WE ARE ENCOMPASSED WITH BLACKAMOORS, TO OUR GREAT PERIL.
It was drawing near morning, and a breeze had sprung up, ruffling the
waters, so that I had to keep the boat away from the rock with my oar,
lest the bumping and grating of its side should disturb Lady Biddy's
repose, which I would not have had for the world, and the tide being
again at the ebb, my face was turned towards the opening in the rocks by
which, as I say, we entered this little harbor, when I first heard the
sound of a voice.
It seemed to my ear like a cry of triumph or discovery, and for the
moment I believed that our pursuers had spied us from the cliff above;
but on looking up where the black rock cut off the view of the starry
sky I could see nothing but its jagged edge; moreover, I was convinced
that no one from that height could spy us in this dark nook, for the
light of the stars was only sufficient to show Lady Biddy's white face
vaguely to me, and that only distant a few feet.
I looked around me, but naught was there but the dark rocks and the gray
sea spread out beyond the outlet. Then I concluded this cry came from
some owl or night-gull. Nevertheless, I kept very watchful, with eyes
wide open, and would not suffer my thoughts to return to that sweet
melancholy which the contemplation of Lady Biddy's face had provoked.
Presently I was seized with fresh alarm, as I perceived that one of the
rocks that rose from the sea at the mouth of the cove glowed with a
strange light, which could by no reasoning be explained, and the ripples
of the sea were lit up in like manner. Every moment this glow grew
stronger, yet very slowly as it seemed to me by reason of my great
anxiety.
At length, this light growing so strong that I knew something must
quickly come of it, I rose in the boat, grasping my oar in readiness,
yet knowing not what in the world to expect.
Just as I got to my feet a great blazing fire shot into sight, so that
my two eyes were so dazzled I could see naught else for a moment.
However, as this confusion of my sight subsided, I perceived that the
light came from a brazier or beacon basket of flaming wood fixed to the
prow of a canoe, and behind it stood a savage as stark as he was born,
with a long spear in his hand, while another savage behind him sat with
his knees up to his chin, paddling with a single oar.
While I was wondering what this could mean, the fellow behind the beacon
plunges his spear into the sea, and brings out a great silvery fish
writhing on the barb.
I was overjoyed to find that these were no enemies, but only two simple
naturals fishing in the manner of their country; and I resolved not to
meddle with them in any way if I could help it. Turning to Lady Biddy,
who had been awaked by the light, and was rising hastily to her feet, I
motioned her to sit down, fearing her light gown might reflect the
light, and be seen by the savages.
He with the paddle was heading the canoe across the mouth of the cove,
when the other, having taken the fish from his spear, muttered a word or
two, whereupon the first, with a deft stroke of his oar, turns the boat
about, and so bears down upon the very place where we lay.
Now what to do I knew not; for, God knows, I wished these men no harm,
and yet could I not risk to be treated like a fish by the fellow with
the spear. Following the irregularities of the rocks the canoe came on,
till shooting out in front of that rock behind which our boat lay, did
the beacon blaze not two yards from my face. There was no time for
further consideration, so, lifting my oar, I gave as loud a whoop as I
could, at the same time swinging my oar with such force down on the
brazier as every spark of fire was scattered out of it.
With a most heathenish howl of terror the two Indians leaped into the
sea and got away without so much as showing their heads above water till
they were clear of the cove, which, doubtless, they believed to be
haunted by some devil or sea-monster.
At first I was disposed to make merry over this adventure, but after a
bit I reflected that these fellows, coming from some adjacent village or
town, would certainly carry the news to their neighbors, and return at
daybreak in force to find out what manner of thing it was that had
served them this trick, and what had become of their canoe. And as it
was more than likely that, finding we were not the terrible creature
their fears had figured, they would bear us no good-will, but rather
seek to revenge themselves in cruel sort, I resolved that as soon as it
grew light enough to see my way through the rocks, which were rendered
now more dangerous by the freshening of the breeze and a chopping sea,
we would go forward on our journey as speedily as we might. In the mean
while I prepared myself for a good spell of work by making a hearty
meal, Lady Biddy also eating a little to keep me in countenance, though
she had not yet come to her appetite.
As soon, then, as the darkness began to lift, I unhitched the grapple
and shoved out towards the open, yet not without foreboding, for I
fancied I saw certain moving patches upon the water across the mouth of
the cove, as if the savages were already abroad. Nor was I wrong in this
conjecture, for scarcely had I pulled from the shadow of the rock into
the gray light than they set up a terrible shout, and let fly a shower
of arrows, whereof one went clean through the sleeve of my coat, but
without scathing my arm, thanks be to God.
I begged Lady Biddy, for the love of Heaven, to lie down in the bottom
of the boat, at the same time that I pushed back into the haven from
which we had ventured, for here were we safe from arrows, and if the
Indians had the stomach to come to close quarters I counted I could give
a very good account of myself with my sword. But as to jeopardizing my
dear lady's life by running through the flight of their arrows, that
would I not do, though they kept us prisoner a whole day.
So here, having fastened the boat, I waited with my sword drawn, feeling
pretty safe, for, thanks to the figure of the rocks, no canoe could
enter the cove to shoot us down at a distance without passing so close
that I might lay on them with my sword. This daunted them exceedingly,
and though we could hear them hallooing and shouting close at hand, not
one ventured to push his canoe beyond the cleft where we lay snug.
Lady Biddy put a bold face on this business; yet as the sun rose, and
the whooping and hallooing increased, showing that our enemies were
gathering in greater numbers, her eyes betrayed uneasiness. Indeed, I
myself did by no means feel so sure of our safety as I pretended. If one
canoe contrived to get past me into the inner part of the cove, then
might the savages in it shoot us down at their ease. And though hitherto
none had dared to slip by, I doubted but presently, by egging each other
on with their taunts and cries, one would pluck up courage to make the
attempt; then all would depend upon my address, for if but one of those
wicked, cruel heathens got by alive with his bow and arrows, as I say,
we might measure the length of our existence by minutes.
Nothing is so wearisome and fatiguing as to await the onslaught of a
hidden foe. The nerves and muscles must be kept braced up, the mind must
never relax its energy, and one's very breath comes with painful labor.
Maybe those savages were wise enough to know this, for though they never
ceased to make themselves heard, yet for hours they made no endeavor to
do more. But at length, about eight o'clock, as I judge, my ear caught
the dash of oars in the water above the din of voices, and the next
moment the prow of a canoe shot into sight. And now, first of all, I
flings one of my oars out so that it caught against a rock opposite, and
another on the hither side, barring the passage, and the result of this
was that, as the canoe shot forward, the oar catches the first natural
in the loins and pitches him forward upon the next, and that one in his
turn upon the third, to their great discomfiture; still, the oarsmen
(who squat at the stern of the canoes in these parts) pushed forward,
notwithstanding this cheek; but by this time I had snatched up my sword,
and did lay on with such vigor that only two of the oarsmen out of the
four escaped with their lives by backing out the way they ventured in.
Of spear and bow men I believe I cut down five, not to speak of the two
oarsmen, and this without getting a scratch myself, nor being any way
the worse except for a prodigious sweat in every part.
Lady Biddy had covered her face with her hands when I took up the sword,
for her delicate spirit could not abide the sight of bloodshed; and when
it was all over she still hid her eyes, so that I was enabled to rinse
my hand over the side of the boat unseen, and cleanse it from the blood
that trickled down the blade and splashed beyond the cross in this
fight. Also I wiped my sword clean, but I perceived pretty clearly I
should never again be able to use that blade for cutting up tortuga nor
any other manner of meat that my lady was to eat.
This business was hardly concluded when Lady Biddy asks timorously if it
is all over.
"Yes," says I, "and I reckon the blackamoors have had enough for this
day."
And so it seemed, for after the howling which was set up upon the defeat
of the canoe, there was considerably less whooping than before, so that
we did begin to comfort ourselves by thinking they had given up the
attempt for a bad job, and would soon leave us in peace. But here were
we grievously out of our reckoning, as we soon had occasion to know, for
as I was sitting myself on a thwart to ease my legs a bit, an arrow
flies down betwixt my knees, and sticks bolt upright in the bottom of
the boat.
Now this I did think to make light of as a curious accident, deeming
that a savage had fired up in the air and that his arrow had fallen thus
nigh me by chance; but the next minute a second arrow falls but a foot
away from the first, and then a third and fourth plump down in the water
alongside the boat with a noise like great hailstones. Then casting my
eyes up I perceived a row of these red savages along the edge of the
cliff above. Not a minute did I lose, but snatching up the lug-sail I
cast one side over the rocks beside us in such a manner as it formed a
kind of roof over Lady Biddy's head; and though more than one arrow
stuck in the canvas while this was a-doing, yet got I never so much as a
graze, which shows how Providence does favor Christians, to the
mortification of the heathen.
This being done I crept under the shelter beside Lady Biddy; yet was I
careful to see that my oar still barred the passage well, and that my
sword was ready to my hand in case of need.
The arrows came now thicker than ever; but though some came through the
sail, yet was their force so broken that they could do us no mischief.
Seeing this, the savages gave over presently. Yet by the clatter they
made with their kind of conversation above, I was fearful that they were
only seeking to do us some fresh injury; nor did they keep us waiting
long to perceive the turn their ingenuity had taken.