I remained on deck until midnight, in anxious self-communion; and then,
slipping off my light canvas shoes, went below and quietly aroused Bob.
He instantly arose, and accompanied me, noiselessly and bare-footed, to
the deck. We had no tools or implements of any kind to hamper us, my
sole provision for the expedition consisting of a couple of boxes of
matches, which, with our sharp knives and a bottle of grog, I considered
was all that we needed.
I confess that my heart throbbed a little more rapidly than usual as our
paddles dipped in the water, and the light canoe shot away from the
cutter's side, but it was from a feeling that I was at that moment
leaving, perhaps for ever, and to a terrible fate, one whom I loved more
dearly than my own life, and that, too, without one word of farewell;
rather than from personal apprehension I left a hastily-scrawled note in
pencil on the cabin-table, to the effect that we had occasion to go away
for a short time, but hoped to be back in time for breakfast, in case we
should be delayed longer than we anticipated; but this was all.
As soon as we were fairly out of the cove, I communicated my plans to
Bob, impressing upon him all my arrangements, in case of contingencies
requiring an alteration in my original plan; for, as soon as we were
fairly at work, everything would have to be done, as far as possible, in
absolute silence, and I did not wish to leave any explanations for a
moment when, perhaps, a single word incautiously uttered might lead to
our betrayal.
We paddled on close under the cliffs, and in about half an hour reached
the spot where the sandy beach on the western side of the island
commenced. Here we gently grounded the canoe, laid our paddles
cautiously and noiselessly in, lifted the craft far enough up on the
beach to prevent her floating away, and then, keeping as much within the
shadow of the trees as we could, made the best of our way along the
beach to the low point already mentioned as forming the northern
extremity of the bay which had witnessed the fight with the savages, and
in which the pirate-brig now lay at anchor.
There was no moon at this time, the young crescent having set some hours
before; but the night was brilliantly starlit, and, though the light
thus afforded was an assistance in one way, it was very much against us
in another, materially increasing our chances of detection.
Half an hour of rapid walking brought us to a point where I thought
that, by striking inland, we might contrive to cut short across the neck
of land forming the junction of the headland with the main, so to speak;
and now the utmost caution became necessary.
I warned Bob to avoid everything which had the remotest likeness to a
branch or twig of any kind, the sudden sharp snapping of which would be
sure to attract attention, I thought, though the air was filled with the
chirping of millions of night insects of all kinds.
At length we caught sight of the pirates' bivouac, and, almost at the
same instant, saw a figure rise from the ground, stretch itself wearily,
and throw a pile of branches upon the dying embers of the fire.
This showed that, hard as their work of the previous day might have
been, here was one wakeful individual, at all events, among them; and
upon him we kept our anxious gaze intently riveted, watching his every
motion with the closest scrutiny.
We saw him walk to the outside of the circle, beyond the limits of the
feeble light from the nearly extinguished fire, and peer earnestly into
the darkness on every side, going all round the circle, and making the
same careful inspection outwards in every direction; and, lastly, he
walked down towards the beach far enough to satisfy himself that the
boats (which we could just discern) were all right; when he returned,
flung more wood on the fire, and then sat down close to windward of it,
out of the way of the smoke, filled his pipe, and lighted it. Of course
we took very good care to conceal ourselves effectually whilst this
patrol of the camp was being made, and I embraced the opportunity to
point out to Bob that all the boats seemed to be anchored at a few
yards' distance from the beach, excepting a small punt, and she was
drawn a foot or two up on the sand.
The fire now began to blaze up brightly, and I thought this a favourable
moment to proceed; for, whilst it afforded us a sufficiency of light to
enable us to avoid such obstacles as roots of trees and twigs and
branches of shrubs, it would dazzle the eyes of the lonely watcher, and
effectually prevent his seeing anything beyond a few yards distant.
I accordingly pulled Bob's sleeve to attract his attention, and,
pointing to the punt, intimated to him that she must be our first object
of attack.
We now both rose to our feet once more, and, stealing as rapidly forward
as we could, taking advantage of every little bit of cover that offered
to pause and reconnoitre for a moment, reached, after about twenty
minutes of breathless suspense, the half-stranded punt. To our infinite
chagrin, there were no oars in her, and without these we could do
nothing.
We now commenced a hurried consultation in cautious whispers as to what
had better be done, keeping a wary eye upon the sleeping camp and its
solitary watcher all the while. Whilst we were doing this, I suddenly
caught sight of a pair of short oars, which I knew in a moment must
belong to the punt, reared against a tree in the very midst of the
bivouac, and in the full light of the now brilliant fire, and within
view of the watching seaman.
I saw it was absolutely necessary that we should have those oars, so I
pointed them out to Bob, and directed him to remain _perdu_, whilst I
made an attempt to secure them.
I then set off down the beach until I was far enough away to be able to
walk across the open and into the shadow of the bush without being seen,
which I succeeded in doing. Once there, I commenced a stealthy
approach, putting each foot carefully and noiselessly to the ground, and
not venturing to raise one until the other was firmly planted. In this
manner I contrived to make my way onward unobserved, and at last gained
a cover behind the trunk of the tree against which the oars were
standing.
I now took as complete a survey of the bivouac as I could without
exposing myself, and, counting heads, I found that there were no fewer
than eighty-three sleeping pirates within a few yards of me, in addition
to the man on watch. He appeared to be, just at the moment, either in a
fit of deep abstraction or a doze; so, without waiting for a better
opportunity, I cautiously reached my arm round the tree-trunk, grasped
one of the oars, and brought it round to my own side, without so much as
the rustle of a leaf. Emboldened by my success, I now tried for the
second, which I also succeeded in securing.
Taking an oar in each hand, I at once proceeded to retrace my steps,
and, for the first stage, aimed at getting behind a tree which stood
only about three yards distant. I soon reached this spot, and on
slipping behind the trunk, and taking a hasty glance backward, I was
greatly alarmed at seeing the pirate on watch on his feet, looking
intently in my direction, and shading his eyes with his hand. I at once
concluded that I had been seen, and waited in breathless expectancy for
the shout which was to raise the entire crew upon me; but, instead of
this, I heard, after a short pause, the voice of the man in soliloquy
close to the tree against which the oars had been placed.
"It's d--d odd," I heard him mutter; "but I could have sworn that them
paddles was standin' up ag'in this here tree, half-an-hour ago; what the
h--l's become of 'em? _Surety_ none of the chaps is slipped off to have
a yarn with old Steve; he won't thank 'em for disturbing of him at this
time o' night, and rousing him out from between the guns, where I'll lay
anything the old dormouse is snugly coiled away, instead of looking
a'ter the brig, as is his dooty. I'll just slip down to the beach, and
see if the boats is all right."
I crouched down behind the tree, and peeped cautiously round the bole;
and there, sure enough, was my watchful gentleman sauntering down
towards the boats. I allowed him to get far enough away to prevent his
seeing me if he suddenly turned round, and then quickly made my way
along the edge of the sward, keeping within the shadow of the bush until
I thought I was far enough away from the fire to permit of my cutting
straight across to the punt as soon as the man was once more out of the
way.
I achieved this before the pirate reached the beach, and then stood
anxiously watching for what might befall. I did not fear for Bob; I
knew that his eyes had been taking in everything which happened from the
moment I left him, and I felt quite satisfied that he would not spoil
our game by running any risk of discovery. The pirate walked quietly
on, and at length reached the punt, looked into her, probably for the
missing oars, and then turned round and walked back again. He had not
advanced half-a-dozen paces before I saw him waving his arms violently;
I thought I heard a stifled cry, and then he fell heavily to the ground;
and I saw another figure--Bob's--kneeling over him. I at once started
off as fast as I could run, taking the oars with me, and in about five
minutes I stood by my companion's side. He had got the man down on his
face, and was busy lashing his arms firmly behind his back. I forthwith
assisted, and, between us, the unfortunate pirate was soon so securely
bound, hand and foot, that it was impossible for him to move.
"He can't sing out," whispered Bob, "for I've stuffed my han'kercher as
far down his throat as I could get it, and have made all fast with a
turn of his own necktie through his jaws with a reef-knot at the back of
his head. He's safe enough till morning."
So it appeared, and we therefore left him, with perfect unconcern, to
his fate; lifted the light boat and carried her into the water until she
was afloat, and then stepped noiselessly into her--Bob taking both oars,
whilst I sat in the stern-sheets ready to take possession of the other
boats. They were moored at but a very short distance from the beach,
one of them being anchored, and the rest hanging by their painters in a
string, astern of her. Bob backed the punt gently off until I had got
hold of the painter of the anchored boat, which I easily raised, there
being only a small boat-anchor attached to its end; this I carefully
placed in the stern of the punt in such a position as to afford a secure
hold, and then, taking an oar apiece, we pulled noiselessly and as
quickly as we dared direct off shore, with the whole fleet of boats in
tow astern of us.
I considered that we were safe when we had attained an offing of half-a-
mile, for I thought it very unlikely that the pirates would then attempt
to overtake us by swimming--the only means of pursuit they now had--even
if an alarm were given; but everything still remained perfectly
tranquil, and continued so until we had rounded the low point so often
mentioned: after which, of course, we _were_ unable to see anything
which transpired in the bivouac.
We decided to take the boats, five in number besides the punt, over to
the mouth of the channel, and anchor them there until we could pick them
up again on our way out in the cutter, and then go back after our canoe,
so as to prevent the possibility of her falling into the hands of the
pirates. Whilst doing this, Bob volunteered an explanation of his
motives for attacking the pirate.
"I see'd all you done, Harry," he observed, "and thought as everything
were going right, until that fool of a feller took it into his head to
come down to the beach. I stowed myself away as well as I could under
the quarter of the punt--but if his eyes hadn't ha' been choked up with
sleep he must ha' see'd me. Hows'ever, he didn't, and when he turned
round to go back, thinks I, `It wouldn't be a bad idee to put a stop to
them wanderin' habits of yourn,' thinks I; `we should be in a pretty
mess if you was to come down ag'in, afore we'd got fairly off with them
there boats;' and almost afore I knowed what I intended to do, I'd crept
up behind him and flung my arm tight round his neck, with my knee well
into the small of his back, and down he comes. He tried to sing out,
but the minute he opened his mouth I rammed my handkercher down his
throat, and that kept him as quiet as a mouse; and so he's like to be
till morning, when I reckon he'll find hisself just about in the centre
of a hobble, with these here boats all gone, and the brig afire fore and
aft, please God. D'ye think I did right, lad?"
"Excellently," I replied; "nothing could possibly have been done better.
Now, here we are, and there goes the anchor. Now, let's stretch away
as hard as we can for the canoe; we have been longer than I bargained
for over this business, and we shall have daylight upon us before we are
finished if we do not look sharp."
I now told Bob what I had heard the pirate say, and that, from his
remarks, I gathered that "old Steve" was the only man left on board the
brig.
I arranged with Bob that he was to answer in the event of the said "old
Steve" hailing us as we went alongside, and directed him what to say, as
Bob's phraseology was habitually seasoned far more highly with nautical
slang than was my own, and he would, therefore, be less likely to be
suspected in the carrying on of a haphazard conversation than myself.
We soon reached the canoe, which lay just as we had left her, and,
taking her in tow, we pulled away at once straight for the brig.
In half an hour we reached her, and, contrary to the pirate's surmise,
"old Steve" proved to be pretty broad awake.
"Boat ahoy!" hailed he, as we approached.
"Ay, ay!" answered Bob. "Is that you, Steve?"
"In course it is," replied that worthy. "Who the h--l are you, and what
do you want off here at this no time o' night?"
"Whisht!" returned Bob warningly. "Belay all that, you old sinner;
there's no need to let everybody know as two friends has brought ye off
a bottle of grog and a bit of queerish kind of news. Heave us a rope's-
end, will ye? for it's that dark that hang me if I can find anything to
make fast this here boat's painter to!"
"Ay, ay," answered "Steve;" "look out--here ye are! But who _are_ ye at
all? I can't make out your woice, d--n me if I can! And who's that
with ye?"
"Not make out my woice!" retorted Bob. "No, I s'pose you can't. And I
ain't surprised at it neither, considerin' the bushels of smoke as I've
swallered from that fire ashore, and the thousands of muskeeters as has
flied down my throat; so that's all right. Here's the grog, old cock."
"Steve" leaned over the bulwarks and seized the grog, and Bob and I both
climbed the brig's side at the same instant. In another moment "Steve"
was on his back, with Bob's knee and his whole weight on his chest; and
I was soon busy securing the prisoner with a piece of the rope which was
lying about in any quantity on the deck. This was quickly done, and the
man gagged with a belaying-pin; after which we made a rapid tour of the
deck, cabin, and forecastle, and satisfied ourselves that there was no
one else on board to dispute or interfere with our actions.
We decided to set the brig on fire in three places--forward, aft, and in
midships--and we lost no time in making our preparations. We found a
lot of old sails in a locker at the fore end of the forecastle, and
these we divided, taking away a sufficiency to kindle a good rousing
fire in the hold; and over these, as soon as we had deposited them in a
suitable position, as well as over those remaining in the locker, we
poured a few buckets of tar from a cask we found abroach on deck.
We had no fear about the craft not burning well, for she had a large
quantity of combustible materials of all sorts in her hold; and we
hastily made as large a heap of these as we could, so as to ensure her
effectually taking fire.
We then went into the cabin, and piled the bedding from all the berths
upon the floor, heaping the chairs and table upon it, and pouring a
copious libation of tar upon the whole. We then put a light to it,
staying long enough to see the mass burst into fierce flame; when we
rushed on deck, and I dived into the hold, whilst Bob went into the
forecastle, where we quickly kindled our respective heaps, and then as
quickly returned to the deck.
Thin clouds of smoke already poured up through the various openings of
the deck, promising speedy and effectual destruction to the brig; so we
had now nothing to do but _get_ away from her, and return with all speed
to the cutter.
"Steve" was lowered over the side into the punt, Bob and I followed, and
we at once pushed off for the cove, in the highest glee at having so
successfully carried out our daring scheme.
Daylight was just breaking as we pushed off, and by the time that we
entered our cove the sun was above the horizon.
We dropped the punt and canoe astern, and the sails being all bent and
loose (I having made every possible preparation for an immediate start
whilst waiting for the hour at which to set out upon our raid), we were
under way and standing out of the cove in ten minutes more.
Bob got our big gaff-topsail on the craft as we ran down towards the
passage, and I kept a bright look-out for any signs of alarm in the
pirate camp. The camp itself we could not see, of course; but I
expected to see men moving about on the shore. Nor was I disappointed,
for I soon descried a knot of figures standing upon the low point, which
was the nearest land to the brig, watching, in apparent stupefaction,
the progress of their vessel's destruction.
The brig was by this time almost enveloped in flames, and had the entire
crew been on board, they could then have done nothing to save her.
We were quickly discovered, of course, and great was the confusion which
our appearance seemed to excite; but I cared nothing about that--indeed,
it was a part of my programme that the pirates should know to whom they
were indebted for their present disaster.
Very shortly a crowd of men appeared hurrying along the beach in our
direction, and, as we bore away for the passage, they saluted us with a
straggling musketry fire, more in impotent anger than for any harm it
could do us, for the shot all fell very far short. When about a quarter
of a mile from the entrance to the channel, I hove the cutter to, and we
hauled the punt alongside, took out one of her oars, and cast "Steve"
adrift from his lashings, leaving him to get ashore to his comrades as
best he might with one oar.
We then filled away once more, and ran down upon the boats, took them
all in tow, and stood out through the channel. Another volley of
musketry betrayed the irritation of the pirates at the sight of our
departure and the loss of their boats, to which Bob replied by giving
three ironical cheers. At this juncture Ella appeared on deck,
wonderfully surprised, of course, at all she saw, and I was at once
called on to explain. I did so, briefly narrating the circumstances of
Bob's fortunate discovery of the arrival of the _Albatross_ at the
island, of his having watched the crew all the previous day, of our
plan, and of the manner in which it had been carried out, pointing to
the burning brig as the issue of it all.
"Oh! Harry," exclaimed she, bursting into tears, "how _could_ you run
such a fearful risk! Only fancy, you two men venturing into the very
centre of these dreadful people's camp, and without arms too! Why, what
would have become of you if you had been taken? Really, I could almost
find it in my heart to be downright angry with you both. I cannot
understand men a bit. They seem--some of them--to have been born
absolutely devoid of the faculty of perception of danger, even when it
is staring them in the face; and accordingly they rush into the midst of
all sorts of perils, seemingly with a happy unconsciousness that they
are doing so, and with a heedlessness as to consequences which is
perfectly bewildering. No--now do not try to coax me, Harry, for I
really _am seriously_ angry with you. And to think, too, of your being
up all night, weak as you are! I am surprised that you are not ill
again. Oh, Harry," (with fresh sobs), "how thankful I am that you are
safe, and that I did not know anything of this until now! And do not
look grieved, darling; I did not mean what I said. It was very naughty
of me, I know, but I was frightened at the thought of the risks you have
run, and how all this _might_ have ended. Oh, mercy! what is that?"
A shock, as if the cutter had struck upon a rock--a dull, heavy _boom_--
and the fragments of the burning brig were scattered far and wide, to
come pelting down again the next minute in a perfect shower of charred
and splintered wood, spars, ropes, and the thousand-and-one other
matters usually found on board a ship. The brig's powder magazine had
blown up. A heavy cloud of dark smoke marked the spot where the
explosion had taken place; and when it drifted away before the fresh
morning breeze, one or two half-burnt timbers floating on the water were
all that remained of the _Albatross_.
"Ah!" exclaimed Bob, who was busy coiling down the various halliards,
etcetera, "I've been expectin' that any time this last half-hour, and I
only wonder it didn't happen afore. Well, that's a good endin' to a
good job well begun, and I reckon them chaps ashore there may's well
make up their minds to stay where they be for the rest of their nat'ral
lives, for they've neither ship nor boats, nor stuff to build 'em with
either. I don't reckon there's many trees on yon island that'd be much
use in a ship-buildin' yard."
"No," said I; "I think we may safely consider that their career of crime
and bloodshed is put an effectual stop to, for some time at least;
unless, indeed, some unfortunate ship should come to the island, in
which case they would have her to a certainty."
"Ay," returned Bob, "but that's a very onlikely chance. These here
islands don't lie in the road to nowhere, and it may be years afore they
sets eyes on a sail again after they loses sight of that good-lookin'
topsail of ourn. I s'pose they won't starve there, will they, lad?"
"No," said I, "there is very little fear of that. The island yields an
abundance of fruit, as you know, amply sufficient for all their
requirements; and they have their punt, which will serve them to go
fishing on the lagoon, though she is too small for any of them to
venture to leave the island in her. So, on the whole, I think they are
quite as well off as they deserve."
We were by this time clear of the reef and in open water, so I went down
to breakfast, leaving Bob at the tiller. Ella was very penitent for her
late "naughtiness," as she termed it, and was so lavish with her
endearments, to make up for it, that I would very willingly have
experienced such a "thunder-squall" every day of my life to have the air
cleared afterwards in so agreeable a manner. When I returned to the
deck, Bob asked me, previous to his going below to get his breakfast,
what I intended to do with, the boats and the canoe, all of which were
in tow. I had not thought very much about it, but now that the question
was put, I decided to retain the canoe altogether. She was so small and
so light, that I thought we could easily carry her on deck in anything
but very bad weather, and, ordinarily, she would tow very comfortably
astern. If we could contrive to keep her, I thought, she would
frequently save wear and tear in our tube-boat; and where a passage of a
short distance across the calm surface of a lagoon, from the cutter to
the shore, was all that was required, she would answer the purpose
perfectly well. As to the boats of the _Albatross_, I decided to tow
them fairly out of sight of the island, and then abandon them; thus
effectually precluding the possibility of their getting back into their
owners' hands, the prevailing winds there being from about south-east,
which would drive the boats ever farther and farther from the island.
We accordingly retained them in tow for the remainder of that day and
all next night, and cast them adrift on the following morning.
We were now within two days' easy sail of the spot which had been
indicated to me as the position of the treasure-island: and our thoughts
naturally reverted to the question as to whether the treasure really
existed or not; Bob feeling the utmost confidence that it would be found
precisely as the dying Spaniard had described it, whilst I began to
entertain grave doubts as to our success. The important conversation in
which the existence and position of the treasure were revealed was
recalled, almost word for word, and the notes which I had made at the
time were frequently referred to; and certainly everything seemed to
abundantly justify Bob's confidence, whilst I was quite unable to point
to a single word or circumstance tending to confirm my doubts; the fact
is, I suppose, that as we drew nearer to our goal, and began to realise
more fully the vast influence which the possession of the treasure would
exercise upon our future, I must have been influenced by a feeling that
it was "too good to be true." There was so very decided an infusion of
the romantic element into everything connected with the affair, that my
matter-of-fact mind seemed unable to accept the possibility that there
might be truth in it after all.
But to return to the _Water Lily_. On the evening of the day following
that on which we sailed from the pirate's island, we found ourselves so
near the reputed position of the treasure-island that I decided to heave
the cutter to for the night, so as to avoid the possibility of running
upon the outlying reef during the darkness. Bob went aloft the last
thing after the sun had set, and before darkness closed down upon the
face of the tranquil ocean, but he could see nothing that he was able to
identify with certainty as land. On the extreme verge of the western
horizon he saw, he said, something which _might_ be an island; but
evening clouds, especially in fine weather and when low down on the
horizon, sometimes assume such forms and hues that it is very difficult
for even the most experienced mariner to decide whether what he is
looking at is land or merely vapour, particularly when land is known or
supposed to exist in the direction in which he is looking.
We took in our spinnaker and gaff-topsail therefore, housed the topmast,
lashed our helm a-lee, and hauled the fore-sheet over to windward,
allowing the jib-sheet to flow. It was my eight hours in, that night:
but it was so close below and the weather was so fine, that I brought my
hammock on deck and turned in there, with a waterproof-rug rigged tent-
fashion over me, to keep off the dew.
Nothing occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the night; and next
morning, as soon as breakfast was over, we filled away upon the cutter
again and made sail upon our course. Bob should have been in his
hammock, or taking his rest in some other fashion, between breakfast-
time and noon; but he was so anxious to catch a glimpse of the spot
which had attracted us over so many thousand miles of ocean, and had led
us to brave so many dangers, that he could not stay below, and he spent
the entire morning at the cross-trees on the look-out. I obtained a
most excellent observation for longitude, about half-past nine that
morning, and on working it up I found that we were barely twenty miles
to the eastward of the point we were aiming for: and as we had hove the
cutter about at midnight, so as to keep her as nearly as possible
directly to windward of the spot, we ought to have been at anchor at
noon. But mile after mile was traversed, and still no land appeared
rearing itself above the horizon, and at length the time arrived for me
to take my meridian altitude. This also was a very capital observation;
and its result was that we found ourselves _exactly_ where the island
was stated to be situated, with no land in sight in any direction from
the mast-head.
I must confess that, in spite of the doubts which had lately obtruded
themselves upon my mind, I felt keenly disappointed; and as for Bob, he
was so chop-fallen that he had not a word to say.
It was not until I had carefully gone once more over my calculations of
that day, and had verified the error in our chronometer for which I had
made allowance, and had, in short, satisfied myself thoroughly that we
actually were where we supposed ourselves to be, that I realised how
strongly, notwithstanding my doubts, I had relied upon finding the
island and its buried treasure. So far as the primary object of the
voyage was concerned, it appeared that it had been undertaken in vain;
and had it not been for our accidental acquisition of intelligence
respecting my father, we should now have been without an object for the
further prosecution of the voyage, excepting that of returning home
again as quickly as possible, to secure the best berths we could, and
make up, as far as might be, for lost time.
We had hove the cutter to whilst I was taking and working up my noon
observation; and, as soon as we had fully realised our great
disappointment, I got out the chart, and Bob and I pored over it for a
full hour in the endeavour to fix upon the one island out of the many in
the great Archipelago which was most likely to be the one upon which the
_Amazon_ was cast away. However, there were so many, all of which would
answer equally well to the imperfect description which we had received,
that we were at last obliged to give it up and revert to our original
resolution of examining _all_ the likely places, in the hope that we
should be more successful in our second search than we had proved in our
first.
We therefore filled away upon the cutter again, upon such a course as
would take us up through the thickest cluster of islands; and, such is
the elasticity of the human mind, before night closed down upon us we
appeared to have almost forgotten everything connected with the
treasure-island, and thought and spoke of nothing but the chances in
favour of and against the finding of my father.