"A pretty kettle of fish that!" exclaimed the skipper, pitching the
butt-end of his cigar through one of the stern ports as he got up from
his seat and began to pace up and down the saloon in his usual quarter-
deck fashion. "You must have been mad, colonel, to let them come aboard
so quietly and in such a manner, too!"
"Stay, you have not heard all," said the other. "As the black rascals
tumbled over the side, one of them called out something in the French
tongue. This, sir, at once disarmed Captain Alphonse, who had prevented
me from teaching them good manners, which I otherwise should have done,
for I had my six-shooter ready, with the barrels all loaded, being
always prepared for any such little unpleasantness by my experiences in
Venezuela, where a man often carries his life in his own hands!
"But Captain Alphonse would not let me fire, though, by heavens! I
would have accounted for half a dozen of them, I know, before they had
advanced beyond the precincts of the ship!
"`No, no, be quiet!' cried he, knocking my arm up to prevent my taking
aim at the leader of the gang, whom I had spotted dead in the eye.
`These are my countrymen!'
"It was no use my talking after that, sir. The sound of the French
tongue, which these blacks of Hayti speak with a better accent than the
gamins of Paris, gained over Captain Alphonse; while Madame Boisson
declared the whole episode truly charming, her fat husband, who was
entirely under her thumb, shrugging his shoulders and giving them both
encouragement and a welcome.
"These charming compatriots of theirs, therefore, being allowed to take
us by storm without let or hindrance, now advanced aft, when their
ringleader, a plausible scoundrel who described himself as the `Marquis
de Pomme-Rose,' or some other similar shoddy title belonging to the
black peerage of Hayti, to which I did not give heed at the time, beyond
in my own mind thinking it ridiculous and that it was probably a name
made up for the occasion, this man came up to Captain Alphonse with a
smile on his black face and told a wonderful story which he had
calculated would excite our pity while allaying our fears.
"There had been another revolution at Port au Prince, he said, as
Captain Alphonse had surmised. A band of patriots, of whom he, the
speaker, had the honour to be the chief, had attempted to depose the
reigning despot Salomon from his post of president, but that that astute
gentleman got wind of the conspiracy in time, and as he had a very
efficacious mode of quickly dealing with those opposed to him in
political matters, the nigger marquis and his fellow-plotters thought it
best to seek refuge in flight.
"Salomon, of course, at once despatched his myrmidons after them, but
having a few hours' start of the pursuers the runaway revolutionists
contrived to clear off from Port au Prince, concealing themselves in the
mountain fastnesses at the eastern end of the island.
"Here, while in hiding, they saw the _Saint Pierre_ rounding Cape San
Engano. Subsequently observing that she was becalmed, they waited for
nightfall, when they stole a boat that lay on the shore and pulled out
towards our ship, just avoiding capture in the nick of time; the
regiment of black soldiers Salomon had sent after them having hit upon
their trail and being so close up behind that they were able to open
fire on them ere the boat got into deep water, two of the fugitive
patriots being struck by the bullets that came whistling in their rear.
"The `marquis' was of the belief that we were bound for Cuba, so he
declared at all events at the moment, and he asked Captain Alphonse with
the utmost indifference to give him and his companions a passage
thither, assuring him that he would be handsomely rewarded for so doing
by some of their friends belonging to the Haytian revolutionary party,
who had established their headquarters at Havana.
"In reply to this request Captain Alphonse declared he was `desolated,'
but that, unfortunately, the _Saint Pierre_ was bound for Europe and not
to the greater Antilles; but, strange to say, for I was watching him
keenly the while, our friend the `marquis' did not appear either
surprised or dismayed at his supposition as to our destination turning
out to be so erroneous, as he would have been, so I thought, had he been
speaking the truth in his original narrative, and acting in good faith
towards us!
"From that moment, sir, something in my mind seemed to warn me against
the black villain, though I had been previously rather prepossessed in
his favour by his manner and bearing, in spite of a strong antipathy to
republicans of his complexion!"
"Ah, colonel," whispered the skipper. "I suppose it comes from living
amongst them too much, but I see you don't like negroes."
"No; you mistake my meaning greatly if you think that, Senor Applegarth.
Black, white or yellow, the colour makes no difference to me, providing
the individual I may have to deal with be a man in the true sense of the
word! In the old days, before our war, I had a good deal to do with
niggers, for my father and his father before him owned a large
plantation in Louisiana, and long before President Lincoln issued his
proclamation of emancipation every hand on our estate was a free man;
so, you see, sir, I do not advocate slavery at all events. But between
slavery and unbridled liberty there is, Senor Applegarth, a wide margin;
and though I do not look upon a nigger in the abstract as either a brute
beast or a human chattel, still I do not consider him quite fit to
govern himself, nor do I regard him in the light of my brother, sir, nor
even as my equal in any way!"
The skipper laughed.
"`What's bred in the bone,' colonel--you know the rest!" said he. "Your
old experience in the Southern States prejudices you against the race."
"Pardon me," rejoined Colonel Vereker warmly, "I don't dislike them at
all. On the contrary, I have found some negroes more faithful than any
white man of my acquaintance, being true to the death; and I know that
if I came across, to-morrow, any of the old hands on our Louisianian
plantation whom my father made free, I should be as glad to see them as
they would be to meet me. But, sir, at the same time, allowing all
this, I cannot admit the negro to be on an equality with the white
races. They are inferior, I am certain, alike in intelligence,
disposition and nature, and I hold him as little qualified for self-
government on the European system as a child is fit to be entrusted with
a case of razors for playthings. Hayti is an illustration of this,
sir!"
"All right, my dear sir," said the skipper good-humouredly, glad to see
the colonel taken out of himself and forgetting his grief about his
little daughter for the moment in the discussion. "Carry on; we're
listening to you!"
His enthusiasm, however, did not last very long.
"Heavens! Senor Applegarth, and you, too, gentlemen," he went on in a
changed tone. "I have cause to love those Haytian scoundrels well, I
tell you! Well, sirs, to proceed with my story, the terrible end of
which I have nearly reached, this dog of a black rascal, the so-called
marquis, seemed quite content, much to my surprise, when Captain
Alphonse told him we were not bound for Cuba, but for Liverpool.
"It was all the same to him, he said, and as they were going the longer
voyage, perhaps Captain Alphonse would allow him and his companions to
work out their passage by assisting the crew in the navigation of the
ship.
"Captain Alphonse was delighted at this, for we had only half a dozen
good seamen on board, the rest of the hands being a lot of half-bred
mulattoes and niggers--some of the scourings of South America whom he
had picked up at La Guayra, most of whom knew how to handle a cutlass
better than a rope--so the proposed addition to the strength of our
ship's company was a very acceptable one, particularly as the `Marquis'
pointed out two of his companions as being expert sailors and qualified
pilots and navigators."
"Ha! You kept your eye on those gentry, colonel, I bet you did?"
"Yes, sir. They were the first I spotted when the row began; but I'm
anticipating matters."
"The divvle a bit, sor," interposed Garry O'Neil. "Let me jist change
the dressin' of your leg, an' ye can polish off the rist of the rascals
as soon as ye plaize."
"A thousand thanks," returned the other, shifting his position to allow
his leg to be attended to. "They did not disclose their purpose,
though, or `show their hand,' as they say at the game of monte, all at
once; for, moved by their voluntary offer to help work the ship, Captain
Alphonse promised the `marquis,' who when making this offer had urged a
request to that effect, calculating on the captain's generosity to put
in and leave the lot at Bermuda, should they make a fair passage up to
the parallel of that island, but in the event of their being delayed by
foul winds or the voyage appearing as if it must be a long one, the
Haytians must be contented to cross the ocean.
"The bargain was struck at once, this proviso being accepted with
alacrity as it just suited their purpose, and never saw I men work as
those Haytians worked in the way of tumbling up at all hours and pulling
and hauling, shaking out reefs and setting fresh sail, the next day or
two when the weather was contrary, and we had to tack about a good deal
to windward in getting out into the open Atlantic.
"Heavens! How they exerted themselves; so much so that I quite shared
Captain Alphonse's admiration for them, but, unlike him, I watched them,
and I noticed that they and the coloured men of our crew who had been
picked up at La Guayra seemed on a more friendly footing than was
altogether warranted by the short time they had been on board. Captain
Alphonse and the other passengers, however, would not see this.
"But, sir, I had an old negro servant on board with me, who had followed
my fortunes from the States to Venezuela after the war, Louisiana then
being no longer a fit place for a white man to live in. Poor old Cato;
he was the most faithful soul the Almighty ever put breath into!
"Him I acquainted with my suspicions, and sent amongst the blacks, to
gather what information he could of their designs, for I was confident,
sirs, they had not boarded us for nothing, and were hatching some deep
plot with a view, very probably, of getting possession of our ship in
order the better to further the interests of the revolutionary party, to
which they belonged, that was opposed to Salomon, the president in
power.
"Whatever their object might be, however, I distrusted them in every
way, believing them, indeed, actuated by other motives than such as
might be prompted by their political aspirations, my suspicions being
confirmed by the looks and bearing of the gang, who seemed capable of
any atrocity, judging them by their villainous faces and generally hang-
dog appearance, besides which they were continually whispering together
amongst themselves, and consorting and confabbing with the mulattoes and
other coloured men belonging to the crew.
"In addition to that, Senor Applegarth, and you too, gentlemen, I
noticed that our friend `the marquis,' although he gave himself great
airs, on account of the aristocratic blood and descent to which he lay
claim, pretending to think himself much superior in position to both
Captain Alphonse and myself, and regarding poor Cato, my servant, as
mere dirt under his feet, albeit the faithful negro was of a like colour
to himself--did not esteem it beneath his high dignity to associate with
the scum of the forecastle and bandy ribald obscenities, when he
believed himself unobserved, with his fellow scoundrels.
"Aye, I watched my gentleman carefully, and so, too, did my poor
faithful Cato!"