MR. DELAPLAINE LEADS A BOARDING PARTY
Steadily southward sailed the brig Black Swan which bore upon its decks
the happy Mander family and our poor friend Dickory, carrying with him
his lifelong destiny in the shape of the blood-stained letter from
Captain Vince.
The sackcloth draperies of Lucilla, with the red cord lightly tied about
them, had given place to a very ordinary gown fashioned by her mother
and herself, which added so few charms to her young face and sparkling
eyes that Dickory often thought that he wished there were some bushes on
deck so that she might stand behind them and let him see only her face,
as he had seen it when first he met her. But he saw the pretty face a
great deal, for Lucilla was very anxious to know things, and asked many
questions about Barbadoes, and also asked if there was any probability
that the brig would go straight on to that lovely island without
bothering to stop at Jamaica. It was during such talks as this that
Dickory forgot, when he did forget, the blood-stained letter that he
carried with him always.
Our young friend still wore the naval uniform, although in coming on the
brig he had changed it for some rough sailor's clothes. But Lucilla had
besought him to be again a brave lieutenant.
They sailed and they sailed, and there was but little wind, and that
from the south and against them. But Lucilla did not complain at their
slow progress. The slowest vessel in the world was preferable just now
to a desert island which never moved.
Davids was at the wheel and Mander stood near him. These old friends had
not yet finished talking about what had happened in the days since they
had seen each other. Mrs. Mander sat, not far away, still making
clothes, and the little Lena was helping her in her childlike way.
Lucilla and Dickory were still talking about Barbadoes. There never was
a girl who wanted to know so much about an island as that girl wanted to
know about Barbadoes.
Suddenly there was a shout from above.
"What's that?" asked Mander.
"A sail," said Davids, peering out over the sea but able to see nothing.
Lucilla and Dickory did not cease talking. At that moment Lucilla did
not care greatly about sails, there was so much to be said about
Barbadoes.
There was a good deal of talking forward, and after a while the captain
walked to the quarter-deck. He was a gruff man and his face was
troubled.
"I am sorry to say," he growled, "that the ship we have sighted is a
pirate; she flies the black flag."
Now there was no more talk about Barbadoes, or what had happened to old
friends, and the sewing dropped on the deck. Those poor Manders were
chilled to the soul. Were they again to be taken by pirates?
"Captain," cried Mander, "what can we do, can we run away from them?"
"We could not run away from their guns," growled the captain, "and there
is nothing to do. They intend to take this brig, and that's the reason
they have run up their skull and bones. They are bearing directly down
upon us with a fair wind; they will be firing a gun presently, and then
I shall lay to and wait for them."
Mander stepped towards Dickory and Lucilla; his voice was husky as he
said: "We cannot expect, my dear, that we shall again be captured by
forbearing pirates. I shall kill my wife and little daughter rather than
they shall fall into the bloody hands of ordinary pirates, and to you,
sir, I will commit the care of my Lucilla. If this vessel is delivered
over to a horde of savages, I pray you, plunge your dirk into her
heart."
"Yes," said Lucilla, clinging to the arm of Dickory, "if those fierce
pirates shall attack us, we will die together."
Dickory shook his head. In an awful moment such as this he could hold
out no illusions. "No," said he, "I cannot die with you; I have a duty
before me, and until it is accomplished I cannot willingly give up my
life. I must rather be even a pirate's slave than that. But I will
accept your father's charge; should there be need, I will kill you."
"Thank you very much," said Lucilla coolly.
To the surprise of the people on the Black Swan there came no shot from
the approaching pirate; but as she still bore down upon them, running
before the wind, the captain of the brig lay to and lowered his flag.
Submission now was all there was before them. No man on the brig took up
arms, nor did the crew form themselves into any show of resistance; that
would have but made matters worse.
As the pirate vessel came on, nearer and nearer, a great number of men
could be seen stretched along her deck, and some brass cannon were
visible trained upon the unfortunate brig.
But, to the surprise of the captain of the Black Swan, and of nearly
everybody on board of her, the pirate did not run down upon her to make
fast and board. Instead of that, she put about into the wind and lay to
less than a quarter of a mile away. Then two boats were lowered and
filled with men, who rowed towards the brig.
"They have special reasons for our capture," said the captain to those
who were crowding about him; "he may be well laden now with plunder, and
comes to us for our gold and silver. Or it may be that he merely wants
the brig. If that be so, he can quickly rid himself of us."
That was a cruel speech when women had to hear it, but the captain was a
rough fellow.
The boats came on as quietly as if they were about to land at a
neighbouring pier. Dickory and Lucilla cautiously peeped over the rail,
Dickory without his hat, and Lucilla, hiding herself, all but a part of
her face, behind him; the Manders crouched together on the deck, the
father with glaring eyes and a knife in his hand. The crew stood, with
their hats removed and their chins lowered, waiting for what might
happen next.
Up to this time Dickory had shown no signs of fear, although his mind
was terribly tossed and disturbed; for, whatever might happen to him, it
possibly would be the end of that mission which was now the only object
of his life. But he grated his teeth together and awaited his fate.
But now, as the boats came nearer, he began to tremble, and gradually
his knees shook under him.
"I would not have believed that he was such a coward as that," thought
Lucilla.
The boats neared the ship and were soon made fast; every help was
offered by the crew of the brig, and not a sign of resistance was shown.
The leader of the pirates mounted to the deck, followed by the greater
part of his men.
For a moment Captain Ichabod glanced about him, and then, addressing the
captain of the brig, he said: "This is all very well. I am glad to see
that you have sense enough to take things as you find them, and not to
stir up a fracas and make trouble. I overhauled you that I might lay in
a stock of provisions, and some wine and spirits besides, having no
desire, if you treat us rightly, to despoil you further. So, we shall
have no more words about it, bedad, and if you will set your men to work
to get on deck such stores as my quarter-master here may demand of you,
we shall get through this business quickly. In the meantime, lower two
or three boats, so that your men can row the goods over to my vessel."
The captain of the Black Swan simply bowed his head and turned away to
obey orders, while Captain Ichabod stepped a little aft and began to
survey the captured vessel. As soon as his back was turned, the captain
of the brig was approached by a very respectable elderly gentleman,
apparently not engaged either in the mercantile marine or in piratical
pursuits, who stopped him and said: "Sir, my name is Felix Delaplaine,
merchant, of Spanish Town, Jamaica. I am, against my will, engaged in
this piratical attack upon your vessel, but I wish to assure you
privately that I will not consent to have you robbed of your property,
and that, although some of your provisions may be taken by these
pirates, I here promise, as an honourable gentleman, to pay you the full
value of all that they seize upon."
The captain of the Black Swan had no opportunity to make an answer to
this most extraordinary statement, for at that moment a naval officer,
shouting at the top of his voice, came rushing towards the respectable
gentleman who had just been making such honourable proposals. Almost at
the same moment there was a great shout from Captain Ichabod, who,
drawing his cutlass from its sheath, raised the glittering blade and
dashed in pursuit of the naval gentleman.
"Hold there! Hold there!" cried the pirate. "Don't you touch him; don't
you lay your hand upon him!"
But Ichabod was not quick enough. Dickory, swift as a stag, stretched
out both his arms and threw them around the neck of the amazed Mr.
Delaplaine.
Now the pirate Ichabod reached the two; his great sword went high in
air, and was about to descend upon the naval person, whoever he was,
who had made such an unprovoked attack upon his honoured passenger,
when his arm was caught by some one from behind. Turning, with a great
curse, his eyes fell upon the face of a young girl.
[Illustration: Lucilla rescues Dickory.]
"Oh, don't kill him! Don't kill him!" she cried, "he will hurt nobody;
he is only hugging the old gentleman."
Captain Ichabod looked from the girl to the two men, who were actually
embracing each other. Dickory's back was towards him, but the face of
Mr. Delaplaine fairly glowed with delight.
"Oho!" said Ichabod, turning to Lucilla, "and what does this mean,
bedad?"
"I don't know," she answered, "but the gentleman in the uniform is a
good man. Perhaps the other one is his father."
"To my eyes," said Captain Ichabod, "this is a most fearsome mix."
The Mander family, and nearly everybody else on board, crowded about the
little group, gazing with all their eyes but asking no questions.
"Captain Ichabod," exclaimed Mr. Delaplaine, holding Dickory by the
hand, "this is one of the two persons you were taking us to find. This
is Dickory Charter, the son of good Dame Charter, now on your vessel. He
went away with Blackbeard, and we were in search of him."
"Oho!" cried Captain Ichabod, "by my life I believe it. That's the
young fellow that Blackbeard dressed up in a cocked hat and took away
with him."
"I am the same person, sir," said Dickory.
"So far so good," said Captain Ichabod. "I am very glad that I did not
bring down my cutlass on you, which I should have done, bedad, had it
not been for this young woman."
Now up spoke Mr. Delaplaine. "We have found you, Dickory," he cried,
"but what can you tell us of Major Bonnet?"
"Ay, ay," added Captain Ichabod, "there's another one we're after;
where's the runaway Sir Nightcap?"
"Alas!" said Dickory, "I do not know. I escaped from Blackbeard, and
since that day have heard nothing. I had supposed that Captain Bonnet
was in your company, Mr. Delaplaine."
Now the captain of the Black Swan pushed himself forward. "Is it Captain
Bonnet, lately of the pirate ship Revenge, that you're talking about?"
he asked. "If so, I may tell you something of him. I am lately from
Charles Town, and the talk there was that Blackbeard was lying outside
the harbour in Stede Bonnet's old vessel, and that Bonnet had lately
joined him. I did not venture out of port until I had had certain news
that these pirates had sailed northward. They had two or three ships,
and the talk was that they were bound to the Virginias, and perhaps
still farther north. They were fitted out for a long cruise."
"Gone again!" exclaimed Mr. Delaplaine in a hoarse voice. "Gone again!"
Captain Ichabod's face grew clouded.
"Gone north of Charles Town," he exclaimed, "that's bad, bedad, that's
very bad. You are sure he did not sail southward?" he asked of the
captain of the brig.
That gruff mariner was in a strange state of mind. He had just been
captured by a pirate, and in the next moment had made, what might be a
very profitable sale, to a respectable merchant, of the goods the pirate
was about to take from him. Moreover, the said pirate seemed to be in
the employ of said merchant, and altogether, things seemed to him to be
in as fearsome a mix as they had seemed to Captain Ichabod, but he
brought his mind down to the question he had been asked.
"No doubt about that," said he; "there were some of his men in the
town--for they are afraid of nobody--and they were not backward in
talking."
"That upsets things badly," said Captain Ichabod, without unclouding his
brow. "With my slow vessel and my empty purse, bedad, I don't see how I
am ever goin' to catch Blackbeard if he has gone north. Finding
Blackbeard would have been a handful of trumps to me, but the game seems
to be up, bedad."
The captain of the brig and Ichabod's quarter-master went away to
attend to the transfer of the needed goods to the Restless. Mander, with
his wife and little daughter, were standing together gazing with
amazement at the strange pirates who had come aboard, while Lucilla
stepped up to Dickory, who stood silent, with his eyes on the deck.
"Can you tell me what this means?" said she.
For a moment he did not answer, and then he said: "I don't know
everything myself, but I must presently go on board that vessel."
"What!" exclaimed Lucilla, stepping back. "Is she there?"
"Yes," said Dickory.