THE PERPLEXITY OF BEING NEITHER THOROUGH-FACED ROGUE, ARRANT FOOL, NOR
HONEST MAN.
We stayed at Fuerteventura nine days, and then made sail, being again in
good condition and nothing lacking, and shaped our course for the West
Indies. And as Parsons had foreseen, Rodrigues was appointed captain of
the _Adventurer_, while Parsons took the place of master on board the
_Sure Hawk_. This pleased the _Adventurer's_ company vastly, for all
looked upon Rodrigues with open admiration, backed up by secret hope;
and, indeed, there was no man more proper for this post.
No sooner had we quitted our anchorage than we began, Parsons and I, to
work upon the minds of those foolish fellows who had to be prepared for
that change we intended to bring about. So now Parsons, instead of
painting the glories and delights of Guiana, as he had done with a very
free hand, when inducing them to leave their fishing villages and join
our ships, did treat all such glories with derision, telling them they
were like all to get a good deal more than they expected, and thrusting
his tongue in his cheek with a wink of his one eye at me for all to see.
Whereupon these fellows did begin to scratch their heads and think they
had been hoodwinked, and led into a business which had been better left
alone. And from that he went on to tell of all the horrible beasts and
worms there existed in the marshes of those parts; the poisonous fruits
in the forests, all so like the wholesome that one never knew whether
his meal was to give him strength or burst him open by its venomous
swelling; of the cannibals, whose shoulders grew higher than their
heads, and whose arms were two fathoms long; and such-like wild stories.
If any one doubted the truth of what he said, he would appeal to one of
those men who had previously voyaged with Rodrigues, and these, seeing
which way the cat jumped, confirmed him in every lie, no matter how
outrageous. Then he came gradually to talk of Hawkins and Morgan, and
fellows of that kidney, exalting them to the skies--in fine, we carried
this business so well that by the time we arrived at Trinidado there was
not one man aboard the _Sure Hawk_ but that heartily wished to rove the
South Sea for gold rather than to seek it in Guiana; yet, for all that,
a good half of the crew were stanch and faithful to our captain, and
prepared to die with him in the wilds; nor would they listen to anything
in his disfavor, or any project of desertion. And the reason of this was
that Sir Harry Smidmore, being of a lively and sanguine temperament, and
having unbounded faith in the success of his enterprise, had ever a
cheerful and kind word for his men, and neglected not to comfort the
company in every possible way, so that he won all the hearts to him that
had any decent feeling. Indeed, as the fresh sea air purged away my
splenetic humor, and the society of sturdy men inspired me with a
wholesome shame of those contemptible humors which were bred by
solitude, I no longer harbored an envious jealousy toward Sir Harry,
perceiving plainly how far above mine were his claims to the love of
Lady Biddy Fane. Feeling thus with regard to him, I could neither wish
to do him a mischief myself, nor to see him come to harm by other hands.
Yet every day it became more obvious that a cruel end awaited him. There
was no chance of his forsaking the expedition into Guiana to become a
pirate on the high seas, and it was therefore clear that he must be
privately got rid of to avoid a mutiny amongst these thirty or forty
good men who were stanch to him.
I own I was greatly perplexed over this matter, and more than once I was
on the point of revealing the conspiracy to him; for I felt that, if he
were murdered, I should, in a manner, have his blood upon my conscience;
but as many times was I deterred from this confession by recalling my
oath to Rodrigues, and by a certain sense of honor which may exist even
amongst such rogues as we were. And so I was terribly put to it all the
time we lay at Punto de Gallo, revictualing and making the final
preparations for going up the Orinoco.
We lay off Punto de Gallo three days, and the men of both ships
mingling, Ned Parsons and Rodrigues found occasion to lay their heads
together pretty frequently; and this boded me no good, for Parsons had
ever kept a jealous and suspicious watch upon my movements, and must
have perceived my growing love for our captain. On the evening of the
third day, we three being ashore together, and come to a spot free from
observation, Rodrigues says:
"If this breeze holds, we are likely to sail to-morrow; and as we may
not get another chance of conversing privily, let us settle what's to be
done, and how we are to do it when we are aboard."
"Ay, we've had enough shill-I-shall-I," says Parsons, in his surly tone.
"We should have been further off from success if we had gone a shorter
way to work, Ned," said Rodrigues, "as you know well enough, though you
won't own to it. If we had followed your advice and thrown the captain
overboard when we left the Canaries, half the men would have been
against us, and looked upon the first storm that came as a judgment upon
us. It's no good setting men to a task before they're prepared for it.
Now there's not a man aboard the _Adventurer_ who is not thirsting to
get at the Spaniard."
"You've had them all to yourself; but it's another matter aboard the
_Sure Hawk_," says Parsons; "there's a score of half-hearted fellows
amongst us that were better at home."
"That's as you think, Ned. What say you, Pengilly?"
"The men's hearts are as stout as ours," says I; "and as ready to meet
the Spaniard as any of your crew. I'll answer for them."
"Perhaps you'll answering for their flinging the captain overboard when
the time comes?" says Parsons, with a sneer.
"I'll answer for you, Parsons, if there's a cowardly murder to be done;
but for no one on board the _Sure Hawk_," says I. "I warn you,
Rodrigues, that if you attempt the life of Sir Harry, you'll have a
score of us to settle with, him and Benet Pengilly among the number."
"There, didn't I tell you as much?" says Parsons, nudging Rodrigues.
Rodrigues frowned on him to be still, and turning to me, says, calmly--
"What do you mean by that, Pengilly?"
"I mean this: our captain shall not be murdered," says I.
"And how can you prevent it, pray?" asks Parsons.
"There'll be plenty of time to warn him before you can silence me,
Parsons."
"Didn't he swear secrecy by the cross, Rodrigues?"
"Yes, I did," says I; "but I'll break my oath rather than have murder on
my conscience!"
"Conscience! How long have you been troubled with that commodity?" asks
he.
"Fool! you be still," cries Rodrigues, stamping his foot. "Haven't you
sense enough to see that Pengilly's warning saves us from the very thing
that I have dreaded all through? I know the mischief of having
discontented men in a crew."
"Settle it how you will," says Parsons with an oath, getting up and
turning his back on us. "Curse this dodging backwards and forwards, say
I!"
"If the captain were out of the way, and you took his place, as lawful
representative of your uncle, the men would do your bidding, wouldn't
they, Benet?" said Rodrigues in a friendly tone.
"No doubt," says I; "but I will not have any hand in this business if
violence is to be done to Sir Harry."
"Then what do you propose we should do?" asks he.
"He lies ashore to-night: why shouldn't we sail without him?"
"That's better than ever!" cries Parsons, turning round. "Leave him here
to send a king's ship after us. A plaguey good notion, that," and he
burst out into a horse-laugh.
"That won't do, Ben," says Rodrigues; "as Ned says, we should have a
man-of-war sent after us, and so have to fight English as well as
Spaniards. I think I can offer something better than that"; and drawing
me aside that Parsons might not hear, he dropped his voice and said:
"Supposing, when we are out at sea, we tell the captain our
determination to go roving, and ask him to join us?"
"He will refuse: that's certain."
"Very well; then let us give him one of the ships and let him go with as
many of the men as choose to join him. What say you to that?"
I agreed to this readily; for it seemed a better way out of the mess
than any I had imagined.
"Good," says he; "so shall it be. Now, leave me alone with Parsons. He
is a self-willed, headstrong fellow; but I know how to manage him, and I
promise you I will make him hear reason."
So I left them, never dreaming but that Rodrigues, for his own interest,
was dealing fairly in this business, and speaking his mind honestly.
That night our captain brought aboard an Indian Cazique named Putijma
for our pilot. This man told us that the true mouth of the Oronoque and
the best for us to enter was in the Boca de Nairos, and about thirty
leagues south of Punto de Gallo; and thither it was agreed, the breeze
remaining prosperous, we should sail the next day.
When this news was imparted to our company there was a great cheer, and
every man set to with a will getting the ship ready that she might sail
at daybreak; and the sky being very fair and clear they worked all night
to this end, and there was such bustle of men coming on board, shouting
of orders, and getting things in their places, that no sleep was to be
got.
A little before daybreak I turned out of my cot, and, going on deck,
found that some were already aloft shaking out the sails, while others
were heaving up the anchor, and all singing of sea songs, and as merry
as any grigs. Ere yet the sun had risen our sails filled; we left our
anchorage, and, looking out, I spied the _Adventurer_, her sails spread,
following pretty close in our wake. Then, the light growing amain, I
perceived one strange face amongst our company, and then another, and
after that a third and fourth, and so on, till I numbered a full dozen;
yet these men were not so strange to me but that I recognized them as
being part of the crew of the _Adventurer_. Upon this, suspecting
mischief, I cast my eye about for those men whom I have spoken of as
being stanch and loyal to our captain, and not one of these could I
find. In this I saw clearly the villainy of that subtle Rodrigues, who,
by thus shifting the crew, ensured his plan against opposition, for not
one man now on board the _Sure Hawk_ could be counted on to side with
the captain in going to Guiana, whereas all would readily agree to
ridding themselves of him in order that they might follow their own
lawless bent uninterrupted; meanwhile, by his own persuasion and the
influence of the rascally crew on the _Adventurer_, those simple fellows
from the _Sure Hawk_ who still held to an honest course could be easily
won over to his purpose. To make sure that the change on board was not
due to accident, I sought out Ned Parsons; but the rascal, seeing me
coming, feigned to be mightily busy, so that I could not get a word out
of him in any way, which served to convince me of his treachery. Getting
no satisfaction from him, I went into my cabin, and there, sitting on my
cot, I turned the matter over in my mind, and, after looking at it this
way and that, I resolved I would go and warn Sir Harry of his danger;
for, as I told Rodrigues, I was prepared to break any number of oaths
rather than be a party to a foul murder. And, lest I should be credited
with more generosity in coming to this decision than I deserve, I will
here confess that I was not unmindful of my own peril. For, if it served
the purpose of these desperadoes to throw our captain overboard, why
should they spare me? I laid no faith whatever in the promises of
Rodrigues; nay, I was inclined to believe Ned Parsons the honester rogue
of the two. I knew that all he considered was how to advance his own
fortune. Had the crew been more difficult to seduce and less disposed to
become pirates, then it would have served his turn to carry out his
original project, and give the enterprise a fair face by appointing me,
as nephew of Sir Bartlemy Pengilly, their generalissimo; but now that it
was clear the whole body of men needed no such countenance to their
project, it would be expedient to get rid of me as well as Sir Harry. So
to the captain, who still lay in the cabin, I went, and asked him if he
knew of the change that had been made.
"Ay, Pengilly," says he cheerfully; "I ordered it so. Parsons tells me
there is a lawless spirit spreading amongst the men on the _Adventurer_,
and he picked out certain of them as being the worst. These Rodrigues
begged me to take with us in the _Sure Hawk_ in exchange for those he
thought might bring the rest to a healthier way of thinking on the
_Adventurer_."
"That villain, Rodrigues!" I exclaimed. "I saw his devilish hand in
this. We are lost!"
"Lost? What do you mean by that?" asks Sir Harry, bating his breath.
"I mean that you have parted with the only honest men in the crew, and
have none but ruffians left about you."
"Nay, you wrong them. Desperate they are, for who but desperate men
would dare a desperate enterprise? But they are honest--I'll answer for
'em. They have sworn to follow me, and they will."
"You will be lucky to get away without such followers," says I; "but, in
truth, I doubt if we do ever set foot again on dry land."
Sir Harry could not speak awhile for astonishment. At length he says,
speaking low:
"Are you sure of this you tell me, Pengilly? Are you honest with me?"
"I'll say nothing for my honesty," says I; "but I'll swear to the truth
to what I tell you. There's not a man but is already a pirate at heart;
and they only want a signal from Rodrigues to kill us and hoist the
bloody flag."
Sir Harry started up, and took a pace or two across the cabin; then,
coming to a stand, he turns and says:
"No, Pengilly; I can't believe this. Tell me you have tried to fool me,
and I'll forgive you."
"Nay, but you must believe," says I, "or you can not escape else"; and
then I laid bare all that I knew, with my own share in the villainous
scheme, not sparing myself the shame of this confession. He listened to
me patiently, but when I came to an end he says, with passion:
"God forgive you, Pengilly! for my ruin is on your head."
But presently growing calmer, for I made no attempt to defend myself
from this charge, he adds:
"Take no heed of what I said, Benet. You have done no more nor less than
I, or a better man than I, could have done in your place. You risk your
life in trying to save mine, whereas you might have made your fortune
(though I doubt if you could ever have enjoyed it) by betraying me."
"He held out his hand, and I took it. Then in a more cheerfull and
vigorous tone, he says:
"Come, we are both in the same pickle; let us see how, perchance, we may
get out of it."
Then we set our wits to work that we might discover how we two were to
overcome the craft and force of all those hardy villains that was
against us. I was for knocking Parsons on the head, taking the
navigation in our own hands, running the ship ashore, or on the first
shoal we came to; and I think Sir Harry would have acted on this design,
but that it pleased Providence to give us no chance that way.