TORTUGA.
'I take it,' said Barnaby, on the third morning--the weather
continuing fine and the sea clear of ships--'that we are now clear
out of the track of any British vessels. We may fall into the hands
of the Spaniard; but he is mild and merciful of late compared with
his temper a hundred years ago. 'Tis true we have given him many
lessons in humanity. We should now before nightfall make the islands
of Testigos; but I think they are only rocks and sandy flats, such
as they call Keys, where we need not land, seeing that we should get
nothing by so doing, except to go out of the way, and so make the
rations shorter. Robin'--'twas at breakfast, when he served out a
dram of wine to every one--'I drink to thy better health, lad. Thou
hast cheated the Devil. Nay, Sis, look not so angry!--I meant, thou
wilt not go to heaven this bout. Up heart, then, and get strong! We
will find thee another sweetheart, who shall make thee lift up thine
head again. What? Is there but one woman in the world?
'I was saying then,' he went on, 'that we shall presently make the
islands of Testigos. There followeth thereafter, to one who steereth
west, a swarm of little islands. 'Twas here that the pirates used
to lie in the good old days, snug and retired, with their girls and
their drink. Ay, and plenty of both! A happy time they had!' Barnaby
wagged his head and sighed. 'South of this archipelago (which I
will some day visit, in order to search for treasure) there lieth
the great and mountainous island of Margaritos. This great island
we shall do well to keep upon our south, and so bear away to the
desert island of Tortuga, where we shall find water for certain--and
that, I have been told, the best spring-water that flows; turtles
we may also find, and fish we may catch; and when we have recovered
our strength, with a few days' rest ashore, we will once more put
to sea and make for the island of Curaçao and the protection of the
Dutchmen.'
It needs not to tell much more about the voyage, in which we were
favoured by Heaven with everything that we could desire--a steady
breeze from the best quarter, a sea never too rough, provisions in
sufficiency, the absence of any ships, and, above all, the recovery
of Robin.
I say, then, that we sighted (and presently passed) the group
of islets called the Testigos; that we coasted along the great
island of Margaritos, where we landed not, because Barnaby feared
that certain smoke which we saw might betoken the presence of the
Spaniard, whom, in spite of his new character for mildness, he was
anxious to avoid. 'Tis strange thus to sail along the shore of a
great island whereon are no inhabitants, or, if any, a few sailors
put in for water, for turtle, and for cocoanuts; to see afar off the
forests climbing round the mountain sides, the waterfalls leaping
over the precipices, and to think of the happy life one might lead
in such a place, far from men and their ways. I confess (since my
Mistress will never see this page) that my thoughts for a whole day,
while we sailed along the shores of Margaritos, turned upon those
pirates of whom Barnaby spoke. They lived here at ease, and in great
happiness. 'Tis of such a life that a man sometimes dreams. But
if he were suffered so to lie in sloth, farewell Heaven! Farewell
future hopes! Farewell our old talk of lifting the soul above the
flesh! Let us henceforth live the lives of those who are content
(since they can have no more) with a few years of love and wine and
revelry! It is in climates like that of the West Indies that such a
temptation seizes on men the most strongly: for here everything is
made for man's enjoyment; here is no cold, no frost, no snow or ice;
here eternal summer reigns, and the world seems made for the senses
and for nothing else. Of these confessions enough. 'Twas impossible
that in such a luxurious dream the image of Alice could have any
part.
We landed, therefore, on the desert island of Tortuga, where we
remained for several days, hauling up our boat and covering her with
branches to keep off the sun. Here we lived luxuriously upon turtle,
fresh fish, the remains of our bread, and what was left of our
Canary; setting up huts in which we could sleep, and finding water
of the freshest and brightest I ever saw. Here Robin mended apace,
and began to walk about with no more help from his nurses.
We were minded, as I have said, to sail as far as the island of
Curaçao, but an accident prevented this.
One day, when we had been ashore for ten days or thereabouts, we
were terrified by the sight of a small vessel rigged in the fashion
of a ketch--that is, with a small mizzen--beating about outside the
bay which is the only port of Tortuga.
'She will put in here,' said Barnaby. 'That is most certain. Now,
from the cut of her she is of New England build, and from the
handling of her she is under-manned; and I think that we have
nothing to fear from her, unless she is bound for Barbadoes, or for
Grenada, or Jamaica.'
Presently the vessel came to anchor, and a small boat was lowered,
into which three men descended. They were unarmed.
'She is certainly from New England,' said Barnaby. 'Well, they
are not from Barbadoes in quest of us, otherwise they would not
send ashore three unarmed men to capture four desperate men. That
is certain. And as we cannot hide our boat, though we might hide
ourselves, I will e'en go forth and parley with these strangers.'
This he did, we watching from a safe place. The conversation was
long and earnest, and apparently friendly. Presently Barnaby
returned to us.
'There offers,' he said, 'a chance which is perhaps better than to
make for Curaçao, where, after all, we might get scurvy treatment.
These men, in a word, are privateers; or, since we are at war with
none, they are pirates. They fitted out a brigantine, or bilander
(I know not which), and designed to sail round Cape Horn to attack
the Spaniard on the South Seas. On the way they took a prize, which
you now see in the bay. Ten men were sent aboard to navigate her as
a tender to their ship. But they fell into bad weather off Brazil,
and their ship went down with all hands. Now they are bound for
Providence, only seven hands left, and they will take us aboard
and carry us to that island for our services. Truly, I think we
should go. They have provisions in plenty, with Madeira wine; and
Providence is too far for the arm of King James to reach. What say
ye all? Alice, what sayest thou?'
'Truly, brother, I say nothing.'
'Then we will agree, and go with them.'
We went on board, taking with us a good supply of turtle, clear
water, and cocoanuts (being all that the isle afforded). Honest
fellows we found our pirates to be. They belonged to the island of
Providence, in the Bahamas, which has long been the rendezvous of
English privateers. Ten years before this the Spaniards plucked up
courage to attack and destroy the settlement, when those who escaped
destruction found shelter in some of the adjacent islands, or on the
mainland of Virginia. Now some of them have come back again, and
this settlement, or colony, is re-established.
Thither, therefore, we sailed. It seemed as if we were become a mere
shuttlecock of fortune, beaten and driven hither and thither upon
the face of the earth.