And now, at the very outset, almost before the ink of their signatures
had fairly dried, a hitch threatened to occur over the matter of
berthing the two new recruits. For, Stukely being entered as surgeon,
Marshall offered him, as a matter of course, a stateroom aft, while
Chichester, being shipped merely as carpenter's mate, was directed to go
forward and establish himself in the house abaft the fore hatch, in
which were lodged the other petty officers. Dick, to do him justice,
was willing enough to accept the lodging assigned to him; but it was
Stukely who objected to being separated from his friend. He insisted
that Dick, being a gentleman, although merely a shipwright's apprentice,
was as much entitled to a cabin aft as he was himself; and when the
unreasonableness of this demand was pointed out to him he proposed that
he also should be permitted to berth forward. But neither could this be
managed, for there was only one spare bunk available in the petty
officers' house, namely that assigned to Chichester; therefore the
Captain's arrangement had perforce to stand, after all.
"Very well," said Stukely, when at last he was convinced that what he
desired was impossible; "let be; you and I, Dick, can at least walk and
talk together when we are off duty. And--listen, lad--in an adventure
such as this is like to be, many changes are both possible and probable;
my advice therefore is that you make friends with Master Bascomb and get
him to instruct you in the science of navigation, so that you may be
fully qualified to act as pilot, should the occasion arise. You will be
no worse a pilot because you happen to be a good shipwright; and your
proper place is aft among the gentles, where I hope to see thee soon."
"That's as may be," answered Dick, with a laugh. "Nevertheless thy
advice is good, and I will take it."
"And I, for my part, will give friend Bascomb a hint that he is to teach
thee all that thou art willing to learn," cut in Marshall. "For the
doctor is right; many changes are like to occur among us before we see
old England's shores again; and I shall be glad to know that I have one
aboard who is fit to take Bascomb's place, should aught untoward befall
him. And now, my masters both, away to your quarters and get a good
night's rest. You, doctor, will of course sleep in all night, and be on
duty all day; but as for you, Chichester, I will put you in a watch
to-morrow morning."
The next day saw the good ship _Adventure_ clear of the Channel; for the
breeze which had interfered so unceremoniously with the fortunes of Dick
and his friend held all through the night and contrary to expectation
increased, at the same time hauling gradually round from the north-east,
to the great joy of the Captain and Bascomb, who at eight o'clock in the
morning shaped a course for the Azores, where it was intended to wood
and water the ship, and lay in a goodly stock of fruit and vegetables to
stave off the scurvy among the crew for as long a time as might be.
The weather continued fine and the wind fair for four days, during which
the ship, with squared yards, made excellent progress; then came a
strong breeze from the westward which drove them nearly a hundred miles
out of their course. This, in its turn, was followed by light winds and
fair weather, with a sun so hot that the pitch began to melt and bubble
out of the deck seams, so that the mariners, who had hitherto been going
about their duty barefoot, were fain to don shoes to save their feet
from being blistered. Finally, after a voyage of twenty-four days, they
came to the Azores, where they remained four days, filling up their
fresh water, replenishing their stock of wood, and taking in a bounteous
supply of vegetables and fruit, especially "limmons"--as Marshall called
them--for the prevention of scurvy.
Then, greatly refreshed by their short sojourn, and by the entire change
of diet which they enjoyed during their stay, they again set sail, and,
making their way to the southward and westward, at length fell in with
that beneficent wind which blows permanently from the north-east, and
which in after-years came to be known as the Trade Wind. With this
blowing steadily behind them day after day, they squared away for the
island of Barbados, where, if there happened to be no Spaniards to
interfere with them, it was Marshall's intention to lay up for a while,
to give his men time to recruit their health, and also to careen the
ship and clear her of weed before beginning his great foray along the
Spanish Main.
And in due time--on the fiftieth day from that on which Dick and Phil
were rescued from the sinking boat, to be precise--with the rising of
the sun a faint blue blur, wedge-shaped, with the sharp edge pointing
toward the south, appeared upon the horizon, straight ahead, and the
joyous shout of "Land ho!" burst from the lips of the man stationed as
lookout upon the lofty forecastle. Yes; there it was; land,
unmistakably, sharp and clear-cut, with a slate-blue cloud--the only
cloud in the sky--hovering over it, from the breast of which vivid
lightning flashed for a space, until, having emptied itself of
electricity, the cloud-pall passed away, leaving the island refreshed by
the shower that had accompanied the storm, gradually to change from soft
blue to a vivid green as the _Adventure_, with widespread pinions,
rushed toward it before the favouring breeze. And with the cry of the
lookout the ship at once awoke to joyous life; the watch below, ay, and
even the sick, sprang from their hammocks and rushed--or crawled, as the
case might be--on deck to feast their eyes once more upon the sight of a
bit of solid earth, green with verdure, and promising all manner of
delights to those who had been pent up for so long between wooden
bulwarks, and whose eyes had for so many weary days gazed upon naught
but sea and sky. It is true that Stukely had never tired of gazing upon
that same sea and sky; with the spirit of the artist that dwelt within
him he had been able to see ever-changing beauty where others had beheld
only monotony; but to the crew at large that wedge of land, growing in
bulk and importance as the ship rushed toward it, was more beautiful
than the most glorious sunset that had ever presented itself to their
wondering eyes.
"What island is that?" demanded Stukely of the master, who was standing
halfway up the poop ladder, gazing at the distant land under the foot of
the foresail.
"It should be Barbados, unless I am a long way out of my reckoning. But
there is no fear of that; besides, I know the look and shape of the
place; I have been there before; and it was just so that it looked when
I got my last glimpse of it. Yes, that is Barbados; and, please God, we
shall all sleep ashore to-night. There is good, safe anchorage round on
the other side of that low point, with a snug creek into which the ship,
with but a little lightening, may be taken and careened. I pray that
there may be no Spaniards there, for there is no better place on God's
good earth for landing and recruiting a scurvy-ridden crew."
"Are there any Indians on the island?" asked Stukely.
"There may be; I cannot say; but I never saw any," answered Bascomb.
"And if there be," he continued, "they are not likely to interfere with
us. Such Indians as I have met have ever been very shy of showing
themselves to the whites, and always keep out of their way, if they can.
That is to say, they do so among the islands. On the Main, where they
have been cruelly ill-treated and enslaved by the Spaniard, they are
very different, being cruel and treacherous, and ever ready to attack
the whites and destroy them with the poisoned darts which they discharge
from blowpipes, and their poisoned arrows. But, have no fear; the
Indians on yonder island--if indeed there be any--will be of a very
different temper, and quite gentle."
"Indeed, then, I pray that they may be," returned Stukely. "For though
we have been marvellously fortunate, thus far, in the matter of
sickness, there are still too many men in the sick bay for my liking;
and we ought to have every one of them sound and fit for duty again
before we go on with our great adventure. But, look now, what comes
yonder? Surely that is a ship's canvas just beginning to show over the
land there near the southern end of the island?"
Bascomb shaded his eyes with his hand and looked toward where Stukely
pointed. The island was by this time about five miles distant, and the
colours of the vegetation were showing up clearly in the brilliant light
of the tropic day. But beyond it again, and showing over the tree-tops,
there was a faint grey film that was evidently moving, sliding along, as
it were, toward the low point. Even as they looked the filmy grey
object suddenly became a strong white and assumed a definite form as it
emerged from the shadow of a cloud, revealing itself as the upper canvas
of a large ship which had either just got under way from the anchorage
on the lee side of the point, or--and this seemed to be the more likely
of the two--was working up to windward in the smooth water, having
sighted the island on her way to the eastward.
"Iss, sure," agreed Bascomb, relapsing into the Devonshire dialect in
his excitement; "that's a ship, sure enough, moreover a Spaniard at
that, most likely; and, if so, we shall have a fight on our hands afore
long. Do 'e see thicky ship t'other side of the island, yonder, Cap'n
Marshall?" he continued, addressing himself to the Captain, who was on
the poop, conversing earnestly with Messrs. Dyer and Harvey, his
partners in the adventure.
"Ship, sayest thou? Where then?" demanded Marshall, breaking off his
conversation and running forward to the head of the poop ladder.
"Why, there a be, with the sails o' mun just showing over the low
point," answered the master. "She'll be clear of the land in another
minute or two; and then they'll see us as clearly as we see them. She's
a Spaniard, to my thinking, Cap'n; and there may be fine pickings aboard
of her--if her don't turn and run so soon's she sees us."
"She'll not do that, Master Bascomb; she be a bigger ship nor we.
Besides, how's she to know we baint a Spaniard like herself, if we don't
tell her. We'll clear the decks and make all ready before we show our
flag, gentles; and see what comes of it. Let the mariners get to work
at once, Mr Bascomb."
The excitement aroused by the appearance of land on the horizon, after
so many weary weeks of gazing upon sea and sky only, was intensified
tenfold when the strange sail--the first they had seen since leaving the
Azores--was discovered; and when it was further understood that the
chances were in favour of her proving to be a Spaniard, the preparations
for a possible fight were entered upon with the utmost eagerness and
alacrity. Fortunately, there was not very much that needed to be done;
for Marshall, rendered wise by past experience, had consistently made a
point of always having the decks kept clear of unnecessary lumber of
every kind; but the bulwarks were strengthened and raised, for the
purpose of affording the crew as much protection as possible from the
enemy's musketry fire; the lower yards were fitted with chain slings, so
that the risk of their being shot away, and the ship thus disabled at a
critical moment, might be minimised as much as possible; parties of
musketrymen were sent aloft into the round tops, with instructions to
hamper the enemy as much as possible by their fire, especially by
picking off the helmsman and the officers; the powder room was opened,
and ammunition sent on deck for the culverins, sakers, and swivels, all
of which were loaded; and the men, having armed themselves with cutlass,
pistol, bow, and pike, stripped to their waists, bound handkerchiefs
round their heads, and took up their several stations by the guns, or at
the halliards and sheets. Marshall took command of the ship as a whole;
while Lumley and Winter, his lieutenants, assumed charge of the poop and
forecastle respectively, Bascomb, the master, taking charge of the main
deck. Stukely, with his knives, saws, and bandages, established himself
in the cockpit; and Dick Chichester, who had contrived to gain the
reputation of being the best helmsman in the ship, was ordered to the
tiller.
Meanwhile, the strange ship, having cleared the land, revealed herself
as a craft of probably quite a hundred tons bigger than the _Adventure_,
and carrying four more pieces of great ordnance than the latter. But
this fact by no means dismayed the English; for the stranger was what
was called a race ship, and was nearly twice as long as the _Adventure_;
Marshall therefore confidently reckoned that, should the two vessels
come to blows, the superior nimbleness of his own ship would more than
counterbalance the advantage conferred upon the other by her greater
weight of metal. The stranger, when she cleared the land, was
close-hauled on the larboard tack, heading about south-south-east, and
it was judged, from her position relative to the land, that she had not
actually touched at the island, but had simply availed herself of its
presence to gain a few miles by turning to windward in the smooth water
under its lee. The discovery of the presence of the English ship did
not appear to have caused any uneasiness to her commander, for he did
not deviate a hairbreadth from his course, but stood on, maintaining his
luff, the only indication that he had observed the _Adventure_ at all
being the display of the yellow flag of Spain, which he had hoisted to
the head of his ensign staff within five minutes of the time when he
cleared the island. Probably he imagined that the _Adventure_ was also
Spanish.
The English, on their part, took no notice of the stranger, except by
gradually edging down toward her, until their preparations for battle
were complete; then indeed they hoisted the white flag bearing the
crimson cross of Saint George, and hauled their wind sufficiently to
enable them to intercept the Spaniard. At this invitation to battle
symptoms of alarm and indecision began to manifest themselves on board
the latter, for she first put up her helm and kept away, as though about
to turn tail and run, but presently came to the wind again and tacked,
heading now to the northward.
"Over with the helm, and steer for the northern end of the island,"
cried Marshall to Dick; "that ought to enable us to intercept him.
Thank God, he means to fight instead of running, and the matter will the
sooner be settled. Look to that, now; he is stripping for battle, for
in comes all his light canvas, and up goes his mainsail. The man who
commands that ship is a right valiant cavalier, and will put up a good
fight; therefore, let no man put match to culverin or finger to trigger
until I give the word. Now, let the waits play up `The brave men of
Devon!'"
Therewith the waits, five in number, stationed on the main deck, between
the poop and the mainmast, struck up that favourite and inspiring air
with such good effect that before two minutes had passed every man and
boy in the ship was singing the song at the top of his voice, and
feeling quite ready to fight all the Spaniards who might care to come
against them.
A quarter of an hour later the two ships had closed to within musket
shot of each other, the _Adventure_ having the weather gage, when crash
came the whole of the Spaniard's broadside, great guns and small; but so
bad was the aim that every shot flew high overhead, and not so much as a
rope was touched.
"Good!" ejaculated Marshall. "Now, steersman, up with your helm, and
shave past as close under his stern as you can without touching.
Starboard gunners, be ready to pour your shot into his stern as we pass!
Musketrymen and archers, pick off as many men as you can see, and
especially the helmsman! Sail trimmers, to your stations, and be ready
to go about!"
Two minutes later the _Adventure_ slid square athwart the towering,
gilt-bedizened stern of the Spaniard, and one after another, as they
were brought to bear, her ordnance belched forth their charges of round
and canister, smashing the Spanish gingerbread work to splinters,
shivering every pane of glass in the stern windows, and sweeping the
decks of the stranger from end to end, the deadly nature of the
discharge being evidenced by the outburst of shrieks which instantly
followed aboard the stranger.
"Well done, gallants!" cried Marshall, waving his sword. "Now, ready
about, and larboard gunners stand by to repeat the dose. Down helm,
steersman, and let her come round! Raise fore tack and sheet! Ha! she
is falling off, and means to give us her larboard broadside while we are
in stays--if she can. Topmen, do your best, now, and pick me off her
helmsman before it is too late. Well done!"--as the Spaniard began to
come ponderously to the wind again, showing that her helmsman was
down--"Let the man who did that come to me by and by, and he shall have
a noble for that good shot. Swing the mainyard! Musketrymen, clear the
enemy's tops of archers, and shoot down any that may attempt to take
their places! Trim aft the head sheets! Swing the foreyard! Starboard
gunners, reload your ordnance! We will try that trick again if they
will but give us the chance. Now, larboard gunners, be ready, and let
her have it as we pass!"
A minute later, and the _Adventure's_ broadside again crashed into the
Spaniard's stern; and again uprose the hideous answering outburst of
shrieks and yells on board the latter as the English ship, with her
sails clean full, slid square across her antagonist's stern, the only
reply to her broadside being four shot discharged from the enemy's stern
ports, not one of which did a groat's worth of damage.
A tall figure completely encased in armour sprang up on the Spanish
ship's poop rail and, shaking his naked sword at Marshall, shouted in
Spanish:
"You are a coward, senor Englishman! Why do you not fight fair,
broadside to broadside, instead of sheltering yourself under my stern,
where my shot cannot reach you?"
"Because, senor, I do not happen to be a fool," retorted Marshall in the
same language. "But neither am I a coward," he continued, "as I will
prove to you within the next five minutes, if you will do me the honour
to meet me on your own deck, whither I intend to come without further
ado."
"I shall be most happy, senor," was the reply; and down jumped the
Spaniard in a hurry, to issue certain orders apparently, for his voice,
hollow in his helmet, was heard pealing out in a tone of command as the
two ships drew apart.
"Larboard gunners, load your pieces again," commanded Marshall, "and
level them so as to take her on the main deck while we are in stays.
Luff, helmsman, all you can; I want to get far enough to windward to be
able to run down and lay her aboard on the next tack. Boarders, see to
the priming of your pistols, and be ready to follow me presently. Now,
ready about again, men! Down helm!"
As the _Adventure_ hove in stays both ships fired their broadsides
simultaneously, one of the English shot entering a port and dismounting
a gun, while the rest struck fair in the wake of the deck and went clean
through the Spaniard's side, as could clearly be seen; while the
Spaniard's shot, as usual, flew overhead, again by great good luck
missing everything.
"Now, up helm, steersman, and lay us aboard!" commanded Marshall. "Be
ready, men, to throw your grapnels the moment that we touch; and
boarders, stand by to follow me into the enemy's main chains!"
As the two ships closed in toward each other for the final grip which
was to decide the matter, the Spaniard holding her luff while the
English ship bore up and ran down with the wind free, the archers and
musketeers on both sides became busy, the Spaniards having a slight
advantage because of the superior height of their ship, although this
was more than counterbalanced by the greater quickness and accuracy of
aim on the part of the English, who shot as coolly as though they had
been practising at the butts, and seldom failed to hit their mark.
Nevertheless, several Englishmen went down during the ensuing five
minutes, and were carried below to Stukely, who now began to find
himself surrounded by quite as many patients as he could conveniently
attend to. Then the two ships crashed together, the grapnels were
thrown, and Marshall, followed by every man whose legs could carry him
and whose hands could wield a weapon, sprang into the Spaniard's main
rigging, leaving the _Adventure_ to take care of herself.
It was a rash thing to do, perhaps; but it succeeded; for the Spaniards
were too busily engaged in endeavouring to keep the enemy out of their
own ship to think of boarding the other. And most desperate was the
fight that ensued, the English being fully determined to force their way
aboard the Spaniard, while the Spanish were as fully determined that
they should not. The air became thick with flying arrows, and with the
smoke of grenades and stinkpots flung down upon the boarders out of the
enemy's tops; while swords and pikes flashed in the sun, pistols popped,
and men shouted and execrated as they cut and slashed at each other; and
the glorious tropic morning was filled with the sounds of deadly strife.
Dick Chichester--to let the reader into a secret--had, upon the first
appearance of the Spanish ship, been greatly exercised in his mind lest
he should fail in courage when the two ships came to blows; but with the
discharge of the first shot the queer agitated feeling which he had
mistaken for fear completely passed away, and was instantly forgotten;
and now, his services being no longer required at the helm, he armed
himself with a handspike snatched from the deck, and, watching his
opportunity, flung himself from the _Adventure's_ poop into the enemy's
mizzen chains, climbing thence to the Spaniard's poop, where was no one
to oppose him. From thence he made his way down to the main deck, where
were gathered all the crew in one spot, crowding together to resist the
attack of the English; and upon the rear of these he flung himself with
indescribable fury, whirling the terrible handspike with such
destructive effect that the astounded Spaniards, thus taken unexpectedly
in the rear, went down like ninepins, while their yells of anguish and
dismay quickly threw the entire crew into complete disorder. So
violent, indeed, was the commotion that the attention of the Spaniards
was momentarily distracted from what may be termed the frontal attack,
and of this distraction Marshall instantly availed himself to dash in on
deck, where, with a few sweeps of his sword, he soon cleared standing
room, not only for himself but also for half a dozen of his immediate
followers. These in turn cleared the way for others, and thus in the
course of a couple of breathless minutes every man of the _Adventure's_
crew had gained the deck of the Spaniard, after which the capture of the
ship was a foregone conclusion. The rush of Marshall and his party on
the one hand, and the onslaught of Dick Chichester with his whirling
handspike on the other so utterly distracted and demoralised the
Spaniards that they presently broke and fled, flinging away their
weapons, and crying out that their foes were a crew of demons who had
assumed for the nonce the outward semblance of Englishmen! The hatches
were promptly clapped on over the fugitive Spaniards, then Marshall and
his followers paused to recover their breath and look about them.
The first thing to claim their attention was the ships themselves.
These, being lashed together by means of the grapnels, were grinding and
rasping each other's sides so alarmingly, as they rolled and plunged in
the sea that was running, that they had already inflicted upon each
other an appreciable amount of damage, and threatened to do a great deal
more if prompt preventive measures were not taken. Marshall therefore
called upon Winter, one of his lieutenants, to take a party of twenty
men, and with them return to the _Adventure_, cast her adrift from the
prize, and lie off within easy hailing-distance of the latter. This was
done at once, Dick Chichester being one of those called upon by Winter
to follow him aboard the _Adventure_, and as soon as the two ships were
parted an investigation was made into the extent of the damage incurred
by each ship. The result of this investigation was the discovery that
the _Adventure_ was much the greater sufferer of the two, her larboard
main channel piece having been wrenched off, and the seams in the
immediate neighbourhood opened, while three of the channel plates were
broken, thus leaving the mainmast almost entirely unsupported on the
larboard side. Water was entering the ship in quite appreciable
quantities through the opened seams, and the men were therefore at once
sent to the pumps to keep the leak from gaining, while the carpenter and
Dick went below to see what could be done toward stopping it.
Meanwhile Marshall, assisted by his co-adventurers Dyer and Harvey,
proceeded to overhaul the prize systematically, with the view of
determining her value. The first fact ascertained was that the ship was
named the _Santa Clara_; the second, that she hailed from Cadiz, in Old
Spain; and the third, that she was homeward-bound from Cartagena, from
which port she was twenty-two days out. Her cargo, although valuable
enough in its way, was not of such a character as to tempt the English
to go to the labour of transferring any portion of it to their own
vessel. But, apart from the cargo proper, she was taking home ten
chests of silver ingots, two chests of bar gold, and a casket of pearls,
all of which were quickly transhipped to the _Adventure_, the crew of
which thus found themselves the possessors of a fairly rich booty, while
still upon the very threshold, as it were, of those seas wherein they
hoped to make their fortune. But this was not all; for, in the process
of rummaging the captain's cabin, Marshall found certain letters which
he unhesitatingly opened and read, and among these was a communication
from the governor of Cartagena advising the home authorities of the
impending dispatch of a rich plate ship for Cadiz. The probable date of
dispatch was given as three months after the departure of the _Santa
Clara_, or about ten weeks from the date of that vessel's capture by the
English. That letter Marshall thrust into his pocket, together with
certain other documents which he thought might possibly prove of value;
then, summoning the unhappy Spanish captain to his presence, he informed
him that the English having now helped themselves to all that they
required, he was at liberty to proceed upon his voyage; and this
Marshall recommended him to do with all diligence and alacrity, lest
peradventure he should fall into the hands of certain other British
buccaneers, at the existence of whom the Englishman darkly hinted,
hoping thus to nip in the bud any plan which the Spaniard might have
formed for a return to Cartagena with a report of the presence of
English corsairs in the Caribbean Sea. The two ships then parted
company, the _Santa Clara_ steering northward close-hauled against the
trade wind, while the _Adventure_ bore up for Barbados, shaping a course
to pass round its southern extremity. Two hours later the English ship
was riding snugly at anchor in what is now known as Carlisle Bay, in
five fathoms of water, within four hundred feet of the beach, and the
same distance from the mouth of a small river, within which, as Bascomb
explained, lay the creek which he had fixed upon in his mind as a
suitable spot wherein to careen the ship.