Barker for that. You en't supercargo, to be sure; but who do you think
them guns and round shots in the hold be for? Why, the Pirate himself.
And he'll pay a good price for 'em too."
"Do you mean to say that English merchants supply Angria with weapons to
fight against their own countrymen?"
"Well, blest if you en't a' innocent. In course they do. The guns en't
always fust-class metal, to be sure; but what's the odds? The
interlopers ha' got to live."
"I don't call that right. It's not patriotic."
"Patry what?"
"Patriotic--a right way of thinking of one's own country. An Englishman
isn't worth the name who helps England's enemies."
Bulger looked at him in amazement. The idea of patriotism was evidently
new to him.
"I'll have to put that there notion in my pipe and smoke it," he said.
"I'd fight any mounseer, or Dutchman, or Portuguee as soon as look at
him, 'tis on'y natural; but if a mounseer likes to give me twopence for
a thing what's worth a penny--why, I'll say thank 'ee and ax
him--leastways if there's any matey by as knows the lingo--to buy
another."
Shortly after dawn next morning the look-out reported four vessels to
windward. From their appearance Captain Barker at once concluded that
two were Company's ships, with an escort of a couple of grabs. As he
was still scanning them he was joined by Diggle, with whom he entered
into conversation.
"They're making for Bombay, I reckon," said the captain.
"I take it we don't wish to come to close quarters with them, Barker?"
"By thunder, no! But if we hold our present course we're bound to pass
within hailing distance. Better put 'em off the scent."
He altered the vessel's course a point or two with the object of passing
to windward of the strangers, as if steering for the Portuguese port of
Goa.
"They're running up their colours," remarked Diggle half an hour later.
"British, as I thought. We'll hoist Portuguese."
A minute or two later a puff of smoke was observed to sally from the
larger of the two grabs, followed in a few seconds by the boom of the
gun.
"A call to us to heave-to," said Bulger in answer to Desmond's inquiry.
"The unbelievin' critters thinks that Portuguee rag is all my eye."
But the _Good Intent_ was by this time to windward of the vessels, and
Captain Barker, standing on the quarter-deck, paid no heed to the
signal. After a short interval another puff came from the deck of the
grab, and a round shot plunged into the sea a cable's length from the
_Good Intent's_ bows, the grab at the same time hauling her wind and
preparing to alter her course in pursuit. This movement was at once
copied by the other three vessels, but being at least half a mile ahead
of the grab that had fired, they were a long distance astern when the
chase--for chase it was to be--began.
Captain Barker watched the grab with the eyes of a lynx. The _Good
Intent_ had run out of range while the grab was being put about; but the
captain knew very well that the pursuer could sail much closer to the
wind than his own vessel, and that his only chance was to beat off the
leading boat before the others had time to come up.
It required very little at any time to put Captain Barker into a rage,
and his demeanour was watched now with different feelings by different
members of his crew. Diggle alone appeared unconcerned; he was smiling
as he lolled against the mast.
"They'll fire at me, will they?" growled the captain with a curse. "And
chase me, will they? By jiminy, they shall sink me before I surrender!"
"'Degeneres animos timor arguit,'" quoted Diggle, smiling.
"Argue it? I'll be hanged if I argue it! They're not King's ships to
take it on 'emselves to stop me on the high seas! If the Company wants
to prevent me from honest trading in these waters let 'em go to law, and
be hanged to 'em! Talk of arguing! Lawyer's work. Humph!"
"You mistake, Barker. The Roman fellow whose words slipped out of my
mouth almost unawares said nothing of arguing. 'Fear is the mark only
of base minds:' so it runs in English, captain; which is as much as to
say that Captain Ben Barker is not the man to haul down his colours in a
hurry."
"You're right there. Another shot! That's their argument: well, Ben
Barker can talk that way as well as another."
He called up the boatswain. Shortly afterwards the order was piped, "Up
all hammocks!" The men quickly stowed their bedding, secured it with
lashings, and carried it to the appointed places on the quarter-deck,
poop, or forecastle. Meanwhile the boatswain and his mates secured the
yards; the ship's carpenter brought up shot plugs for repairing any
breaches made under the water-line; and the gunners looked to the cannon
and prepared charges for them and the small arms.
Bulger was in charge of the 12-pounder aft, and Mr. Toley had told off
Desmond to assist him. They stood side by side watching the progress of
the grab, which gained steadily in spite of the plunging due to its
curious build. Presently another shot came from her; it shattered the
belfry on the forecastle of the _Good Intent_, and splashed into the sea
a hundred yards ahead.
"They make good practice, for sartin," remarked Bulger. "I may be
wrong, but I'll lay my life there be old man-o'-war's men aboard. I
mind me when I was with Captain Golightly on the _Minotaur_----"
But Bulger's yarn was intercepted. At that moment the boatswain piped,
"All hands to quarters!" In a surprisingly short time all timber was
cleared away, the galley fire was extinguished, the yards slung, the
deck strewn with wet sand, and sails, booms, and boats liberally
drenched with water. The gun-captains, each with his crew, cast loose
the lashings of their weapons and struck open the ports. The tompions
were taken out, the sponge, rammer, crows and handspikes placed in
readiness, and all awaited eagerly the word for the action to begin.
"'Tis about time we opened our mouths at 'em," said Bulger. "The next
bolus they send us as like as not will bring the spars a-rattlin' about
our ears. To be sure it goes against my stummick to fire on old
messmates; but it en't in Englishmen to hold their noses and swaller
pills o' that there size. We'll load up all ready, mateys."
He stripped to the waist, and tied a handkerchief over his ears.
Desmond and the men followed his example. Then one of them sponged the
bore, another inserted the cartridge, containing three pounds of powder,
by means of a long ladle, a third shoved in a wad of rope yarn. This
having been driven home by the rammer, the round shot was inserted, and
covered like the cartridge with a wad. Then Bulger took his
priming-iron, an instrument like a long thin corkscrew, and thrust it
into the touch-hole to clear the vent and make an incision in the
cartridge. Removing the priming-iron, he replaced it by the
priming-tube--a thin tapering tube with very narrow bore. Into this he
poured a quantity of fine mealed powder; then he laid a train of the
same powder in the little groove cut in the gun from the touch-hole
towards the breech. With the end of his powder-horn he slightly bruised
the train, and the gun only awaited a spark from the match.
Everything was done very quickly, and Desmond watched the seamen with
admiration. He himself had charge of the linstock, about which were
wound several matches, consisting of lengths of twisted cotton wick
steeped in lye. They had already been lighted, for they burnt so slowly
that they would last for several hours.
"Now we're ship-shape," said Bulger. "Mind you, Burke, don't come too
far for'ard with your linstock. I don't want the train fired with no
sparks afore I'm ready. And 'ware o' the breech; she'll kick like a
jumpin' jackass when the shot flies out of her, an'll knock your teeth
out afore you can say Jack Robinson.--Ah! there's the word at last; now,
mateys, here goes!"
He laid the gun, waited for the ship to rise from a roll, then took one
of the matches, gently blew its smouldering end, and applied the glowing
wick to the bruised part of the priming. There was a flash, a roar, and
before Desmond could see the effect of the shot Bulger had closed the
vent, the gun was run in, and the sponger was at work cleaning the
chamber. As the black smoke cleared away it was apparent that the
seaman had not forgotten his cunning. The shot had struck the grab on
the deck of the prow and smashed into the forecastle. But the
bow-chasers were apparently uninjured, for they replied a few seconds
later.
"Ah! There's a wunner!" said Bulger admiringly.
A shot had carried away a yard of the gunwale of the _Good Intent_,
scattering splinters far and wide, which inflicted nasty wounds on the
second mate and a seaman on the quarter-deck. A jagged end of wood
flying high struck Diggle on the left cheek. He wiped away the blood
imperturbably; it was evident that lack of courage was not among his
defects.
Captain Barker's ire was now at white heat. Shouting an order to Bulger
and the next man to make rapid practice with the two stern-chasers, he
prepared to fall off and bring the _Good Intent's_ broadside to bear on
the enemy. But the next shot was decisive. Diggle had quietly strolled
down to the gun next to Bulger's. It had just been reloaded. He bade
the gun-captain, in a low tone, to move aside. Then, with a glance to
see that the priming was in order, he took careful sight, and waiting
until the grab's main, mizzen, and foremasts opened to view all
together, he applied the match. The shot sped true, and a second later
the grab's mainmast, with sails and rigging, went by the board.
A wild cheer from the crew of the _Good Intent_ acclaimed the excellent
shot.
"By thunder!" said Bulger to Desmond, "Diggle may be a rogue, but he
knows how to train a gun."
Captain Barker signified his approval by a tremendous mouth-filling
oath. But he was not yet safe. The second grab was following hard in
the wake of the first; and it was plain that the two Indiamen were both
somewhat faster than the _Good Intent_; for during the running fight
that had just ended so disastrously for the grab, they had considerably
lessened the gap between them and their quarry. Captain Barker watched
them with an expression of fierce determination; but not without
anxiety. If they should come within striking distance it was impossible
to withstand successfully their heavier armament and larger crews. The
firing had ceased: each vessel had crowded on all sail; and the brisk
breeze must soon bring pursuer and pursued to a close engagement which
could have only one result.
"I may be wrong, but seems to me we'd better say our prayers," Bulger
remarked grimly to his gun crew.
But Desmond, gazing up at the shrouds, said suddenly:
"The wind's dropping. Look!"
It was true. Before the monsoon sets in in earnest it not unfrequently
happens that the wind veers fitfully; a squall is succeeded almost
instantaneously by a calm. So it was now. In less than an hour all five
vessels were becalmed; and when night fell, three miles separated the
_Good Intent_ from the second grab; the Indiamen lay a mile further
astern; and the damaged vessel was out of sight.
Captain Barker took counsel with his officers. He expected to be
attacked during the night by the united boats of the pursuing fleet.
Under cover of darkness they would be able to creep up close and board
the vessel; and the captain knew well that if taken he would be treated
as a pirate. His papers were made out for Philadelphia; he had hoisted
Portuguese colours, but the enemy at close quarters could easily see
that the _Good Intent_ was British built; he had disabled one of the
Company's vessels; there would be no mercy for him. He saw no chance of
beating off the enemy; they would outnumber him by at least five to one.
Even if the wind sprang up again there was small likelihood of escape.
One or other of the pursuing vessels would almost certainly overhaul
him, and hold him till the others came up.
"'Tis a 'tarnal fix," he said.
"Methinks 'tis a case of 'actum est de nobis'," re marked Diggle,
pleasantly.
"Confound you!" said the captain with a burst of anger. "What could I
expect with a gallows-bird like you aboard? 'Tis enough to sink a
vessel without shot."
Diggle's face darkened. But in a moment his smile returned.
"You are overwrought, captain," he said; "you are unstrung. 'Twould be
ridiculous to take amiss words said in haste. In cool blood--well, you
know me, Captain Barker. I will leave you to recover from your brief
madness."
He went below. The captain was left with Mr. Toley and the other
officers. Barker and Toley always got on well together, for the simple
reason that the mate never thwarted his superior, never resented his
abuse, but went quietly his own way. He listened now for a quarter of
an hour, with fixed sadness of expression, while Captain Barker poured
the vials of his wrath upon everything under the sun. When the captain
had come to an end, and sunk into a state of lowering dudgeon, Mr. Toley
said quietly:
"'Tis all you say, sir, and more. I guess I've never seen a harder
case. But while you was speaking, something you said struck a sort of
idea into my brain."
"That don't happen often. What is it?"
"Why, the sort of idea that came to me out o' what you was saying was
just this. How would it be to take soundings?"
"So that's your notion, is it? Hang me, are you a fool like the rest of
'em! You're always taking soundings! What in the name of thunder do you
want to take soundings for?"
"Nothing particular, cap'n. That was the kind o' notion that come of
what you was saying. Of course it depends on the depth hereabouts."
"Deep enough to sink you and your notions and all that's like to come of
'em. Darned if I han't got the most lubberly ship's company ever mortal
man was plagued with. Officers and men, there en't one of you as is
worth your salt, and you with your long face and your notions--why, hang
me, you're no more good than the dirtiest waister afloat."
Mr. Toley smiled sadly, and ventured on no rejoinder. After the
captain's outburst none of the group dared to utter a word. This
pleased him no better; he cursed them all for standing mum, and spent
ten minutes in reviling them in turn. Then his passion appeared to have
burnt itself out. Turning suddenly to the melancholy mate, he said
roughly:
"Go and heave your lead, then, and be hanged to it."
Mr. Toley walked away aft and ordered one of the men to heave the
deep-sea lead. The plummet, shaped like the frustum of a cone, and
weighing thirty pounds, was thrown out from the side in the line of the
vessel's drift.
"By the mark sixty, less five," sang out the man when the lead touched
the bottom.
"I guess that'll do," said the first mate, returning to the
quarter-deck.
"Well, what about your notion?" said the captain scornfully. But he
listened quietly and with an intent look upon his weather-beaten face as
Mr. Toley explained.
"You see, sir," he said, "while you was talking just now, I sort o' saw
that if they attack us, 'twon't be for at least two hours after dark.
The boats won't put off while there's light enough to see 'em; and won't
hurry anyhow, 'cos if they did the men 'ud have nary much strength left
to 'em. Well, they'll take our bearings, of course. Thinks I, owing to
what you said, sir, what if we could shift 'em by half a mile or so?
The boats 'ud miss us in the darkness."
"That's so," ejaculated the captain; "and what then?"
"Well, sir, 'tis there my idea of taking soundings comes in. The _Good
Intent_ can't be towed, not with our handful of men; but why shouldn't
she be kedged? That's the notion, sir; and I guess you'll think it
over."
"By jimmy, Mr. Toley, you en't come out o' Salem Massachusetts for
nothing. 'Tis a notion, a rare one; Ben Barker en't the man to bear a
grudge, and I take back them words o' mine--leastways some on 'em.
Bo'sun, get ready to lower the long-boat."
The long-boat was lowered, out of sight of the enemy. A kedge anchor,
fastened to a stout hawser, was put on board, and as soon as it was
sufficiently dark to make so comparatively small an object as a boat
invisible to the hostile craft, she put off at right angles to the _Good
Intent's_ previous course, the hawser attached to the kedge being paid
out as the boat drew away. When it had gone about a fifth of a mile
from the vessel the kedge was dropped, and a signal was given by hauling
on the rope.
"Clap on, men!" cried Captain Barker. "Get a good purchase, and none of
your sing-song; avast all jabber."
The crew manned the windlass and began with a will to haul on the cable
in dead silence. The vessel was slowly warped ahead. Meanwhile the
long-boat was returning; when she reached the side of the _Good Intent_,
a second kedge was lowered into her, and again she put off, to drop the
anchor two cables' length beyond the first, so that when the ship had
tripped that, the second was ready to be hauled on.
When the _Good Intent_ had been thus warped a mile from her position at
nightfall, Captain Barker ordered the operation to be stopped. To avoid
noise the boat was not hoisted in. No lights were shown, and the sky
being somewhat overcast, the boat's crew found that the ship was
invisible at the distance of a fourth of a cable's length.
"I may be wrong," said Bulger to Desmond, "but I don't believe kedgin'
was ever done so far from harbour afore. I allers thought there was
something in that long head of Mr. Toley, though, to be sure, there en't
no call for him to pull a long face too."
An hour passed after the kedging had been stopped. All on board the
_Good Intent_ remained silent, or spoke in whispers, if they spoke at
all. There had been no signs of the expected attack. Desmond was
leaning on the gunwale, straining his eyes for a glimpse of the enemy.
But his ears gave him the first intimation of their approach. He heard
a faint creaking, as of oars in rowlocks, and stepped back to where
Bulger was leaning against the mast.
"There they come," he said.
The sound had already reached Captain Barker's ears. It was faint;
doubtless the oars were muffled. The ship was rolling lazily; save for
the creaking nothing was heard but the lapping of the ripples against
the hull. So still was the night that the slightest sound must travel
far, and the captain remarked in a whisper to Mr. Toley that he guessed
the approaching boats to be at least six cable-lengths distant.
Officers and men listened intently. The creaking grew no louder; on the
contrary, it gradually became fainter, and at last died away. There was
a long silence, broken only by what sounded like a low hail some
considerable distance astern.
"They're musterin' the boats," said Bulger, with a chuckle. "I may be
wrong, but I'll bet my breeches they find they've overshot the mark.
Now they'll scatter and try to nose us out."
Another hour of anxious suspense slowly passed, and still nothing had
happened. Then suddenly a blue light flashed for a few moments on the
blackness of the sea, answered almost instantaneously by a rocket from
another quarter. It was clear that the boats, having signalled that the
search had failed, had been recalled by the rocket to the fleet.
"By thunder, Mr. Toley, you've done the trick!" said the captain.
"I guess we don't get our living by making mistakes--not in Salem,
Massachusetts," returned the first mate with his sad smile.
Through the night the watch was kept with more than ordinary vigilance,
but nothing occurred to give Captain Barker anxiety. With morning light
the enemy could be seen far astern.
CHAPTER THE TENTH
*In which our hero arrives in the Golden East; and Mr. Diggle presents
him to a native prince.*
About midday a light breeze sprang up from the north-west. The two
Indiamen and the uninjured grab, being the first to catch it, gained a
full mile before the _Good Intent_, under topgallant sails, studding
sails, royal and driver, began to slip through the water at her best
speed. But, as the previous day's experience had proved, she was no
match in sailing capacity for the pursuers. They gained on her
steadily, and the grab had come almost within cannon-range when the man
at the mast-head shouted:
"Sail ho! About a dozen sail ahead, sir!"
The captain spluttered out a round dozen oaths, and his dark face grew
still darker. So many vessels in company must surely mean the King's
ships with a convoy. The French, so far as Captain Barker knew, had no
such fleet in Indian waters, nor had the Dutch or Portuguese. If they
were indeed British men-o'-war he would be caught between two fires, for
there was not a doubt that they would support the Company's vessels.
"We ought to be within twenty miles o' the coast, Mr. Toley," said
Captain Barker.
"Ay, sir, and somewhere in the latitude of Gheria."
"Odds bobs, and now I come to think of it, those there vessels may be
sailing to attack Gheria, seeing as how, as these niggers told us,
they've bust up Suvarndrug."
"Guess I'll get to the foretop myself and take a look, sir," said Mr.
Toley.
He mounted, carrying the only perspective glass the vessel possessed.
The captain watched him anxiously as he took a long look.
"What do you make of 'em?" he shouted.
The mate shut up the telescope and came leisurely down.
"I count fifteen in all, sir."
"I don't care how many. What are they?"
"I calculate they're grabs and gallivats, sir."
The captain gave a hoarse chuckle.
"By thunder, then, we'll soon turn the tables! Angria's gallivats--eh,
Mr. Toley? We'll make a haul yet."
But Captain Barker was to be disappointed. The fleet had been descried
also by the pursuers. A few minutes later the grab threw out a signal,
hauled her wind and stood away to the northward, followed closely by the
two larger vessels. The captain growled his disappointment. Nearly a
dozen of the coast craft, as they were now clearly seen to be, went in
pursuit, but with little chance of coming up with the chase. The
remaining vessels of the newly-arrived fleet stood out to meet the _Good
Intent_.
"Fetch up that Maratha fellow," cried the captain, "and hoist a white
flag."
When the Maratha appeared, a pitiable object, emaciated from want of
food, Captain Barker bade him shout as soon as the newcomers came within
hailing distance. The white flag at the mast-head, and a loud long-drawn
hail from Hybati, apprised the grab that the _Good Intent_ was no enemy,
and averted hostilities. And thus it was, amid a convoy of Angria's own
fleet, that Captain Barker's vessel, a few hours later, sailed
peacefully into the harbour of Gheria.
Desmond looked with curious eyes on the famous fort and harbour. On the
right, as the _Good Intent_ entered, he saw a long narrow promontory, at
the end of which was a fortress, constructed, as it appeared, of solid
rock. The promontory was joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus of
sand, beyond which lay an open town of some size. The shore was fringed
with palmyras, mangoes and other tropical trees, and behind the straw
huts and stone buildings of the town leafy groves clothed the sides of a
gentle hill. The harbour, which formed the mouth of a river, was
studded with Angria's vessels, large and small, and from the docks
situated on the sandy isthmus came the busy sound of shipwrights at
work. The rocky walls of the fort were fifty feet high, with round
towers, long curtains, and some fifty embrasures. The left shore of the
harbour was flat, but to the south of the fort rose a hill of the same
height as the walls of rock. Such was the headquarters of the notorious
pirate Tulaji Angria, the last of the line which had for fifty years
been the terror of the Malabar coast.
The _Good Intent_ dropped anchor off the jetty running out from the
docks north of the fort. Captain Barker had already given orders that
no shore leave was to be allowed to the crew, and as soon as he had
stepped into the long-boat, accompanied by Diggle, the men's discontent
broke forth in angry imprecations, which Mr. Toley wisely affected not
to hear.
No time was lost in unloading the portion of the cargo intended for
Angria. The goods were carried along the jetty by stalwart Marathas
clad only in loin-cloths, to be stored in rude cabins with penthouse
roofs. As Desmond knew, the heavy chests that taxed the strength of the
bearers contained for the most part muskets and ammunition. The work
went on for the greater part of the day, and at nightfall neither the
captain nor Diggle had returned to the vessel.