After the _Ione_ had left Cephalonia, she commenced her intricate
passage among the innumerable isles and islets of the Grecian
Archipelago, towards Lissa, in the neighbourhood of which his new friend
Teodoro Vassilato, the captain of the _Ypsilante_, had appointed a
rendezvous with Captain Fleetwood.
On first starting, they were favoured with a fair breeze; but no sooner
did they get among the labyrinthine mazes of the islands, than a foul
wind set in, and delayed them in a manner which sorely tried Fleetwood's
impatient spirit. Any one who has cruised among those islands will know
the difficulty of the navigation, and the necessity for constant
watchfulness. Besides the thousand islands and islets, there are, in
every direction, rocks of all sizes, some just below the water, others
rising above it to various heights; and although there are no regular
tides, there are powerful and very variable currents, and many a ship
has been cast away in consequence of them--the master, by his
calculations, fancying himself often well free of the danger, on which
he has been in reality running headlong.
The _Ione_ had stood to the southward, and had tacked again to the
northward, with the island of Milo blue and distant on her weather beam,
when, just as the sun, in his full radiance of glory, was rising over
the land, the look-out ahead hailed that there were breakers on the
starboard bow.
"How far do you make them?" asked Linton, who was the officer of the
watch, as he went forward to examine them himself with his telescope.
"By Jove! there is a mass of black rocks there; and I believe there is
somebody waving to us on them," he exclaimed. "Here, Raby, take my
glass, and see what you can make out."
"I can make it out clearly, sir," replied the midshipman. "There are a
number of people on them, and they have a sheet or blanket, or something
of that sort, made fast to a boathook or small spar, and they are waving
it to attract our attention."
"They have been cast away, then, depend on it, and we must go and see
what we can do for them," said Linton. "Run down and tell the captain;
and, as you come back, rouse out the master, and ask him how close we
may go to the rocks."
The captain and master, as well as all the officers, were soon on deck,
and the brig was looking well up towards the rocks, within a few cables'
length of which, to leeward, the pilot said they might venture.
There was a good deal of sea running, for it had been blowing very hard
the previous day; but the wind had gone down considerably, and Captain
Fleetwood expressed his opinion that there would not be much difficulty
in getting the people off the rocks, provided they could find an
approach to them on the lee side; but on getting nearer, the rock
appeared to be of so small an extent, that the waves curled round it,
and made it almost as dangerous to near it on one side as on the other.
"I think that I can make out a part of the wreck jammed in between two
rocks, just flush with the water," observed Saltwell, who had been
examining the place with his glass. "An awkward place to get on."
"Faith, indeed, it is," said the master. "If we hadn't come up, and
another gale of wind had come on, every one of those poor fellows would
have been washed away."
"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good," remarked the purser, who was
a bit of a moralist in a small way. "Now we have been complaining of a
foul wind--and if we had had a fair one, we should have run past those
rocks without ever seeing the people on them."
"No higher," exclaimed the gruff voice of the quarter-master, who was
conning the ship. "Mind your helm, or you'll have her all aback."
"The wind is heading us," muttered the man at the wheel; "she's fallen
off two points."
"Hands about ship," cried Captain Fleetwood. "We'll show the poor
fellows we do not intend to give them the go-by. Helm's a-lee! Tacks
and sheets! Main-topsail haul. Of all, haul."
And round came the brig, with her head to the eastward, or towards the
island of Milo. She was at this time about two miles to the southward
of the rock, and that the people on it might not suppose that she was
about to pass them, Captain Fleetwood ordered a gun to be fired, to
attract their attention, and to show them that they were seen. This
appeared to have a great effect; for the officers observed them through
their telescopes waving their signal-staffs round and round, as if to
exhibit their delight.
"They seem as if they were all drunk on the rock there," said Linton.
"I never saw people make such strange antics."
"I fear it is more probable that they are mad," observed the captain.
"I have known many instances in which men have been thus afflicted, who
having nothing to satisfy their hunger or thirst, have been tempted to
drink salt water."
"It proves that they must have been a long time there. We must not keep
on long on this tack, master, I suspect."
The _Ione_ was soon about again on the starboard tack, and away she
flew, every instant nearing the rock. It soon became evident that
Captain Fleetwood was right in his suspicions; for, as they drew closer,
they could see that some of the unfortunate wretches had thrown off all
their clothing, and were dancing, and leaping, and gesticulating
furiously--now joining hands, and whirling round and round, as fast as
the inequalities of the ground would allow them, then they would rush
into the water, and then roll down and turn over and over, shrieking at
the top of their voices. Some, again, were sitting crouching by
themselves, moving and gibbering, and pointing with idiot glance at
their companions, and then at the vessel. Two or three figures were
seen stretched out by the side of the rock, apparently dead or dying.
In the centre and highest part of the rock, a tent was erected, and
before it were several persons in a far calmer condition. Some were
waving to the brig, others were on their knees, as if returning thanks
to Heaven for their approaching deliverance, and two were stretched out
on rude couches formed of sails, in front of the tent, too weak to stand
up. At last the _Ione_ got under the lee of the rock, and hove to.
"We must take great care how we allow those poor fellows to get into the
boats," said Captain Fleetwood. "I need not tell you how much I value
every moment; at the same time, in pity for those poor wretches, we must
endeavour to rescue them--I propose, therefore, to anchor the cutter at
two cables' length from the rock, and to veer in the dinghy till she
drops alongside them; we must then allow only two at a time to get into
her, and then again haul her off. How many are there--do you count, Mr
Linton."
"About forty, sir, including those who appear dead or dying," returned
the second lieutenant.
"Twenty trips will take about two hours, as the cutter must return once
to the ship with her first cargo. It will be time well spent, at all
events," said Fleetwood, calculating in his mind the delay which would
be thus occasioned in discovering where Ada had been conveyed, and
attempting her rescue. "Mr Saltwell, I will entrust the command of the
expedition to you," continued the captain. "Mr Viall," to the surgeon,
"we, I fear, shall want your services on board; but, Mr Farral," to the
assistant-surgeon, "you will proceed in the cutter, and render what aid
you consider immediately necessary. Take, at all events, a couple of
breakers of water, and a bottle or two of brandy. You will find some
stimulant necessary to revive the most exhausted--I should advise you,
Mr Viall, to have some soft food, such as arrow-root, or something of
that nature, boiled for them by the time they come off. They have
probably been suffering from hunger as well as thirst, and anything of a
coarse nature may prove injurious."
The cutter was hoisted out, and every preparation quickly made. Numbers
of volunteers presented themselves, but Linton's was the only offer
which was accepted, as he undertook to go on to the rock in the first
trip the dinghy made, and to render what aid he could to those who
appeared to be on the brink of dissolution, when even a few minutes
might make the difference, whether they died or recovered. Mr Saltwell
gave the order to shove off, and away the cutter pulled up towards the
rock, with the dinghy in tow, on her work of humanity.
The captain and those who remained on board watched the progress of the
boats, as well as the movements on the rock, with intense interest. It
is scarcely possible to describe the excitement on the rock, caused by
the departure of the boat. If the actions had before been extravagant,
they were now doubly so; they shrieked, they danced, they embraced each
other with the most frantic gestures; and, indeed, appeared entirely to
have lost all control over themselves.
The cutter dropped her anchor at the distance it was considered
advisable from the rock; but her so doing seemed to make the unhappy
maniacs fancy that she was not coming to their assistance, and their joy
was at once turned into rage and defiance. One of them leaped into the
water and endeavoured to swim towards the boat. Linton, who had taken
the precaution before leaving the ship to arm himself, as had Raby, who
was his companion, instantly leaped into the dinghy, with the two men
destined to pull her; and they urged her on as fast as they could to
succour the unhappy wretch, slacking away at the same time a rope made
fast to the cutter. They had got near enough to see his eye-balls
starting from his head, as he struck out towards them, his hair
streaming back, his mouth wide open, and every muscle of his face
working with the exertion of which he himself was scarcely conscious,
when, as he was almost within their grasp, he uttered a loud shriek, and
throwing up his arms, sank at once before them. A few red marks rose
where he had been, but they were quickly dispersed by the waves.
"The poor fellow must have broken a blood-vessel, sir," said Raby.
"No, indeed," replied Linton, "every artery must have been opened to
cause those dark spots. A ground shark has got hold of him, depend on
it. Heaven grant we do not get capsized, or our chance of escape will
be small. But, hark! what language are those fellows speaking? It is
French, is it not?"
"French, sure enough, sir," replied Jack Raby. "I thought so, before we
left the cutter."
"_Sacre betes Anglais_! How dare you venture here? This is our island,
far better than your miserable Malta. We have taken possession of it,
and will hold it against all the world. Begone with you, or we will
sink you, and your ship to the bottom; off, off."
As they were uttering these words, they continued making the most
violent gestures of defiance and contempt, but this did not prevent
Linton from approaching the rock. It was larger than it had appeared to
be at a distance; and at the spot to which he was making there was a
little indentation where the water was comparatively smooth. I have
said that there was a group of men in front of a tent, at the higher
part of the rock, and these they now observed, were armed, and had
thrown up a sort of fortification, with planks and chests, and spars,
and other things cast on shore from the wreck, aided by the natural
inequality of that part of the rock.
"Good Heavens!" thought Linton. "And on so small a spot of ground,
could not these men rest at peace with each other?"
Just as the dinghy was within two boat-hooks' length of the rock, a
voice from among the group, hailed in English,--"Take care, sir, or
those fellows will murder you all. They have been threatening to do it.
But if we could but get up a few drops of water here, we should soon be
able to quiet them."
"I have the water for you, and I will try what I can do to pacify them,"
shouted Linton, at the top of his voice. "_A present, mes amis_" he
said in French; "we have come here as friends to aid you; we do not want
to take your island, to which you are welcome; and to convince you that
we do not come as enemies, any two of you can go off to the large boat
there, where they may have as much food and water as they require."
Two of them rather more sane than the rest, on hearing this, shouted
out,--"Food and water, that is what we want--you are friends, we see--we
will go."
"No, no--if any go, all shall go!" exclaimed the rest, rushing down to
the water; but, so blind was the eagerness of the mass that these were
precipitated headlong into the sea, and would have become food for the
ground sharks had not Linton and his companions hauled them into the
dinghy. He was now afraid that he should be obliged to return at some
risk with the boat thus heavily laden, but before doing so he determined
to make one more attempt to join the people on the top. His first care,
before letting the boat again drop in, was to pour a few drops of
brandy-and-water down the throats of the two Frenchmen they had rescued.
This so revived them, and with their immersion in the water, so
restored their senses, that they rose up in the boat and shouted out to
their companions:--"These men are friends--receive them as brethren
among you, and we will be answerable for their honesty."
"Now, messieurs, is your time," said one. "Hasten, if you desire to get
on shore, or their mood will change."
"Pull in," cried Linton, and in another moment he and Raby, who carried
a breaker of water on his shoulder, sprang on shore while the boat was
hauled back to the cutter.
There they stood for an instant confronting the most ferocious looking
beings it is possible to conceive in human shape. Their beards were
long, and their hair wet and tangled, and hanging down over their
shoulders, their eye-balls were starting from their heads, and their
limbs were emaciated in the extreme, lacerated, and clotted with blood
and dirt--scarcely any of them having a rag of clothing to cover them.
"Now, my friends, allow us to proceed to a place where we may sit down
and discuss our plans for the future," said Linton, hoping thus to keep
them quiet till he could get nearer the summit of the rock.
"_Waistcoat bien, c'est bien_," they answered. "Monsieur is a man of
sense," said one, with a maniac leer at his companion. "We will allow
him to make merry at our next feast, eh, comrades?"
And they laughed, and shouted at the wit of the poor wretch.
"We will proceed, then," said Linton, who found them pressing on him.
"Push on, Raby, and try and gain the top before these madmen break out
again. Let us advance, messieurs."
"What, and join our enemies in the castle up there?" sneered the maniac,
who had proposed them joining their feast, of the nature of which they
could have little doubt. "No, no. We see that you are no friends of
the French, so over you go to feed the fishes."
As he uttered these words, he made a rush at Linton, who with difficulty
leaped out of his way, when the miserable wretch, unable to stop
himself, ran on till he fell over into the water, where his companions
derided his dying struggles. This attracted the attention of some; but
the others made a rush at Linton, who had just time to draw his cutlass,
and to keep them off from himself and Raby, who, hampered with the
water-cask, could do little to defend himself.
So rapidly had the events I have mentioned taken place, that there was
not time even for the dinghy's return to bring them assistance. Had
Linton chosen to kill his assailants, he might easily have preserved his
own safety; but unwilling to hurt them, unconscious as they were of what
they were about, he was very nearly falling a victim to his own
humanity. As he and Jack Raby sprang up the rock they got round them,
and on a sudden they found themselves attacked from behind. On turning
his head for a moment, a powerful wretch seized his sword by the blade,
and though it was cutting his hands through and through he would not let
it go. At the same instant others threw their arms round his neck, and
were dragging him to the ground, where in all probability they would
instantly have destroyed him, when two persons sprang down from the top
of the rock with heavy spars in their hands, and striking right and left
on the heads of the maniacs, compelled them to let go their hold, and
allow Linton and Raby to spring to their feet.
"Now, sir, now is your time!" exclaimed one of their deliverers. "Up to
the fortress before they rally. They have had such a lesson that they
will not think of coming there again."
Neither of the officers required a second call, and in an instant they
were in front of the tent.
"You have brought us water, sir. Thank Heaven, the breaker has not been
injured!" exclaimed the man, who had aided them so effectually, taking
it from Raby's shoulder, who poured out some into a cup which he had
brought for the purpose. As he did so Raby examined his countenance,
which, though haggard and emaciated, he recognised as belonging to an
old friend.
"What, Bowse!" he cried. "Is it you?--I am, indeed, glad to find that
you have escaped from the pirates, though we find you in a sorry
condition enough."
"Ah, Mr Raby, I knew the _Ione_ at once, and glad I am to see you,"
answered Bowse, filling the cup with water. He was about to carry it to
his own mouth, but by a powerful effort he restrained himself,
muttering, "There are others want it more than I do."
And he handed it to Linton, pointing to one of the sufferers on the
ground. Linton took the cup, and pouring a few drops of brandy into it,
gave it to the person indicated.
"What!" he exclaimed, as he did so. "Do I, indeed, see Colonel
Gauntlett? Tell me, sir, is Miss Garden here? I need not say how much
it will relieve the mind of Captain Fleetwood to know that she is safe."