"Repel Boarders!"
The three vessels had now ceased firing, and from under their sterns
six large boats, crowded with armed men, were being pulled straight
towards us with all their rowers' might.
We could see the water foaming at their bows, and hear the splash of
the oars as they dipped with rapidity and regularity, while the sun
glistened on gun barrel, pike, and cutlass.
Unmolested they passed between the two arms of the harbour, then,
having drawn into line, they separated, three boats making for each
of our vessels.
Suddenly the order was given to open fire. The guns were run out,
and the _Golden Hope_ quivered from truck to keelson with the roar
of her ordnance. The _Neptune_ followed suit, while the stockade
ashore added to the din.
The calm water around the boats was transformed into a veritable
cauldron, and it seemed impossible that a single boat could remain
afloat in that iron hail.
Although taken completely by surprise, the buccaneers were made of
stern stuff, and before the smoke cleared away sufficiently to
enable us to see the result of our united broadsides, they were
swarming up over our tall sides.
"Repel boarders!" thundered Captain Jeremy, waving his cutlass as he
sprang to meet the attack. Nobly our men responded, and midst the
sharp crack of pistols, the groans of the wounded, and the sharp
exclamations of fury, cutlass crossed with cutlass and pike
encountered pike.
I found myself opposed to a villainous halfcaste, clad only in a
pair of drawers, and armed with a large cutlass. In spite of my
efforts, for I possessed both skill and strength far beyond my age,
I soon found that I had all my work cut out, for my opponent whirled
his blade with great force and rapidity. Twice, however, I put in a
thrust beneath his guard, wounding him slightly on the hip and on
the right shoulder. Yet in spite of this slight advantage I was
slowly and surely being driven back, when, tripping over a broken
spar, I fell heavily.
Every instant I expected to feel the sweep of the pirate's cutlass,
but the blow never came. So I took courage and raised myself on my
elbow, and, to my surprise, I found my late antagonist engaged in a
hand-to-hand fight with the man who had been brought before Captain
Jeremy for skulking in the hold.
All sense of fear had apparently left the latter. I heard afterwards
that he had received a slight wound in his left arm, and the pain
had transformed him into a veritable demon. Shouting, "Let me have a
rub at the brutes!" he seized an iron bar, and met the onrushing
buccaneers with the utmost fury. Two men had already gone down
before his ponderous weapon ere, fortunately for me, he diverted the
attention of the mulatto just as he had me at his mercy.
Even as I looked the iron bar crashed past the pirate's uplifted
cutlass and, descending on the half-caste's head, stretched him
lifeless on the deck; but in the moment of victory a chance pistol
shot laid the erstwhile coward over the body of his antagonist.
It seemed at this juncture that the buccaneers would succeed in
carrying the _Golden Hope_, till Clemens, the Cornishman whom we had
rescued from the Algerine vessel, clambered up the shattered poop
ladder, and, training one of the swivel guns, which fortunately was
loaded, upon the thickest of the press of our enemies, fired a heavy
charge of small shot with deadly effect.
Then, headed by Captain Jeremy and the master gunner, our men made a
determined rush, and, still contesting every inch of our planks, the
buccaneers were forced back over the side.
A hurried glance showed that the _Neptune_ had also succeeded in
beating off her attackers, and was already resuming her fire upon
the retreating boats.
Without pausing to regain their breath, our men also remanned their
guns and poured a destructive broadside on the boats, of which three
had been sunk when we first opened fire. Two more disappeared amidst
a swirl of shot-torn water, while the sole remaining boat, moving
slowly, for most of her oars had been shattered and she was more
than half-full, managed by little short of a miracle to regain her
parent ship.
But there was no respite for our weary crew, for the three
buccaneering craft resumed their fire. It being comparatively
feeble, we knew that their guns were now ill-served, and that they
were only firing to aid their escape.
"Aim carefully! Wing 'em!" shouted the master gunner, as he passed
along the line of guns, some, alas! silent for want of a crew. In
spite of his cautions, however, our men, elated with their victory,
fired rapidly and erratically; but as the buccaneers made haste to
sheer off, the mainmast of one came crashing over the side, while
the others' spars were in a tottering state.
We could see the discomfited crew of the former vessel attack the
wreckage with axes in an attempt to free themselves from the fatal
encumbrance, but ere this could be done their ship drifted on to a
shoal.
The remaining vessels were more fortunate. Slowly tacking, they drew
beyond range, and having picked up the survivors of their consort
who, on finding their vessel aground, had abandoned her, they gained
the open sea.
"Man the long-boat and make sure of yonder craft!" shouted Captain
Jeremy. "Let go her anchors when you get aboard, or she may float
off with the rising tide."
Even as he spoke there was a crashing report, and, clapping his
hands to his head, our gallant Captain staggered and fell senseless
to the deck.
One of the buccaneers, who had been left for dead on our deck, had
treacherously shot him at almost point-blank range.
With a howl of rage some of our men threw themselves upon the
villain and dispatched him with their cutlasses, while others
hastened to raise Captain Jeremy and bear him into his cabin.
There we found that the wound, though dangerous, might not prove
mortal. The bullet had ploughed a furrow just above the temple, and
though the place bled profusely, Captain Jeremy soon recovered his
senses.
His first thought was of the disabled buccaneering vessel. "Hath the
long-boat pushed off yet?" he asked. "No? Then bid them go at once."
"Master Hammond," said Touchstone, on whom the command of the
_Golden Hope_ now devolved, "do you take charge of the boat. You
know your orders?"
"Yes, sir," I replied.
"Then carry them out--but, hark'ee, mind how you board. Be careful;
make sure she is quite deserted, and straightway examine her hold. I
know the villains; unless I am much mistaken, they will have left a
slow match to the magazine."
Taking my place in the stern sheets, I ordered the boat to give way,
feeling highly elated at my first command, yet, withal, having a
presentiment that 'twas a hazardous enterprise.
Half-way across the harbour we came upon the shattered bow of one of
the pirates' boats floating just awash, while all around were pieces
of planks, showing how effectual and destructive our fire had been.
The other boats that had been destroyed must have sunk with the
weight of their contents, for we saw no signs of them.
The deserted ship lay with her bow towards the reef on the larboard
side of the channel, and having received several shot-holes 'twixt
wind and water, had settled down somewhat, till the sea lapped her
after ports.
"She's safe enough, sir!" exclaimed one of the boat's crew, looking
over his shoulder at the wreck, as he rested on his oar. "Her hold
is full of water. That'll put out any trains, if the villains have
left them."
I was of the same opinion, so, having rowed completely round the
stranded ship, which seemed quite deserted, I gave the word to run
alongside.
Bidding all the men save one to remain in the boat, I made sure of
the priming of my pistols, then swinging myself up the side by means
of the cordage of the broken mainmast, I gained the deck.
It was deserted, save for the corpses of some half a dozen men who
had been slain by the discharge of our ordnance, most of them being
shockingly mangled.
A hurried yet cautious search revealed a like state of things in the
after cabins, while the fo'c'sle was also empty. Peering down the
main hatch I saw that, as we had expected, the main hold was
flooded, though amidships the depth of water was but a foot.
Making fast one end of a rope, for there was no sign of a ladder, I
threw the other end down the hatchway, and by this means gained the
sloping planks of the hold. Ankle deep in water, I made my way
forward, till in the dim light I perceived a stout bulkhead running
athwartships and pierced by a little sliding door, or hatch.
Owing to the slight list of the ship this door had jammed, so that
it required considerable effort ere I opened it sufficiently to
enable me to squeeze through.
Within it seemed as black as the darkest night, till I saw a sight
that caused me to be rooted to the spot. Softly fizzing and
spluttering within a few inches of two tiers of sinister-looking
barrels was a fuse!