CERVILLO DESERTS HIS CREW
MIDSHIPMAN CARDYKE was restless under restraint, and during the long
periods of inaction was fond of looking out of the port and listening
to the swish of the waves against the ship's side. The noise soothed
him. To a youngster descended from a long line of naval men the sting
of the salt-laden breeze was an alluring quality that would attract
him throughout the whole of his career.
While at the open port he happened to look as far astern as the frame
of the port permitted. To his surprise he saw a column of smoke just
above the horizon.
It was a ship. He instantly awoke Fielding, who was having his "watch
below," and informed him of the momentous news. The sub. was out of
his bunk in a trice.
"You're right, Cardyke," he said, after a hasty glance in the
direction of the vessel. "It's a ship. But what is she--a cruiser?"
"She's heading this way, I think," observed the mid. "And what is
more, we are altering our course. See, the relative position of the
ship is more on the beam."
"Then it's not a cruiser, worse luck," muttered Fielding, "or the
pirate would attempt to sheer off. They're up to some fiendish
business, I'll wager. Don't say a word to any of the others just yet.
We'll keep on the look-out a little while longer."
The two young officers waited and watched till twilight gave place to
night. Presently Hiram B. Rutter strolled up to the open port.
"Having a breath of fresh air?" he inquired, affably.
"Ssh!" exclaimed Fielding, warningly. "There's a vessel over there.
You can just see her starboard and masthead lights."
"Strikes me forcibly there are two red lights," said the American.
"So there are. By Jove! The villains are sending up rockets."
High above the _Independencia_ the red glare of an exploded rocket
transformed the surface of the surrounding sea into a blaze of
dazzling light. Then, vanishing suddenly, the glare left the sub. and
his companions blinking in the darkness.
"I know what they are doing," exclaimed Cardyke, excitedly. "They're
sending up false signals of distress to lure yonder vessel within
their power."
"That's it," assented Fielding. "And now's your chance to make use of
your improvised flashing-lamp."
By this time the rest of the hostages were aware of the approach of
another vessel, and the ports were literally jammed with human heads.
But Mukyima was not content with watching. The active Jap crawled
through the narrow port, balanced himself on the sill, then with a
like motion drew himself up to the deck. Lying prone behind the
casing of a skylight he waited till another rocket had been fired,
then, mingling boldly with the pirate crew, made good use of his
eyes. Unobserved, he regained the half-deck and told General Oki of
what he had seen.
"Pirates get guns ready," explained Oki to Fielding. "Men are ready
to capture other ship."
Cardyke had not been idle. All the ports were screened with the
exception of one in which he set a lamp. Then using a heavy cabin
curtain as a screen, he proceeded to "call-up" the approaching
vessel.
"There's the acknowledgment," exclaimed Fielding, as a succession of
short, rapid flashes came from the Morse signalling-lamp on the
steamer's bridge.
"Stand off; you are----" began the middy, using his improvised
shutter as quickly as he was able; but before he had flashed
half-a-dozen words a heavy tarpaulin was dropped over the port from
above, completely obscuring the light from seaward.
"Where's your knife?" asked the mid. "Lash it to the end of a pole or
something and jab a hole through the canvas."
Before the obstructing tarpaulin could be cut through, the
_Independencia's_ course was altered till she pointed bows on to the
oncoming yacht. Thus the ports on her quarters no longer commanded a
view of the strange vessel.
"They've done us," muttered Fielding.
"Perhaps the captain of the vessel will smell a rat, and sheer off,"
remarked Cardyke.
"I don't know about that. He may think we are only asking him to keep
off till daylight, or something of that sort. He would never ignore
signals of distress."
"Couldn't we make an attempt to rush the ship and drive those rascals
below?"
"I'm afraid not. They've secured the hatches. But we'll get all
hands to man the ports and fire their revolvers. That might make the
skipper of that packet keep out of danger."
Before the warning could be given a quick-firer was discharged from
the cruiser, and with a vicious spurt of flame a shell passed between
the steam yacht and the disabled whaler she had in tow, and Juan
Cervillo commanded the astonished captain of the steam yacht to
heave-to instantly.
The tricked vessel was the _Serena_, a 300-ton pleasure craft owned
by a wealthy Canadian named Rignold. She had fallen in with a whaler
_Hetty_ of Boston that had broken her shafting in a gale, and had
sustained considerable damage to her spars and rigging, and the owner
of the _Serena_ offered to tow the _Hetty_ into St. John's,
Newfoundland. The offer had been gratefully accepted; and now both
vessels were under the guns of the pirate cruiser _Independencia_.
Rignold and his captain, officers, and crew were completely
astounded. During their cruise in the Arctic they had had no
opportunities of receiving the general warning of the presence of the
formidable pirate in the North Atlantic. The _Serena's_ skipper, a
man of courage and resource, did not lose his head. Imagining that
the cruiser was a Government vessel of fishery protection duties, and
had compelled his vessel to heave-to for the purpose of making an
examination, he promptly ordered the engines to be reversed, at the
same time shouting to the _Hetty's_ mate to mind her helm. The
whaler, carrying considerable way, over-ran the yacht till brought up
by the hawser, eventually swinging round between the _Serena_ and her
captor.
"What ship that?" shouted Cervillo,
"Great snakes, that is not a British hail!" ejaculated the _Serena's_
captain; then in reply he bawled, "Steam yacht _Serena_, of Quebec,
with the whaler _Hetty_ in tow. Why are we ordered to heave-to?"
Before Cervillo could reply Fielding shouted in stentorian tones
through the port:--
"Clear off at full speed. This vessel is a pirate. Save yourself
while there's time."
Had he been given a free hand the yacht skipper would not have
hesitated to run the gauntlet of the cruiser's guns, trusting in the
darkness to avoid a shot that would send the vessel to the bottom.
But there were other considerations. Mr. Rignold, the owner, had a
large party of guests on bard, and on that account he was anxious not
to be under fire. Moreover, he was too staunch a man to abandon the
disabled whaler. He would stand by and take his chance with the
_Hetty_.
"You have to heave-to--that good enough?" bawled the Spanish captain.
"Ay, ay!" was the reply. "But you'll be real sorry for this piece of
work."
"We see later," chuckled Cervillo, for the double capture could not
have better served his purpose. "Keep where you are till day come. No
tricks, or I sink you."
Two hours later it was light enough to make out what the prizes were
like. The _Serena_ was a graceful-looking craft with a clipper stern
and long, tapering counter. She had two light masts and a single
funnel, and was one of many of a type of sea-going yachts that are to
be found in every port of the civilised world. The whaler was also of
a very ordinary though fast-disappearing type; bluff-bowed,
wall-sided, and broad-sterned, and rigged as a brigantine with heavy,
well-shrouded masts. Just before the mainmast was a small, black
funnel--the only visible sign of the vessel's now useless auxiliary
power.
Before taking possession of the two ships Juan Cervillo mustered his
men aft.
"You must know, my lads," he began, "what I propose to do. The
_Independencia_ is no longer serviceable; her days are nearly
finished. Yonder craft are the last prizes she will take. It only
remains for us to save ourselves, and as much of the booty as we
possibly can. The gold stowed away aft is, I am sorry to say, lost to
us. We can only take revenge upon those who have cheated us out of
our hard-earned riches. I therefore propose that we place the crew of
the yacht on board the whaler. If they manage to fetch port, well and
good, if not--that's not our concern. We will then tranship the
amount of treasure that is left to us, scuttle the _Independencia_,
and the English officer and his companions can keep guard over the
gold at the bottom of the sea. With a nice little yacht like the one
yonder we ought to steam southwards without exciting suspicion. Your
shares in the spoil will not be as much as we hoped for, but enough
to let you live a merry life for some time to come."
The pirates, although regretting the loss of the gold, were not sorry
to see the way clear to escape the perils that awaited them, and for
the next ten minutes the utmost activity prevailed. The three boats
were hauled out, and Da Silva proceeded to board the _Serena_. It was
significant that every man in the boats was a Spaniard, and that
nearly all the officers formed part of the boarding-party.
Unceremoniously Mr. Rignold, his guests, and the crew of the yacht
were dumped on board the _Hetty_, and the work of transporting the
remainder of the booty from the cruiser to the yacht was put in hand,
Cervillo personally superintending the operations. This done, enough
provisions to keep the pirates in plenty for another month were added
to the _Serena's_ stores. In the midst of the activity some of the
crew found time to taunt the captives on the half-deck, telling them
gleefully that they were destined for a swift plunge to the bed of
the ocean. Three of the Spaniards who had returned in one of the
boats also found time for a little diversion. Under Da Silva's orders
they moved unostentatiously from gun to gun, removing portions of the
delicate mechanism so as to render the weapons harmless.
Everything was now ready for Juan Cervillo's coup.
Ordering a dozen men to maintain a watch over the closed hatchways
above the half-deck, he bade the rest of the pirates go below and
pack up their belongings.
"Have all your bags ready to lower into the boats by the time I
return," he concluded. "I mean to tow the whaler a mile or so to
leeward, so that she will not be able to give assistance to the
prisoners below. Her boats have been stove in, so there is no chance
of her putting off to the rescue of these obstinate dogs."
The men hastened to obey. The engineers, mostly Italians, were told
off to get ready to open the sea-cocks and sink the cruiser. Cervillo
went over the side, entered the waiting boat, and pulled off to the
yacht.
Instead of towing the _Hetty_ clear of the doomed cruiser he promptly
gave orders for the hawser to be cut, and at fifteen knots the
_Serena_ steamed off, leaving the remainder of the pirates to their
fate.
It was the guard on the quarter-deck of the _Independencia_ who first
noticed the yacht's apparently erratic behaviour. For a time the men
watched the rapidly receding _Serena_, till the thought flashed
through their minds that there was something suspicious. The petty
officer in charge, an Italian named Tito, bawled down the nearest
hatchway the astonishing news. Quickly the intelligence that the
yacht was steaming away spread the length of the lower deck, and
seamen and stokers rushed up pell-mell from below.
"We're betrayed!" howled Tito. "Man the guns, and cripple her before
she gets out of range."
Hurriedly the guns' crew ran to the quick-firers. The murmur of
subdued astonishment rose to a roar of anger and baffled fury when
the pirates discovered that the mechanism had been tampered with and
the weapons rendered useless. Some of the exasperated seamen,
snatching up their rifles, and elevating the back-sights to the
utmost capacity, fired an irregular volley at the vessel that was
bearing away their treacherous captain and his Spanish _confrères_.
It was a useless act; the yacht was already out of range, and the
rattle of the rifles was only suggestive of the last nail driven into
the coffin of their dead hopes.