FACE TO FACE
With her head to the wind the pirate vessel Revenge bore down slowly
upon the King and Queen, now lying to and awaiting her. The stiff breeze
was growing stiffer and the sea was rising. The experienced eye of Paul
Bittern, the sailing-master of the pirate, now told him that it would be
dangerous to approach the brig near enough to make fast to her, even for
the minute which Captain Bonnet craved--the minute which would have been
long enough for a couple of sturdy fellows to toss on board the prize
that exasperating human indictment, Ben Greenway.
"We cannot do it," shouted Black Paul to Bonnet, "we shall run too near
her as it is. Shall we let fly at short range and riddle her hull?"
Captain Bonnet did not immediately answer; the situation puzzled him. He
wanted very much to put the Scotchman on board the brig, and after that
he did not care what happened. But before he could speak, there appeared
on the rail of the King and Queen, holding fast to a shroud, the figure
of a young man, who put his hand to his mouth and hailed:
"Throw me a line! Throw me a line!"
Such an extraordinary request at such a time naturally amazed the
pirates, and they stood staring, as they crowded along the side of their
vessel.
"If you are not going to board her," shouted Dickory again, "throw me a
line!"
Filled with curiosity to know what this strange proceeding meant, Black
Paul ordered that a line be thrown, and, in a moment, a tall fellow
seized a coil of light rope and hurled it through the air in the
direction of the brig; but the rope fell short, and the outer end of it
disappeared beneath the water. Now the spirit of Black Paul was up. If
the fellow on the brig wanted a line he wanted to come aboard, and if he
wanted to come aboard, he should do so. So he seized a heavier coil and,
swinging it around his head, sent it, with tremendous force, towards
Dickory, who made a wild grab at it and caught it.
Although a comparatively light line, it was a long one, and the slack of
it was now in the water, so that Dickory had to pull hard upon it before
he could grasp enough of it to pass around his body. He had scarcely
done this, and had made a knot in it, before a lurch of the brig brought
a strain on the rope, and he was incontinently jerked overboard.
The crew of the merchantman, who had not had time to comprehend what the
young fellow was about to do, would have grasped him had he remained on
the rail a moment longer, but now he was gone into the sea, and, working
vigorously with his legs and arms, was endeavouring to keep his head
above water while the pirates at the other end of the rope pulled him
swiftly towards their vessel.
Great was the excitement on board the Revenge. Why should a man from a
merchantman endeavour, alone, to board a vessel which flew the Jolly
Roger? Did he wish to join the crew? Had they been ill-treating him on
board the brig? Was he a criminal endeavouring to escape from the
officers of the law? It was impossible to answer any of these questions,
and so the swarthy rascals pulled so hard and so steadily upon the line
that the knot in it, which Dickory had not tied properly, became a
slipknot, and the poor fellow's breath was nearly squeezed out of him as
he was hauled over the rough water. When he reached the vessel's side
there was something said about lowering a ladder, but the men who were
hauling on the line were in a hurry to satisfy their curiosity, so up
came Dickory straight from the water to the rail, and that proceeding
so increased the squeezing that the poor fellow fell upon the deck
scarcely able to gasp. When the rope was loosened the half-drowned and
almost breathless Dickory raised himself and gave two or three deep
breaths, but he could not speak, despite the fact that a dozen rough
voices were asking him who he was and what he wanted.
With the water pouring from him in streams, and his breath coming from
him in puffs, he looked about him with great earnestness.
Suddenly a man rushed through the crowd of pirates and stooped to look
at the person who had so strangely come aboard. Then he gave a shout.
"It is Dickory Charter," he cried, "Dickory Charter, the son o' old Dame
Charter! Ye Dickory! an' how in the name o' all that's blessed did ye
come here? Master Bonnet! Master Bonnet!" he shouted to the captain, who
now stood by, "it is young Dickory Charter, of Bridgetown. He was on
board this vessel before we sailed, wi' Mistress Kate an' me. The last
time I saw her he was wi' her."
"What!" exclaimed Bonnet, "with my daughter?"
"Ay, ay!" said Greenway, "it must have been a little before she went on
shore."
"Young man!" cried Bonnet, stooping towards Dickory, "when did you last
see my daughter? Do you know anything of her?"
The young man opened his mouth, but he could not yet do much in the way
of speaking, but he managed to gasp, "I come from her, I am bringing you
a message."
"A message from Kate!" shouted Bonnet, now in a state of wild
excitement. "Here you, Greenway, lift up the other arm, and we will take
him to my cabin. Quick, man! Quick, man! he must have some spirits and
dry clothes. Make haste now! A message from my daughter!"
"If that's so," said Greenway, as he and Bonnet hurried the young man
aft, "ye'd better no' be in too great haste to get his message out o'
him or ye'll kill him wi' pure recklessness."
Bonnet took the advice, and before many minutes Dickory was in dry
clothes and feeling the inspiriting influence of a glass of good old
rum. Now came Black Paul, wanting to know if he should sink the brig and
be done with her, for they couldn't lie by in such weather.
"Don't you fire on that ship!" yelled Bonnet, "don't you dare it! For
all I know, my daughter may be on board of her."
At this Dickory shook his head. "No," said he, "she is not on board."
"Then let her go," cried Bonnet, "I have no time to fool with the
beggarly hulk. Let her go! I have other business here. And now, sir,"
addressing Dickory, "what of my daughter? You have got your breath now,
tell me quickly! What is your message from her? When did you sail from
Bridgetown? Did she expect me to overhaul that brig? How in the name of
all the devils could she expect that?"
"Come, come now, Master Bonnet!" exclaimed the Scotchman, "ye are
talkin' o' your daughter, the good an' beautiful Mistress Kate, an' no
matter whether ye are a pirate or no, ye must keep a guard on your
tongue. An' if ye think she knew where to find ye, ye must consider her
an angel an' no' to be spoken o' in the same breath as de'ils."
"I didn't sail from Bridgetown," said Dickory, "and your daughter is not
there. I come from Jamaica, where she now is, and was bound to
Bridgetown to seek news of you, hoping that you had returned there."
"Which, if he had," said Ben, who found it very difficult to keep quiet,
"ye would hae been under the necessity o' givin' your message to his
bones hangin' in chains."
Bonnet looked savagely at Ben, but he had no time even to curse.
"Jamaica!" he cried, "how did she get there? Tell me quickly, sir--tell
me quickly! Do you hear?"
Dickory was now quite recovered and he told his story, not too quickly,
and with much attention to details. Even the account of the unusual
manner in which he and Kate had disembarked from the pirate vessel was
given without curtailment, nor with any attention to the approving
grunts of Ben Greenway. When he came to speak of the letter which Mr.
Newcombe had written her, and which had thrown her into such despair on
account of its shortcomings, Captain Bonnet burst into a fury of
execration.
"And she never got my letter?" he cried, "and knew not what had happened
to me. It is that wife of mine, that cruel wild-cat! I sent the letter
to my house, thinking, of course, it would find my daughter there. For
where else should she be?"
"An' a maist extraordinary wise mon ye were to do that," said Ben
Greenway, "for ye might hae known, if ye had ever thought o' it at all,
that the place where your wife was, was the place where your daughter
couldna be, an' ye no' wi' her. If ye had spoke to me about it, it would
hae gone to Mr. Newcombe, an' then ye'd hae known that she'd be sure to
get it."
At this a slight cloud passed over Dickory's face, and, in spite of the
misfortunes which had followed upon the non-delivery of her father's
letter, he could not help congratulating himself that it had not been
sent to the care of that man Newcombe. He had not had time to formulate
the reasons why this proceeding would have been so distasteful to him,
but he wanted Martin Newcombe to have nothing to do with the good or bad
fortune of Mistress Kate, whose champion he had become and whose father
he had found, and to whom he was now talking, face to face.
The three talked for a long time, during which Black Paul had put the
vessel about upon her former course, and was sailing swiftly to the
north. As Dickory went on, Bonnet ceased to curse, but, over and over,
blessed his brother-in-law, as a good man and one of the few worthy to
take into his charge the good and beautiful. Stede Bonnet had always
been very fond of his daughter, and, now, as it became known to him into
what desperate and direful condition his reckless conduct had thrown
her, he loved her more and more, and grieved greatly for the troubles he
had brought upon her.
"But it'll be all right now," he cried, "she's with her good uncle, who
will show her the most gracious kindness, both for her mother's sake and
for her own; and I will see to it that she be not too heavy a charge
upon him."
"As for ye, Dickory," exclaimed Greenway, "ye're a brave boy an' will
yet come to be an' honour to yer mither's declining years an' to the
memory o' your father. But how did ye ever come to think o' boardin'
this nest o' sea-de'ils, an' at such risk to your life?"
"I did it," said Dickory simply, "because Mistress Kate's father was
here, and I was bound to come to him wherever I should find him, for
that was my main errand. They told me on the brig that it was Captain
Bonnet's ship that was overhauling us, and I vowed that as soon as she
boarded us I would seek him out and give him her message; and when I
heard that the sea was getting too heavy for you to board us, I
determined to come on board if I could get hold of a line."
"Young man," cried Bonnet, rising to his full height and swelling his
chest, "I bestow upon you a father's blessing. More than that"--and as
he spoke he pulled open a drawer of a small locker--"here's a bag of
gold pieces, and when you take my answer you shall have another like
it."
But Dickory did not reach out his hand for the money, nor did he say a
word.
"Don't be afraid," cried Bonnet. "If you have any religious scruples, I
will tell you that this gold I did not get by piracy. It is part of my
private fortune, and came as honestly to me as I now give it to you."
But Dickory did not reach out his hand.
Now up spoke Ben Greenway: "Look ye, boy," said he, "as long as there's
a chance left o' gettin' honest gold on board this vessel, I pray ye,
seize it, an' if ye're afraid o' this gold, thinkin' it may be smeared
wi' the blood o' fathers an' the tears o' mithers, I'll tell ye ane
thing, an' that is, that Master Bonnet hasna got to be so much o' a
pirate that he willna tell the truth. So I'll tak' the money for ye,
Dickory, an' I'll keep it till ye're ready to tak' it to your mither;
an' I hope that will be soon."