On the following morning Captain Dubosc and Lieutenant Le Breton (we now
discovered that the _Virginia's_ people had assumed the names of the
officers of the _Vestale_ in addition to appropriating the name of the
ship) came on board the _Daphne_ to breakfast; Armitage and old Mildmay
being invited to meet them.
The meal appeared to be a protracted one, for it was served punctually
at eight o'clock and the participants did not appear on deck until half-
past ten. The secret, however, soon came out, for when they did at
length put in an appearance it became perfectly evident, from sundry
disjointed remarks which passed between them, that something of
importance was on the _tapis_. The Frenchmen's gig was awaiting them,
and they soon passed down over the side, Captain Dubosc's last words
being:
"Well, then, _mon ami_, it is all settled, and our contingent shall be
ready for a start punctually at two o'clock _Au revoir_."
I was not left long in ignorance of the precise nature of the
arrangement which had just been concluded, for as soon as the French gig
was fairly away from our vessel's side, Captain Vernon beckoned me to
him and said:
"Just step down below with me, Hawkesley; I want to have a talk with
you."
I followed him down into his cabin, whereupon he directed me to be
seated, drew a chair up to the table for himself, and laying his hand
upon a bundle of papers, said:
"These are some of the papers which I discovered the night before last
on board the _Virginia_; and as I anticipated would be the case, they
contain several items of exceedingly important information. One of
these items has reference to the existence, on an island some forty
miles up the river, of an immense slave depot, as also of a slave hulk,
in both of which, if the information here given happens to be reliable,
a large number of slaves are at this moment awaiting embarkation. The
papers seem also to imply that there is a very snug anchorage close to
this island, with a navigable channel leading right up to it.
"Now I am exceedingly anxious, for many reasons, to test the truth of
this information, and I have therefore arranged with Captain Dubosc to
send a joint expedition up the river to survey the alleged channel, to
destroy the depot and the hulk, if such are found to exist, and to free
any slaves which may happen to be therein.
"From certain remarks to be found here and there in these documents, I
infer that the depot and hulk are in charge of white men, but it is,
unfortunately, nowhere stated how many these white men number. They
cannot, however, muster very strongly there; they probably do not number
above a dozen altogether; the expedition, therefore, will only be a
small one, consisting only of our own cutter and that of the _Vestale_.
I have determined to give the command of our people to Mr Mildmay, he
being the most experienced officer at surveying now remaining to us,
with you to lend a hand. The French boat will be under the command of
Monsieur Saint Croix, the second lieutenant of the _Vestale_; and both
boats, though of course under independent commands, will act in concert.
This paper," placing one before me, "is, as you will perceive, a
sketch-chart of the river, and the two crosses in red ink indicate the
positions of the depot and the hulk. It differs somewhat, you will
notice, from the admiralty chart," to which he pointed as he spoke, "and
it will really be a great point to ascertain which, if either, of the
two is correct. To an individual unacquainted with the river, the
channel there on the larboard hand going up would naturally suggest
itself as the preferable one, being so much wider than the other, but
the soundings marked on this sketch go to show that the water is much
deeper in the _south_ channel. This is one of the points I want cleared
up. And another is the bearings and compass courses along the deepest
water in each reach of the channel. I have already explained all this
to Mildmay of course; but I thought I would also explain it to you,
because, knowing exactly what I want, you will be able to render more
intelligent assistance than would be possible were you working in the
dark. There is only one thing more. You are a tolerably good hand with
your pencil, I know; do you think you could make an exact copy of this
sketch-chart to take with you, so as to leave the original behind with
me?"
I assured the skipper that I both could and would, whereupon he
furnished me with the necessary materials and left me in solitude to
perform my task, going on deck himself to superintend the preparations
for our trip.
The sketch-chart found among the papers on board the _Virginia_ was only
a small affair, drawn upon a sheet of foolscap paper; but it was so
carefully executed that I felt sure it must be the work of an
experienced hand, and consequently, in all probability, perfectly
accurate. My copy, therefore, to be of any value at all, would have to
be, not a free-hand happy-go-lucky sketch, but an absolute _facsimile_.
There was a great deal of work in it, and not much time wherein to do
it; so, after a little thought, I hit upon the plan of fastening the
outspread original with wafers to the glass of one of the stern windows,
and watering a thin sheet of paper over it. The strong daylight
reflected up from the surface of the water through the glass rendered
the two sheets of paper sufficiently transparent to enable me to see
every line and mark of the original with tolerable clearness through the
sheet upon which I proposed to make my copy; and with the aid of a fine-
pointed pencil I soon had it complete, going over it afterwards with pen
and ink to make it indelible.
Mildmay and I lunched with the skipper that day, and during the course
of the meal we received our final instructions, which were, however,
little more than a recapitulation of those given me in the morning.
The meal over, the cutter's crew were paraded, fully armed, in the waist
of the ship; their ammunition was served out to them, and they were
ordered down into the boat, which lay alongside with a 12-pounder
carronade in her bows, together with the necessary powder and shot for
the same, spare ammunition for the men's muskets, four days' provisions
and water, and, in fact, every necessary for the successful carrying out
of the undertaking upon which we were bound. The skipper then shook
hands with Mildmay and me, wishing us prosperity and success; we went
down over the side into the boat, and the little expedition started.
Three minutes later we were joined by Monsieur Saint Croix in the
_Vestale's_ cutter, when the canvas was set in both boats, the wind,
though dead in our teeth for the passage up the river, being free enough
to carry us as far as Boolambemba Point.
For the remainder of that day and up to about 4 p.m. on the day
following, the expedition progressed without incident of any kind worth
mentioning. Our progress was steady but slow, Mildmay's whole energies
being devoted to the making of a thoroughly satisfactory and trustworthy
survey of the river channel up which we were passing; and in the
accomplishment of this duty I was pleased to find that the studies I had
been diligently pursuing under Mr Smellie's auspices enabled me to
render him substantial assistance. Saint Croix, who kept about a
quarter of a mile in our wake, was making a perfectly independent
survey, which he compared with ours at the conclusion of each day's
work. The first incident of note, though we attached no importance
whatever to it at the moment, occurred about four o'clock in the
afternoon on the day following our departure from Banana Creek, and it
consisted merely in the fact that a large native canoe passed us upward
bound, without its occupants bestowing upon us any notice whatever. We
had previously encountered several canoes--small craft carrying from two
to half-a-dozen natives--and the occupants of these, who seemed to be
engaged for the most part in fishing, had invariably greeted us with
vociferous ejaculations, which, from the hearty laughter immediately
following them, were doubtless choice examples of Congoese wit. But the
particular canoe now in question swept past us without a sound. She was
a large, well-shaped craft, propelled by twenty-four paddles, and she
dashed ahead of us as if we had been at anchor, her occupants--and
especially four individuals who sat in the stern-sheets, or at all
events where the stern-sheets ought to be, and who, from their display
of feathers, bead necklaces, and leopard-skin robes, must have been very
bigwigs indeed--looking straight ahead of them and vouchsafing not the
faintest indication that they were conscious of our presence. This
absurd assumption of dignity greatly tickled us at the moment, we
attributing it entirely to the existence in the native mind of a
profound conviction of their own immeasurable superiority; but
subsequent events tended to give another and a more sinister aspect to
the incident. We pressed diligently on with our work until six o'clock,
at which time we found ourselves abreast a small native village. Here
Mildmay proposed to effect a landing, both for the purpose of procuring
some fruit and also to satisfy his very natural curiosity to see what a
native village was like. But on pulling in toward the bank the natives
assembled, making such unmistakable warlike demonstrations that we
deemed it advisable to abandon our purpose. We could, of course, have
easily dispersed the hostile blacks had we been so disposed; and Saint
Croix, who was a particularly high-spirited, fiery-tempered young
fellow, strongly advocated our doing so. But Captain Vernon's orders to
us to avoid all collision with the natives had been most stringent, and
old Mildmay was far too experienced and seasoned a hand to engage in an
affray for the mere "fun" of the thing. He therefore sturdily refused
to aid or abet Saint Croix in any such unrighteous undertaking; and we
passed the night instead upon a small islet whereon there was nothing
more formidable than a few water-fowl and a flock of green parrots to
dispute our landing.
We had not been at work above an hour or so on the following morning
before we had reason to suspect that some at least of the unusual number
of canoes around us were suspiciously watching our movements, if not
actually following us up the river. This, however, for the time being
caused us little or no uneasiness, as we felt assured that, should their
attentions become inconveniently obtrusive, a bullet or two, or failing
that, a round-shot from our carronade, fired over their heads, would
promptly send them to the right-about. Later on in the day, however, I
must confess that I for one began to experience a slight qualm of
anxiety as I noticed the steadily increasing number of canoes, _some_ of
them carrying as many as ten or a dozen men, in our vicinity. They were
all ostensibly engaged in fishing, it is true; but that this was only a
pretence, or that they were meeting with unusually bad luck, was evident
from the small number of fish captured. Still, up to noon, though the
behaviour of the natives had been steadily growing more suspicious and
unsatisfactory, no actual hostile demonstration had been made; and we
landed upon a small bare, sandy islet to cook and despatch our dinner.
During all this time we had, of course, been carefully checking the
chart of the river copied by me from the one found on board the
_Virginia_, and comparing it with our own survey; the general result
being to prove that it was very fairly accurate, quite sufficiently so
at least to serve as a safe guide to any vessel of light draught, say up
to ten feet or so, making for the island on which was the alleged slave
depot. This chart told us that we had now arrived within a distance of
some six miles of the island in question, a statement verified to some
extent by the fact that on an island situate at about that distance from
us we could make out, with the aid of our glasses, an object which might
very well pass for a large building of some kind. The river channel
between us and this island was entirely free of visible obstructions,
and we therefore hoped that, by a little extra exertion, we might
succeed in completing our survey right up to the island, and gaining
possession of it and the hulk--thus achieving the full object of the
expedition--before nightfall.
By the time that we were ready to make a start once more, however, the
canoes had mustered in such numbers that even old Mildmay, who had
hitherto poo-poohed my suggestions as to the possibility of a
contemplated attack, began to look serious, and at last actually went
the length of acknowledging that perhaps there might be mischief brewing
after all. Saint Croix, however, treated the matter lightly, roundly
asserting that the extraordinary gathering was due to nothing more
serious than the native curiosity to behold the unwonted sight of a
white man, and to watch our mysterious operations. There was
undoubtedly a certain degree of probability about this suggestion, and
most unfortunately we gave to it a larger share of credence than the
event justified, shoving off from our sand-bank and resuming our
surveying operations without first adopting those precautionary measures
which prudence obviously dictated.
At two o'clock p.m., by which time we had passed over about three of the
six miles which lay between the sand-bank and our supposed goal, the
French boat being at the time about half a mile astern of us, a loud
shouting arose from one of the largest canoes in the flotilla, her
paddles were suddenly elevated in the air, and the whole fleet with one
accord rapidly closed in between us and the Frenchmen, completely
cutting us off the one from the other.
"Hillo!" exclaimed Mildmay, "what's the meaning of this? Just clap a
round-shot into the carronade there, you Tom, and pitch it well over the
heads of those black rascals. Pull port, back starboard, and slue the
boat round with her nose toward them. That's your sort! Now, Tom, are
you ready there, for'ard? Then well elevate the muzzle and stand by to
fire when I give the word. Hold water, starboard oars, and port oars
pull a stroke; we're pointing straight for the Frenchmen just now. Well
of all; now we're clear, and no chance of hitting our friends. Fire!"
The carronade rang out its report from the bows of the boat, and the
shot went screaming away far over the heads of those in the canoes, the
Frenchmen firing in like manner at almost the same moment. A yell of
dismay immediately arose from the canoes, and half a dozen of those
nearest us dashed their paddles into the water and began paddling
precipitately away. Their panic, however, was only momentary; they
appeared to have seen and heard artillery before, and as soon as they
saw that no damage had been done they arrested their flight, and a
contingent of canoes, numbering quite a hundred, began cautiously to
advance toward us, spreading out on our right and left in a manner which
showed that they meditated an attempt to surround us.
"Give 'em another pill, Tom, and slap it right into the thick of 'em
this time; we mustn't let 'em surround us at no price," exclaimed old
Mildmay. "Turn round on your thwarts, lads, and pull the boat gently up
stream, starn first, so's to keep our bull-dog forward there facing 'em.
Now, as soon as you're ready there with the gun let 'em have it." Once
again the carronade spoke out, and this time its voice conveyed a death-
message to some of the belligerent blacks, the shot striking one of the
canoes fair in the stem, knocking her into match-wood, and killing or
maiming several of her occupants. We naturally expected that this
severe lesson would have the effect of sending our troublesome
neighbours to the right-about _en masse_, but to our surprise and
discomfiture this was by no means the case; on the contrary, it appeared
to have thoroughly aroused their most savage instincts, and with a loud
shout they dashed their paddles into the water and advanced menacingly
toward us.
"Load your muskets, lads!" exclaimed Mildmay, as, with eyes gleaming and
nostrils dilated, the old war-horse snuffed the approaching battle;
"load your muskets, and then take to your oars again and back her
steadily up stream. Sharp's the word and quick's the action; if those
rascals `outflank' us--as the sodgers call it--we may say `good-bye' to
old England. Mr Hawkesley, d'ye think you can pitch a bullet into that
long chap that's creeping up there on our larboard beam? I'm about to
try my hand and see if I can't stop the gallop of this fellow who's in
such a tremendous hurry away here to the nor'ard of us. Take good aim,
now; we haven't a single bullet that we can afford to throw away. Ah!
that's _well_ done," as I bowled over the individual who was handling
the steering paddle in the canoe indicated to me. "Now let's see what
an old man can do." He raised his piece to his shoulder, took a long
steady aim, and fired. A white spot instantly appeared on the side of
the canoe; and one of its occupants sprang convulsively to his feet and
fell headlong into the river, nearly capsizing the frail craft as he did
so.
This certainly checked the impetuosity of the two particular canoes, the
occupants of which had suffered from our fire; but the others only
pressed forward with increased eagerness.
"Hang it!" exclaimed the master pettishly, "I don't _want_ to do it, but
I shall have to give 'em a dose of grape yet. Why won't the stupid
donkeys take a hint? And why, in the name of fortune, should they want
to interfere with us at all? Try 'em with grape this time, Tom; let's
see what they think of `the fruit of the vine.'"
Meanwhile the French boat had also become actively engaged, the report
of her carronade ringing out much more frequently than our own, whilst
rattling volleys of musketry breezed up from her at brief intervals; but
from the steadily decreasing sharpness of the reports it soon became
evident, somewhat, I must confess, to our dismay, that she was
_retiring_. It might, of course, be merely a strategic movement on
Saint Croix's part; but if, on the other hand, he happened to be
situated like ourselves, with all his work cut out to defend himself,
and a way open to him _down_ stream only, as we had a clear road before
us _up_ stream only, then indeed matters were beginning to look
extremely serious for us. So far as he was concerned, if he could only
avoid being surrounded he was comparatively safe; the way would be open
for his retreat, and a fine breeze happening to be blowing down the
river, he could, with the aid of his sails easily outpace the canoes.
But with us the matter was very different; our retreat was cut off, and
unless we could beat off the canoes the only course open to us seemed to
be that of taking to dry land, intrenching ourselves as best we might,
and patiently waiting until assistance should arrive. Meanwhile, in
accordance with Mildmay's instructions, our carronade had been loaded
with grape, and Tom, taking steady aim, applied the match to his piece.
A flash, a roar, a volume of smoke, and away went the grape lashing up
the surface of the water fair in line with a thick cluster of canoes,
through which the iron shower next moment tore with disastrous effect.
One canoe was literally rent to pieces, every one of its occupants, so
far as we could see, being killed; two other canoes, one on each side of
the first, were so seriously damaged that they immediately swamped,
leaving their occupants squattering in the water like so many lame
ducks; and three or four others were hit, with serious casualties to
their crews. This effectually checked the advance of the blacks for a
few minutes, during which we made good use of our oars in urging the
boat, still stern foremost, in the direction of the island to which we
were bound, and upon which we were now able to distinctly make out the
shape of a huge wooden barrack-like structure.
As we pressed on toward the island we became cognisant of the fact that
its occupants were in a great state of confusion, and a few minutes
later we saw a long procession of blacks, who, from their constrained
movements, were apparently manacled, emerge from the barrack and move
off toward the opposite side of the island. We were enabled, with the
aid of our glasses, to detect on the island the presence of some ten or
a dozen white men, and these individuals, carrying each a musket in one
hand and a whip in the other, seemed to be very freely using the latter
to expedite the movements of the unhappy blacks.
We were, however, allowed but scanty time in which to take note of these
matters, for the native canoes soon began to press forward upon us once
more, evidently with the fixed determination to surround us if possible,
and thus prevent our approach to the island. We knew that if this
object were once accomplished our doom was certain, for in such a case,
fight as desperately as we might, we must soon be overpowered by sheer
force of numbers, and it consequently soon became, so far as we were
concerned, an absolute race for life.
On swept the boat, our men pulling her through the water, though still
stern foremost, at a pace such as she had rarely travelled before, and
on crowded the canoes after us, spread out athwart the stream in the
form of a crescent. Luckily for us, the channel at this point was not
very wide, and by keeping in the middle of it we were able to throw a
musket-shot clear across to either side, otherwise we should soon have
found ourselves in a parlous case. The greater number of the canoes
obstinately maintained a position in mid-stream ahead of us, thus
presenting an insuperable barrier to our retreat down stream, whilst
those on the outer wings to port and starboard of us hugged the bank of
the stream, two or three of the larger craft making a big spurt ahead of
the others now and then in an endeavour to outflank us, which endeavour,
however, a well-directed volley of musketry always sufficed to check for
the time being.
At length we reached a point where the stream widened out considerably,
enabling the canoes on each side to spread out sufficiently far to be
beyond musket-shot, and we saw that upon the question whether we or the
canoes passed this point first, hinged our fate. The natives, though
evidently entertaining a wholesome dread of our carronade, were by no
means so dismayed by the execution it wrought among them as we had hoped
they would be, and indeed exhibited a decidedly growing disposition to
close upon us in spite of our fire; in fact, our position was at every
moment growing more critical.
Very fortunately for us we happened to have a few rounds of canister in
the boat, and Mildmay now resolved to try the effect of these upon the
pertinacious natives. A charge of grape with one of canister on the top
of it, was accordingly rammed home and sent flying into the thickest of
the crowd of canoes immediately ahead of us, immediately succeeded by a
like dose to the right and left wings of the flotilla. The canoes were
just at about the right distance to give these murderous discharges
their utmost possible effect, and the carnage among the thickly-crowded
craft was simply indescribable. The effect was not only to check their
advance effectually, but to actually put them to flight, and whilst a
similar charge was again rammed home by those in charge of the gun the
rest of the men slewed the boat round on her centre, and with a loud
cheer gave way at top speed for the island.
We were within a hundred yards of the low shingly beach when, to our
astonishment, the roar of artillery from the island greeted our ears,
and at the same instant half a dozen round-shot came flying about our
ears. Fortunately no damage was done beyond the smashing of a couple of
oars and the incontinent precipitation backwards into the bottom of the
boat of the pullers thereof, amidst the uproarious laughter of all
hands, and before these unfortunates had fairly picked themselves up,
the cutter was sent surging half her length high and dry up on the
beach, the carronade belched forth its contents, and out we jumped,
master and man, and charged up to the sod battery which had fired upon
us. We were greeted with a volley of musketry, which, however, never
stopped us in our rush a single instant, and as we clambered in at one
side we had the satisfaction of seeing the rascally Spaniards go flying
out at the other, whence they made short miles of it to a boat which lay
awaiting them on the beach at the opposite side of the island, some two
or three hundred yards away. We sent a few ineffectual flying shots
after them, but attempted no pursuit, as we now found ourselves to some
extent masters of the situation; in so far, that is to say, that we
found the battery admirably adapted as a place wherein to make a stand
until such time as we could see our way clear to once more take
offensive measures. As for the Spaniards, they made good their retreat
to a large hulk which lay securely moored at a distance of some twenty
yards from the steeply sloping eastern shore of the island, and which--
floating high out of the water as she did, with channel-plates removed
and no gear whatever about her sides to aid us in boarding should we
make the attempt--would, I foresaw, prove rather a hard nut for us to
crack. Our footing thus made good upon the island and in the battery,
we had a moment or two in which to look about us, and the first
discovery made was that poor old Mildmay, the master, had been wounded,
and was lying helpless, face downwards on the sward outside the battery.
The next was, that the natives had recovered from their panic and were
actually once more advancing against us, spreading out on all sides so
as to completely encircle the island.
The first object demanding our attention was, of course, the master.
Directing the man Tom, our chief artilleryman, to look into the state of
the guns belonging to the battery, and to load them afresh, I called a
couple of men and took them with me to bring in the master. The poor
old fellow was lying upon the grass face downwards, and when we gently
raised him it became apparent that he had been bleeding rather profusely
at the mouth. He was senseless and ghastly pale, and for the moment I
feared he was dead. A low moan, however, as the men began to move with
him, gave us the assurance that life was not quite extinct, and as
gently as we could we lifted him over the low earth parapet, and laid
him down under its shelter in comparative safety.
The command of the party now devolved upon me, and a very serious
responsibility under the circumstances I found it. Here we were cooped
up in a small sod battery, wholly ineffectual to resist a determined
assault; with a perfect cloud of hostile natives hovering about us
apparently determined to be satisfied with nothing short of our absolute
extermination; with a dozen vindictive Spaniards on board the hulk close
at hand, doubtless as anxious as the natives to sweep us from the face
of the earth; the French boat having vanished from the scene; and--
though there was drinkable water in abundance in the river so long as we
might be able to get at it--_with only one day's provisions left_.