TOUCHING THOSE INCIDENTS THAT HAD HAPPENED TO SIR BARTLEMY AS HE LAY AT
THE MOUTH OF THE ORONOQUE.
Turning from this grisly spectacle while still the flame was bright,
Thomas Palmer cries of a sudden: "Why, this is none of our ships; for
our sides are painted of a lively hue."
Whereupon, casting my eyes that way, I perceived that this was none but
that great black ship which had been our undoing.
So now, guessing pretty well how matters stood, we no longer hesitated
to draw towards that light we had been making for. And coming to it
anon, and calling out loudly for those aboard, we were answered at once
by the lusty voice of my stout old uncle, who had been brought on deck
by the watch on perceiving our light alongside the black ship.
Hearing his voice, my Lady Biddy cried in her sweet voice, as clear as
any bell: "We are here, dear heart; we have come back to you."
To tell of the great, unbounded joy in every heart when we came on deck
would call for more wit than I possess, so I must span that over and
come to the time when, the day beginning to break, my Lady Biddy was
induced to go into the cabin prepared for her; and my uncle and I, grown
calm, sat us down together with a bottle and a paper of tobacco, and he
fell to telling of his adventures; of which (not to weary the reader)
will I repeat no more than is necessary.
"You see, nephew," says my uncle, "when we anchored in these roads, the
water was prodigiously swollen by reason of the flux of rains; for you
must understand that there is a bar to the east, which does in a manner
hem in the flood. Well, here lay we very peacefully a week after the
party had set out in search of you, when what should we spy in the
offing one early morn but the black ship, which I knew at once for my
old enemy, and another, which hath turned out to be none other than our
first ship, the _Adventurer_, fitted out as a pirate, and commanded by
that villain Parsons. My first intent was to stand up to them and pay
off old scores; but having regard to the weakness of our company by the
absence of those picked men gone up the Oronoque, and reflecting that if
I were by any accident crippled in this bout, it would go hard with you
on your coming hither, I was persuaded from my purpose; but as to
showing our heels to the enemy, as some advised, that would I not do.
They came on, thinking to make light work of such small fry as we were;
but we stood to our guns and beat 'em off all day. However, when we
could no longer see to fight, I found myself so crippled that I resolved
to draw our little barks into shallow water, where their heavy ships
might not dance round us on the morrow as they had that day. Accordingly
we put our boats and towed us in till we touched bottom. The next day
our enemy, spying us in our new ground, lifted anchor and bore down on
us, thinking to pepper us all round and about as before; but presently
they ran aground at a decent distance from us by reason that they drew
so much more than we; nevertheless, they were near enough to bruise us
again sorely with their great guns, and that was all they wanted, for
'twas the design of that accursed Rodrigues to waste none of his men in
hand-to-hand fight, but just riddle us day after day with his large shot
until we sank or yielded. But herein did he reckon without taking
account of the hand of Providence, which is ever on the side of right;
though it does seem at times as if He would be for ever a-scourging us.
That night the waters sank so prodigiously that ere daybreak both we and
the pirate careened over in such sort that our guns could no longer be
brought to bear one upon another, which was a comfort to us. Out of this
pickle was there no way until the waters should again swell. Seeing
which, this Rodrigues sent me a mighty civil letter, saying that he had
come there but to refresh his company and get water; bearing me no
ill-will, but rather the contrary; and since, as it was evident, we must
lie there neighbors for months to come, we should do better to make
terms of peace and live in comfort than to go plaguing each other out of
existence. To this I sent answer that I would by no means make terms
with a villain, and that if he would live he must keep out of my reach.
A reply came saying that he should certainly have regard to my amiable
warning, and that as he was averse to useless bloodshed, he should order
his company to keep to the east of our position in their expeditions
ashore, and while mine kept to the west no injury would be offered us;
therewith he signed himself my 'obedient, humble servant, Rodrigues.'
Well, nephew, I perceived it would be to our advantage to agree to this
condition--tacitly, for I would never put my hand to compact with such a
rascal. And, to be brief," says my uncle, "we passed the summer without
conversing or coming to blows with our neighbors. But foreseeing full
well that Rodrigues, as soon as the waters rose, and he could float his
ships, would certainly give his company the pleasure of spoiling us
before going away, I took my measures to be prepared against him,
keeping my company cheerful, sober, hopeful, and God-fearing, which
Rodrigues could not do by his men, because they were naturally of a
violent, willful disposition. So while mine daily increased in
steadfastness and vigor, his grew more violent and lawless, as we could
hear every night by their drunken revelry and singing of filthy songs.
And then, knowing the advantage must be to him who could first get
afloat, I did secretly by night convey all my heavy stores out of this
ship into my companion bark, keeping aboard only such shot as I intended
to deliver into that scurvy pirate. The first day of the rains we
lifted; yet I still of purpose kept her careened over to deceive
Rodrigues. The second morning, the water having risen in the bay still
further, I found we might contrive, with the next breeze, to right the
ship and get into that deeper water where the _Black Death_ lay; and
with this design I got all my men to their posts, and everything ready
for a speedy start. In the afternoon came a sweet little breeze from the
land, on which I gave the signal; and all replying with a hearty cheer
and stout hearts, we presently righted ourselves, and shaking out our
sails slid easily off the sand, like a duck into a mill-pond. And now,
nephew, I bore right up to Rodrigues with a warlike blast of our
trumpets, and passing to that side of her where she lay exposed below
the water-line, I poured such a volley through her timbers as would stay
her from taking to the water if she had the mind, Then wore we round by
her other side, and gave her just such another dose over her bulwarks
and through her decks; but my gunners, at my desire, did take especial
care to bruise all her boats, so that they could not put off to our
attack. And having served Rodrigues' ship in this sort, we wore away and
served his consort--for they were a couple--in the like fashion. In
line, Benet, we riddled 'em both like a pair of colanders, and seeing by
the disablement of their boats that they could neither do us any further
mischief, I held off, knowing they must come to yield themselves up to
our mercy in the end from sheer starvation; for they had no store
aboard, by reason of their wilful improvidence and headstrong
insubordination, and no means to provide themselves with necessaries
from the land neither, now that every boat was disabled. We counted that
a few days would humble Rodrigues and bring his rascals to their knees;
but they were in no mood to suffer privation long, and that very evening
one of their number swam to us, while his fellows spread out a white
sheet over the side of their ship for a sign of peace. Coming aboard,
this messenger said he had been sent by his commanders, Edward Parsons
and Sanchey Rodrigues, to acknowledge themselves at my mercy, and to
know what terms I would make with them and their company.
"'Surrender yourselves prisoners to me,' says I, 'and you shall receive
such treatment at my hands as humanity prescribes, until I may deliver
you to the ministers of justice to be dealt with according to your
deserts.'
"'Why, your honor,' says he ruefully, 'that is but to offer us a safe
conduct to the gallows; and for my own part I would as soon trust to
Providence in these wilds as to justice in England. 'Tis hard on us poor
fellows, who would die honest men, and have no love for such plaguy
adventures as those who have brought us to ruin.'
"'Nay,' says I, 'if you would have indulgence of me I must have good
assurance that you are not willing accomplices of your commanders.'
"'I take your honor at that," says he quickly, "for though I be here in
the name of our commanders, my chief purpose is to plead for my mates.
You shall have that assurance you demand before another day is past: set
every one of us down for a born scoundrel else.'
"And with that he leaps into the sea, and swims back to his ship. In the
middle of the night following we were aroused by shots fired on the
_Black Death_, whereby we knew that the men had risen in mutiny against
their captains; but clearly they were prepared for this assault, for the
fighting continued on and off all that night and best part of the day
following; but about six in the evening the battle grew to its loudest,
and after half an hour we perceived that it 'twas decided one way or the
other by the firing coming to an end, and a prodigious cheer being
raised. Nor were we long in learning how matters stood, for shortly
after the company, coming to the side of their ship with a waving of
hats and much hallooing, swung up that wretch Rodrigues and his fellow,
Parsons, by their necks to the yard-arm."
When my uncle had made an end of his discourse, I ventured to ask him if
he had chanced to hear anything of Sir Harry Smidmore since he had been
lying in these parts.
"'Nay," says he, "I have seen naught of him; but I got tidings of him
only yesterday from one of the pirates we have now aboard. He tells me
that before coming hither Rodrigues put ashore on that island where he
set you and Smidmore, to see if hardship had subdued your spirits and
inclined you to cast in your lot with him. There, on a post planted in
the shore, they found a bottle tied, with a letter inside it signed by
Sir Harry, telling how--to his great joy and the praise of Heaven--he
had been found by an honest merchant putting in for water, and was about
to sail with him thence for the city of Bristol. And so, Benet," says
he, "you have no reason to torment yourself on that score."