THE ENGLISHMAN’S RELATION
(THE ISLAND).
“Close and bolt the door,” said the Englishman so soon as we were
alone. “That Quartermaster, saintly soul, may be hereabout. So. And
now, my lad, get you into your hammock again, and to sleep.”
But sleep was gone from me, and, when I had told him so, he proffered
to relate his experiences to me, to pass the vigil. “And certainly,”
added he, “they are sufficiently strange.”
You may be sure I was nothing loth; and, when I had put on some
clothes, and brought a chair to his bedside and seated myself, he thus
began:
“’Twas some two years ago, lad, that I had occasion to ship as
passenger on a ship bound for Fort St. George.[A] We left the Downs
with fair wind and weather, which continued with us till we were come
into the Indian Ocean. But then arose a huge hurricane of wind, which
blew us from our course. It held six days, and left us somewhere near
the Island of Sumatra. Yet the ship remained whole; and we steered
north to recover our course, with but a fret of wind. We scarce had got
into a sailing posture, but we saw a ship, which came towards us. And,
wanting something--I forget what it was--we made a wiff to her. But we
got more than we wanted! For, clapping on a wind, and coming on, they
began to fire at us as hot as they could, and brought our mainmast by
the board.
“Well, they boarded us--as villainous a crew as ever sailed the sea;
and, though we made a good fight, ’twas all one: our ship was taken.
We expected to be all murdered, or at least set ashore to starve on
some desolate island.” (_Here I saw the door handle turn slowly and
softly round, but forbore to tell the Englishman, lest he should break
off in his relation._) “Yet we were reserved alive, to what strange,
surprising experiences I’ll tell you.
“They set many of us down upon the ballast, of whom I was one. Penned
together like cattle in that darksome and stinking place, we scarce
could stir hand or foot, scarce draw breath. We knew not the day from
the night. Our victuals, thrown to us as to dogs, scarce were fit for
dogs. The place was full of vermin; and there were great rats. Their
eyes gleamed in the darkness like points of fire; and, ever and again,
as at a signal, the creatures came swarming down upon us.
“How long this lasted I know not. Certainly many days. All fell sick,
some raved with the calenture, three died. But on a blessed morn, at
daybreak, they dragged us up out of the pit to the deck. Imagine
what it meant to us! You cannot--as you cannot possibly imagine that
dreadful prison. And no man apprizes at their worth light and air and
health and freedom, look you, until he lose them.
“Indeed the suddenness of the change was more than we could bear--so
that three of our company fell down in a swoon. ’Twas strange to see, I
doubt not--ay, and pitiful! But no breath of pity moved the villainous
hearts. They threw all the swooning men into the sea.
“I looked around. The pirate was come to port. On one side of her lay
our ship, on the other, land.
“This land was really an island, though we lay too close to perceive
it. We beheld very high cliffs towering to a prodigious height above
us, streaked with shining green, creeping plants, and wreathed with
vines. As I looked on them, a sort of horror seized on me, a phantom
foreboding....”
He paused, and lay back in his bed with closed eyes; but soon
continued, saying:
“Now the pinnace of the pirate lay alongside, and the residue of our
party was bidden to get into her. Nay, we were driven into the boat!
For they did press upon us, punching and thrusting us in the back. As
villainous a crew as ever man set eyes on! Hideous visages, blackened
with sin, scarred, mutilated with old wounds. And they were dressed
and tricked out, these pirates, as from the wardrobe of the world; as
though it had been opened unto them, and they had taken, every man,
whatsoever he listed. For one had a pair of taffety breeches, a lady’s
cape, and the turban of an Arab; another the staid habit of a dignitary
of Holy Church cloaked about with the robes of a Chinaman; a leering
negro strutted in the finery of a courtier of the king.
“Well, a number of ’em came down into the boat with us, and a big man
took command. He is your Quartermaster!”
“Ouvery!” exclaimed I. “Was he the captain of the pirate?”
“No,” said he, “he was the quartermaster, having the second place on
the ship. Well, Ouvery--or ‘Blazing Sue,’ as they called him--having
seated himself in the stern, ordered us to take the oars and pull to
the shore. On one of us pleading weakness, he burst forth into foul
oaths, adding:
“‘You shall row, though you split!’
“Then, rising in a frenzy, he snatched up a musket by the barrel,
felled the poor man, and, seizing hold on the collar of his coat, slung
him over into the sea; and a huge shark immediately swam up and griped
him.
“For a space Ouvery sat growling and snapping with his teeth like a
dog, whilst the other pirates jested among themselves; then he gave the
order, ‘Pull away.’
“We laboured at the rowing as best we might, the rogues lolling at
their ease. Only, when the pinnace was got three parts in, they
double-banked the oars to speed her through the shore-breakers.
“Having landed, our party was ordered in single file, and so marched
up the beach. Some six or seven pirates went on either side, bearing
pistols; while Ouvery took the lead.
“We crossed the beach of white sand. It cast a blinding glare (the sun
now being high); so that we were glad to come presently into a belt of
cocoa trees, the porch of a dense wood. We passed within this wood,
following a secret path.
“We had penetrated, it might be, a quarter of a mile, when there was
made to us an intimation. In our path, and shining beneath a rift in
the overgrowth, we spied something round and white, like a great chalk
stone. We came up to it. ’Twas a human skull. It grimaced in the sun
with its glistering laughter.
“But Ouvery, turning about, laughed aloud, ‘Ho! ho! my boys!’ cried he,
‘See how he grins! So shall ye grin anon!’
“He stepped to the death’s head; and, bowing with vilest mockery, ‘What
cheer, comrade?’ said he, ‘and have they forgotten ye? Come, hist along
to Heaven!’
“And, drawing back his great foot, he sent the death crashing into the
overgrowth.
“We went a little farther, and came, as it should seem, to an
impenetrable dense thicket that was faced with flowering creepers.
Ouvery hereupon called a halt; and, stepping to the thicket, he thrust
his hand within, and felt about amongst the stems and leaves. Next
moment, that which we had taken to be a thicket shook and was broken,
and a slab of iron swung forward on hinges, leaving in the midst an
orifice as black as night.
“Amazed at the sight, and fearing we knew not what, we continued to
gaze.
“My lad, as we thus stood, there befell a thing that lifted the hair on
my scalp!”