FATHER JAIME.
Under the direction of the second bo'sun, the men who had all come
into the ship with me had now gotten the battens off and had lifted
the hatch hoods--for although it has taken some time to write down my
meeting and interview with this young gentleman, it had not, in very
fact, occupied more than twenty minutes--and I found them already
beginning to bring up some large chests and boxes with strange marks
upon them.
Also, I found standing close by the opening the monk whom the young
man had called Father Jaime, he being engaged in peering down into the
hold with what seemed to me a great air of interest, which was not,
perhaps, very strange, seeing that the treasure below was now destined
for a far different purpose from that for which it was originally
intended.
He turned away, however, from this occupation on seeing us approach,
and said quietly, in the rich, full voice which I had previously
noticed, to the young man by my side:
"So, Señor Juan, you have found a friend, I see. You are fortunate.
This way you may light on your road to England."
"And you, sir, what is your destination, may I ask?" I said, for I
knew I should soon have to decide what to do with him. The grey-haired
officer had given me, among other hurried instructions, one to the
effect that anything which was brought up from below was to be
instantly sent off to Sir George Rooke's flagship; and 'twas very easy
to see that there was none too much specie in this ship--while I knew
not what was to be done with the merchandise. Therefore, the time was
now near at hand for me to return and report myself, taking with me my
findings, while, also, I should have to take with me these two whom I
had discovered left behind on board.
Father Jaime bowed graciously on my asking this question--indeed, he
was a far more courteous and well bred man than I, perhaps in my
ignorance, had ever supposed would have been found amongst his
class--and replied: "I, sir, have to present myself at Lugo, where
there is a monastery to which I am accredited." Then, with an
agreeable smile, he continued:
"I trust I shall not be detained. Already I am two years behind my
time--as is our young friend here, Señor Juan Belmonte, and----"
"Two years!" I exclaimed.
"In truth, 'tis so," my young gentleman, whose name I now learned,
replied. "Two years. These galleons should have sailed from Hispaniola
that length of time ago, only so many things have happened. First
there was the getting them properly laden, then the fear of
filibusters and buccaneers----"
"That fear exists no longer, my son," the monk interrupted. "They are
disbanded, broken up, gone, dispersed. There will be no more
buccaneering now, the saints be praised."
He said: "the saints be praised yet had he not worn the holy garb
he did, I should have almost thought that he said it with regret.
Indeed, were it not for his shaven crown and face, he would not have
ill-befitted the general idea I had formed of those gentry--what with
his stalwart form, bold, fierce eyes and sun-browned visage.
"Ay, the saints be praised!" the young señor repeated after him,
"the saints be praised. They were the curse of the Indies--I am
old enough to remember that. Yet, now, all are gone, as you say,
dispersed--broken up. Pointis has done that, and death and disease.
Still, where are they?--those who are alive--I wonder."
"There are few alive now," the monk replied, "and those of no worth.
Recall, my son, recall what we know happened in the Indies. Kidd is
taken, Grogniet dead, Le Picard executed. Townley--a great man
that!--I--I mean, a great villain--fell with forty wounds in his body;
at Guayaquil nine brave--nine vagabonds--left dead; and more, many
more."
"And the villain Gramont"--and now I started; was this whom he called
Gramont the man that old vagabond Carstairs had spoken of--as I
supposed--as Grandmont?--"forget not the greatest of them all, holy
father. What of him?"
"He died at sea. Drowned," Father Jaime replied. Then added: "He was
the boldest of them all."
"'Twas never known for certain that he was so drowned," Belmonte said.
"'Twas known for certain; is certain. I have spoken with those who saw
his ship's boats floating near where he must have been cast away and
lost. Fool that he was! Madman! Louis the King gave him his
commission, made him Lieutenant du Roi. Then, because the devil's
fever was hot in his blood, he must make one more of his accursed
cruises, and go filibustering thus, besieging towns, plundering and
destroying once more. The fool! to do it 'neath the King's lilies--to
ruin himself forever, when he was rich, rich--ah, heavens! how rich he
was! 'Tis well for him that he was drowned--disappeared forever.
Otherwise the wheel would have been his portion. And," he added after
a pause, "righteously so. Righteously so!"
Stopping as he said those words, he saw that we were regarding him
with interest--for, indeed, had this drowned buccaneer been a friend
of his he could scarcely have spoken with more fervency--then added,
impressively:
"My sons, I knew that man--that Gramont; and I--I pitied him. Knowing
his fate, and much of his life, I pity him still."
Then he turned away and began telling of his beads as he strode up and
down the deck. And I, remembering all I had overheard the man
Carstairs say, determined that, if the chance arose, I would ask the
reverend father if he had known this Carstairs, too; for I had
sufficient curiosity in my composition to desire to learn something
more about that hoary-headed old vagabond, though 'twas not at all
likely that I should ever set eyes on him again.
That chance was not now, however, since at this moment there came
alongside the whole flotilla of boats, which had been despatched
severally to the various galleons, they being at this time all
collected together ere going back to the admiral, and needing only us
to make them complete. Wherefore, giving orders to have all the chests
and boxes which we had unearthed placed in our own boats, we stepped
over the side, I motioning to the father and the señor to take their
places by me.
"Your necessaries," I said, "can be fetched away later, when 'tis
decided how your respective journeys are to be brought to an end."
And now, ere I get on with what I have to tell, it is fitting that--to
make an end of this siege of Vigo, which, indeed, reinstated later, in
the opinion of the Parliament and their countrymen, all those who had
failed at Cadiz--I set down what was the advantage to England of this
taking of the galleons, though, in truth, that advantage was far more
in the crushing blow it administered to the French sea service than in
aught else; for it broke that service's power more than aught else had
done since the time of La Hogue, ten years ago; and it crippled France
so upon the waters that, though she still continued to fight us boldly
whenever we met, she was able to do but very little harm in that way.
Of the fifteen great ships of war which the French admiral,
Chateaurenault, commanded, five were burned up, some being set alight
by themselves ere they fled, the others by us. Four others were run
ashore and bulged. Five more, not so badly injured, were taken home by
our fleet, and afterward did us good service against their old
masters, these being _Le Prompte_, _L'Assure_, _Le Firme_, _Le
Modère_, and _Le Triton_; while the remaining one, _Le Bourbon_, was
captured, as I have said, by Vandergoes, and fell to the share of the
Dutch. Then, of their frigates, we burnt two, and also a fireship
other than the merchantman loaded with snuff. Also, we burnt and
destroyed three Spanish men-of-war.
As to the galleons, eight of them were sunk by their owners, the
others were divided between our Dutch friends and ourselves. And this
is what we got for our share: A few ingots of gold, several bars of
silver and some jewels--the principal thing of worth amongst these
being a great crown of gold set with rubies; a gold crucifix enriched
with many stones, seven hundred pounds' weight of silver bars, many
cases of silver ore, and some enormous cases of plate. Also, there was
much cochineal, tobacco, logwood, cocoa, snuff and sugar, some of
which was saved and some was sunk to the bottom. And the gold and
silver was afterward taken to our English mint and coined into
five-pound pieces, crowns, half-crowns and shillings, each piece
having "Vigo" stamped beneath the queen's head, thereby to distinguish
it. Later on, and somewhat later, too--it was when I drew my share of
the prize money, to which I became entitled as having taken part in
that great fight--I observed that my pieces had that word upon them.
But alas! there should have been much more, only the galleons had lain
twenty-five days within that harbour ere we got to them, and, during
that time, they had landed much which had been sent on to Lugo, and,
had it not been for that foolish Spanish punctilio, which would not
allow anything to be done hastily, they would have gotten all of their
goods and precious things ashore. Only, because they should have gone
into Cadiz and discharged there, and had instead come to Vigo, much
delay happened ere the order for their doing so was given. Which was
very good for us.
Our loss, considering the fierce fight both sides made of it, was not
considerable. Hopson, his ship, because she had borne the brunt of the
encounter, did suffer the most, she having one hundred and fifteen of
her sailors killed on the deck or drowned, with nine wounded; the
_Barfleur_ and the _Association_ had each but two men killed; the
_Mary_ lost none; the _Kent_ had her bo'sun wounded, while for
ourselves, we had many wounded, but none that I know of killed. Of
those who went ashore to attack the Fort of Redondella under his Grace
of Ormond, none of much note were slain, but Colonel Pierce got a bad
wound from a cannon shot fired by one of our own men-of-war, and some
other colonels were also wounded.
'Twas through a mighty mass of wreckage and floating spars, masts
and yards, that we passed toward the _Royal Sovereign_, which lay back
a bit and was nearest the mouth of the strait and beyond where that
boom had been, and as we did so I saw my young gentleman, Señor
Belmonte, turn somewhat pale as he observed the terrible traces which
battles--and more particularly sea battles--always leave behind.
Indeed, the soft red flush leapt to his cheeks, and the full scarlet
lips themselves looked more white than red as his eyes glanced down at
the objects that went a-floating by on the water; and, perhaps, since
he was so young, 'twas not very strange that these sights should have
sickened him. For there passed us dead men with half their heads blown
off; others with a terrible grin of agony upon their faces; some with
half their inwards dragging alongside them like cords--the waves all
tinged a horrid reddish brown--while hats, wigs and other things
floating by as the tide made, were but cruel sights for so young a
man--and he, probably, no fighter--to see. And, after such a lusty
encounter as this had been, one could not hope to witness anything
much better.
As for the monk--on whom I could not but instinctively fix my eyes now
and again, for (although I could not have told why) the man had
fascinated me with the knowledge which he seemed to have once
possessed of all those hideous filibusters and sea rovers who now, he
said, were dead and gone and driven off the ocean--he seemed to regard
these things as calmly and impassibly as though he sat in some lady's
boudoir. His dark eyes, 'twas true, flashed here and there and all
around--now on a headless man, and now on the contorted features of
another, but he paled not, nor did he express or give any sign of
interest in aught until we ran alongside our noble _Royal Sovereign_,
when he cast his eye approvingly over her.
"A great vessel," he said, "a mighty craft! Worthy to represent her
great country"; then grasped the life line hanging down, as I motioned
him to ascend her gangway, and went on board as calmly as though
accustomed to going over the sides of ships every day of his life.
From the main shrouds there hung a flag when we stepped on board,
which I have since learned to know denoted that a council of war was
being held in the ship; also there were many captains' gigs and some
admirals' barges all about her, so that 'twas plain enough to see,
even without that flag, that a consultation was taking place on board.
And scarce had I given my orders for the chests to be hauled in than
the first lieutenant approached me and asked very courteously if I was
not Lieutenant Crespin.
A moment later I was being ushered into the great main cabin, leaving
my two companions on the deck for the present--and in another instant
was making my salutations to the grey-haired admiral, Sir George
Rooke, who sat at the head of the table, and to his Grace, the Duke of
Ormond--a brave, handsome soldier--who had come on board after taking
of the Fort of Redondella.
And now I pass over the many flattering things said to me by those
great officers seated there--since we had flown straight to Vigo after
the _Pembroke_ had picked up the fleet at sea, and had at once been
occupied in our preparations for taking of the galleons, this was the
first time we had met--over, also, the compliments paid me for the
manner in which I had made my way from Holland to Cadiz and Lagos.
Suffice it that both Sir George Rooke and the duke told me that my
services would not be forgot, and that when I returned to my Lord
Marlborough I should not go unaccompanied by their commendations.
However, enough of this. And now I told my tale of the morning, and of
the two persons I had found on board _La Sacra Familia_--told, too,
that they were at this moment on board the Royal Sovereign, I having
deemed it best to bring them along with me.
"Let us see them," said Rooke, and straightway bade his flag
lieutenant go bring them in.
But I think that, although I had told all assembled at this board what
kind of persons these were whom I had discovered in the ship, all the
admirals, generals and captains were astonished at their appearance
when they stood before them; while so handsome a show of it did my
young Señor Belmonte make, that, perhaps almost unknowing what he did,
Admiral Hopson pushed a chair toward him and bade him be seated. And
because such courtesy could not be shown to one of these visitors
without the same being extended to the other, the monk was also
accommodated with a chair in which he sat himself calmly, his eyes
roving round all those officers assembled there.
"You were passengers in this galleon--the--the--_Sacra Familia?_" Sir
George said, glancing at a paper in his hand, on which I supposed the
names of all the captured ships were written down, "and as this
officer tells me, are anxious to proceed to your destination. Will you
inform me of what that destination is, so that we may assist you in
your desire?"
"Mine," exclaimed Señor Juan--and as his sweet, soft voice uttered the
words musically, all eyes were turned on him, "is England eventually;
yet," and he smiled that gracious smile which I had seen before, "my
passage was but paid to Spain--and I am in Spain. Beyond being
permitted to go ashore here with my few necessaries, I know not that I
need demand any of your politely proffered assistance."
Sir George shrugged his shoulders while he looked attentively at the
handsome young man--who, I thought, to speak truth, received the
civilities of his speech with somewhat too much the air of one
accustomed to having homage and consideration paid to him--then he
said quietly:
"That, of course, shall be done at once. There can be no obstacle to
that. We only regret that the rigours of war have caused us to
inconvenience any ordinary passenger. You have of course your papers."
"Yes, I have them here," and he produced from his breast a bundle, at
which Sir George glanced lightly.
Then he turned to Father Jaime, who preserved still the look of
calmness which had distinguished him all through. Yet I wondered, too,
that he should have done so, for he had been subjected to even more
scrutiny than Belmonte had been, perhaps because of the garb he wore;
scrutiny that, in one instance at least, would have disquieted a less
contained man, since Admiral Hopson, I noticed, had scarcely ever
taken his eyes off him since he had entered the cabin, or, when he had
taken them off, had instantly refixed them so upon his countenance
that 'twas very palpable to me that the man puzzled him. But what need
to describe that look which all the world has often seen on the face
of one who is endeavouring to recall to himself where, or whether, he
has ever seen another before.
"And you, sir?" the admiral asked.
"My destination," the monk replied, his voice firm, full and sonorous
as before, "is the Abbey of Lugo; and since 'tis far nearer here than
Cadiz, I can scarce regret finding myself at Vigo, instead of at the
latter place."
And, even as he spoke, I saw Hopson give a slight start and look even
more intently at him than before.
Then he bent forward toward Father Jaime, and said quietly: "Reverend
sir, is it possible that we have ever met before? In the West Indies,
to wit?"