, with the stubborn pursuit of the
devils astern; and I told Miss Aurora that, if they did not shift their
helm, I’d blow them out of water.
“I want no man’s life,” I exclaimed--“not even Yan Bol’s; but if they
creep much closer, and I can manage to plump a ball among those----”
But here my speech was arrested; for, having talked with my eye at the
glass, I saw them lower the lugsail on board the longboat; they then
pulled her around and hoisted her sail afresh.
“There she goes!” cried I.
“_De veras!_ Oh, glorious! Oh, glorious!” exclaimed the señorita,
dropping the wheel to clap her hands.
“Yes, there she goes,” said I, “the second hint sufficed. I wish the
shot may not have hurt any man of them. Was she out of reach? Yes, there
she goes. Wise ye are, Yan Bol. I should have sunk you. Never should you
have gained footing aboard this brig. And has not the breeze slightly
freshened too since you started in pursuit? Ay, there is a little foam
in our wake, and the glance under the sun is keen. We should have run
you out of sight, Yan Bol, and you in pursuing would have run the island
out of sight, and then without compass, without provisions, without
water, how would ye have managed, you scoundrel Dutchman?”
I put down the glass and clapped the boy on the shoulder.
“Jimmy, you have done well. Yours’ll be a good share of dollars for this
job. Now jump, my lively, and get some breakfast for the lady and
me--and some breakfast for yourself.”
The poor fellow, grinning with delight, fled forward with the speed of a
hare. I took the wheel from the señorita, and she stood beside me.
“What’ll dose men do?”
“They will return to the island.”
“Will not dey starf?”
“They have plenty of provisions, and they have a good boat.”
“What will dey do with de money dey have taken?”
“May it founder them! The dogs! To force us down here when we should be
in the Channel, or at home! Here am I now with this big brig on my
single pair of hands, and you and the boy as helps and four horrible
scoundrels to sentinel and feed.”
I felt sick with heart-weariness at that moment. An eternity of waters
stretched between me and England in the measureless miles of Southern
Ocean, in the measureless miles of south and north Atlantic. How was I
to manage with one half-crazy boy and a girl to help me, and four
prisoners to guard?
“De dollars are saved,” said the señorita, bringing her eyes with a
flash in them from the boat to my face.
“You are the greatest heroine the world has ever produced,” said I.
“It is a day of glory for you, and your money is safe,” said she.
I looked at her a little sullenly; I was in no temper for irony.
“If de money is safe, I am safe,” said she, “for one goes before de
other, and to be safe I am content to be second.”
I heeded her not; her tongue was a rattle, and very heedless at times.
After a little, finding I did not speak, she looked at the boat through
the glass. Long practice had now enabled her to keep open the eye she
applied to the telescope. I, too, gripping the spokes, gazed astern; the
sail of the boat was like the wing of a white butterfly out on the dark
blue, that thrilled with the breeze. The island hung massive and rugged
in the sky, but already was it growing blue in the blue air.
At this time Jimmy came along with some breakfast. He put the tray upon
the deck. The pot of cocoa Meehan was to have cooked had overboiled and
was burnt. Jimmy brought us some fresh coffee, salt beef, and biscuit.
The girl and I ate and drank, Jimmy meanwhile holding the wheel. My lady
asked me how the prisoners were to breakfast? Could they feed themselves
with handcuffs?
“No,” said I.
“They’ll need to be regularly supplied with food,” said she. “Who’ll
feed them?”
“_Parece que quiere hacer buen tiempo_,” said I to change the subject.
When I had breakfasted I held the wheel that Jimmy might eat. I was
forever racking my brains to conceive how I was to manage, alone as I
was with the youth. The girl was of no earthly use. Indeed, for the
matter of that, the boy himself did not know how to steer, and was a
poor sailor aloft, though as “an idler” he was expected, and was used to
help the men in reefing and in putting the brig about. I was grateful
for the beautiful morning with its gentle breeze. “Perhaps,” I said to
myself, “I shall have worked out some theory of navigating the brig with
the aid of Jimmy, before a change of weather happens.”
The lad took the wheel, and I went below to remove the gags from the
men. I had a brace of loaded pistols in my pocket, and I pulled out one
of them, and looking to its priming, I walked to the berth in which we
had thrown Teach, and opened the door. The man’s posture was that in
which we had left him, saving that his head had fallen forward. I did
not like his looks, and felt afraid; I went up to him and took his arm;
he did not stir. I lifted his head by the chin, and saw death in his
eyes. On this, full of horror and pity, I removed the gag. It was a
piece of drill with a lump of stuffing stitched amidships to fill the
mouth. Aurora had made it, as she had made the bag with which we had
stifled the two men. The stuffed part of the gag that had filled the
man’s mouth was soaked with blood, and when I pulled the gag off, and
the head fell forward, a quantity of dark blood followed.
No doubt he had ruptured a blood vessel; in any case, his death was not
to be laid to the account of the gag, in other words, to our having
suffocated him. Nevertheless, I was as greatly shocked, and viewed him
with as much horror as though he had died by my hands.
I then bethought me of Travers and rushed, with my heart beating hard,
to his berth, dreading to find him dead likewise. The man was standing
upright, looking at the sea through the scuttle. He turned when I
entered, and presented his gagged face to me. I thanked God to find him
alive. So far we had managed all this business bloodlessly. I am one,
and ever was one, of those who count human life the most sacred thing
under God’s eye.
I had thrust the pistol into my pocket at the sight of Teach, and now
kept it there in the presence of this man Travers, gagged and handcuffed
as he was. He motioned piteously with his head, lifting his fists a
little way toward his face. I at once took the gag off, and threw it
aside. He tried to speak; he fetched many breaths, during which some
froth gathered upon his lips; he then, in a dim, husky voice that seemed
to rise from the bottom of his chest, exclaimed:
“Water!”
I ran into the cabin and filled a mug with fresh water; he remained
standing where I had left him. I put the mug to his mouth, and he drank
long and deep. The water refreshed him, and he found his voice.
“What are ye going to do with me?” he asked.
“Keep you under hatches,” said I.
“Where’s Bol and the others?”
“Ashore on the island.”
“Left to their fate, sir?”
“You know better. Have they not the longboat, plenty of provisions and
water? If Captain Greaves were alive he’d yardarm the four of you--no,
not the four; Teach is dead.”
“Did you kill him?”
“He’s dead,” I shouted in a rage; “I have killed no man. You would have
killed me--there is no stain on my conscience.”
“Are ye carrying the brig home?”
“Where else?”
“Teach dead!” he muttered. “Mr. Fielding, for God’s sake, take me on.
You’ll find me a true man.”
“Which d’ye choose--the bilboes or those bracelets?”
He answered me with a savage stare. I turned to go.
“Leave me some water,” he called.
I filled the mug afresh, placed it where he could put his lips to it,
and locked the door upon him.