The boys, intent upon this awful scene, turned as a shout from Job
Howland swelled above the uproar. The big gunner was at the breach of
his swivel-gun, ramrod in hand. The little group scattered to one side
or the other, leaving an open space at the bow rail. At the same moment
Job put in his powder, a heavy charge, ramming it home quickly, but with
all care. On top of the wadding went the round-shot, which was in its
turn hammered down under the powerful strokes of the ramrod. Maneuvering
the well-balanced breech with both hands, the tall Yankee trained his
cannon upon the pirate sloop; allowed for distance, raising the muzzle
an inch or more; nosed the wind and glanced at the foremast pennons;
then swung his piece a fraction of an inch to windward.
At last with a shout of "'Ware fire!" he sprang back and laid his match
to the touch-hole. There was a spurt of flame as the long nine roared
above the staccato bark of the musketry. Then they saw a section of the
pirate's upper rail leap clear of her deck and fall overside. "Too
high," said Job shortly, though Ghent and Curtis had cheered at the
shot, for the distance was a good half-mile. Job worked feverishly at
his reloading, helped by others of the _Queen's_ gun crews. Again the
charge was a stout one, but this time the gunner laid his muzzle
pointblank at the top of the rail, allowing only for wind. Once more he
fired. Just short of the _Royal James_ went up a little tower of spray.
Job said not a word, but set his great angular jaws and went about his
work with all the speed he had.
"Look," said Jeremy to Bob, in a sudden burst of understanding, "the
tide's rising. See how it runs in past our bows. In another five minutes
one of those boats will be afloat. Watch how the _James_ rocks up and
down already! If she gets off first, it'll go hard with Rhett, for
Bonnet'll let off a broadside as soon as his guns are level. That's why
Job's trying so hard to put a hole in her."
Almost as he spoke the report of the third shot rolled out. The
buccaneer sloop jumped sharply, like a spurred horse. In her side, just
at the water line, a black streak had suddenly appeared. The waves of
the incoming tide no longer swayed her buoyantly, for she wallowed on
the bar like a log. The effect of the shot, though it could be seen from
the _Sea Nymph_, where it was greeted with cheers, was still unknown
aboard the _Henry_. In the wash of water as the tide rolled in, Rhett's
sloop stood almost on an even keel. The remnant of his crew appeared to
have taken heart, for a brisk fire now answered that of the buccaneers.
Suddenly a triumphant shouting began aboard the stranded flagship, soon
answered in increasing volume from her two consorts. The _Henry_ was
moving slowly off the bar.
On the black sloop there was a silence as of death. Stede Bonnet, late
gentleman of the island of Barbadoes, honorably discharged as major from
the army of his Majesty, since turned sea-rover for no apparent cause,
and now one of the most notorious plunderers of the coast, faced his
last fight. Outnumbered nearly ten to one, his ship a stranded hulk, his
cannon useless, surely he read his doom. His men read it and turned
sullenly to haul down the tattered rag of black that still hung from the
masthead. But a last blaze of the old mad courage flared up in the
Captain, as he faced them, dishevelled and bloody, from behind cocked
pistols. Above the tumult of the fusillade his voice, usually so clear,
rose hoarse with anger. "I'll scatter the deck with the brains of any
man who will not fight to the end!" he cried.
For a second the issue was in doubt. In another instant the iron spell
he held over his men must have won them back. Herriot was already
running to his side. But before he reached his chief a louder cheer from
the attacking sloops made him turn. The black "Roger" fluttered
downward to the deck.
One of the captive sailors from the _Francis_, fearing to be taken for a
pirate if it came to deck-fighting, had crept up behind the mast and cut
the flag halyards. The men's hearts fell with the falling ensign and
they stood irresolute while the _Henry_ went up alongside. There was now
water enough for her to come close aboard and when she stood at a boat's
length distant, Colonel Rhett appeared at the rail. He pointed to the
muzzles of four loaded cannon aboard his sloop and told Bonnet that he
would proceed to blow him into the air if he did not surrender in one
minute's time. There was little parley. The pirate captain's flare of
resistance had burned out and pale and strangely shaken he handed over
his sword and submitted to the disarming of his men.
It was now well along in the morning. The prisoners whom Rhett had taken
were rowed out in small boats across the bar and put aboard the _Indian
Queen_. One by one they were hauled over the side and placed below in
chains. Job, Jeremy and Bob stood at a little distance and counted those
who had been captured. Now and then they were greeted by an ugly look
and a curse as some old shipmate recognized them. Last of all, Major
Bonnet passed, haggard and unkempt, his head bowed in shame.
"Thirty-five in all," finished Job. "Guess our old and handsome friend,
Pharaoh Daggs must have got his gruel in that fight. Well, if ever man
deserved to die a violent death, it's him. I'd like to make sure,
though. Want to go over to the _James_ with me?" Both boys welcomed the
opportunity and as the longboat was just then starting back, they were
soon aboard the battered pirate, so recently their home. Three or four
dead men lay on the canted deck, for no effort had been made as yet to
clean the ship. Bob and Jeremy had no stomach for looking at the corpses
of their erstwhile companions and turned rather to explore the cabin and
fo'c's'le, leaving Job to hunt for the body of their old enemy.
In the long bunkroom some water had entered with the rising tide and
they found the lower side a miniature lake. In the semi-darkness,
seamen's chests floated past like houses in a flood. One of the big
boxes was open, half its contents trailing after it. Something familiar
about the brass-bound cover and the blue cloth that hung over the side
made Jeremy start. "Daggs' chest!" he exclaimed and reached forward,
pulling it up on the dry planking. The two boys delved into the damp
rubbish it held. There were a few clothes, a rusty pistol, an able
seaman's certificate crumpled and torn almost beyond recognition. The
sack of money and the chart were gone. After searching in dark corners
of the fo'c's'le and fishing in the pool of leakage without discovering
what they sought, the boys returned to the box. "Odd," said Jeremy at
length. "Every other chest is locked fast. Why should he have opened
his?" This seemed unanswerable. They returned to the deck, to find Job
peering into the green water overside. "The body's not here," said the
big seaman, "unless he fell over the rail or was thrown over. I'm
looking to see if it's down there." The sand shone clean and white
through the shallow water on every side. No trace of the buccaneer was
to be seen. Jeremy told of finding the open chest. "Hm," mused Job,
"looks like he'd got away, though he may be dead; I'd like to know for
sure. Still," he added, his face clearing, "chances are we'll never see
nor hear of him again." And putting the man with the broken nose out of
their thoughts, they rejoined their friends on the big merchantman.
Just before nightfall the Carolina sloops, which had made an expedition
up the river, returned with Bonnet's two prizes in tow. They had been
abandoned in the effort to escape, and Rhett had launched them without
difficulty. A great sound of hammering filled the air above the desert
lagoon for two days. The old _Revenge_, now so rechristened since she
had fallen into honest hands, had to be floated, for there was still
service in her shattered black hull. A hundred men toiled on and around
her, and in a remarkably short time a jury patch was made in her gaping
side and her hold pumped dry. Then crews were picked to man the three
captured sloops, and the flotilla was ready to return triumphant. On the
morning when they stood out to sea, the twelve men of Rhett's party who
had been killed in action were buried with military honors, saluted by
the cannon of the fleet.
A voyage of three days, unmarred by any accident, brought the victorious
squadron into Charles Town harbor. Joy knew no bounds among the
merchants and seamen along the docks. Indeed, the rejoicing spread
through the town to the tune of church bells and the whole colony was
soon made aware of Rhett's victory.
When the buccaneers had been taken ashore under a heavy guard and locked
up in the public watchhouse, Mr. Curtis and Bob, with Job and Jeremy,
went ashore to stretch their legs. It was a fine, fall day, warm as
midsummer to Jeremy's way of thinking. The docks were fascinatingly full
of merchandise. Great hogsheads of molasses and rum from Jamaica, set
ashore from newly arrived ships, shouldered for room with baled cotton
and boxes of tobacco ready to be loaded. There was a smell of spices and
hot tar where the sun beat down on the white decks and tall spars of
the shipping. Negroes, hitherto almost unknown to the Yankee boy,
handled bales and barrels on the wharves, their gleaming black bodies
naked to the waist.
Planters from the fertile country behind the town rode in with their
attendant black boys, and gathered at the coffee-houses on King Charles
Street. It was to one of these, the "Scarlet Fish," that the bluff
Delaware man took his protégés for dinner.
The place was resplendent with polished deal and shining pewter.
Curtains of brightly colored stuff hung at the high square windows, and
on the side where the sun entered, pots of flowers stood in the broad
window-shelves. There were gay groups of men at the tables, and talk of
the pirates was going everywhere over the Madeira and chocolate. It
seemed the news of Job's gunnery had been spread by Rhett's men, for
some of the diners recognized and pointed to him. A pretty barmaid, with
dimples in her elbows, curtsied low as she set down his cup. "Oh, yes,
Captain Howland!" she answered as he gave his order, blushed a deep pink
and ran to the kitchen. Whereupon Job, quite overcome, vowed that the
ladies of Carolina were the fairest in the world, and Mr. Curtis roared
heartily, saying that "Captain Howland" it should be, and that before
many months, if he knew a good seadog.
As they sat and sipped their coffee after a meal that reflected glory
upon the cook of the "Scarlet Fish," Colonel Rhett came in and made his
way to their table through a hurly-burly of back-slappings and "Bravos."
As soon as he was able to sit down in peace, he drew Mr. Curtis a little
aside to talk in private. The two boys were content to watch the
changing scene and listen to the hearty badinage of the fashionable
young blades about the tables. It was, you must remember, Jeremy's first
experience of luxury, unless the good, clean quarters and wholesome
meals aboard the _Queen_ could be so called. He had never read any book
except the Bible, had never seen more than a half-dozen pictures in his
life. From these and from the conversation of backwoodsmen and, more
recently, of pirates, he had been forced to form all his conceptions of
the world outside of his own experience. It is a tribute to his clean
traditions and sturdy self-reliance that he sat unabashed, pleased with
the color, the gayety, the richness, but able still to distinguish the
fine things from the sham, the honest things from those which only
appeared honest--to feel a thrill of pride in his father's hard,
rough-hewn life and his own.
Colonel Rhett's conference with Mr. Curtis being over, the score was
paid and the party took their triumphal way to the door, Job turning his
sunburned face once or twice to glance regretfully after the dimpled
barmaid.
That afternoon they were taken to the Governor's house, where Job and
each of the boys told the story of their experiences in Bonnet's
company. These stories were sworn to as affidavits and kept for use in
the coming trial of the pirate crew. It was a special dispensation of
the Governor's which allowed them to give their evidence in this form
instead of waiting in Charles Town for the court to sit, and needless to
say they were heartily glad of it. The formalities over, Governor
Johnson led the party into the adjoining room. He motioned them to sit
down and faced them with a smile. "Now, my lads," said he, "the spoil
taken on the _Royal James_ has been divided, and though, as you may
guess, it had to go a long way, there's a share left for each of you."
Jeremy and Bob stared at each other and at their friends. The benign
smiles of Mr. Curtis, Colonel Rhett and Job showed that they had known
beforehand of this surprise. The Governor was holding out a small
leather sack in each hand. "Here, catch," he laughed, and the two
astonished lads automatically did as they were bid. In each purse there
was something over twenty guineas in gold. Before they had found words
to thank the Governor he laughed again merrily. "Never mind a speech of
acceptance," said he. "Colonel Rhett, here, has something else for you."
"Yes," replied the Colonel. "You see, there was a deal of junk in the
Captain's cabin that comes to me as Admiral of the expedition. I'd be
much pleased if you two lads would each pick out anything that pleases
you, as a personal gift from myself and Stede Bonnet." As he spoke, he
took the cloth cover from a table which stood at one side. On it the
boys saw a shining array of small arms, some glass and silver decanters
and a pile of books. The Colonel motioned Bob forward. "Here you are,
lad, take your choice," he said. Bob stepped to the table and glanced
over the weapons eagerly. He finally selected a silver-mounted pistol
with the great pirate's name engraved on the butt, and went with pride
to show it to his father.
It was Jeremy's turn. He had no hesitation. From the moment he had heard
the offer his shining eyes had been fastened upon one object, and now he
went straight to the table and picked up the biggest and thickest of the
heap of books, a great leather-bound volume--Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress." It is not the least inexplicable fact in the career of the
terrible Stede Bonnet that he was a constant reader of such books as
this and the "Paradise Lost" of Milton. Bunyan's great allegory had
come at last into a place where it could do more good than in the cabin
bookshelf of a ten-gun buccaneer. Jeremy, poor lad, uneducated save for
the rude lessons of his father and the training of the open, had longed
for books ever since he could remember. He had affected a gruff scorn
when Bob had spoken from his well-schooled knowledge, but inwardly it
had been his sole ground for jealousy of the Delaware boy. That
ponderous leather book was read many times and thoroughly in after
years, and it became the foundation of such a library as was not often
met with in the colonies. Job gave the lad an understanding smile and a
pat on the back, for Jeremy had told him of his passion for an
education.
The four grown men drank each other's health and separated with many
hearty handclasps. An hour later the _Queen's_ anchor was up and she was
moving out to sea upon the tide, cheered vigorously from the docks and
saluted by every vessel she passed. The warm September dusk settled over
the ocean. A soft land breeze rustled in the shrouds, and the great
sails filled with a gentle flapping. Slowly the tall ship bowed herself
to the northeast and settled away on her course contentedly, while the
water ran with a smooth murmur beneath her forefoot. Jeremy, lying
wide-eyed in his bunk, where a single star shone through the open port,
thought it the sweetest sound he had ever heard. He was homeward bound
at last.
[Illustration]