HOW I GOT AWAY FROM THE VILE PIRATE AND SETTLED TONGA HIS BUSINESS.
Seeing nothing but impenetrable thickets on one hand, and the sea on the
other, and no means of escape either this way or that from the raging
savage, Lady Biddy, I say, did give herself up for lost; and so, falling
on her knees, she prayed the Almighty to take her life there and then,
that she might be saved from the loathsome passion of the negro. Yet was
her case not so bad as to call for this last remedy neither, as I shall
presently show.
In great commotion of mind I stood in the little cabin with the grenade
in my hand and the lamp burning steadily at my feet, prepared to play
the part of the destroyer, while still cherishing the faint flickering
hope that my lot rather was to be that of the preserver.
Thus I waited an incredible length of time (as it seemed to me), until,
my anxiety becoming no longer tolerable, I scratched again upon the wall
for a signal to Lady Biddy.
Then getting no answer, I ventured again to the panel-door and peeped
through. The big cabin was empty; nor could I spy through the further
door any sign of her, but only the ship's company drawn across the deck,
with Tonga lying prone before them.
But at a glance I perceived that most of the men were looking up towards
the deck over my head, and then catching a faint sound from thence,
which my eager intelligence made out to be my lady's voice, I was no
longer in doubt as to her whereabouts.
At this point I heard Rodrigues call to his boatswain to man the boat,
which he speedily set about to do. Now, while these fellows were thus
busily occupied, I saw my chance to get out on to the gallery
unperceived through the little door there, which had been set open to
let a current of air through. So creeping low and nimble as any cat I
crossed the space that was open to observation from the deck (without
being seen, thanks be to God), and that way got me on to the quarter
gallery.
Yet what I was to do there, I knew not; still, it was a comfort to
change my place, for any shift seems for the best when one is tormented
with apprehension.
After another tedious spell I heard the oars splash, and presently, to
my complete amazement, I caught sight of the barge, with eight or ten
lusty men in it, pulling towards the shore with all their will, and Lady
Biddy seated on one of the thwarts alone.
I withdrew cautiously to that end of the gallery where the bulk of the
ship did somewhat conceal me from the rowers in the boat, whose faces
were towards the ship (yet not so far but that, crouching down, I might
watch what came of this business), and thence I saw them set Lady Biddy
on shore. At first I thought that this was but an indulgence of
Rodrigues, that she might refresh herself while the men were getting
water; but this notion was put out of my head the next minute by seeing
the fellows shove off and return towards the ship, leaving her there
alone. Had she told Rodrigues all, and was the boat returning to fetch
me, I asked myself, or was there some wicked design to leave her there
alone?
Being better minded to trust myself than Rodrigues, I made up my mind to
swim to the shore, which was no great matter, the distance being half a
mile at the outside, and the sea very fair and smooth; so climbing over
the rail, I dropped from that gallery into the lower one which projected
beyond it. And luckily for me I did so at that time, for scarcely had I
come to my feet when I heard a mighty uproar on the deck, with the
clatter of arms (which, doubtless, had been silently furnished for the
men's use from the armory while Lady Biddy was being carried to the
shore), and then much hallooing and shouting in that part of the coach I
had so fortunately got out of. Nay, I did hear one rascal come to the
gallery door above and cry, as he looked out, that I was not there.
"Now," thinks I, "is my time to get out of this hornets' nest"; and so
clambering over this rail as I had over the other, and recommending
myself to Providence (for as like as not in such waters as these might
be sharks or water serpents), I dropped down plumb into the water, and
coming up again, struck out vigorously for the shore, keeping as low
under water as I well could.
"Happily," thinks I, "they are looking for me elsewhere, so may I chance
to escape this bout scot free"; and with this thought, added to the
bewildering delightful expectation of being ere long beside Lady Biddy
and at a safe distance from the tiger who sought my destruction, I
pushed on with great speed, feeling no fatigue whatever, but only a
great joy.
Then suddenly I heard a hoarse shout of triumph, which did for the
moment lead me to think I had been perceived from the ship; but casting
my eye around I spied on my right hand a skiff and Tonga in it, pulling
the oars; yet feebly, because of his arms being wrenched as I have
described.
'Twas a wonder he had not caught sight of me; but I think his eyes were
chiefly occupied in glancing over his shoulder to see if the fair girl
were trying to escape him, and truly, as the proverb runs, "One sees
naught but the deer when one runs with the hounds."
As I caught sight of him he shifted his oars, which he had hitherto been
pulling (and could, I take it, no longer do for the suffering of his
arms), and standing up in the boat, with his face to the shore, he took
to pushing the oars for his greater comfort. Thus was his back set
towards me, so that, unseen and with very little ado, I overtook the
boat, and laying hold of the sling at the stern, I let him pull me
towards the shore, to his greater pain and exhaustion.
This maneuver did not serve me another turn, for against the black stern
of the boat my dark head was indistinguishable from the ship, unless one
did carefully examine with a spyglass; and doubtless by this time
Rodrigues and his company, having found that I was no longer in the
ship, were scanning the sea to know if I were there. That I had been in
the cabin pretty recently, and that Lady Biddy had told him no more than
the truth, Rodrigues might see full well by the burning lamp and the
grenade I had left behind me.
At last the boat ran around, and, dropping my feet, I felt the sandy
bottom. Then, glancing along the side, I saw my poor Lady Biddy kneeling
beside a tree with her face hid in her hands, to shut out the sight of
that horrid black, which did stir my entrails with hatred of him.
Yet I saw full well that I must not discover myself till I was got on
firm ground, for a man up to his neck is powerless--though he have the
heart of a lion--against another whose limbs are free to act. With a
blow of an oar Tonga might have settled my business; and, knowing this,
I kept still hid from him under the gunwale of the boat until he leapt
out on to the sand.
Crouching down more like a tiger than a human being, he slowly went up
the sandy slope, and to make the resemblance greater, a low growl of
savage exultation came from his throat, and he drew up his arms, with
all his fingers spread out, as if preparing to spring upon his poor
helpless victim.
Quickly and yet silently I made my way out of the water and followed in
his footsteps. Arms I had none, but presently, drawing near him, I spied
a great stone half buried in the sand, and this I wrenched up at one
tug, though it weighed, as I believe, over a quarter of a hundredweight,
and was sucked down by the wet sand.
Hearing the sound that was made by the wet sand dropping from the stone,
he turned about, and, catching sight of me, set up a fearful cry of
rage; but it was the last cry he ever made, for I held the stone lifted
over my head, and, dashing it forward with all the might of my body, I
struck him full in the face with it, crushing in the bones and bursting
the brains from his skull.
Then all was silent, save a faint cry of despair from Lady Biddy, who,
daring not to uncover her eyes from the moment she saw the black on
shore, thought that his cry of rage was intended for her, and that the
crash which followed was but some preparation for her destruction.
I thew some sand over the bloody, formless thing that had been a human
face the minute before, that the ghastly spectacle might not shock Lady
Biddy, and then I went to her side softly over the sand.
Now did I fear to let Lady Biddy know that her enemy was dead and a
deliverer at hand, lest by the sudden commotion of feelings I might
unhinge her mind. For a moment I wondering how I should manage this
business for the best, and then, my wits failing to help me, I yielded
to the desire of my heart, and dropping on my knees by her side murmured
with a true and devout heart:
"God be praised!"