THE BELLIGERENT COMMANDER OF THE MAUD
"Here we are!" shouted Captain Scott, as the cable slid out through the
hawse-hole.
"That's so; but where are we?" asked Louis, who had been watching the
bottom for the last hour. "There is a big ledge of rocks not twenty feet
from the cutwater. Here we are; but where are we?"
"We are on the south-west shore of Khrysoko Bay," replied the captain.
"That ledge of rocks is just what I have been looking for the last
half-hour."
"Then, I am glad we have found it," added Louis.
"What's the name of the bay, Captain?" inquired Felix, scratching his
head.
"Khrysoko," repeated Scott. "It pronounces well enough; but when you
come to the spelling, that's another affair."
"I could spell that with my eyes shut; for I used to cry so myself when
I was a baby. Cry so, with a co on the end of it for a snapper. But I
thought that bay was on the coast of Ireland, sou' sou'-west by nor'
nor'-east from the Cove of Cork," added Felix.
"That's the precise bearing of the one you mean, Flix; but this isn't
that one at all, at all," said the captain with a long gape.
"Then it must be this one."
"The word is spelled with two k's."
"That's a hard k'se; but where do you get them in?"
The captain spelled the word with another gape, for he had not slept a
wink during the night; and Louis advised him to turn in at once.
"Breakfast is all ready in the cabin, sir," said Pitts.
"That will do me more good than a nap," added Scott. "Don, keep a lively
lookout on that high cape we came round, and see that it don't walk off
while I'm eating my breakfast. Remember, all you fellows, that is Cape
Arnauti; and if any of you are naughty, you will get fastened to that
rock, as doubtless the chap it was named after was."
"Oh-h-h!" groaned Morris. "You are not sleepy, Captain; a fellow that
can make a pun can keep awake."
"I should not need a brass band to put me to sleep just now; but I shall
not take my nap till we have overhauled the situation, and figured up
where the pirate may be about this time in the forenoon," replied Scott,
as he led the way to the cabin.
As Pitts was waiting on the table, nothing particular was said. Don had
his morning meal carried to him on the forecastle, where Felipe joined
him. He kept his eye fixed on the cape all the time, as though he
expected to see the Fatimé double it. He knew nothing at all about the
real situation, though he could not help seeing that the Maud was trying
to keep clear of the Moorish steamer; and he was in full sympathy with
this idea.
The larder of the little steamer had been filled up at Alexandria, and
Pitts had prepared one of his best breakfasts. The party were in high
spirits; for the little Maud had run away from the pirate, though of
course there were other chapters to the narrative.
"As soon as we get the situation a little more settled, and you fellows
get your eyes braced wide open, one of you must tackle the island of
Cyprus, and get up a lecture on it; for the commander desired that we
should learn something about the place," said the captain.
"I move you, Mr. Commander, that Mr. Louis Belgrave be invited to
prepare and deliver the lecture," interposed Morris; and the motion was
put and carried.
"I have no objection; and my own curiosity would have prompted me to do
so without any invitation; but I thank you for the honor you confer on
me in the selection," replied Louis; and the company adjourned to the
forecastle.
"Well, Don, have you seen anything of the Moorish craft?" asked the
captain.
"Not a sign, sir," replied the engineer. "If she is looking for the
Maud, I don't believe she will find her in here very soon."
"I don't believe this is just the place to hold a consultation on a
delicate subject," said Louis, as he pointed to the scuttle which had
been removed from its place by Felipe. "I think we shall do better on
the hurricane deck."
As this afforded a better place to observe the surroundings, and
especially the approaches from the sea, the captain assented to it, and
the "Big Four" repaired to the upper deck. They seated themselves in the
little tender of the Maud, and all of them looked out in the direction
of the cape, from beyond which the pirate was expected to put in an
appearance.
"Our present situation is the subject before the house," the captain
began. "We have made the bay for which I shaped the course of the Maud
as soon as the gale began to make things sloppy. This is a mountainous
island, with nothing like a harbor on the west coast between Cape Gata
and Cape Arnauti. There are from twelve to twenty fathoms of water in
this bay, within a mile of the shore; and the rocks close aboard of us
reach out a mile and a half, with from ten to twelve feet of water on
them. There is no town within ten miles of the shore, and we are not
likely to see any natives, unless some of them come to this bay to fish.
That's where we are."
"We should like to have you tell us now where the Fatty is," added
Morris.
"Or the Guardian-Mother," said Louis.
"I am sorry to say that I can't tell you where either of these vessels
is; and I am as anxious to know as any of you can be," replied Scott, as
he took a paper from his pocket. "I have followed the orders of Captain
Ringgold, just as he wrote them down: 'Proceed to Cape Gata; but if it
should blow heavily from the southward, go to the north side of the
island, and get in behind Cape Arnauti.' And here we are."
Felix was seated where he could see that much more was written on the
paper which the captain did not choose to read. But he had the right to
keep his own council, and the Milesian asked no questions.
"Here we are--what next?" added Louis.
"That depends," replied Scott. "The commander of the Guardian-Mother
knows where we are, though he may have to look in at the harbor of
Limasol to see if the Maud is there. When he comes I shall have nothing
further to say."
"Don't you expect to see the Fatty before the ship comes?"
"It is quite impossible to form any idea what has become of the pirate.
Perhaps she is looking for the Maud; and if she is she will probably
find her. I think this is about as far as we can go now; and, if you
will excuse me, I will turn in and get my nap," said the captain as he
rose from his seat.
"That is the right thing to do," added Louis.
"You will all keep a sharp lookout to seaward, and call me as soon as
either vessel heaves in sight."
The captain went to the cabin, and in two minutes he was sound asleep.
The rest of the ship's company had obtained about one-half of their
usual slumber, and they were not inclined to follow the example of the
captain. Louis went to the cabin and proceeded to study up the island.
He made notes in a little blank-book he kept for the purpose in his
pocket, and he had already filled a dozen such books; for they contained
a full diary of all the events of the voyage for over a year.
Felix kept his spy-glass in his hand all the time, and every few minutes
he swept the horizon to the northward with it. Morris had gone to sleep
in the pilot-house, for his watch was not on duty. At about six bells in
the forenoon watch the Milesian began to show more sign of animation
than before. He held his glass in range with the cape, and directed his
attention steadily in that direction.
If he had been fishing, he would have said that he "had a bite." It was
clear that he saw something in the distance, which was hardly more than
a speck on the ocean; but there was also a thread of black smoke on the
sky above it, for it had cleared off since sunrise. Of course it was a
steamer; but whether it was the Fatimé or the Guardian-Mother, or
neither of them, he could not determine, and he did not wish to disturb
the captain for nothing.
He continued to watch the appearance for half an hour longer, and then
he struck seven bells. In that time the steamer could be seen more
distinctly, though she was still five or six miles distant. He was
satisfied from his reasoning that the vessel was approaching the cape.
The craft looked smaller than the ship, and in another quarter of an
hour he was convinced that she was the pirate. Then he hastened to the
cabin, and announced the news to the captain, and Louis heard him.
"Are you sure it is the pirate, Flix?" demanded Captain Scott, as he
sprang from his bed and looked eagerly into the face of the messenger.
"Not absolutely sure; only reasonably confident," replied Felix, as he
followed the captain to the forecastle.
Scott examined the distant sail with the glass for a little time, and
Louis did the same with another. Morris was aroused by the voices, and
rushed out with his field-glass.
"That's the pirate!" exclaimed the captain; and the others had waited
for him to express his opinion.
"If my mother should step on deck and tell me so, I shouldn't know it
any better," added Felix; and Louis and Morris were equally sure of the
fact.
"Go to the engine-room, Morris, and tell Felipe to stir up his fires,"
said the captain, who had suddenly become a mass of vim and activity.
"Then call all hands."
Scott observed the approaching steamer with his glass till she was
within three miles of the Maud. Morris had been ordered to set the
American flag, and it was now floating in the light breeze at the ensign
staff.
"Now all hands will come with me," continued the captain; and all but
Felipe followed him to the cabin.
His first movement was to throw off the cushions from the divan on the
port side, and raise the lid of the transom. From this place he took out
a breech-loading rifle, one of half a dozen deposited there three months
or more before. They had been in service in the famous attack of the
Samothraki on the Maud in Pournea Bay, and had never been removed. No
one asked any questions; and the captain ordered them to be conveyed to
the pilot-house and engine-room, where they would be available for
immediate use. A supply of cartridges was also sent forward, and those
who had revolvers were instructed to put them in their pockets.
All these orders were promptly obeyed, and the situation began to look
decidedly warlike. Louis could not help asking himself whether or not
Captain Scott was not proceeding too rapidly. But the belligerent chief
had Captain Ringgold's written orders in his pocket, and there was no
room for a protest. Everything appeared to be ready to give the pirate a
warm reception, and nothing more could be done.
The Moorish steamer was feeling her way into the bay very slowly,
sounding all the time. The Maud was anchored in fourteen feet of water,
which placed her keel very near the rocky bottom, and with no greater
depth for a cable's length outside of her. Scott had chosen the position
of the little steamer so that the Fatimé could not come alongside of
her, or within a cable's length of her, which is one-fifth of a nautical
mile.
"I think we are all right now, Louis," said Captain Scott when he had
completed his preparations.
"It looks as though you meant to fight the pirate," added Louis.
"Not if it can be avoided; but I do not intend to let Mazagan take any
one of my people out of the Maud; and all hands will shoot before
anything of that kind can happen," replied Scott very mildly, and with
no excitement in his manner; for he had studied the bearing of his
model, and tried to imitate him.
"Do you expect Mazagan will resort to violence, Captain Scott?"
"That is an odd question, Louis," answered Scott, laughing heartily,
perhaps as much to manifest his coolness as to treat the question
lightly. "Excuse me, Louis, but you make me smile. Do I expect Mazagan
to resort to violence? For what did he visit Pournea Bay? Did he resort
to violence when he caught you in that shop in the Muski? Did he resort
to violence when his assistants attempted to capture you and Miss
Blanche in Zante? What do you suppose he followed the Maud up here for,
Louis?"
"Perhaps to induce me to pay him twenty thousand dollars to let up on
Miss Blanche and myself," replied Louis, overwhelmed by the argument.
"Are you ready to pay him?"
"Never!"
"Then he will resort to some other means to accomplish his purpose in
coming to Cyprus. Do you wish me to surrender the Maud to him?" asked
the captain.
"Certainly not."
The Fatimé let go her anchor as near the Maud as the depth of water
would permit her to come.