What did it mean? Who were they, and what could they possibly want? I
could see them clearly enough to distinguish that they wore the garments
of civilisation; but they did not belong to the house: Don Manuel had
only two men in his service; whereas, so far as I could distinguish in
the uncertain light, there were five men in the group before me. Then,
too, their actions were suspicious, their movements were stealthy, and
it looked very much as though they were dogging the footsteps of the
couple ahead of them for no good purpose. I did not at all like the
aspect of affairs, so quietly disencumbering myself of the telescope,
which I deposited on the ground, I grasped my gun, and, stepping into
the pathway, shouted warningly to the second lieutenant:
"Look out, Mr Smellie, you are being followed!" Immediately there was
a shout, in Spanish, of "Come on, men, give it him!" and the group made
a dash at Smellie and his companion. Then followed an exclamation of
surprise and anger in Smellie's well-known voice, a single stifled
scream from Dona Antonia, and a most unmistakable affray. With a shout
I dashed up the path, and in another minute or less plunged into the
thick of the melee. Smellie was beset by three of the ruffians, who
were slashing viciously at him with long ugly-looking knives, and he was
maintaining a gallant defence with the aid of a stout stick, the
assistance of which he had not up to then been wholly able to discard in
walking. I saw that if he was to be saved from a serious, perhaps even
a fatal, stab, prompt action was necessary, so without waiting for
further developments I cocked my gun, and, making a lunge with it at the
man who seemed to be Smellie's most formidable antagonist, pulled the
trigger just as the muzzle struck his side, and poured the contents of
the barrel into his body. At such very close quarters the charge of
shot took effect like a bullet, and the fellow staggered backwards and
fell to the ground with an oath and an agonised exclamation in Spanish
of:
"Help, my men, help; I am shot!"
The remaining two who had been attacking Smellie turned at this to
assist their wounded companion; and the second lieutenant and I
thereupon dashed down the path after the other two, who were hurrying
off the scene with all speed, carrying Dona Antonia bodily away with
them. A dozen bounds or so and we were up with them. With an
inarticulate cry of rage Smellie sprang upon the man nearest him and
brought his stick down upon the fellow's head with such tremendous force
that the stout cudgel shivered to pieces in his hand, whilst the
recipient of the blow dropped prone without a groan or cry of any kind
upon the pathway. The other meanwhile had dropped his share of their
joint burden and seemed inclined to resume hostilities, but a well-aimed
sweep of the butt-end of my gun took all the fight out of him, and he
beat a hasty retreat, leaving his companion to our tender mercies.
Smellie, however, had something else to think about, for there, upon the
pathway, her white dress already stained with the blood of the prostrate
ruffian beside her, lay the senseless body of Dona Antonia. Raising her
in his arms my companion at once made for the house, despatching Pedro,
who had just put in an alarmed appearance, in advance to summon the
assistance of Old Madre Dolores, Antonia's special attendant.
I convoyed the pair as far as the door, and then retraced my steps down
the pathway, intent on recovering the telescope, and also to reconnoitre
the scene of action and ascertain whether or no the enemy had beaten a
final retreat. The ground proved to be clear; so I presume that the
fellow whose head Smellie had broken was not after all quite so
seriously injured as he at first appeared to be.
On my return to the house I found the whole place in confusion, as might
naturally be expected, and Don Manuel, with his damaged hand in a sling,
anxiously inquiring of Smellie whether he had any idea as to the
identity of the perpetrators of the outrage.
"I certainly _have_ an idea who was the leader," answered Smellie; "but
I scarcely like to give utterance to my suspicions. Here comes
Hawkesley; let us see whether his opinion upon the matter coincides with
mine. Hawkesley, do you think you ever met either of those men before?"
"Yes," I replied unhesitatingly; "unless I am greatly mistaken, the man
who was so pertinacious in his attack upon you, and whom I shot, was
Senor Madera."
"Exactly so," coincided Smellie. "I recognised him directly; but it was
so very dark down there among the trees that I scarcely cared to say as
much without first having my conviction verified. I very much fear, Don
Manuel, you have been grossly deceived by that fellow; if I am not
greatly mistaken he is a thorough rascal. I do not say this because of
his cowardly attack upon me--that I can quite account for after your
explanation of a night or two ago; but his daring outrage upon your
daughter is quite another matter."
"Yes, yes," exclaimed Don Manuel excitedly; "the fellow is a villain,
there is no doubt about that. I have never entertained a very high
opinion of him, it is true; but I must admit that I was quite unprepared
for any such high-handed behaviour as that of to-night."
"Well," said Smellie cheerfully, "I think Hawkesley has given his ardour
a cooling for some time to come, at all events; and for the rest, you
will have to be very carefully on your guard for the future, my dear
sir. I do not think he will venture a second attempt so long as we
remain under your roof, but after we are gone--"
"Which I hope will not be for some time to come," hospitably interrupted
Don Manuel. "But have no fear for us, my dear Don Harold; `forewarned
is forearmed,' as you say in your England, and I shall take care to
render any further attack upon my daughter's liberty impossible. But
come, dinner awaits us, and we can further discuss the matter, if need
be, over the--what is that you call it?--ah, yes, `the social board!'"
Thereupon we filed into the dining-room, and took our places at the
table. And there, before the conversation had an opportunity to drift
back into its former channel, I detailed my day's doings, and apprised
Smellie of the important fact that the _Daphne_ was in the offing.
"This is momentous news, indeed," remarked Smellie when I had finished.
"We must leave you to-night, I fear, Don Manuel, reluctant as we both
must be to cut short so very agreeable an acquaintance. But I trust we
shall have many opportunities of visiting you again, and so keeping
alive the friendship established between us; and as to Senor Madera--if
Hawkesley is only correct in his conjectures as to the schooner he saw--
why, I trust we may be able to effectually and permanently relieve you
of his disagreeable attentions before twenty-four hours have passed over
our heads."
Don Manuel bowed. "If Senor Madera is indeed the captain of a slave-
ship, as I have sometimes felt inclined to believe he is," said he, "I
beg that you will not permit the accident of having encountered him
under my roof to influence you in any way in his favour. As I have
already said, he is only an acquaintance--not a friend of mine--and if
he is a transgressor against the laws relating to the slave-trade, make
him suffer for it, if you can lay hands upon him. With regard to your
proposed attempt to rejoin your ship to-night, I very much regret that I
am only able to offer you the most meagre assistance; such as it is,
however, you are heartily welcome to it. I have a canoe down in the
creek yonder, and you are very welcome to take her; but she is only a
small affair, and as I presume you are not very much accustomed to the
handling of canoes, you will have to be exceedingly careful or you may
meet with an upset. And that, let me tell you, may possibly prove a
very serious affair, since the creek, ay, and the river itself, swarms
with crocodiles."
Smellie duly expressed his thankful acceptance of Don Manuel's kind
offer, and the conversation then became general. At the conclusion of
the meal Smellie requested the favour of a few minutes' private
conversation with Don Manuel; and that gentleman, with a somewhat
questioning and surprised look, bowed an affirmative and at once led the
way to his own especial sanctum.
I never actually heard what was the nature of the momentous
communication which the gallant second lieutenant wished so suddenly to
make to his host; but from the length of time that they remained
closeted together, and the remark of Don Manuel when they at length
reappeared--"Very well, my dear sir, then that is settled; upon the
conditions I have named you can have her,"--I made a pretty shrewd guess
at it.
In the meantime Dona Antonia had reappeared, very little the worse for
her adventure; she was very pale, it is true, and she became perceptibly
paler when, with that want of tact which is one of my most marked
characteristics, I abruptly told her that we were on the point of
leaving her to rejoin our ship. But she amply redeemed this want of
colour by the deep rosy flush with which she greeted Smellie's approach
and the low whispered request in response to which she placed her hand
on his arm and retired with him to the verandah.
It was about 9:30 p.m. when they reappeared, Smellie looking very grave,
but at the same time rather exultant, and poor Antonia in tears, which
she made no attempt whatever to conceal. I was, of course, all ready to
start at a moment's notice. We had no preparations to make, in fact,
and we at once proceeded to the disagreeable task of saying farewell to
our kind and generous host. It was a painful business; for though we
had not known Don Manuel and his daughter very long, we had still known
them quite long enough to have acquired for them both a very large
measure of esteem and regard--in Smellie's case there could no longer be
the least doubt that his feelings toward his hostess were even warmer
than this--so we hurried over the leave-taking with all speed, and then
set off down the pathway, under Pedro's guidance, on our road to the
creek.
It was by this time pitch dark. The stars had all disappeared; the sky
had become obscured by a heavy pall of thunder-cloud; and away to the
eastward the lightning was already beginning to flash and the thunder to
growl ominously. Before we reached the gate in the palisading Pedro had
volunteered the prognostication of a stormy night, utterly unfit for
such an expedition as that upon which we were bound, and had strongly
urged us more than once to follow his counsel and postpone the attempt.
But to this proposition we could not, of course, listen for a moment.
If we missed the present opportunity to rejoin the _Daphne_ it was
impossible to conjecture when another might offer; and pleasant though
our sojourn under Don Manuel's hospitable roof had undoubtedly been, it
was not _business_; every day so spent was a day distinctly lost in the
pursuit of our professional interests. So we plodded steadily on, and
in about half an hour's time reached the head of the creek, where,
carefully housed under a low thatch covering, we found the canoe.
She was, indeed, a frail craft in which to undertake such a journey as
ours, being only some two feet six inches beam, by about sixteen inches
deep, and twenty feet long; hollowed out of a single log. She had no
thwarts, and the paddlers were therefore compelled to squat tailor-
fashion in the bottom of her, looking forward. This was, so far,
fortunate; since she was so frightfully crank that, with such
unaccustomed canoeists as ourselves, it was only by keeping our centres
of gravity low down that we prevented her capsizing the moment we
stepped into her. Pedro, worthy soul, detained us about twenty minutes
whilst he explained the peculiarities of the craft and the proper mode
of handling the paddles; and then, with Smellie aft and me forward, we
bade the old fellow good-bye and boldly shoved off down the creek.
The channel here being narrow, and overarched to a great extent with
trees, the darkness was quite as intense as it had been on our journey
from the house through the wood and down to the creek; so dark was it,
indeed, that but for the lightning which now flashed around us with
rapidly-increasing frequency, it would have been quite impossible for us
to see where we were going. This stygian darkness, whilst it proved an
obstacle to our rapid progress, promised to afford us, by way of
compensation, most valuable assistance in another way, since we hoped to
slip past the schooner undetected in the impenetrable obscurity; our
desire just then being to avoid anything like a renewal of our
acquaintance with Senor Madera so soon after our very recent little
misunderstanding. Unfortunately there were two or three phenomena which
combined to render this feat a matter of difficulty. The first was the
vivid lightning which, at increasingly brief intervals, lit up the
channel with noontide distinctness. The next was the failure of the
wind; a stark breathless calm having fallen upon the face of nature like
a pall, in the which not so much as a single leaf stirred; and the whole
insect-world, contrary to its usual custom, awaiting in hushed
expectancy the outburst of the coming storm, a great and death-like
silence prevailed, through which the slightest sound which we might
accidentally make would have been heard for a long distance. And
another, and perhaps the worst of all, was the highly phosphorescent
state of the water. This was so excessive that the slightest ripple
under the bows of the canoe, along her sides, and for some distance in
her wake, together with the faint swirls created by our paddles,
produced long trailing lines and eddies of vivid silvery light which
could scarcely fail to attract the attention of a vigilant look-out and
so betray our whereabouts. We were thus compelled to observe the utmost
circumspection in our advance, which was made, as far as was
practicable, through the deepest shadows of the overhanging foliage.
We were creeping slowly down the channel in this cautious fashion when a
slight and almost imperceptible splash from the opposite bank attracted
my attention. Glancing across in that direction I noticed a slowly
spreading circle of luminous ripples, and beneath them a curious patch
of pale phosphorescent light rapidly advancing toward us. In a few
seconds it was almost directly underneath the canoe and keeping pace
with her. To my consternation I then saw that it was a crocodile about
the same length, "over all," as the canoe, the phosphorescence of the
water causing his scaly carcass to gleam like a watery moon and
distinctly revealing his every movement. We could even see his upturned
eyes maintaining a vigilant watch upon us.
"Do you see that, sir?" I whispered.
"I do, indeed," murmured Smellie; "and I only hope the brute is
completely ignorant of his ability to capsize us with a single whisk of
his tail, if he should choose to do so. Phew! what a flash!"
What a flash, indeed! It seemed as though the entire vault of heaven
had exploded into living flame; the whole atmosphere was for a moment
irradiated; our surroundings leapt out of the darkness and stood for a
single instant vividly revealed; and there, too, away ahead of us, at a
distance of perhaps half a mile, appeared the schooner, her hull, spars,
and rigging showing black as ebony against the brilliantly--illuminated
background of foliage and cloud. Simultaneously with the lightning-
flash there came a terrific peal of thunder, which crackled and crashed
and roared and rumbled about us with such an awful percussion of sound
that I was absolutely deafened for a minute or two. When I recovered my
hearing the wild creatures of the forest were still giving vent to their
terror in a chorus of roars and howls and screams of dismay. The
crocodile, evidently not caring to be out in such weather, had happily
vanished. We had scarcely gathered our wits once more about us when the
flood-gates of heaven were opened and down came the rain. I had heard a
great deal, at one time and another, about the violence of tropical
rainstorms, but this exceeded far beyond all bounds the utmost that I
had thereby been led to anticipate. It came, not in drops or sheets, or
even the metaphorical "buckets-full," but in an absolute _deluge_ of
such volume that not only were we drenched to the skin in a single
instant, but almost before I was aware of it the water had risen in the
bottom of the canoe to a depth of at least four inches. I was actually
compelled to lean forward in a stooping posture to catch my breath.
For fully five minutes this overwhelming deluge continued to descend
upon us, and then it relaxed somewhat and settled down into a steady
downpour.
"Was that object which we caught sight of some distance ahead, just now,
the schooner?" asked Smellie as soon as the rushing sound of the rain
had so far abated as to permit of our hearing each other's voices.
"It was, sir," I replied.
"Then now is the time for us to make a dash past her; they will scarcely
be keeping a very bright look-out in such rain as this," he remarked.
We accordingly hauled out into the centre of the stream and plied our
paddles as rapidly as possible. We had been working hard for perhaps
five minutes when Smellie said in a low cautious tone of voice:
"Hawkesley!"
"Sir?"
"Do you know, the fancy has seized upon me to have a look in on the deck
of that schooner. If we are duly cautious I really believe it might be
managed without very much risk. Somehow I do not think they will be
keeping a particularly bright look-out on board her just now. The look-
out may even be stowed away comfortably in the galley out of the rain.
Have you nerve enough for the adventure?"
"Certainly I have, sir," I replied, a bold idea flashing at that instant
through my brain.
"Then keep a sharp look-out for her, and, when you see her, work your
paddle so as to drop the canoe alongside under her main-chains, and
stand by to catch a turn with your painter."
"Ay, ay, sir," I replied; and we once more relapsed into silence and
renewed paddling.
Five minutes later a shapeless object loomed up close aboard of us on
our port bow, and, sheering the canoe sharply to larboard, we dropped
her handsomely and without a sound alongside the schooner just in the
wake of her main-chains. I rapidly took a turn with the painter round
the foremost channel-iron, and in another moment stood alongside my
superior officer in the schooner's main-chains.
Placing our heads close to the dead-eyes of the rigging, so as to expose
ourselves as little as possible, we waited patiently for another flash
of lightning--Smellie looking aft and I looking forward, by hastily-
whispered agreement. Presently the flash came.
"Did you catch sight of the look-out?" whispered Smellie to me.
"No, sir," I whispered back; "did you?"
"No; but I noticed that the skylight and companion are both closed and
the slide drawn over--probably to exclude the rain. I fancy most of the
people must have turned in."
"Very probably," I acquiesced; "there is not much to tempt them to
remain out of their bunks on such a night as this."
"True," remarked Smellie, still in the most cautious of whispers. "I
feel more than half-inclined to climb inboard and make a tour of the
decks."
"All right, sir!" I agreed. "Let us slip off our shoes and get on
board at once. You take the starboard side of the deck; I'll take the
port side. We can meet again on the forecastle."
"Agreed," was the reply; and slipping off our shoes forthwith we waited
for another flash of lightning, and then, in the succeeding darkness,
scrambled noiselessly in on deck and proceeded on our tour of
investigation.
On reaching the schooner's deck we separated, and I made it my first
business to carefully examine the skylight and companion. In the
profound darkness it was quite impossible to _see_ anything; but by
careful manipulation I soon ascertained that the former was shut down,
and that the doors of the latter were closed and the slide drawn over
within about six inches, as Smellie had said. It must have been
frightfully hot down in the cabin, but the officers apparently preferred
that to having a deluge of rain beating down below. The cabin was dimly
lighted by a swinging lamp turned down very low; but I could see no one,
nor was there any sound of movement down there--at which I was
considerably surprised, because if the schooner really belonged to Senor
Madera, as I had supposed, one would have expected to find one or two
persons at least on the alert in attendance upon the wounded man.
Having learned all that it was possible to learn in this quarter, I next
proceeded aft as far as the taffrail, where I found the deck encumbered
on both sides by two big coils of mooring hawser, the other ends of
which were secured, as I had noticed earlier in the day, to a couple of
tree-trunks on shore.
I next proceeded leisurely forward, noting on my way the fact that the
schooner mounted a battery of four brass nine-pounders on her starboard
side--and of course her port battery would be the same. The main
hatchway was securely covered in with a grating, up through which arose
the unmistakable odour which betrays the presence of slaves in a ship's
hold. All was quiet, however, below--the poor wretches down there
having probably obtained in sleep a temporary forgetfulness of their
miserable condition. On reaching the galley I found that the door on
the port side was closed; but on applying my ear to the chink I fancied
I could detect, through the steady _swish_ of the rain, the sounds of
regular breathing, as of a slumbering man. Forward of the galley was
the foremast, and on clearing this a faint gleam of light indicated the
position of the fore-scuttle; and whilst I was still glancing round in
an endeavour to discover the presence of a possible anchor-watch the
light was suddenly obscured by the interposition of the second
lieutenant's body, as he cautiously peered down into the forecastle. I
advanced to his side and laid my hand upon his arm, at the same time
mentioning his name to apprise him of my presence.
"Well," he whispered, first drawing me away from the open scuttle, "what
have you discovered?"
I told him, adding that I thought the anchor-watch must have taken
refuge in the galley from the rain, and there have fallen asleep.
"Yes," whispered Smellie; "he is safe enough there, and sound asleep,
for I accidentally touched him without disturbing his slumber."
I thought the time had now arrived for the propounding of my brilliant
idea.
"What is to prevent our _seizing the schooner_, sir?" I asked.
"Nothing whatever," was the reply. "I have been thinking of such a
thing myself. She is already virtually in our possession, and a very
little labour and patience would make her actually so. I think we are
men enough to get her under canvas and to handle her afterwards, for she
is only a very small craft. The great--and indeed only--danger
connected with the affair consists in the possibility of their firing a
pistol into the powder-magazine when they discover that they are
prisoners, and so sending the ship and all hands sky-high together."
"They _might_ possibly do such a thing," I assented; "but I am willing
to take the risk, sir, if you are."
"Well done, Hawkesley! you are made of the right stuff for a sailor,"
was Smellie's encouraging remark. "Then we'll do it," he continued.
"The first thing is to close and fasten the fore-scuttle, which, I have
already ascertained, is secured with a hasp and staple. A belaying-pin
will secure it effectually; so that is the first thing we need."
A loose belaying-pin was soon found; and, provided with this, we then
returned to the fore-scuttle, noiselessly placed the cover in position,
and thrust the pin through the staple thus effectually imprisoning the
crew.
"Now another belaying-pin and a rope's-end--a fathom or so off the end
of the topgallant halliards will do--to secure this vigilant look-out in
the galley."
Armed with the necessary gear we next crept toward the galley. The
question was, how to secure the man effectually in the intense darkness
and confined space, and at the same time prevent his raising an alarm.
The only thing was to lure him out on deck; and accordingly, whilst
Smellie awaited him at the door, I went in, and grasping him by the
shoulder shook him roughly, retiring again promptly as soon as I found
that I had aroused him. The fellow rose to his feet hurriedly,
evidently under the impression that one of the officers had caught him
napping, and, scarcely half-awake, stumbled out on deck muttering in
Spanish a few incoherent words which he no doubt intended for an
explanation of his presence in the galley. As he emerged from the door
I promptly--and I fear rather roughly--forced the belaying-pin between
his teeth and secured it there with the aid of my pocket handkerchief,
Smellie at the same moment pinioning him from the other side so
effectually that he was rendered quite incapable of resistance. A very
short time sufficed us to secure him beyond the possibility of escape;
and then the next thing demanding our attention was the skylight and
companion. I had already thought of a means by which these might be
made perfectly secure, and I now offered the idea to Smellie for
whatever it might be worth. My suggestion met with his most unqualified
approval, and we forthwith set about carrying it out. There was an
abundance of firewood in the galley; and, selecting suitable pieces, we
lost no time in hacking out half-a-dozen wedges. Armed with these we
went aft, and noiselessly closing the companion slide to its full extent
firmly wedged it there. A short piece of planking wedged tightly in
between the binnacle and the companion doors made the latter perfectly
secure; and when we had further heaped upon the skylight lid as many
heavy articles as we could find about the decks and conveniently handle
between us, the crew were effectually imprisoned below, fore and aft,
and the work of seizing the schooner was complete.
We were not a moment too soon. The thunderstorm had all this while been
raging with little if any diminution of fury, the rain continuing to
pour down upon us in a steady torrent. But hitherto there had been no
wind. We had barely completed our task of making matters secure fore
and aft, however, when the lightning and rain ceased all in an instant.
"Now look out for the wind, sir," said I to Smellie.
"When the rain comes _before_ the wind. Stand by and well your topsails
mind."
"Let the breeze come as soon as it likes," was the cheerful reply; "we
shall want a breeze to help us out of the creek presently. But we may
as well get the canvas on her whilst the calm lasts, if possible; so run
your knife along the lashing of that mainsail, whilst I overhaul the
sheet and cast adrift the halliards."
So said, so done, and in another minute the sail was loose. We then
tailed on to the halliards, and after a long and weary drag managed to
get the sail set after a fashion. But we had hardly begun this task
before the squall burst upon us, and well was it for us then that the
schooner happened to be moored in so completely sheltered a position.
The wind careered, roaring and howling past us overhead, swaying and
bending the stoutest forest giants as though they were pliant reeds; but
down in the narrow channel, under the lee of the trees, we felt no more
than a mere _scuffle_, which, however, was sufficient to make the
mainsail flap heavily, and this effectually roused all hands below.
The first intimation we received of this state of things was a loud
battering against the inside of the companion doors, accompanied by
muffled ejaculations of anger. To this, however, we paid not the
slightest heed; we knew that our prisoners were safe for a time at
least, so as soon as we had set the mainsail to our satisfaction I
skimmed out on the jib-boom and cast loose the jib, then slipped inboard
again and helped Smellie to hoist it. This done, by Smellie's order I
went aft to the wheel, whilst he, armed with the cook's axe, cut the
hawsers fore and aft by which the schooner was secured to the bank.
The wind was very baffling just where we were; moreover we happened,
unfortunately, to be on the lee side of the canal, and for a couple of
minutes after cutting adrift we were in imminent danger of taking the
ground after all our trouble. Between us, however, we succeeded in so
far flattening in the main-sheet as to cant her bows to windward, and
though the schooner's keel actually stirred up the mud for a distance of
quite fifty yards, we at last had the gratification of seeing her draw
off the bank. The moment that she was fairly under weigh I drew
Smellie's attention to the violent pounding at the companion doors, and
suggested as a precautionary measure that we should run one of the guns
up against the doors in case of any attempt to batter them down, which
we accordingly did; the wheel being lashed for the short period
necessary to enable us to accomplish this task.
Very fortunately for us the wind had by this time broken up the dense
black canopy of cloud overhead, permitting a star or two to peep through
the rents here and there; the moon, too, just past her second quarter,
had risen, so that we now had a fair amount of light to aid us. The
navigation of the narrow creek was, however, so difficult that a look-
out was absolutely necessary, and Smellie accordingly went forward and
stationed himself on the stem-head to con the ship.