11 deg. 30' 19" N. LAT. BY 56 deg. 10' 49" W. LONG.
The announcement of the approach of Captain Horn created a sensation
upon the _Summer Shelter_ almost equal to that occasioned by any of the
extraordinary incidents which had occurred upon that vessel. Burke and
Shirley were wild with delight at the idea of meeting their old friend
and commander. Willy Croup had never seen Captain Horn, but she had
heard so much about him that she considered him in her mind as a being
of the nature of a heathen deity who rained gold upon those of whom he
approved, and utterly annihilated the unfortunates who incurred his
displeasure.
As for Mrs. Cliff, her delight in the thought of meeting Captain Horn,
great as it was, was overshadowed by her almost frantic desire to clasp
once more in her arms her dear friend Edna. The clergymen had heard
everything that the _Summer Shelter_ people could tell them about
Captain Horn and his exploits, and each man of them was anxious to look
into the face and shake the hand of the brave sailor, whom they had
learned to look upon as a hero; and one or two of them thought that it
might be proper, under the circumstances, to resume their clerical
attire before the interview. But this proposition, when mentioned, was
discountenanced. They were here as sailors to work the yacht, and they
ought not to be ashamed to look like sailors. The yacht was now put
about and got under headway, and slowly moved in the direction of the
approaching steamer.
When Captain Horn had finished the fight in which he was engaged with
the _Vittorio_, and had steamed down in the direction of the two other
vessels in the vicinity, it was not long before he discovered that one
of them was an American yacht. Why it and the _Dunkery Beacon_ should be
lying there together he could not even imagine, but he was quite sure
that this must be the vessel owned by Mrs. Cliff, and commanded by his
old shipmate, Burke.
When at last the _Monterey_ and the _Summer Shelter_ were lying side by
side within hailing distance, and Captain Horn had heard the stentorian
voice of Burke roaring through his trumpet, he determined that he and
Edna would go on board the yacht, for there were dead men and wounded
men on his own vessel, and the condition of his deck was not such as he
would wish to be seen by Mrs. Cliff and whatever ladies might be with
her.
When Captain Horn and his wife, with Captain Hagar, rowed by four men,
reached the side of the _Summer Shelter_, they were received with
greater honor and joy than had ever been accorded to an admiral and his
suite. The meeting of the five friends was as full of excited affection
as if they were not now standing in the midst of strange circumstances,
and, perhaps, many dangers of which none of them understood but a part.
Captain Horn seized the first opportunity which came to him to ask the
question, "What's the matter with your yacht? You seem to have had a
smash-up forward."
"Yes," said Burke, "there's been a collision. Those beastly hounds tried
to run us down, but we caught her squarely on her bow."
At this moment the conversation was interrupted by a shout from Captain
Hagar, who had taken notice of nobody on the yacht, but stood looking
over the water at his old ship. "What's the matter," he cried, "with the
_Dunkery Beacon_? Has she sprung a leak? Are those the pirates still on
board?"
Captain Horn and the others quickly joined him. "Sprung a leak!" cried
Shirley. "She's got a hole in her bow as big as a barrel. I've been on
board of her, but I can't tell you about that now. There's no use to
think of doing anything. Those are bloody pirates that are lowering the
boats, and we can't go near them. Besides, you can see for yourself that
that steamer is settling down by the head as fast as she can."
Captain Horn was now almost as much excited as the unfortunate commander
of the _Dunkery Beacon_. "Where's that gold?" he cried. "Where is it
stowed?"
"It is in the forward hold, with a lot of cargo on top of it!" groaned
Captain Hagar.
Shirley now spoke again. "Don't think about the gold!" he said. "I kept
my eyes opened and my ears sharpened when I was on board, and although I
didn't understand all their lingo, I knew what they were at. When they
found there was no use pumping or trying to stop the leak, they tried to
get at that gold, but they couldn't do it. The water was coming in right
there, and the men would not rig up the tackle to move the cargo. They
were all wild when I left."
Captain Horn said no more, but stood with the others, gazing at the
_Dunkery Beacon_. But Captain Hagar beat his hands upon the rail and
declared over and over again that he would rather never have seen the
ship again than to see her sink there before his eyes, with all that
treasure on board. The yacht lay near enough to the _Dunkery Beacon_ for
Captain Hagar to see plainly what was going on on his old ship, without
the aid of a glass. With eyes glaring madly over the water, he stood
leaning upon the rail, his face pale, his whole form shaking as if he
had a chill. Every one on the deck of the yacht gathered around him,
but no one said anything. This was no time for asking questions, or
making explanations.
The men on the _Dunkery Beacon_ were hurrying to leave the vessel. One
of the starboard boats was already in the water, with too many men in
her. The vessel had keeled over so much that there seemed to be
difficulty in lowering the boats on the port side. Everybody seemed
rushing to starboard, and two other boats were swinging out on their
davits. Every time the bow of the steamer rose and fell upon the swell
it seemed to go down a little more and up a little less, and the deck
was slanted so much that the men appeared to slide down to the starboard
bulwarks.
Now the first boat pushed off from the sinking ship, and the two others,
both crowded, were soon pulling after her. It was not difficult to
divine their intentions. The three boats headed immediately for the
northeast, where, less than two miles away, the _Vittorio_ could be
plainly seen.
At this moment Captain Hagar gave a yell; he sprang back from the rail,
and his eyes fell upon a rifle which had been laid on a bench by one of
the clergymen. He seized it and raised it to his shoulder, but in an
instant Captain Horn took hold of it, pointing it upward. "What are you
going to do?" he said. "Captain, you don't mean to fire at them?"
"Of course I mean it!" cried Captain Hagar. "We've got them in a bunch.
We must follow them up and shoot them down like rats!"
[Illustration: HE SEIZED IT AND RAISED IT TO HIS SHOULDER]
"We'll get up steam and run them down!" shouted Burke. "We ought to sink
them, one boat after another, the rascally pirates! They tried to sink
us!"
"No, no," said Captain Horn, taking the gun from Captain Hagar, "we
can't do that. That's a little too cold-blooded. If they attack us,
we'll fight them, but we can't take capital punishment into our own
hands."
Now the excited thoughts of Captain Hagar took another turn. "Lower a
boat! Lower a boat!" he cried. "Let me be pulled to the _Dunkery_!
Everything I own is on that ship, the pirates wouldn't let me take
anything away. Lower a boat! I can get into my cabin."
Shirley now stepped to the other side of Captain Hagar. "It's no use to
think of that, Captain," he said. "It would be regular suicide to go on
board that vessel. Those fellows were afraid to stay another minute.
She'll go down before you know it. Look at her bows now!"
Captain Hagar said no more, and the little company on the deck of the
yacht stood pale and silent, gazing out over the water at the _Dunkery
Beacon_. Willy Croup was crying, and there were tears in the eyes of
Mrs. Cliff and Edna. In the heart of the latter was deep, deep pain, for
she knew what her husband was feeling at that moment. She knew it had
been the high aim of his sensitive and honorable soul that the gold for
which he had labored so hard and dared so much should safely reach, in
every case, those to whom it had been legally adjudged. If it should
fail to reach them, where was the good of all that toil and suffering?
He had in a measure taken upon himself the responsibility of the safe
delivery of that treasure, and now here he was standing, and there was
the treasure sinking before his eyes. As she stood close by him, Edna
seized her husband's hand and pressed it. He returned the pressure, but
no word was said.
Now the _Dunkery Beacon_ rolled more heavily than she had done yet, and
as she went down in the swell it seemed as if the water might easily
flow over her forward bulwarks; and her bow came up with difficulty, as
if it were sticking fast in the water. Her masts and funnel were
slanting far over to starboard, and when, after rising once more, she
put her head again into the water, she dipped it in so deep that her
rail went under and did not come up again. Her stern seemed to rise in
the air, and at the same time the sea appeared to lift itself up along
her whole length. Then with a dip forward of her funnel and masts, she
suddenly went down out of sight, and the water churned, and foamed, and
eddied about the place where she had been. The gold of the Incas was on
its way to the bottom of the unsounded sea.
Captain Hagar sat down upon the deck and covered his face with his
hands. No one said anything to him,--there was nothing to say. The first
to speak was Mrs. Cliff. "Captain Horn," said she, her voice so shaken
by her emotion that she scarcely spoke above a whisper, "we did
everything we could, and this is what has come of it!"
"Everything!" exclaimed Captain Horn, suddenly turning towards her.
"You have done far more than could be expected by mortals! And now,"
said he, turning to the little party, "don't let one of us grieve
another minute for the sinking of that gold. If anybody has a right to
grieve, it's Captain Hagar here. He's lost his ship, but many a good
sailor has lost his ship and lived and died a happy man after it. And as
to the cargo you carried, my mate," said he, "you would have done your
duty by it just the same if it had been pig lead or gold; and when you
have done your duty, there's the end of it!"
Captain Hagar looked up, rose to his feet, and after gazing for a second
in the face of Captain Horn, he took his extended hand. "You're a good
one!" said he; "but you're bound to agree that it's tough. There's no
getting around that. It's all-fired tough!"
"Burke," said Captain Horn, quickly, glancing up at the noon-day sun,
"put her out there near the wreckage, and take an observation."
It was shortly after this that Mr. Portman, the sailing-master, came aft
and reported the position of the yacht to be eleven degrees, thirty
minutes, nineteen seconds north latitude by fifty-six degrees, ten
minutes, forty-nine seconds west longitude.
"What's the idea," said Burke to Captain Horn, "of steering right to the
spot? Do you think there'll ever be a chance of getting at it?"
Captain Horn was marking the latitude and longitude in his note-book.
"Can't say what future ages may do in the way of deep-sea work," said
he, "but I'd like to put a dot on my chart that will show where the
gold went down."
Nothing could be more unprofitable for the shaken and disturbed, spirits
of the people on the _Summer Shelter_ than to stand gazing at the few
pieces of wood and the half-submerged hencoop which floated above the
spot where the _Dunkery Beacon_ had gone down, or to look out at the
three boats which the pirates were vigorously rowing towards the steamer
in the distance, and this fact strongly impressed itself upon the
practical mind of Mrs. Cliff. "Captain Horn," said she, "is there any
reason why we should not go away?"
"None in the world," said he, "and there's every reason why your vessel
and mine should get under headway as soon as possible. Where are you
bound for now?"
"Wherever you say, Captain," she answered. "This is my ship, and Mr.
Burke is my captain, but we want you to take care of us, and you must
tell us where we should go."
"We'll talk it over," said he, and calling Burke and Captain Hagar, a
consultation was immediately held; and it did not take long to come to a
decision when all concerned were of the same mind.
It was decided to set sail immediately for Kingston, for each vessel had
coal enough, with the assistance of her sails, to reach that port. Mrs.
Cliff insisted that Edna should not go back to the _Monterey_, and
Captain Horn agreed to this plan, for he did not at all wish any
womankind on the _Monterey_ in her present condition. The yacht had
been found to be perfectly seaworthy, and although a little water was
coming in, her steam pump kept her easily disposed of it. Edna accepted
Mrs. Cliff's invitation, provided her husband would agree to remain on
the yacht, and, somewhat to her surprise, he was perfectly willing to do
this. The idea had come to him that the best thing for all parties, and
especially for the comfort and relief of the mind of Captain Hagar, was
to put him in command of a ship and give him something to think about
other than the loss of his vessel.
While they were talking over these matters, and making arrangements to
send to the _Monterey_ for Edna's maid and some of her baggage, Captain
Horn sought Burke in his room. "I want to know," said he, "what sort of
a crew you've got on board this yacht? One of them--a very
intelligent-looking man, by the way, with black trousers on--came up to
me just now and shook hands with me, and said he was ever so much
pleased to make my acquaintance and hoped he would soon have some
opportunities of conversation with me. That isn't the kind of seaman I'm
accustomed to."
Burke laughed. "It's the jolliest high-toned, upper-ten crew that ever
swabbed a deck or shoveled coal. They're all ministers."
"Ministers!" ejaculated Captain Horn, absolutely aghast. Then Burke told
the story of the Synod. Captain Horn sank into a chair, leaned back, and
laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.
"I didn't suppose," he said presently, "that anything could make me
laugh on a day like this, but the story of those Synod gentlemen has
done it! But, Burke, there's no use of their serving as seamen any
longer. Let them put on their black clothes and be comfortable and
happy. I've got a double crew on board the _Monterey_, and can bring
over just as many men as are needed to work this yacht. I'll go over
myself and detail a crew, and then, when everything is made ready, I'll
come on board here myself. And after that I want you to remember that
I'm a passenger and haven't anything to do with the sailing of this
ship. You're Captain and must attend to your own vessel, and I'm going
to make it my business to get acquainted with all these clergymen, and
that lady I see with Mrs. Cliff. Who is she?"
"By George!" exclaimed Burke, "she's the leading trump of the world!
That's Willy Croup!"
There was no time then to explain why Willy was a leading trump, but
Captain Horn afterwards heard the story of how she backed the ship, and
he did not wonder at Burke's opinion.
When the _Summer Shelter_, accompanied by the _Monterey_, had started
northward, Burke stood by Shirley on the bridge. Mr. Burdette had a
complete crew of able seamen under his command; there was a cook in the
kitchen, and stewards in the saloons, and there was a carpenter with
some men at work at a spare spar which was to be rigged as a bowsprit.
"I'm mighty glad to lay her course for home," said Burke, "for I've had
enough of it as things are; but if things were not exactly as they are,
I wouldn't have enough of it."
"What do you mean?" said Shirley.
"I mean this," was the answer. "If this was my yacht, and there was no
women on board, and no ministers, I would have put on a full head of
steam, and I would have gone after those boats, and I would have run
them down, one after another, and drowned every bloody pirate on board
of them. It makes my blood boil to think of those scoundrels getting
away after trying to run us down, and to shoot you!"
"It would have served them right to run them down, you know," said
Shirley, "but you couldn't do it, and there's no use talking about it.
It would have been a cold-blooded piece of business to run down a small
boat with a heavy steamer, and I don't believe you would have been
willing to do it yourself when you got close on to them! But the Captain
says if we get to Kingston in good time, we may be able to get a cable
message to London, and set the authorities at every likely port on the
lookout for the _Vittorio_."
The voyage of the _Summer Shelter_ to Kingston was uneventful, but in
many respects a very pleasant one. There had been a great
disappointment, there had been a great loss, and, to the spirits of some
of the party, there had been a great shock, but every one now seemed
determined to forget everything which had been unfortunate, and to
remember only that they were all alive, all safe, all together, and all
on their way home.
The clergymen, relieved of their nautical duties, shone out brightly as
good-humored and agreeable companions. Their hardships and their dangers
had made them so well acquainted with each other, and with everybody
else on board, and they had found it so easy to become acquainted with
Captain and Mrs. Horn, and they all felt so much relieved from the load
of anxiety which had been lifted from them, that they performed well
their parts in making up one of the jolliest companies which ever sailed
over the South Atlantic.
At Kingston the _Summer Shelter_ and the _Monterey_ were both left,--the
former to be completely repaired and brought home by Mr. Portman, and
the other to be coaled and sent back to Vera Cruz, with her officers and
her crew,--and our whole party, including Captain Hagar, sailed in the
next mail steamer for New York.