A SPLENDID HAUL
When all were got on board, and the boats hoisted to the davits, Will
conducted the ladies down to the cabin, which he handed over to them.
Then, having ordered the cook to prepare some hot soup for the girl he had
rescued, he came on deck again and questioned the male passengers.
“We were all dressing for dinner,” one said, “when we heard a shouting on
deck. Almost immediately there was a great bump, which knocked most of us
off our feet, and we thought that we had been run into, but directly
afterwards we heard a great tumult going on above us, and we guessed that
the ship had been attacked by pirates. The clashing of swords and the
falling of bodies went on for two or three minutes, and then there was a
loud savage yell that told us that the pirates had taken the ship. Next
moment the ruffians rushed down upon us, took away any valuables we had
about our persons, and then tied us up and threw us on the sofas. After
scouring all the cabins they left us, and by the noise that followed we
guessed that they had removed the hatches and were getting up the cargo.
“This continued all night, and some time this morning we heard the brutes
going down to their boats, and thanked God that they had spared our lives.
Presently all became still; but after a time we saw the water rising on
the floor, and the dreadful thought struck us that they had scuttled the
ship and left us to perish. One of us managed, in spite of his bonds, to
make his way up the companion and endeavour to open the door. He found,
however, to his horror that it was fastened outside. Time after time he
flung himself against it, but it would not yield. The water rose higher
and higher, and we were waiting for the end when, to our delight, we heard
a bump as of a boat coming alongside the vessel, then the sound of someone
running along the deck and of the companion door being hurriedly opened.
You know the rest. The ship was the _Northumberland_ of Bristol.”
“Thank God we arrived in time!” Will said. “It was an affair of seconds.
If we had been two minutes later you would all have been drowned.”
“What has become of that terrible pirate?” asked one of the passengers.
“There he is, six miles away. I hope some day to avenge the murder of your
captain and crew.”
“But his ship looks a good deal larger than yours.”
“Yes,” Will said, “but we don’t take much account of size. We captured two
pirates in one fight, both of them bigger than ourselves.”
“And your ship looks such a small thing, too, in comparison with our
vessel!”
“Yes, your ship could pretty well take her up and carry her. Weight
doesn’t go for much in fighting.”
“And are you really her commander?”
“I have that honour. I am a midshipman, and before I got command of
_L’Agile_ I was on board His Majesty’s ships _Furious_ and _Hawke_. I had
a great deal of luck in several fights we came through, and as a result
was entrusted by the admiral with the command of this vessel. As you say,
she is small, but her guns are heavy for her size, and are more than a
match for most of those carried by the pirates.”
“Well, sir, in the name of myself and all my fellow-passengers I offer you
my sincerest thanks for the manner in which you saved our lives. How close
a shave it was is shown by the fact that you were yourself unable to get
off the ship in time and were carried down with her.”
“It was all in the way of business,” Will laughed. “We were after the
pirates, and when we saw the state of your vessel we reluctantly gave up
the chase in order to see if we could be of any assistance. I expect the
schooner wouldn’t have run away from us had she not been so full of the
cargo she got from your ship. They could not have had time to stow it all
below, and it would have hampered them in working their guns, besides
probably affecting their speed. I shall know her again when I see her, and
then will try if these scoundrels are as good at fighting as they are at
cold-blooded murder.”
“Where are you going now, sir?”
“I am cruising at present, and am master of my own movements, so if you
will let me know where you are bound for, I will try to set as many of you
down at your destination as I can.”
“Most of us are bound for Jamaica, sir, and the others will be able to
find their way to their respective islands from there.”
“Very well, then, I will head for Jamaica at once. In the meantime my
cabin and that of my second in command are at the service of the ladies.
There are the sofas, too, in the saloon, and if these are not enough I
will get some hammocks slung. I shall myself sleep on deck, and those of
you who prefer it can do the same; for the others I will have hammocks
slung in the hold.”
Most of the ladies soon came up, but the girl Will had saved did not
appear till the next morning. She was very pretty, and likely to be more
so. If he had allowed her she would have overwhelmed him with thanks, but
he made light of the whole affair. He learned from the other passengers
that she was the daughter of one of the richest merchants in Jamaica. At
the death of her mother, when she was five years old, she was sent home to
England in charge of the governess who had been drowned in the
_Northumberland_, and when this catastrophe occurred had been on her way
to rejoin her father. Although saddened by the death of her old friend,
she soon showed signs of a disposition naturally bright and cheerful. She
bantered Will about his command, and professed to regard _L’Agile_ as a
toy ship, expressing great wonder that it was not manned by boy A.B.’s as
well as boy officers.
“It must surely seem very ridiculous to you,” she said, “to be giving
orders to men old enough to be your father.”
“I can quite understand that it seems so to you,” he said, “for it does to
me sometimes; but custom is everything, and I don’t suppose the men give
the matter a thought. At any rate they are as ready to follow me as they
are the oldest veteran in the service.”
Will carried all the sail he could set, as he was anxious to get the craft
free from passengers and to be off in search of the schooner that had
escaped him. He was again loaded with thanks by the passengers when they
landed, and after seeing them off he went and made his report to the
admiral.
“How is this, Mr. Gilmore?” the admiral said as he entered the cabin; “no
prizes this time? And who are all those people I saw landing just now?”
Will handed in his report; but, as usual, the admiral insisted on hearing
all details.
“But your uniform looks shrunk, Mr. Gilmore,” he said when Will had
finished. “You said nothing about being in the water!”
Will was then obliged to relate how he had rescued the girl from the
cabin.
“Well done again, young sir! it is a deed to be as proud of as the
capturing of those two pirates. Well done, indeed! Now I suppose you want
to be off again?”
“Yes, sir, I should like to sail as soon as possible; in the first place,
because I am most anxious to fall in with that schooner and bring the
captain and crew in here to be hanged.”
“That is a very laudable ambition. And why in the second place?”
“Because I want to get off before a lot of people come to thank me for
saving their relatives, and so on, sir. If I get away at once, then I may
hope that before I come back again the whole thing will be forgotten.”
“It oughtn’t to be, for you acted very wisely and gallantly.”
“Well, sir, I don’t want a lot of thanks for only doing what was my duty.”
“Very good, Mr. Gilmore, I understand your feelings, but I quite expect
that when you do return you will have to go through the ordeal of being
presented with a piece of plate, and probably after that you will have to
attend a complimentary ball. Now, you can go back to your ship at once.
Here is a letter to the chief of the store department instructing him to
furnish you with any stores you may want without waiting for my
signature.”
“Thank you very much, sir! I hope, when I return, that I shall bring that
pirate in tow. Can I have three months from the present time?”
“Certainly, and I hope you will be able to make good use of it.”
Returning to his ship, Will at once made out the list of the stores he
required, and sent Harman on shore with it, telling him to take two boats
and bring everything back with him. At five o’clock in the afternoon the
two boats returned, carrying all the stores required. The water-tanks had
already been filled up, and a quarter of an hour later the cutter was
under sail and leaving the harbour.
Will, of course, had nothing whatever to guide him in his search for the
schooner beyond the fact that she was heading west at the time when he
last saw her. At that time they were to the south of Porto Rico, so he
concluded that she was making for Cuba. Every day, therefore, he cruised
along the coast of that island, sometimes sending boats ashore to examine
inlets, at other times running right out to sea in the hope that the
pirate, whose spies he had no doubt were watching his movements, might
suppose he had given up the search and was sailing away. Nevertheless, he
could not be certain that she would endeavour to avoid him should she
catch sight of him, for with a glass the pirate captain could have made
out the number of guns _L’Agile_ carried, and would doubtless feel
confident in his own superiority, as he would not be able to discover the
weight of the guns. Will felt that if the pirate should fight, his best
policy would be at first to make a pretence of running, in the hope that
in a long chase he might manage to knock away some of the schooner’s
spars.
One day he saw the boats, which had gone up a deep inlet, coming back at
full speed.
“We saw a schooner up there,” Harman reported; “I think she is the one we
are in search of. When we sighted her she was getting up sail.”
“That will just suit me. We will run out to sea at once; that will make
him believe we are afraid of him.”
Scarcely had the boats been got on board, and the cutter’s head turned
offshore, when the schooner was seen issuing from the inlet. Will ordered
every sail to be crowded on, and had the satisfaction of seeing the
schooner following his example. He then set the whole of the crew to shift
the long-tom from the bow to the stern. Its muzzle was just high enough to
project above the taffrail, and in order to hide it better he had hammocks
and other material piled on each side of it so as to form a breastwork
three feet high.
“They will think,” he said, “that we have put this up as a protection
against shot from his bow-chasers.”
After watching the schooner for a quarter of an hour, Will said:
“I don’t think she gains upon us at all; lower a sail over the bow to
deaden her way. A small topsail will do; I only want to check her half a
knot an hour.”
It was an hour before the schooner yawed and fired her bow-guns.
“That is good,” Will said to Dimchurch; “it shows that she doesn’t carry a
long-tom. I thought she didn’t, but they might have hidden it, as we have
done. Don’t answer them yet; I don’t want to fire till we get within half
a mile of her; then they shall have it as hot as they like.”
The schooner continued to gain slowly, occasionally firing her
bow-chasers. When she had come up to within a mile of _L’Agile_ the cutter
was yawed and two broadside guns fired; they were purposely aimed somewhat
wide, as Will was anxious that the pirates should not suspect the weight
of his metal, and did not wish, by inflicting some small injury, to deter
her from continuing the chase. The schooner evidently depended upon the
vastly superior strength of her crew to carry the cutter by boarding, and
so abstained from attempting to injure her, as the less damage she
suffered the better value she would be as a prize.
“They are not more than half a mile off now, I think, sir,” Dimchurch said
at last.
“Very well then, we will let her have it.”
The gun was already loaded, so Dimchurch took a steady aim and applied the
match. All leapt upon the bulwarks to see the effect of the shot, and a
cheer broke from the crew as it struck the schooner on the bow, about four
feet above the water. In return the schooner yawed so as to bring her
whole broadside to bear on the cutter, and six tongues of flame flashed
from her side. At the same moment _L’Agile_ swung round and fired her two
starboard guns. Both ships immediately resumed their former positions, and
as they did so Dimchurch fired again, his shot scattering a shower of
splinters from almost the same spot as the other had struck.
“You must elevate your gun a little more, Dimchurch,” said Will, “and
bring a mast about their ears. Get that sail on board!” he shouted; “I
don’t want the schooner to get any nearer.”
The order was executed, and the difference in the speed of the cutter was
at once manifest. Again and again Dimchurch fired. Several of the shot
went through the schooner’s foresail, but as yet her masts were untouched.
“A little more to the right, Dimchurch.”
This time the sailor was longer than usual in taking aim, but when he
fired the schooner’s foremast was seen to topple over, and her head flew
up into the wind, thus presenting her stern to the cutter.
“She is a lame duck now,” Will said, “but we may as well take her mainmast
out of her too. Fire away, and take as good aim as you did last time.”
Ten more shots were fired, and with the last the pirate’s mainmast went
over the side.
“Well done, Dimchurch! Now we have her at our mercy. We will sail
backwards and forwards under her stern and rake her with grape. I don’t
want to injure her more than is necessary, but I do want to kill as many
of the crew as possible; it is better for them to die that way than to be
taken to Jamaica to be hanged.”
For an hour the cutter kept at work crossing and recrossing her
antagonist’s stern, and each time she poured in a volley from two
broadside guns and the long-tom. The stern of the schooner was knocked
almost to pieces, and the grape-shot carried death along her decks.
“I am only afraid that they will blow her up,” Will said; “but probably,
as they have not done so already, her captain and most of her officers are
killed, for it would require a desperado to undertake that job.”
At last the black flag was hoisted on a spar at the stern, and then
lowered again. When they saw this the crew of _L’Agile_ stopped firing,
and sent up cheer after cheer.
“Now we must be careful, sir,” Dimchurch said; “those scoundrels are quite
capable of pretending to surrender, and then, when we board her, blowing
their ship and us into the air.”
“You are right, Dimchurch. They might very well do that, for they must
know well enough that they can expect no mercy.”
Bringing the cutter to within a hundred yards of the schooner, Will
shouted:
“Have you a boat that can swim?” and receiving a reply in the negative,
shouted back: “Very well, then, I will drop one to you.”
He then placed the cutter exactly to windward of the schooner, and,
lowering one of the boats, to which a rope was attached, let it drift down
to the prize.
“Now,” he shouted, “fasten a hawser to that boat; the largest you have.”
There was evidently some discussion among the few men gathered on the deck
of the pirate, and, seeing that they hesitated, Will shouted:
“Do as you are ordered, or I will open fire again.”
This decided the pirates, and in a short time the end of a hawser was tied
to one of the thwarts of the boat. The boat was then hauled back to
_L’Agile_, and when the cable was got on board it was knotted to their own
strongest hawser.
“That will keep them a good bit astern,” Will said; “otherwise, if the
wind were to drop at night, they might haul their own vessel up to us, and
carry out their plan of blowing us up.”
“It is wise to take every precaution, sir,” Harman said; “but I don’t
think any trick of that sort would be likely to succeed. You may be sure
we should keep too sharp a watch on them.”
While the hawsers were being spliced, Will shouted to the pirates to cut
away the wreckage from their ship, and when this was done he started with
his prize in tow. As soon as they were fairly under weigh he hailed the
prisoners through his speaking-trumpet and questioned them about their
casualties. They replied that at the beginning of the engagement they had
had one hundred and twenty men on board. The captain had been killed by
the first volley of grape, and the slaughter among the crew had been
terrible, all the officers being killed and eighty of the men. The
remainder had run down into the hold, and remained there until, after a
consultation, one of them crawled up on deck and hoisted and lowered the
black flag.
“I suppose,” Will said, “your intention was to blow the ship and
yourselves and us into the air as soon as we came on board.”
“That is just what we did mean,” one of them shouted savagely; “if we
could but have paid you out we would not have minded what became of
ourselves.”
“It is well, indeed, Dimchurch, that you suggested the possibility of
their doing this to us. But for that we should certainly have lost nearly
all our number, for, not knowing how many of the crew survived, I could
not have ventured to go on board without pretty nearly every man. It will
be a lesson to me in future, when I am fighting pirates, to act as if they
were wild beasts.”
“Well, sir, I don’t know that they are altogether to be blamed; it is only
human nature to pay back a blow for a blow, and with savages like these,
especially when they know that they are bound to be hanged, you could
hardly expect anything else.”
“I suppose not, Dimchurch, and certainly for myself I would rather be
blown up than hanged. I suppose the reason why they did not blow up the
ship when they found their plan had failed was that they clung to life
even for a few days.”
“I expect it is that, sir; besides, you know, each man may think that
although no doubt the rest will be hanged, he himself may get off.”
“Yes, I dare say that has something to do with it,” Will agreed. “I don’t
think it likely, however, that any one of them will be spared after that
affair of the _Northumberland_, and very probably that was only one of a
dozen ships destroyed in the same way.
“Now, Harman, we will put her head round and sail back.”
“Sail back, sir?”
“Certainly; I think there is no doubt that that inlet is the pirates’
head-quarters, and that they are certain to have storehouses there
choke-full of plunder. Some of their associates will in that case be on
shore looking after it, and if their ship doesn’t return they will divide
the most valuable portion of these stores among themselves, and set fire
to all the rest. We have done extremely well so far, but another big haul
will make matters all the pleasanter.”
“But what will you do with the prize?” asked Harman.
“I will cast her off eight or ten miles from the shore; they have no
boats, and the schooner is a mere log on the water. When we see what
plunder they have collected I shall be able to decide how to act. The
cutter can hold a great deal, but if we find more than she can carry we
must load the schooner also.”
“But what would you do with the pirates in that case, sir?”
“I should try to make them come off in batches, and then iron them; but if
they would not do that, I should be inclined to tow the schooner to within
half a mile of the shore, and so give all that could swim the chance of
getting away. Those of them that are unable to do so would probably manage
to get off on spars or hatchways. They have been richly punished already,
and I fancy the admiral would be much better pleased to see the schooner
come in loaded with valuable plunder than if she carried only forty
scoundrels to be handed over to the hangman.”
“But if we were to let them escape we should have to take great care on
shore while we were rifling the storehouse.”
“You may be sure that I should do that, Harman. The fellows could
certainly take no firearms on shore, and I should keep ten men with loaded
muskets always on guard, while those who are at work would have their
firearms handy to them.”
They towed the schooner to within seven or eight miles of the shore, and
then cast her off and made for the creek from which the pirates had come
out. As they entered the inlet, which was two miles long, they could see
no signs of houses, so they sailed as far as they could and anchored. Will
then landed with a party of ten well-armed men, and at once began to make
a careful examination of the beach. In a short time they found a
well-beaten path going up through the wood. Before following this,
however, Will took the precaution to have fifteen more men sent ashore, as
it was, of course, impossible to say how many of a guard had been left at
the head-quarters. When the second party had landed, all advanced
cautiously up the path, holding their muskets in readiness for instant
action. They met, however, with no opposition; the pirates were evidently
unaware of their presence. They had gone but a very short distance when
they came to a large clearing, in the middle of which they saw several
large huts and three great storehouses. They went on at the double towards
them, but they had gone only a short distance when they heard a shout and
a shot, and saw a dozen men and a number of women issue from the backs of
the huts and make for the wood.
“Now, my lads,” shouted Will, “break open the doors of those storehouses;
there is not likely to be much that is of value in the huts. You had
better take four men, Dimchurch, and set fire to them all; of course you
can just look in and see if there is anything worth taking before you
apply a light.”
Will himself superintended the breaking open of the storehouses. When he
entered the first he paused in amazement; it was filled to the very top
with boxes and bales. The other two were in a similar condition.
“There is enough to fill the cutter and the prize a dozen times,” Will
said. “I expect they trade to some extent with the Spaniards, but they
evidently had another intention in storing these goods. Probably they
proposed, when they had amassed sufficient, to charter a large ship, fill
her up to the hatchways, and sail to some American port or some other
place where questions are not usually asked.”
There was a safe in the corner of one of the storehouses; this they blew
open, and when Will examined its contents he found that they consisted of
the papers and manifests of cargoes of no fewer than eleven ships.
“My conjecture was right,” he said. “They intended, no doubt, to keep some
large merchantman they had captured, fill her with the contents of their
prizes, and then with the papers and manifests of cargo they could go
almost anywhere and dispose of their ill-gotten goods.”
“I have no doubt that is so, sir,” Dimchurch said; “I only wonder they did
not set about it before.”
“It is quite possible they have done so already,” Will said, “but they may
have taken prizes quicker than they could dispose of them, which would
account for this immense accumulation. Now, Dimchurch, I will sit down and
go through those bills of lading and pick out the most valuable goods. We
will then take these off to begin with, and can leave it to the admiral to
send a man-of-war or charter some merchantman to bring the rest. The
schooner should carry between two and three hundred tons, and we could
manage to cram eighty or a hundred into our hold. If we get all that
safely to Jamaica, we need not grieve much if we find that the rest of the
goods have been burned before the ships can come to fetch them.”
It took him three hours to go through the bills of lading, making a mark
against all the most valuable goods. Then some of the men were set to sort
these out. There was no great difficulty about this, as the goods had been
very neatly stored, those belonging to each ship being separated by narrow
passages from the rest. The remainder of the men except two were meanwhile
brought from the cutter. Sentries were then placed to watch all the
approaches to the storehouses, and while ten men got out the bales and
boxes, the remaining twenty-six carried them down the path. At night half
the men remained in the storehouses, the other half returning to the
cutter.
Before sunset Will went with a small escort to the top of a neighbouring
hill to see that all was well with the hulk of the schooner. With the aid
of his telescope he could see her plainly, and to his great satisfaction
noted that she had made but little drift.
The next morning the work was resumed, and was carried on all day with
only short breaks for meals, and so on the following two days. At the end
of that time as much had been put on board the cutter as she could carry.
Ten men were then left to guard the stores, and the rest, going on board,
sailed out to the schooner and towed her in. They did not, as was at first
intended, stop a mile outside the inlet, but came right into it and
anchored opposite the path, as the labour of continually loading the
cutter and then transferring her cargo to the hulk would have been very
great. The next morning a party of twelve men went on board her, and
found, as Will had expected, that she was entirely deserted.
“They will be too happy at having made their escape to do anything for the
next day or two,” Will said, “so we can go on working as usual.
Fortunately the fellows who were left in the huts were taken so completely
by surprise that they bolted at once and left their guns behind. If,
therefore, they are joined by their friends from the schooner, and attack
us, they will have no firearms with them, for, as the hulk is anchored
about two hundred yards from shore, it would require a marvellously good
swimmer to carry his musket and ammunition ashore with him. In future,
however, we will leave twenty men to guard the storehouses at night; there
is no boat in the inlet by means of which they could attack the cutter,
and they are not likely to try to do so by swimming. At any rate, Harman,
I will place you in command of her, and shall therefore feel perfectly
confident that we shall not be taken by surprise.”
“You can trust me for that, sir; I promise you that I will sleep with one
eye open, though I don’t think they would be likely to attempt such an
enterprise. They are much more likely to attack you at the stores. I think
it would be advisable to take twenty-five men with you and leave me with
fifteen, which would be ample. I should divide them into two watches, so
that there would always be seven on deck. Jefferson, who is an uncommonly
sharp fellow, would be in charge of one of the watches, and Williams of
the other; and as I should myself be up and down all night, there would be
no chance of our being caught napping.” Will agreed to this arrangement.
The prize was now brought close inshore, the water being deep enough to
allow of this. It was a great advantage, as the goods could be put on
board direct, and the work was thereby greatly accelerated.
Behind a pile of goods another safe was discovered, and this was found to
contain £8500 in money, nearly a hundred watches, and a large amount of
ladies’ jewellery. Many watches had also been found in the huts before
these were burned. The bales and boxes contained chiefly spices, silks and
sateens, shawls, piece-goods, and coffee.
On the night of the fourth day after the escape of the prisoners one of
the sentries perceived a dark mass moving from the wood. He at once fired
his musket, and in a minute Will and Dimchurch, with their five-and-twenty
men, were all in readiness.
“Now, my men,” Will said, “these fellows will attempt to rush us. We will
divide into three parties and will fire by volleys; one party must not
fire till they see that all are loaded. In that way we shall always have
sixteen muskets ready for them. I have no fear of the result, and even if
they close with us our cutlasses will be more than a match for their
knives. Here they come! Get ready, the first section, and don’t fire till
I tell you.”
The enemy, fully sixty strong, came on with fierce cries, knowing that the
garrison were on guard, although they could not see them in the shadow of
the storehouses. When they got within fifty yards Will gave the order to
fire, and the first eight muskets flashed out. The second eight fired
almost immediately after, and the third eight, waiting only till the first
section had reloaded, followed suit. Nearly every shot told, and the shock
was so great that it caused the advancing enemy to hesitate for a moment.
This gave the second and third sections time to reload, so that, when the
pirates again advanced, three more deadly volleys were poured into them in
quick succession. The effect of these was instantaneous. Fully
five-and-thirty had been brought to the ground by the six volleys; the
remainder halted, swayed for a moment, then turned and fled at full speed,
pursued, however, before they reached the wood, by another general
discharge.
Will was well pleased with the tremendously heavy punishment he had
inflicted.
“Out of the sixty men who attacked us,” he said to Harman the next
morning, “I calculate that forty belonged to the schooner. I don’t suppose
they were worse than the other twenty; but we had ourselves seen some of
the crimes they had committed. We have accounted for forty in all, so of
those who escaped from the schooner probably some five- or six-and-twenty
have been killed. After such a thrashing they are not likely to make
another attempt.”
He was right. The work now went on undisturbed, and at the end of a
fortnight the schooner was laden. All the hatches had been closed and made
water-tight; and so full was she that her deck was only two feet and a
half above the water, although her guns had been thrown overboard or
landed.
“Now I think we are all ready to sail,” Harman said.
“Ready to sail! We have a fortnight’s hard work before us,” said Will.
“You don’t suppose I am going to leave all these hogsheads of sugar,
puncheons of rum, and bales of goods to be burnt or destroyed by those
scoundrels.”
“How can you prevent it?”
“Very easily. There are plenty of materials on the spot to form four
batteries, one on each side of the storehouses. We will drag up eight of
the schooner’s guns and mount two on each battery; they shall be loaded
and crammed to the muzzle with grape-shot. The batteries shall be built
clear of the storehouses and in echelon, so that if one is attacked it can
be supported by the others. As a garrison I will leave sixteen men under
Dimchurch.”
Dimchurch was called up and the matter explained to him, and he readily
agreed to take charge.
“Two men,” he said, “can be on watch in each battery while the others
sleep; so there will be no chance of being taken by surprise, and you may
be quite sure that, no matter how strong a mob may come down, they won’t
stand the discharge of eight cannon loaded as you say. I suppose, sir, you
mean to form the batteries of bales of cotton. There is a whole ship-load
of them.”
“That is my intention, Dimchurch; I have had it in my mind all the time.”
The whole strength of the crew, with the exception of two to watch on
board the cutter, now went up to the storehouses, and the men, delighted
to know that all this booty was not to be lost, set to work with great
vigour. Will marked out the sites for the batteries, and the bales of
cotton were rolled to them and built up into substantial walls. It took
ten days of hard labour to do this and haul up the guns.
When the work was completed Dimchurch chose sixteen of the crew. There was
an ample supply of provisions, which had been taken out of the huts before
they were burnt; so it was not necessary to draw upon the stores of the
cutter. When all was ready the two parties said good-bye, and, with a
mutual cheer, the cutter’s crew went on board.
“It is a hazardous business, I admit,” Will said, as, having got up sail,
they moved down the inlet with the schooner in tow. “Of course I shall be
a little uneasy until we can return from Jamaica and relieve Dimchurch;
but I feel convinced that he will be able to hold his own and to give
another lesson to the pirates if necessary. When they see us sail out they
will naturally conclude that no great number can be left to guard the
stores. Still, we may be sure that they have kept a watch on our doings
from the edge of the forest, and that the sight of the guns will inspire a
wholesome dread in them. I cannot but think that eight discharges of grape
and langrage will send them to the right-about however strong they may be.
Besides, we have given the men three muskets each, in addition to their
own, from those we found on board the schooner; so if the enemy press on
they will be able to give them a warm reception. And then, even if the
attack is too much for them, they have still a resource, for we have left
an exit in the rear of each battery by which they can retire to the
storehouses. I have instructed them to carry all their muskets back with
them; sixteen men with four muskets apiece could make a very sturdy
defence. As you know, I had the doors repaired and strengthened and
loopholes cut in the walls. Still, I don’t think they will be needed.”
“How much do you think the prize will be worth?” Harman asked.
“I have really no idea, but I am sure that what we have got here and in
the schooner must be worth some thousands of pounds. What we have left
behind must be the contents of about ten vessels, as all we have been able
to take is only a full cargo for one good-sized ship.”