THE REVOLT OF THE SLAVES.
The _Santa Maria_ returned to Panama. The governor had no further need
of her for a while, so she lay anchored about two cables' length from
the quay. The slaves remained aboard, still chained to their benches.
The chain that went around their waists was attached to another piece
fastened to a ring in the seat itself. This attached piece was just
long enough to allow a man to rise and stand upright, but it gave him
no chance to take a step in any direction. The galley arrived in
harbour in the late afternoon, and pulled in alongside the quay wall.
For a couple of hours there was plenty of bustle and confusion aboard;
much coming and going of soldiers, sailors, and servitors. Hernando
looked eagerly up to the bulwarks many times, as though expecting
something; and on more than one occasion he moved his oar three times
quickly up and down, just touching the water each time. A sailor ran
along the top of the bulwarks, holding to the rigging. The fellow gave
a quick glance down, and something dropped into the Spaniard's lap. A
minute or two later he was back again; something was dropped this time
also. The short twilight had just commenced. A little afterwards the
boatswain's whistle sounded, the oars moved, and the galley was rowed
out to her berthing station.
The journey that day had been a long one; the unfortunate slaves were
half dead with fatigue. The anchor chains rattled, and the great
sweeps were drawn in. Lanterns flashed along the boatswains' bridge;
cakes, water, and a little fruit were handed down to be eaten and
drunken in the dark.
"The saints be praised!" ejaculated Hernando when the last lantern
disappeared; "they will not trouble to fetter us to-night. I have
prayed all day that they might not. They trust to our fatigue and the
guns of the fort. To-morrow we shall probably be chained hand and foot
at the oncoming of night. We often get this freedom the first night in
harbour, especially if we come in late and wearied. This is our
chance, and my friend knew it."
The Spaniard passed a file to Morgan. "I have had one or two of these
dropped on several occasions before, but have always thrown them into
the water before morning, being afraid to trust my fellows and use
them. I signalled for them to-day. Shall we make the venture?"
"The chance is desperate," whispered Johnnie.
"So must any chance be. The guard aboard will be small and sleepy; our
limbs are free; we lie a fair distance from the shore. We are never so
loosely guarded as when in Panama itself."
The two Englishmen remained silent for perhaps three or four minutes,
thinking the matter out. "Let's try, and God be with us!" said
Jeffreys. "If we fail, then death is preferable to life in this foetid
pit, chained up and treated like dogs."
"I agree!" answered Johnnie.
He and Hernando sat themselves astride the bench, so as to get at the
ring that attached the waist chain to the one that was fixed into the
seat. This ring necessarily underwent a lot of friction as the men
moved about at the oars, and the three had given the ring as much
chafing as possible for some two or three weeks. Moreover, the steam
from the panting bodies, the mists and spray from the sea, rusted and
ate into the iron. There was no chain factory nearer than Europe, and
fetters were not easily renewable in Spanish America. In fact, the
bonds of the slaves were by no means secure; but they were quite
sufficient for their purpose, seeing that the men were keenly watched
by day, and when in harbour shackled and manacled at night.
There was a buzz of talking, and plenty of weary shuffling and moaning
down on the slaves' deck. Chains clanked and rattled incessantly, and
would never be silent for long all through the night, for restless
sleepers would toss and turn on their hard couches to relieve pressure
on limbs only too often covered with festering and verminous sores.
Still, the noise of a file might be detected as an unusual sound; but
Hernando and Johnnie took the ring tightly in the palm of the hand, and
filed so carefully that Jeffreys, by droning a doleful tune, was able
to cover all the noise they made.
The worn ring was soon filed through, and ten minutes later Jeffreys
had detached himself, and the bench chain was swinging free under the
seat. The files were passed along to the sailors from the _Golden
Boar_, and after a while they were free. No man moved so as to betray
the fact. The files came across the gangway, and were passed to the
Indians behind. Hernando had let them into the plot, preferring to
trust them rather than the white scum. Nine men were soon able to
move; the waist chains still girdled them, but this did not interfere
with freedom and action, and no time was thrown away in an attempt to
cut them through. The three Indians behind the sailors were next
liberated. A dozen eager and desperate men were ready to make a dash
for life, and hardly two hours had gone by.
"How many more?" whispered Johnnie.
"We must wait before trusting any others," replied the wary Spaniard.
About an hour was allowed to slip by. The freed men laid themselves on
their benches and feigned slumber. Twice during the time a sentinel
passed along the gangway, and flashed a lantern here and there on to
the huddled forms. His glance was of a cursory description. The
toil-worn lines of wretched beings lay just as he had seen them a
hundred times: some were still as dead logs; others moved and babbled
in their sleep; here and there one sat with his head in his hands,
bowed down with sleep or agonizing thought. There was nothing unusual;
only the familiar scenes and sounds of the slave deck at night. The
sentinel walked off to the fore-deck to get a breath of sweeter air and
the company of a sailor comrade.
The slaves slept. Being, for the most part, without hope of anything
better than a few hours of forgetfulness between the sun-setting and
the dawn, the majority gave themselves willingly and thankfully to
slumber as soon as the scanty supper was eaten. No flash of a
sentinel's lantern, no tramping of feet, no cry of nocturnal bird or
beast would waken them; they sank into sleep as into some deep,
soundless, lightless pit. God rest all such unhappy ones!
The sentry showed no signs of paying any further visit; the captain was
ashore. Hernando slipped from his seat, cautiously wakened the fourth
English sailor, and gave him a file with whispered instructions; then
he passed on to a trustworthy fellow-countryman of his own and gave him
the other. He came back to his bench, and waited for about another
quarter of an hour. "Now," he whispered to his two companions. He
dropped to the floor and crawled on all fours to the after-part of the
ship. No one else moved. After what seemed almost an endless time, he
crawled back again. "The way is clear; not three men are awake above
our heads. I'll take the Indians; they move as noiselessly as cats."
The Spaniard went to the fore-part of the ship, and three Indians
behind him in single file. The other three moved stealthily from bench
to bench and awoke their fellows. Hardly a sound had been made. The
three sailors from the _Golden Boar_ and Master Jeffreys crawled above
deck; Morgan remained in command below.
Minutes passed. A slight sound of a scuffle, a cry, came faintly from
the fore-deck. Then dead silence fell again. Time flew on. The tide
was beginning to run out; the galley swung with it. The Indians,
stolid enough as a rule, began to fidget on their seats. A lantern
appeared at the fore end of the rowers' pit. Jeffreys came along.
"Well?" asked Morgan anxiously.
"Ugh! an ugly business. Not a man lives of the crew or guard in the
fore-part of the vessel. Hernando's knives and Indian fingers have
done their deadly work. Are all awake?"
"Not the Europeans."
"Awaken them; here's a hammer and chisel; get their chains off.
Hernando and his Indians are gone to the after-deck to block up the
cabin doors. Our three boys are at the anchor. Keep this lantern. We
have padded the hawse-hole, but there'll be some noise getting the
anchor up. Have the rowers ready for my signal."
There was soon clatter and even clamour amongst the slaves, and Morgan
had much ado to keep the wilder ones from shouting and running on deck.
One Spaniard who tried to do so, intent upon robbery, was promptly
knocked down. "You're not safe yet," cried Johnnie; "you're still in
harbour and under the fort guns; you'll sit down and row, or go
overboard to the sharks." The fellow poured out a torrent of foul
language, but the Englishman's fist was hard, his own oar-comrades were
against him, so he sat down and made ready for work.
"Ready?"--Jeffreys' voice.
"Yes."
The anchor rattled on the deck.
"Pull for life and liberty!" called Morgan.
A great sigh ran along the benches; dark figures swayed in the faint
light; the splash of oars sounded above the lap of the tide; the great
galley was under way and going seawards. The time was some minutes
short of midnight.
Panama was asleep. The men rowed slowly, making as little noise as
possible until clear of the swarm of canoes and small craft that hung
about in the bay. Then they went to work with a will. The oars
creaked and groaned; the vessel rolled to the ocean swell. The
officers awoke in their cabins only to find themselves trapped. Dawn
found the galley well out of sight of land and going northwards.