I JOIN A BROTHERHOOD OF HUNTERS AND ADVENTURERS ON THE COAST.
I did not wake until the sun was reasonably high, although but few
rays found their way into the curious cove, which by such a lucky
chance I had hit. It was, indeed, a sort of natural corridor or
aisle: rocks covered with plants and bushes forming great green
walls, with tangled trees bending from side to side, and meeting and
interlacing above, like a roof, while the floor was limpid water.
The air within this natural alcove was of a greenish hue, and the
reflection from the water the same. Great numbers of gay-coloured
birds fluttered and screamed, rather than sang, amid the boughs;
and on almost every projecting stone by the edge of the water stood
a great grey crane or heron, watching for the small fish which
form its prey. After I had looked my fill, I began to think of
breakfast; for, in order to eke out my store, I had gone supperless
to bed. So I munched a couple of biscuits, and took a great pull at
the sweet, fresh water. There were fruits and vegetables of many
kinds growing near, which I feared to meddle with, not knowing
their properties. After breakfast, I cast off from my bough, and
paddled to and fro in the channel to seek a landing-place. This I
was not long in discovering, at the spot where a little runnel of
the most transparent water I ever saw in my life came trickling
down in a small hollow, or what, in Scotland, we would call a
_scaur_. The sides of the ravine were, it is true, very steep,
but they were clothed with matted grass and vegetation, so that I
could clamber up without much difficulty. I therefore made my boat
fast very carefully, for I knew not what use she might be to me
afterwards, and also loaded my gun and hammered the flint, after
which I addressed myself to climb to the top of the bank. I found
this tolerably hard work; the heat of the sun was excessive, and
here there was no sea-breeze to refresh one. Moreover, I did not
much like the infinity of creeping and crawling things which, as I
made my way upwards, I startled amid the coarse grass and underwood.
Great beetles, shining and speckled—writhing creatures, like grey
worms, with numberless legs—horrible hairy spiders—and one or two
small snakes, all mottled and brindled. Besides, there flew about
me, making a tiny buzz, as if they blew small hairy trumpets, hosts
of that accursed fly called by the French maranguinnes, and by the
English mosquitos, which stung me until I was almost mad,—slapping
my face and my hands, and thrashing the air with a leafy branch, but
all in vain. At length, after great toil, I stood upon the top of the
bank, and felt, to my joy, the cool blast of the strong sea-breeze,
which rustled in the bushes, and soon blew away my insect enemies far
to leeward. Then, mounting a moderate-sized eminence, I set myself
to reconnoitre; and truly I might have deemed that I was in a desert
and unpeopled land. Behind me rose great swelling ridges, extending
above one another as far as my eye could reach, and all covered
with bright green brushwood, with here and there one of the long
feathery palm-trees standing up like a steeple over houses. Not many
paces in front ran a long fringe, as it were, of waving trees and
bushes, marking the extreme edge of the cliff, which sank into the
ocean; while beyond this there stretched out the great blue expanse
of the sea, speckled here and there with white, as the waves broke,
but sailless, and as lonely as the land. The great mountains which
we had seen from on board were here invisible, and even the ridges
around, as I gazed on them, seemed to move and quiver in the great
heat. Notwithstanding pretty humming-birds, less than Jenny Wrens,
fluttered about, and there was a mighty chattering, as of armies of
parrots and parroquets, which whooped and called to each other from
grove to grove.
At first, I felt a kind of sinking at being alone in this great
wilderness, but plucking up courage, I set off to trudge along the
coast to the eastward. The journey was toilsome in the extreme, for
the stunted shrubs were tangled so, that I was ofttimes compelled
to cut a passage with my clasp-knife, and the heat made my temples
throb and ache strangely. At length, seeing great trees of prodigious
size, the skirts of a forest, on my right hand, I made for them, and
entering their shade, found better walking, for here was a canopy
of leaves which warded off the sun, and also prevented the growth
of underwood, the ground being clear, and the air cool, between the
vast trunks of these glorious trees. However, I kept upon the edge
of the wood, for fear of losing myself, not designing to stray far
from the sea. Having marched thus near two hours, I heard a noise,
which, as I came nearer, I took to be the yellings of wild animals;
so that, somewhat startled, I looked to the priming of my gun, and
also gazed around for a tree into which it might be convenient to
climb. Meantime, the tumult came nearer, and I imagined it to be of
dogs, yet it was rather a savage yelping than the deep bay of hounds.
Next I heard a great crashing of branches on the edge of the wood,
and making my way there, and mounting a tree, I speedily saw a huge
wild boar, as I judged, with great tusks, and his jaws covered with
flakes of foam, closely chased by a pack of dogs. These latter were
fawn-coloured, with black muzzles; their legs were short, but very
brawny; and as I heard no sound or shout of hunters, I concluded,
with reason, that the pack before me were descendants of those
ferocious bloodhounds brought by the Spaniards into Hispaniola, and
other islands, to hunt down the inoffensive Indians, and which, being
deserted by their masters, ran wild and multiplied, so that flocks of
them assemble, and hunt the cattle and boars for their own support.
Meantime, however, the quarry had turned to bay underneath a tree
not far from me, and the dogs stood round in a semicircle, yelping
at him. At length, one bolder than the rest made a spring, and drove
his great jaws, as it seemed to me, into the animal’s flank. This was
the signal for a general onset, and, in a moment, the boar, grunting
and squeeling hideously, was tumbled on the ground, the ferocious
dogs, with jaws and muzzles all blood and froth, tearing and riving
its living flesh, so that, in the space of a very few minutes, the
creature was not only killed, but well-nigh pulled into morsels. Then
the dogs, several of which were hurt, and limped and whined, fell to
and ate their fill, after which having gorged themselves to their
very throats, they lay down to sleep. Seeing this, I concluded that
I could with safety pursue my journey, and accordingly got down from
the tree and did so, none of the bloodhounds molesting me.
I walked until the afternoon, still seeing no sign of human life, and
then feeling very hungry, and moreover wishing for something more
savoury than bread and water, I looked about for game. Many green
lizards or guanos were to be seen in the branches, and these the
Frenchmen on board the felucca had assured me were good food, but
I could not bring my stomach to them, and at length, after several
unsuccessful shots, I secured a bird, nearly double the size of our
pigeon, on which I determined to dine. Coming to a little rivulet
of clear water, with pretty pools, nourishing the most luscious
profusion of water-plants, I sat me down, and presently discovered a
large duck quackling and nibbling in the herbage. Now, the flesh of a
duck I knew, but the bird I had already killed was a stranger to me;
so taking a very careful aim at the poor fellow, I fired and sent the
bullet—I had no small shot—right through him. But immediately there
rose such a loud rustling of wings, and quacking, and screaming,
that I was confounded, until, making a few steps in advance, I saw
that the rivulet a little above spread into a good-sized weedy pond,
which harboured thousands of ducks, and teal, and widgeon, all of
which flew away on hearing the report of my piece. Having recovered
my game from the water, I set to work, plucked him, and, kindling
a fire of dry sticks and leaves, broiled him thereon. The cookery
was rough, but I thought the fare capital, only the want of salt
annoyed me. Having dined, I jogged on as before, and as evening
approached found myself exceedingly fatigued and dispirited at having
seen no human being. When the sun went down and the short tropical
twilight gave way to night, through which the stars blazed with a
fiery lustre, unknown to me until I had crossed the Atlantic, I even
began to ponder as to whether I had done well in leaving the ship
at all; but speedily shaking off this idle despondency, I wrapped
myself up in my blanket, which, in spite of its weight, I had carried
strapped tightly on my shoulders, and seasoning my biscuit with a
piece of tobacco to chew, made my supper, and slept in the fork of
a tree, lying back not uncomfortably among the branches. I awoke
once or twice and listened to the low hum and drone of insects, in
addition to which a bird, as I judged, uttered from time to time a
long mournful cry, sounding like ‘Weep, poor weel,’ which was very
melancholy, echoing through that great midnight wilderness. Around
me gleamed the little lights of glow-worms, called by the Spaniards
_Moscas del Fuego_. But these extinguished their lamps in the latter
part of the night.
I was awake with the sun, at the rising of which a great white fog
which lay upon the earth and drenched me, lifted and dispersed.
The heat soon dried my clothes, and about nine o’clock, when the
sea-breeze whistled through the herbage, I began again my weary
march. Not long after, having a good view of the sea from a
promontory, I descried almost beneath me, a ship under sail, lying
along shore, which, the coast here tending southerly, she could
do very well, and yet keep her sails full. She was a two-masted
vessel, seemingly very quick, and, plunging over the breasting
waves gallantly, soon passed me, steering to the east and keeping
fearlessly along the rocks. I found no wild ducks to-day, but, urged
by hunger, I shot a monkey; and although the poor creature looked
horrible when skinned, his flesh was not unpalatable. Towards the
afternoon, I perceived that I was approaching an indented part of the
coast, and I saw many ravines down which I could have gone to the
sea. Now and then, too, I would get a glimpse of such pretty, shingly
and bushy bays as I descried from the felucca, while on the other
hand, between the hills, there opened up vistas of great flat green
fields, here called savannahs. I had hopes that I was approaching
some inhabited place, and ere long I heard faint shouts before me
and nearer to the sea. This made me push on vigorously, yet not
without caution; and at length, forcing my way through a forest of
stunted trees, I caught a glimpse of the figure of a man through the
boughs. His back was to me, and I thought he was standing in a low
tree, when suddenly a great gust of the sea-breeze came rattling in
the wood, and the man swang to and fro with a slow motion, among the
waving branches. Immediately a horrid thought seized me, and looking
up as I heard a croaking, I saw two great carrion vultures circling
in the air. Manning myself, I ran forward, and there, sure enough,
was the body of a man hanging from a horizontal branch of a tree,
his feet not many inches from the tops of the Guinea grass. I was
overpowered with horror; but turning away from the terrible sight,
what were my feelings to see two other bodies hanging in a similar
manner! Having a little recovered my first natural fright, I looked
attentively at these unfortunates. They were all three dressed in the
same fashion, with coarse shirts, great jackets or doublets, cut in
a square fashion, like the coats of the water-men on the Thames, and
pantaloons. What surprised me, however, was the red filthy hue of the
garments, as though they had been soaked in blood, and never cleaned
or scoured. But then I called to mind what Wright had told me of the
hunting dresses of the Buccaneers, and how they took a sort of pride
in being disorderly and neglectful of their attire, never washing it
from the blood-stains which their occupation plenteously bedaubs them
with. The hair and beards of these men were long and matted, and they
wore buskins of untanned hide. I looked attentively, but could see no
gun or weapon, and the whole matter was a mystery to me. However, it
was not a pleasant locality to linger in, so I continued my way, and
presently saw a fine wooded bay, with winding shores, lying beneath
me, the forest sometimes reaching into the very surf, but in other
places leaving beaches of sand, carpeted as it were with a sort of
creeping grass of the kind, as I afterwards heard, called Bahama.
Along this bay I skirted, often stopping to look keenly about. At
length I saw a boat or canoe, pulled by several persons, paddling
across the smooth surface; and observing it disappear beyond a
green headland on the opposite side of the bay, my attention was
directed thither, and presently I noticed several columns of thin
blue smoke rising up above the trees at that very point. I was still
gazing at them when the sound of voices smote my ear distinctly,
and I had scarce time to conceal myself among the thick brushwood,
when near a score of men, some of whom wore gold-laced doublets and
seemed officers, came scrambling down towards the water from a point
higher up the bay than I had attained. I saw at a glance that they
were not Englishmen, being much too swarthy; and as they passed at
no great distance, and talked and laughed loudly, I perceived that
their language was Spanish, the sound and accent whereof I knew
very well. All these men were armed, each with a great bell-mouthed
short-barrelled gun, but I observed that three carried, each of them,
in addition, a musket of quite another shape. Seeing that they were
Spaniards, I was in mortal dread that they might have bloodhounds
with them, fiercer even than the wild dogs I had seen, and I drew
my strong clasp-knife, determined that, at least, there should be a
weasen or so cut before I was worried. Happily, however, the party
had no dogs whatever. I held my breath as they were passing, but
what was my consternation when the whole body stopped not ten paces
from me, while one pointed out to the others the smoke on the other
side of the bay. At this, two or three other of the fellows made
gestures, by jerking their heads aside and pointing to their necks,
as though there were halters round them, and then all laughed. But
he who seemed the principal officer restrained them, and taking out a
pocket compass, appeared to set, as mariners call it, the direction
in which the smoke appeared. Then they all went on together, I
cautiously following at a very respectful distance. Their course was
to the outer part of the bay, and they proceeded hastily down a steep
wooded glen, in which I lost sight of them. Presently, however, I
heard them hailing a ship, as I conjectured; and I was right, for
having got a little further, I heard the ripple of water, and saw
over the trees the rigging and masts of a vessel, which I recognised
as the same I had descried at sea early in the morning; and, getting
a good vantage-ground, I at last looked down upon her deck, and saw
a well-armed ship, full of men. Putting all these circumstances
together, I soon concluded that the craft was a Spanish Guarda Costa.
Then I thought of the men pointing to the distant smoke, and making
motions as though they would hang the people there. In a moment I
saw it all. The three executed Buccaneers—the three guns different
from the rest carried by the Spaniards—their gestures at sight of
the smoke of a little settlement! Doubtless the party belonged to a
ship which had come upon the coast to make the usual attacks on the
French and English settlers, and they, having caught these three
unfortunates in the woods, had hanged them out of hand, and meant to
attack the people on the opposite side of the bay, taking them by
surprise. This last I inferred from the care with which a sheltering
cove had been found to conceal their vessel.
It was now my clear duty to make my way to the opposite side of
the bay, to warn the people there, who, being enemies of the
Spaniards, must necessarily, by the rule of these seas, be friends
of mine. But how to get to them? I knew not how far up the country
the bay, or lagoon, extended; to swim across would not have been
difficult, but I thought of caymans and sharks, and my heart failed
me. Notwithstanding, I made my way to the seaside, and sat down
on a large rock. What would I have given now for the skiff I had
abandoned! But then, if I had come along the coast in her, I should
have been picked up and murdered by the Guarda Costa. So in cruel
perplexity I sat until it grew dark. All at once I thought that if
the three unhappy Buccaneers who were put to death belonged to the
settlement opposite, that they would have brought a canoe to waft
them over, which I might find along the shore. This idea gave me
fresh vigour, and I ran eagerly along the shingle, climbing from
time to time over points of rock which jutted out. Near two hours
were wasted in fruitless search, wading through little creeks, and
tracing small channels amid the bushes into which the rising tide was
flowing, when at length, just as I was despairing, I happily found
the object of my search. In a narrow cove, alongside a ledge of rock,
floated a light canoe, scooped out of a single tree. I immediately
stepped on board, and using the paddle alternately on either side,
managed, though I was awkward at first, to make the canoe move in
the direction I wished. Crossing the bay, I had enough to do to keep
the land wind from blowing me out of my course, and by the time I
was two-thirds over, every muscle in my body ached with the unwonted
exercise. Paddling on, however, I suddenly saw on the dusky shore
a cluster of red dim lights, by which I knew that I had opened the
headland behind which the smoke rose, and almost at the same moment I
heard behind a faint plash, and the rattle as of arms. I saw at once
that I had no time to lose, if, as I guessed, the boats of the Guarda
Costa were not far astern. Immediately I redoubled my efforts, making
for the lights, and at the same time hailed, ‘Ho! the shore, ahoy.’
Immediately a voice replied, ‘Is that you, Benjamin?’ When I heard
the sounds of my own language, my heart leaped to my mouth; and,
catching up my musket, I fired it off, shouting, ‘Look out! look out!
the Spaniards! the Guarda Costa!’ In an instant there gleamed a great
many little lights, as of lanterns carried by people running about
on the beach, and I heard the clash of arms and loud hallooings;
then the voice I had heard sang out again, ‘Where are they?—who are
you?’ But before I could reply the Spaniards suddenly fired two
volleys in my direction, the flashes showing two great boats, full
of men, and rowing fast. The water near me was torn up by the balls,
but none touched the canoe, and the fire was promptly answered by a
small piece of artillery ashore, which echoed grandly in the hills,
and caused a harsh concert of the wakened birds. Not willing to be
between two fires, I paddled hard, and presently ran the canoe on the
beach; when I leaped out and found myself in the midst of a group of
men, all shouting and cheering in English and French, running to and
fro, and fetching and making ready arms,—their muskets, and hangers,
and pikeheads gleaming in the sparkle of the lanterns. Directly
I splashed through the surf, I shouted that I was a friend and a
Scottish sailor, and that the Spaniards were upon us; whereon they
gave a loud shout in my honour, and in defiance of the enemy, and
fired a straggling volley. This the boats returned briskly, and the
Buccaneers, rushing up to their middles in the sea, cried out with
desperate imprecations to the Spaniards to come on, swearing they
would roast them alive on their _grilles de bois_, and taunting them
with every infamous name, keeping up a spattering irregular fire all
the time. However, Jack Spaniard, seeing a warm reception before him,
hung off, keeping in the shadow of the little headland. Then two or
three canoes were promptly manned, but the men in their eagerness
over-crowded them, and fought amongst themselves who should go; so
that time was lost, and meantime we heard the dash of oars, as the
boats, having failed in their purpose of surprise, pulled away.
When the hubbub was a little abated, I was asked by a dozen persons
at once what I was; whereon I recounted that having left, I did not
say escaped, from a French ship on the coast, I had travelled hither,
and on my way saw the Spaniards, and guessed their intentions. Then
I told them of the bodies I had passed hanging from trees, at which
they raised a great clamour of cursing; for these, as I had guessed,
were their comrades, who had crossed the bay to hunt the day before.
Then there was a proposal to man all the canoes, and go and attack
the Spaniards; but just as this was acceded to with a loud shout, a
light pirogue, which it seems had been fishing down the bay, ran in
with the news that the ship had weighed anchor directly her boats
returned, and made all sail to sea. On this there was a great groan
given for the cowardice of the Don, and the crowd began to disperse.
At this moment a young Englishman came up to me, and asked, with
great solicitude, if one of the Buccaneers I had seen hanging was
light haired with yellow moustaches. I replied in the affirmative;
on which, in words of strong passion and feeling, he swore that he
would bitterly revenge on the Spaniards the death of Benjamin, his
‘partner,’ as he called him, and, in short, broke out into a great
paroxysm of grief and rage. Meantime, several of the Buccaneers
offered me the hospitality of their huts, but my Englishman declared
I must go to his, as he was now alone, which the rest consenting to,
very cordially shook hands with me, and thanked me in French and
English, and then I followed my new friend along the beach to his
hut. There were a good many of these, irregularly placed, and beside
several there smouldered a slow fire, making the lights I had seen
in the bay. Over these fires there were gratings or hurdles of wood,
and on them lumps of beef, rudely cut, drying and cooking little
by little; great bales and heaps of hides lay about, the perfume
exhaling from them not being by any means pleasant, and numbers of
dogs howled and barked without ceasing. My conductor led me into a
hut built like the others, of wood and clay, and thatched with some
sort of thick leaf. The inside was lighted by a smoky lamp, showing
two beds of hide with dirty blankets, and a clumsy table. There were
shelves all round, whereon were ranged several guns, hangers, and
long Spanish knives, with fish and boar-spears, and other weapons.
Also I saw a mariner’s compass and some instruments for taking the
latitude, so that I rightly guessed my host to be a sailor as well
as a hunter. Besides these, there were strewn about, bits of net,
canvas, bullock horns, and one or two panthers’ skins were arranged
as coverlets for the beds.
My host asked many questions about the Spaniards, while he produced
for supper a piece of dried beef, prepared over the slow fire which I
had seen, and which being called ‘boucan’ gave to those who make it
the name of ‘Buccaneers.’ I found it somewhat tough, but relishing
and wholesome. After supper, we had brandy and rum, tempered by
water, and while drinking it very sociably, my comrade informed me
that he was a native of Cornwall, and that his name was Treveltham;
but that here, following a custom which was universal among the
Buccaneers, he had changed it for a nickname, or _nomme de guerre_,
by which only he was known to the generality of his comrades. His
Christian appellation being Nicholas, he was called Nicky Hamstring,
a whimsical appellation, which set me laughing heartily. He had been
on the coast since the end of the last rainy season, and liked the
life well. The bay on the banks of which we were, he told me, was the
estuary of a river called Le Marmousette, and about it there were
much wild cattle. The English and the French Buccaneers lived here
generally good friends. ‘Not but,’ said he, ‘that sometimes when the
rum has gone round, there is not a brawl, and it may be a stick with
a knife; but after all the island is big enough for all, and the
cattle are many enough for all, and so we love each other, and hate
Jack Spaniard.’ While we were talking, we heard loud shouting and
singing without, great roaring choruses both in French and English,
and oftimes a Lingua Franca, which was a compound of the two, but the
burden of all being words of hatred and contempt of the Spaniards.
Once or twice I thought the singers would have entered our hut, for
the door had neither lock nor bar, but they did not, and as the night
wore on, everything became silent except the dogs, who, having been
unloosed from their kennels to act as sentinels, growled hoarsely
along the beach. Having drunk and talked as much as we chose, we
went to bed, I having, indeed, been asleep all through several long
stories which Nicky recounted of the exploits and bravery of the
Buccaneers, my drowsiness being easily excused to my companion by the
long journey I had come that day.