MYSTERIOUS CONSULTATIONS AND PLANS--GASCOYNE ASTONISHES HIS FRIENDS, AND
MAKES AN UNEXPECTED CONFESSION.
"A pretty morning's work I have made of it, mother," said Henry, as he
flung himself into a chair in the cottage parlor, on his return from the
weary and fruitless chase which has just been recorded.
The widow was pale and haggard; but she could not help smiling as she
observed the look of extreme disappointment which rested on the
countenance of her son.
"True, Henry," she replied, busying herself in preparing breakfast, "you
have not been very successful; but you made a noble effort."
"Pshaw! a noble effort, indeed! Why, the man has foiled me in the two
things in which I prided myself most,--wrestling and running. I never
saw such a greyhound in my life."
"He is a giant, my boy; few men could hope to overcome him."
"True, as regards wrestling, mother; I am not much ashamed of having
been beaten by him at that; but running,--that's the sore point. Such a
weight he is, and yet he took the north gully like a wildcat; and you
know, mother, there are only two of us in Sandy Cove who can go over
that gully. Aye, and he went a full yard further than ever I did. I
measured the leap as I came down. Really, it is too bad to have been
beaten so completely by a man who must be nearly double my age. But,
after all, the worst of the whole affair is, that a pirate has escaped
me after I actually had him in my arms!--the villain!"
"You do not _know_ that he is a villain," said the widow in a subdued
tone.
"You are right, mother," said Henry, looking up from the plate of bacon,
to which he had been devoting himself with much assiduity, and gazing
earnestly into his mother's face,--"you are right and, do you know, I
feel inclined to give the fellow the benefit of the doubt; for, to tell
you the truth, I have a sort of liking for him. If it had not been for
the way in which he has treated you, and the suspicious character that
he bears, I do believe I should have made a friend of him."
A look of evident pleasure crossed the widow's face while her son spoke;
but as that son's eyes were once more riveted on the bacon, which his
morning exercise rendered peculiarly attractive, he did not observe it.
Just then the door opened, and Mr. Mason entered. His face wore a
dreadfully anxious expression.
"Ha! I'm glad to see you, Henry," said he; "of course you have not
caught your man. I have been waiting anxiously for you to consult about
our future proceedings. It is quite evident that the pirate schooner
cannot be far off. Gascoyne must either have swam ashore, or been landed
in a boat. In either case the schooner must have been within the reef at
the time, and there has been little wind since the squall blew itself
out yesterday."
"Quite enough, however, to blow such a light craft pretty far out to
sea in a few hours," said Henry, shaking his head.
"No matter," replied Mr. Mason, with a sigh; "_something_ must be done,
at any rate. I have borrowed the carpenter's small cutter, which is now
being put in order for a voyage. Provisions and water for a few days are
already on board, and I have come to ask you to take command of her, as
you know something of navigation. I will go, of course, but will not
take any management of the little craft, as I know nothing about the
working of vessels."
"And where do you mean to go?" asked Henry.
"That remains to be seen. I have some ideas running in my head, of
course; but before letting you know them, I wish to hear what you would
advise."
"I would advise, in the first place, that you should provide one or two
thorough sailors to manage the craft. By the way, that reminds me of
Bumpus. What of him? Where is he? In the midst of all this bustle I have
not had time for much thought; and it has only just occurred to me that
if this schooner is really a pirate, and if Gascoyne turns out to be
Durward, it follows that Bumpus is a pirate too, and ought to be dealt
with accordingly."
"I have thought of that," said Mr. Mason, with a perplexed look, "and
intended to speak to you on the subject; but events have crowded so fast
upon each other of late that it has been driven out of my mind. No
doubt, if the Foam and the Avenger are one and the same vessel, as seems
too evident to leave much room for doubt, then Bumpus is a pirate; for
he does not deny that he was one of the crew. But he acts strangely for
a pirate. He seems as much at his ease amongst us as if he were the most
innocent of men. Moreover, his looks seem to stamp him a thoroughly
honest fellow. But, alas! one cannot depend on looks."
"But where is the man?" asked Henry.
"He is asleep in the small closet off the kitchen," said Mrs. Stuart,
"where he has been lying ever since you returned from the heathen
village. Poor fellow, he sleeps heavily, and looks as if he had been
hurt during all this fighting."
"Hurt! say you?" exclaimed Henry, laughing; "it is a miracle that he is
now alive after the flight he took over the north cliff into the sea."
"Flight!--over the north cliff!" echoed Mrs. Stuart, in surprise.
"Aye, and a fearful plunge he had." Here Henry detailed poor Jo's
misadventure. "And now," said he, when he had finished, "I must lock his
door and keep him in. The settlers have forgotten him in all this
turmoil; but, depend upon it, if they see him they will string him up
for a pirate to the first handy branch of a tree, without giving him the
benefit of a trial; and that would not be desirable."
"Yet you would have shot Gascoyne on mere suspicion, without a thought
of trial or justice," said Mrs. Stuart.
"True, mother; but that was when I was seizing him, and in hot blood,"
said Henry, in a subdued voice. "I was hasty there, no doubt. Lucky for
us both that the pistol missed fire."
The widow looked as if she were about to reply, but checked herself.
"Yes," said Mr. Mason, recurring to the former subject; "as we shall be
away a few days, we must lock Bumpus up to keep him out of harm's way.
Meanwhile--"
The missionary was interrupted here by the sudden opening of the door.
An exclamation of surprise burst from the whole party as they sprang up,
for Gascoyne strode into the room, locked the door, and taking out the
key handed it to Henry, who stood staring at him in speechless
amazement.
"You are surprised to see me appear thus suddenly," said he; "but the
fact is that I came here this morning to fulfil a duty; and although
Master Henry there has hindered me somewhat in carrying out my good
intentions, I do not intend to allow him to frustrate me altogether."
"I do not mean to make a second attempt, Gascoyne, after what has
occurred this morning," said Henry, seating himself doggedly on his
chair. "But it would be as well that you should observe that Mr. Mason
is a stout man, and, as we have seen, can act vigorously when occasion
offers. Remember that we are two to one now."
"There will be no occasion for vigorous action, at least as regards me,
if you will agree to forget your suspicions for a few minutes and listen
to what I have got to say. Meanwhile, in order to show you how
thoroughly in earnest I am, and how regardless of my personal safety, I
render myself defenseless--thus."
Gascoyne pulled a brace of small pistols from their place of concealment
beneath the breast of his shirt, and drawing the knife that hung at his
girdle, hurled them all through the open window into the garden. He then
took a chair, planted it in the middle of the room, and sat down. The
sadness of his deep voice did not change during the remainder of that
interview. The bold look which usually characterized this peculiar man
had given place to a grave expression of humility which was occasionally
varied by a troubled look.
"Before stating what I have come for," said Gascoyne, "I mean to make a
confession. You have been right in your suspicions,--_I am Durward the
pirate!_ Nay, do not shrink from me in that way, Mary. I have kept this
secret from you long, because I feared to lose the old friendship that
has existed between us since we were children. I have deceived you in
_this thing only_. I have taken advantage of your ignorance to make you
suppose that I was merely a smuggler, and that, in consequence of being
an outlaw, it was necessary for me to conceal my name and my movements.
You have kept my secret, Mary, and have tried to win me back to honest
ways; but you little knew the strength of the net I had wrapped around
me. You did not know that I was a pirate!"
Gascoyne paused, and bent his head as if in thought. The widow sat with
clasped hands, gazing at him with a look of despair on her pale face.
But she did not move or speak. The three listeners sat in perfect
silence, until the pirate chose to continue his confession.
"Yes, I have been a pirate," said he; "but I have not been the villain
that men have painted me." He looked steadily in the widow's face as he
said these words deliberately.
"Do not try to palliate your conduct, Gascoyne," said Mr. Mason,
earnestly. "The blackness of your sin is too great to be deepened or
lightened by what men may have said of you. You are a pirate. Every
_pirate is a murderer_."
"_I am not a murderer_," said Gascoyne, slowly, in reply, but still
fixing his gaze on the widow's face, as if he addressed himself solely
to her.
"You may not have committed murder with your own hand," said Mr. Mason,
"but the man who leads on others to commit the crime is a murderer, in
the eye of God's law as well as in that of man."
"I never led on men to commit murder," said Gascoyne, in the same tone,
and with the same steadfast gaze. "This hand is free from the stain of
human blood. Do you believe me, Mary?"
The widow did not answer. She sat like one bereft of all power of speech
or motion.
"I will explain," resumed the pirate captain, drawing a long breath, and
directing his looks to Henry now.
"For reasons which it is not necessary that you should know, I resolved
some years ago to become a pirate. I had been deceived--shamefully
deceived and wronged--by wealthy and powerful men. I had appealed to the
law of my country, and the law refused to right me. No, not the law, but
those who sat on the judgment-seat to pervert the law. It matters not
now; I was driven mad at the time, for the wrong done was not done so
much to me as to those whom I loved. I vowed that I should be avenged.
"I soon found men as mad as myself, who only wanted a leader to guide
them in order to run full swing to destruction. I seized the Foam, of
which schooner I was mate, called her the Avenger, and became a pirate.
No blood was shed when I seized the schooner. Before an opportunity
occurred of trying my hand at this new profession, my anger had cooled.
_I repented_ of what I had done; but I was surrounded by men who were
more bent on mischief than I was. I could not draw back, but I modified
my plan. I determined to become merely a _robber_, and use the proceeds
of my trade to indemnify those to whom injustice had been done. I
thought at the time that there was some justice in this. I called
myself, in jest, a tax-gatherer of the sea. I ordered the men aft one
day, and explained to them my views. I said that I abhorred the name and
the deeds of pirates; that I would only consent to command them if they
agreed never to shed human blood except in fair and open fight.
"They liked the idea. There were men among them who had never heartily
agreed to the seizing of the schooner, and who would have left her if I
would have allowed them; these were much relieved to hear my proposal.
It was fixed that we should _rob_, but not _murder_. Miserable fool that
I was! I thought it was possible to go just so far and no farther into
sin. I did not know at that time the strength of the fearful current
into which I had plunged.
"But we stuck to our principles. We never did commit murder. And as our
appearance was always sufficient to cause the colors of any ship we ever
came across to be hauled down at once, there has been no occasion for
shedding blood, even in fair and open fight. Do you believe me, Mary?"
said Gascoyne, pausing at this point.
The widow was still silent; but a slight inclination of her head
satisfied the pirate, who was about to resume, when Mr. Mason said:
"Gascoyne, do you call warfare in the cause of robbery by the name of
'fair and open fight?'"
"No, I do not. Yet there have been great generals and admirals in this
world who have committed wholesale murder in this same cause, and whose
names stand high on the roll of fame!"
A look of scorn rested on the pirate's face as he said this, but it
passed away quickly.
"You tell me that there were some of the men in the schooner whom you
kept aboard against their will!" said Mr. Mason. "Did it never occur to
you, Gascoyne, that you may have been the murderer of the _souls_ of
these men?"
The pirate made no reply for some time, and the troubled, anxious look
that had more than once crossed his face returned.
"Yes," said he, at length, "I have thought of that. But it is done now,
and cannot be undone. I can do no more now than give myself up to
justice. You see, I have thrown away my arms and stand here defenseless.
But I did not come here to plead for mercy. I came to make to you all
the reparation I can for the wrong I have done you. When that last act
is completed, you may do with me what you please. I deserve to die, and
I care not to live."
"O Gascoyne! speak not thus!" exclaimed the widow, earnestly. "However
much and deeply you have sinned against man, if you have not taken life
you do not deserve to die. Besides, there is a way of pardon open to the
very chief of sinners."
"I know what you mean, Mary, I know what you mean; but--well, well, this
is neither the time nor place to talk of such things. Your little girl,
Mr. Mason, is in the hands of the pirates."
"I know that," said the missionary, wincing as if he had received a deep
wound; "but she is not in _your_ power now."
"More's the pity; she would have been safer with me than with my first
mate, who is the greatest villain afloat on the high seas. He does not
like our milk-and-water style of robbing. He is an out-and-out pirate in
heart, and has long desired to cut my throat. I have to thank him for
being here to-night. Some of the crew who are like himself seized me
while I was asleep, bound and gagged me, put me into a boat, and rowed
me ashore; for we had easily escaped the Talisman in the squall, and,
doubling on our course, came back here. The mate was anxious to clear
off old scores by cutting my throat at once, and pitching me into the
sea. Luckily some of the men, not so bloodthirsty as he, objected to
this; so I was landed and cast loose."
"But what of Alice?" cried Mr. Mason, anxiously. "How can we save her?"
"By taking my advice," answered Gascoyne. "You have a small cutter at
anchor off the creek at the foot of the hill. Put a few trusty men
aboard of her, and I will guide you to the island where the Avenger has
been wont to fly when hard pressed."
"But how do you know that Manton will go there?" inquired Henry,
eagerly.
"Because he is short of powder, and all our stores are concealed there,
besides much of our ill-gotten wealth."
"And how can you expect us to put ourselves so completely in your
power?" said Mr. Mason.
"Because you _must_ do so if you would save your child. She is safe now,
I know, and will be until the Avenger leaves the island where our stores
are concealed. If we do not save her before that happens, _she is lost
to you forever!_"
"That no man can say. She is in the hands of God," cried Mr. Mason,
fervently.
"True, true," said Gascoyne, musing. "But God does not work by
miracles. We must be up and doing at once. I promise you that I shall be
faithful, and that, after the work is done, I will give myself up to
justice."
"May we trust him, mother?" said Henry.
"You may trust him, my son," replied the widow, in a tone of decision
that satisfied Henry, while it called forth a look of gratitude from the
pirate.
The party now proceeded to arrange the details of their plan for the
rescue of Alice and her companions. These were speedily settled, and
Henry rose to go and put them in train. He turned the key of the door,
and was on the point of lifting the latch, when this was done for him by
some one on the outside. He had just time to step back, when the door
flew open, and he stood face to face with Hugh Barnes the cooper.
"Have you heard the news, Henry?--hallo!"
This abrupt exclamation was caused by the sight of Gascoyne, who rose
quietly the moment he heard the door open, and turning his back towards
it, walked slowly into a small apartment that opened off the widow's
parlor, and shut the door.
"I say, Henry, who's that big fellow?" said the cooper, casting a
suspicious glance towards the little room into which he had disappeared.
"He is a _friend_ of mine," replied Mrs. Stuart, rising hastily, and
welcoming her visitor.
"Humph! it's well he's a _friend,_" said the man, as he took a chair; "I
shouldn't like to have him for an enemy."
"But what is the news you were so anxious to tell us?" inquired Henry.
"That Gascoyne, the pirate captain, has been seen on the island by some
of the women, and there's a regular hunt organizing. Will you go with
us?"
"I have more important work to do, Hugh," replied Henry; "besides, I
want you to go with me on a hunt which I'll tell you about if you'll
come with me to the creek."
"By all means. Come along."
Henry and the cooper at once left the cottage. The latter was let into
the secret, and prevailed on to form one of the crew of the Wasp, as the
little cutter was named. In the course of the afternoon everything was
in readiness. Gascoyne waited till the dusk of evening, and then
embarked along with Ole Thorwald; that stout individual having insisted
on being one of the party, despite the remonstrances of Mr. Mason, who
did not like to leave the settlement, even for a brief period, so
completely deprived of all its leading men. But Ole entertained a
suspicion that Gascoyne intended to give them the slip; and having
privately made up his mind to prevent this, he was not to be denied.
The men who formed the crew--twelve in number--were selected from among
those natives and settlers who were known never to have seen the pirate
captain. They were chosen with a view to their fighting qualities; for
Gascoyne and Henry were sufficient for the management of the little
craft. There were no large guns on board, but all the men were well
armed with cutlasses, muskets, and pistols.
Thus equipped, the Wasp stood out to sea with a light breeze, just as
the moon rose on the coral reef and cast a shower of sparkling silver
across the bay.