Captain Craddock
Fired with impatience to solve the mystery, Captain 'Enery rowed
ashore and proceeded to the stockade, there to await Touchstone's
return; and in half an hour the expedition rejoined us. There were,
as Captain 'Enery had said, at least a score of strangers, all well
armed and mingling freely with our people in a friendly manner;
while at Touchstone's side walked a man who was evidently someone in
authority.
He was little in stature, yet of great breadth across the shoulders,
and long in body. His legs seemed disproportionately short, so that
he strutted like a young bantam. He was clean shaven, his sunburnt
features being hard in expression, while the stern glint in his eyes
betokened a commanding nature.
"Have I the honour of addressing Captain Henry?" asked the little
man pompously.
"Cap'n 'Enery, if it please you," replied that worthy. "And you,
sir?"
"I am Captain Edmund Craddock, commanding His Majesty's ship
_Antelope_. I am beholden to your men for their co-operation in
assisting to exterminate this nest of rascally pirates; but, in the
execution of my duty, I must demand to see your warrant for your
presence on this island with an armed force."
"That can be shown you on board the _Golden Hope_, your honour,"
replied Captain 'Enery.
"I trust so, for your own sakes," the other said; "therefore let us
proceed on board her."
"He's a cool game-cock," remarked Clemens in an undertone to the
master gunner, as we followed Captain 'Enery and the naval officer
to the boats. "Why, for all he knows he may be running into a den of
pirates!"
"I'll tell you more of him anon," replied Touchstone; "but take it
from me, he knows his business."
On boarding the _Golden Hope_, Captain Craddock, accompanied by
Captain 'Enery, retired to the cabin where Captain Jeremy was lying.
Here they remained talking for more than an hour; but the interview
must have been satisfactory all round, for on returning to the
quarter-deck I saw the naval captain produce his snuff-box and offer
it with a grave flourish to Captain 'Enery.
"Well, I wish you joy on it," I heard him remark. "If you find the
treasure, for I've no doubt that it is on the island, you'll be far
luckier than a good many. With your permission, I'll remain your
guest till my vessel arrives."
"Does she know the channel?"
"As well as she knows her way into Spithead," replied the other,
laughing. "Do you think I've cruised among these islands for the
last twenty years, off and on, for nothing?"
Meanwhile the men who had accompanied Touchstone were gathered on
the fo'c'sle, surrounded by a group of eager listeners, all anxious
to hear the story of the pursuit; and at the same time the master
gunner was relating the tale to the bos'n, the quartermaster, and
myself.
"We covered the path through the forest in double-quick time," said
he; "and directly we gained the crossroads that Captain Miles had
hit upon we turned to the right. A mile farther on this road forked,
the larger or left-hand path apparently making towards the pirates'
settlement. As I thought 'twould be better to set an ambush as far
from that place as possible, I took our men by the right-hand path,
and finished up at a little cove, where three small boats were
hauled up, quite deserted."
"There we took cover, for there were rocks in plenty, the seaside
path running betwixt the boulders and a low cliff. We had not been
there more than a couple of hours ere Jonas Cook, who had been sent
off to keep a look-out, came running back with the news that the
buccaneers were close at hand."
"On they came, quite unsuspectingly, straggling over a quarter of a
mile of ground. This was bad for us, for our ambush would not allow
every man of them to be surprised; so we let the head of the column
pass, and then I gave the word to fire."
"We bowled a lot of them over like skittles those who had already
passed broke and fled, but those in the rear, instead of running
away, dashed towards us with pistol and cutlass. Although we gave
them another volley, they still came on, till, being outnumbered,
most of them were cut down. The remnant, escaping our fire, broke
through our ambush and followed those who had gone on ahead."
"Wouldn't they have done better if they had run back and taken cover
in the woods?" asked the quartermaster.
"I am right glad they didn't, or we should have had our work cut out
to run them down," replied Touchstone. "They feared that a party was
at their heels to complete the trap, and therefore they chose to run
the gauntlet of our fire. But 'twas all the better for us."
"How so?"
"Why, we had them all in front of us. We pursued them for close on a
mile, till from the top of a hill we saw a harbour larger than this,
with a group of houses surrounded by a stockade on one side of it.
And in the middle of the harbour were two large ships. Before the
rascally villains could reach this fort a body of men rushed out.
'This is too many for us,' I thought, and I was about to beat a
retreat when I saw the new-comers open fire on the runaways, who
straightway laid down their arms and were instantly secured."
"Then I saw for the first time that both the vessels flew English
colours, and when we had made ourselves known we found out that they
were the frigate _Antelope_ and the buccaneering craft _Secret_,
which had been captured the day before. We won't be troubled with
those rascals again, at all events, for the _Antelope_ sank the two
that escaped from here and, as I said, took the third. But----"
"Sail, ho!"
"Whither away?" shouted the bos'n, our conversation terminating
abruptly with the interruption.
Gliding round the end of the reef by a channel of which we ourselves
were ignorant came a graceful frigate, the setting sun gleaming on
her brown canvas and her black-and-yellow sides, while the red cross
of St. George streamed proudly in the breeze.
Smartly handled, she worked her way in through the narrow,
land-locked entrance; then luffing up into the wind, she dropped
anchor within a cable's length of the _Golden Hope_.
"What think ye of her, gentlemen?" asked Captain Craddock, with
justifiable pride. "I'll warrant she's the smartest 40-gun frigate
afloat, even though I, her captain, say it."
No one would have thought, to see the gallant vessel, that she had
been in action with three buccaneers but two or three days ago. Her
ports, picked out in vermilion, had been repainted, while every spar
and rope was intact. Yet, on closer inspection, a number of neatly
plugged holes in her sheering sides showed how fierce had been the
engagement.
"We'll lie here for a few days," continued Captain Craddock, as his
barge came alongside to take him back to the frigate. "If we can be
of service to you in the matter of spare spars, cordage, or gear,
you have but to say so."
Captain Craddock was as good as his word, and, thanks to his
assistance, not only were our wounded carefully tended by the
chirurgeon of the frigate, but the work of refitting the _Golden
Hope_ and the _Neptune_ proceeded far more rapidly than we had
expected, so that when the _Antelope_ weighed and set sail for Port
Royal, our two ships looked little the worse for the severe ordeal
they had undergone.
Meanwhile Captain Jeremy continued to progress favourably, yet
slowly. In this interval we could do nothing towards recovering the
_Madre_ treasure, so it is little wonder that time hung heavily on
our hands.
One morning I landed with the intention of walking along the cliffs
to the place where the _Madre_ had first gone ashore ere she had
slipped back into deep water. With me went one of the seamen, for
'twas unwise to stray far from the stockade alone. We were both
armed, the man carrying his cutlass and a pistol in his belt, while
I had a fowling-piece.
In less than an hour we gained the summit of the cliff, which was
there about one hundred feet in height, though divided into two
sheer drops of half that distance by a terrace or ledge, about six
feet in width.
"See yon dark line in the water?" asked the Seaman. "'Tis the
deep-water channel across the shoal by which the frigate came into
harbour. I heard Cap'n 'Enery and the bos'n say as 'ow they were
going to sound it. When we get out of 'ere--when, I says, with all
due respect to you, Master Hammond--we ought to take yon passage and
save a couple of leagues through the other one by which we came."
"There's a boat putting off from the _Golden Hope_ now," I
exclaimed.
"That be it for sartain. Howsomever, I'd liefer be here than
sounding all day in the broiling sun."
"What a number of sea-birds!" I said, pointing to the face of the
lower cliff, about which thousands of white, grey, and black gulls
and cormorants were darting in and out of the crevices, making a
continuous din. "Are they good for food? If so, I'll have a shot at
some of them."
"Too fishy to my liking," replied the man, as he settled himself on
the grass and proceeded to fill a short black pipe. "Their eggs
ain't so bad, though. I've a mind to come 'ere with a rope, like I
used to do at home. I'm a Portland man, I am, and know how to go
bird-nesting. But if you want to, you can try a shot at 'em. I'll
bring up 'ere for a spell and have a pipe. But mind you don't go too
near the edge; it might give way."
Accordingly I shouldered my piece and walked towards a gap in the
cliffs where, I could see, a natural path led to the lower ledge.
For a moment I hesitated, for a false step would send me crashing
upon the rocky platform below, with the prospect of a further tumble
of fifty feet into the sea. But being cool-headed and now well
accustomed to dizzy heights, I began to descend.
The path was little more than a succession of rough steps, covered
with the deserted nests of sea-fowl, here and there partially hidden
by a few tufts of coarse grass. I had to exercise considerable
caution to prevent myself slipping, but at length I reached the
ledge or platform without mishap.
Here I took cover behind a detached boulder to allow the birds to
return, for my presence had alarmed them, so that they had
temporarily flown farther afield.
I had primed my musket and laid it within arm's length, and was
patiently awaiting their reappearance, when a dark shadow fell
athwart the rock.
Instinctively I turned my head to ascertain the cause, when a hand
was clapped over my mouth, and I felt the contact of a man's knees
with the small of my back.
I was a prisoner.