The morning was passed strenuously by the English in preparing both the
_Adventure_ and her prize for the grim business of bombarding Cartagena,
if need were; the hope in every man's heart being that the spectacle of
the preparations--which was clearly visible from the water front of the
town--would have the effect of breaking down the stubborn wills of the
Spaniards, and constraining them to surrender their prisoner. For up to
this moment there had never been any real doubt in the mind of any one
of the Englishmen that Marshall had been discovered and made a prisoner;
and they were steadfastly resolved to secure his freedom, let the cost
be what it would.
After carefully considering and discussing the matter together, Bascomb
and Winter arrived at the conclusion that it would be possible to effect
such a division of the crew as would enable both ships to employ the
whole of their heaviest ordnance against the town; and this was
accordingly done, the _Adventure_ being afterward moved to a berth
astern of the galleon, so that neither ship should obstruct the fire of
the other.
It wanted about a quarter of an hour of noon, and the preparations
aboard both ships were complete, when the boat which had visited them in
the morning was observed to be putting out again from the wharf and
pulling toward the _Adventure_; but it was soon perceived that on this
occasion she carried only one figure, which was presently seen to be
that of the interpreter.
"The Captain is not there!" exclaimed Bascomb, when this was recognised.
"Now, what a plague do they mean by sending off the boat without him?
Are they going to beg for more time, I wonder? And, if so, why? For I
will never believe but that they know where he is, but are determined to
exhaust every artifice and subterfuge in the endeavour to avoid giving
him up!"
The others said nothing, for what was the use of hazarding conjecture
when they would soon know for certain? So they held their tongues and
watched the approach of the boat with gloomy, louring glances. They
were disappointed, and in a savage, dangerous mood, ready to plunge at a
word into any desperate enterprise.
The boat ranged up alongside, and the oarsmen rested upon their oars as
before.
"Hallo! the boat ahoy!" hailed Bascomb. "What does this mean, senor?
Why have you not brought off our Captain? Are the people ashore aware
that within five minutes the bombardment of the town will begin?"
"Alas! yes, most illustrious senors," answered the interpreter, "unless
I should prove fortunate enough to be successful in the mission that has
been entrusted to me--that of pleading with your excellencies for a
further extension of time."
"Upon what grounds, senor?" demanded Bascomb. "I have already granted
an extension of six hours--without result, it would appear. Why should
I grant another moment?"
"Because, Excellency, it is now believed that a clue to the whereabouts
of your Capitan has at last been found, and it is hoped that in the
course of another hour or two his freedom may be obtained," answered the
interpreter.
"Ah!" returned Bascomb, with a sigh of relief. "So our Captain has been
found at last, has he? And where is he thought to be?"
"In the Inquisition, senor," answered the interpreter.
"The Inquisition!" interrupted Bascomb. "Odds bodikins! didn't I say
so? And how long has he been there, friend?"
"If the clue which has been obtained proves to be a true one, your
Capitan will have been there close upon four days," was the reply. "The
man whom we believe to be he was noticed in a small posada four evenings
ago, and the landlord of the house is of opinion that someone must have
suspected and informed upon him, for during the evening four familiars
of the Inquisition called at the house and, in spite of his violent
resistance, took him and carried him away."
"They did, did they?" retorted Bascomb. "If I can lay my hand upon
those four familiars I'll make them wish their hands had withered rather
than that they had laid them upon an Englishman! But there seems to be
a good deal of uncertainty even now about this story of yours, senor
interpreter, and I think our best plan will be to take up and
investigate the matter ourselves. What say you, gentles? Four days!
Why, they will have had time to maim the man for life in those four
days! But if they have--! Well, what say ye, my masters; shall us take
a strong party of men, go ashore, make our way to their Inquisition, and
see for ourselves whether or not Captain Marshall is there? And if he
is there, and they have mis-used him, we shall be able to take vengeance
upon the evildoers themselves instead of punishing a lot of innocent men
and women by knocking their homes about their ears."
"I say that we ought to do as you propose, without a moment's
unnecessary delay," replied Winter. "And I, too," answered each of the
others present.
"Then it shall be done," answered Bascomb, determinedly. "My proposal,
Mr Winter, is that we make equal division of our force; one-half under
my leadership to go ashore and look for our Captain, while the other
half under you remains aboard the _Adventure_ to take care of her and
the prize. Is that agreeable to your worship?"
"Yes," answered Winter; "it is as good a plan as we are like to devise,
even though we were to cogitate for the rest of the day. It is true
that I would have preferred to lead the landing-party, since if aught
should happen to you we shall be left without a navigator."
"Nay, that you need not be," answered Bascomb, "for I will leave young
Chichester with you, and he can be your navigator; he has been an apt
pupil, and now knows as much about navigation as I do, so that
difficulty is soon overcome. Hallo! the boat ahoy!" he continued,
directing his conversation once more to the interpreter; "come aboard,
senor, will you? We shall require your services anon."
"Have I your word, most illustrious, that no evil shall befall me if I
put myself into your hands?" asked the man.
"You have," answered Bascomb. "You may trust yourself to us without
fear; indeed you are like to be a great deal more safe with us than
elsewhere during the next few hours."
"It is enough," returned the interpreter, and signed to the boatmen to
put him alongside, climbing to the deck and stepping in through the
gangway without fear when they had done so.
"Now then, Senor Pacheco," said Bascomb, when the Spaniard, peering
about him curiously, had joined the party on the poop; "I am about to
land a party and march it to the Inquisition, in order that I may
ascertain for myself whether or not our Captain is within its walls.
Whereabout is the place? Can it be seen from here?"
"Nay, most illustrious, it cannot, for it lies at the back, or northern
extremity, of the western half of the town," answered Pacheco. "It lies
in the direction of the western tower of the cathedral, but far beyond
it."
"Um-m!" commented Bascomb; "then, after all, there would not have been
much chance of reaching it with our guns. Is it a strong place? Shall
we find it very difficult to force our way in?"
"I have never been inside--the saints be praised--so cannot tell you
very much about it," answered Pacheco. "So far as the building itself
is concerned, it is a strong place, being built entirely of stone, with
high walls, which are said to be nowhere less than three feet thick.
But the main entrance is guarded only by a pair of oaken doors--massive,
no doubt, but probably fastened only with bolts of ordinary strength;
for who would ever dream of attempting to break into the Inquisition?
Heaven forgive me for affording information to these heretical English,"
he muttered under his breath in his native tongue; "but, indeed, if in
their fury they should tear the place down, I for one should not be
sorry!"
"Are there many troops in the town?" demanded Bascomb.
"About a hundred, illustrious senor," answered Pacheco. "Five hundred
are on their way down from the interior, it having been intended to send
them home in the galleon, but I have not heard that they have yet
arrived."
"If they had arrived, do you think you would have heard of it?" demanded
Bascomb.
"I might, senor; but, on the other hand, I might not," answered Pacheco.
"If they had arrived and marched into the town openly, doubtless I and
every other inhabitant of Cartagena would have been aware of the fact.
But, senor, your question has given rise to a doubt in my mind, and I am
now wondering whether, in view of your presence in the harbour and your
threat to bombard the town, his Excellency the Governor may not have
taken steps to have the expected troops intercepted and introduced into
the town secretly during the dead of night. If you were to ask my
advice, senor, I should recommend you not to trust overmuch to the fact
that I have heard nothing of the arrival of those soldiers."
"See here, sirrah!" ejaculated Bascomb, suddenly rounding upon the man,
"you are extraordinarily free and glib with your information. Now, are
you a traitor to your own people, or is your information false and
intended to mislead us?"
"Neither, senor, on my honour as a Spaniard," answered Pacheco. "The
fact is," he continued in explanation, "that I have seen much of the
English during my business as a seafarer, and have learned to like them,
in spite of their overbearing ways and the fact that they are heretics.
Moreover, senor, you are about to attack the Inquisition, and good
Catholic though I am, it would not grieve me were you to take it and
give it to the flames, for I like it not, and that's the truth, the
saints forgive me!"
"Now, gentles," said Bascomb, "you have heard what Senor Pacheco has
said about the troops, and if it be truth--as I doubt not it is--it
behoves us to be careful how we thrust our noses into that city of
Cartagena yonder. Yet go I must, and will; for it is not to be thought
of that our Captain may be in their accursed Inquisition, perhaps
suffering torments unimaginable, and we doing nothing to help him.
Therefore, in view of the possibility of those troops having arrived,
and having been secreted somewhere in the town, I think we must modify
our plans a little, to the extent, that is to say, of making the
landing-party as strong as we can at the expense of the party remaining
behind. Now, Mr Winter, what is the smallest number of men that you
would care to be left with?"
"If I am to defend the ship successfully in the event of a possible
attack," said Winter, "I must have at least twenty men. I cannot do
with less. Leave me twenty, and you may take all the rest, even
including young Chichester, who is like to be a great deal more useful
ashore than he would be with me."
"Very well," agreed Bascomb, "twenty be it; you can scarce do with less,
for it is more than likely that, while we are busy ashore, they will
endeavour to recover possession of the treasure. And now, Senor
Pacheco, we shall need you as guide to show us the shortest way to the
Inquisition. Art willing to do us that service?"
"I am, most illustrious," answered Pacheco; "but, with your favour,
senor, it must be under at least seeming compulsion, for if it were
known that I did such a thing save under the fear of instant death, I
should never again be able to show my face in Cartagena. Therefore,
most valiant Englishman, if I am to lead you, it must be with my hands
bound and a pistol held to my head."
"Very well," answered Bascomb. "We will manage that for thee, old
sea-horse, as natural as life, so that nobody seeing thee being driven
along at the head of us shall guess but that thou'rt quaking in thy
shoes at every step thou takest. Take charge of him, Dick; he is to be
thy prisoner, remember. Bind his hands behind him so firmly that he
cannot get away, and just tightly enough to leave a mark. Put a halter
round his neck, and hold the end of it in thy hand, and threaten him
with thy drawn pistol at every street corner. And now, gentles, to our
preparations. Every man of the shore party shall go armed with hanger
on hip, a pair of loaded pistols in his belt, a good bow in his hand,
and a quiver full of arrows slung over his shoulder. We muster on the
main deck twenty minutes hence, and the pinnace, with the interpreter's
boat, ought to be sufficient to carry us all from the ship to the
wharf."
The first half-dozen men who were ready slid down the ship's side into
the interpreter's boat so swiftly and silently that they took her
astonished crew completely by surprise, and held them in subjection
until the rest were ready; then Senor Pacheco, slung in a noose, was
lowered down the ship's side, and roughly ordered into the stern-sheets
by Dick, who followed him there and kept him in apparent awe with a
drawn pistol. Within the twenty minutes all were ready and embarked in
the two boats--the pinnace having been lowered in the interim, when they
pushed off from the _Adventure_, the attenuated crew of which bade them
Godspeed with a hearty cheer--and headed up the harbour toward the
north-western half of the town.
The distance which they had to pull, in order to reach the wharf
indicated by Pacheco, was about three-quarters of a mile, and as they
neared the landing-place they perceived that a good many people had
gathered, and were watching them curiously; but of soldiers there was
not one to be seen, which Bascomb confessed he regarded as rather a bad
sign, as the absence of any visible inclination to resist their landing
seemed to him to point to the preparation of a trap somewhere on the
road. He asked Pacheco what he thought about it.
"God forgive me! I know not what to think, most illustrious," answered
that worthy. "But I like it not, for I think with you that the Governor
would never permit you to land unresisted, had he not prepared a warm
reception for you at some point where you will be at even greater
disadvantage than you would be on the wharf. And yet I do not know how
that could be either, for he has had no means of learning your
destination, so how could he know where to set his trap? But, lest he
should have guessed, I will lead you by the less direct way, for there
are two roads by which it is possible to reach the Inquisition."
As the boats ranged up alongside the wharf, and the Englishmen mounted
and formed up on the quay, the mob, which consisted of about two hundred
wharf labourers, with a small sprinkling of half-breed women and fifty
or sixty boys, gave back sullenly and scowlingly with a few low-muttered
threats and an occasional hissing gibe of _hereticos_! But there was no
attempt at violence except when some half-dozen boys began to throw
stones. But the stringing of the Englishmen's bows, and the fitting of
a few arrows to the strings, sent the mischievous young urchins to the
right-about in double-quick time, and within a minute the landing had
been accomplished and the march begun.
Pacheco, with his hands lashed behind him and a halter round his neck,
the end of which was in Dick's hand, led the way, marching between
Chichester and Stukely, the latter having come ashore in Bascomb's boat,
bringing his case of instruments and a pocket case of drugs with him.
The road lay, for a short distance, along the water front, and they had
not been marching two minutes before they came to a wide and busy street
which seemed to run right through the very heart of the town to its
farther end.
"That," remarked Pacheco, "is the direct road to the Inquisition, and it
is for your excellencies to decide whether you will choose it, or
whether you will go on and take the longer and narrower road to the same
place."
"Which road do you recommend, senor?" demanded Bascomb.
"Nay, most illustrious, it is not for me to recommend either," answered
the Spaniard; "the responsibility is far too great for me--for if
disaster were to overtake you after you had accepted my advice, I should
be blamed for it. I can only repeat what I have already said, that this
is the direct road to the Inquisition, and the road which the
authorities will naturally expect you to take if they have any suspicion
as to your destination."
"Then in that case," decided Bascomb, "we will take the other one.
Forward!"
The march was thereupon resumed, the little band of Englishmen being
followed, at a respectful distance, by a rapidly increasing mob which
seemed, from its appearance, to be composed of all the ruffians and
cut-throats of the city. But they did not offer to molest the invaders,
beyond occasionally shouting insulting epithets at them, of which the
English took no notice. The mob seemed simply to follow out of
curiosity, and possibly with the hope of witnessing some interesting
developments later on.
A quarter of a mile farther on they came to another street, not nearly
so wide as the first--a street of lofty, more or less dilapidated
houses, with narrow, cage-like balconies before the upstairs windows,
and small cellars of shops on the ground floor. The street was paved
with rough cobble stones, and sloped from each side toward the centre,
through which ran a kennel or gutter encumbered with garbage and filth
of every description, through which a foul stream of evil-smelling water
wound its devious way. The street had apparently at one time been one
of some pretensions, but had now fallen upon evil days and become the
abode of a number of petty tradesmen, such as cobblers, sellers of fruit
and cheap drinks, dealers in second-hand goods of every description, and
riffraff generally. It swarmed with dirty, slatternly women, still
dirtier half-naked children, lean and hungry-looking dogs, and lazy,
hulking men with brass ear-rings in their ears, the rags of tawdry
finery upon their bodies, and their sashes perfect batteries of
murderous-looking knives. They were a villainous, scowling,
criminal-looking lot of ruffians without exception, and low murmurs of
anger and astonishment, not unmingled with dismay, passed from one to
another when the English suddenly wheeled into the street.
They gradually seemed to acquire courage, however, as they noted the
small number of the intruders, and the fact that the latter took no
notice of them, and presently, when the mob which had followed the
English from the wharf swung into the street and began to explain in
response to the questions with which they were eagerly plied, many of
the tenants and frequenters of the Calle de Santa Catalina joined the
procession, which by this time numbered some three or four hundred and
completely blocked up the narrow street in the rear of the English. It
was becoming an ugly, dangerous-looking crowd, too, the kind of mob
whose courage grows with the consciousness of increasing superiority in
numbers, and it now began to flaunt its fearlessness before its admiring
women folk by joining vociferously in the insulting epithets which were
now being raucously yelled after the little band of strangers. The
situation was becoming distinctly threatening, and Bascomb quietly
dropped to the rear, for it was in that direction that trouble seemed to
loom largest.
He had just joined the rearmost file when one boastful ruffian, egged on
by the rest, suddenly ran out in front of the crowd and whipping a long,
murderous-looking knife from his sash, hurled it with deadly aim at him.
Luckily for the master, he caught the movement out of the corner of his
eye, and wheeled round just in time to parry the flying missile with the
blade of his sword.
"Halt!" he cried, "and extend yourselves across the street, facing
outward!" And at the same instant he whipped a pistol from his belt,
levelled it, and fired at the aggressor, who flung up his hands and,
with a shriek, fell prostrate in the gutter, with the blood rapidly
dyeing purple the dirty white of his shirt. A howl of execration and
dismay from the Spaniards immediately followed this act of retaliation,
knives were whipped from their sheaths, and for an instant it looked as
though the mob were about to charge; but the business-like promptitude
with which the English fitted their arrows to their bows, and drew the
latter, quelled the courage of their assailants for the moment, who
contented themselves by yelling execrations as they lifted the injured
man and carried him into the nearest house. Then, satisfied with the
effect of their demonstration, the English resumed their march; but the
mob continued to hang tenaciously upon their skirts, like a pack of
hungry wolves, and it became every moment increasingly evident that it
would need but a little encouragement to induce them to attack in deadly
earnest.
In this fashion the English proceeded for nearly half a mile when they
perceived what appeared to be a square opening out before them; and a
moment later, as they debouched into it, they saw that this square was
full of soldiers, both cavalry and infantry.
"Back for your lives into the street; you will stand a better chance
there!" yelled Stukely, halting and facing the little band who followed
him. But it was too late; the street behind them had in some
unaccountable fashion also filled with soldiers, and the retreat of the
English was cut off. They were trapped as neatly and effectually as
their enemies could possibly have desired.
"Did you know anything of this?" demanded Dick of the man who had led
them thus far.
"On my soul, no, senor, as I hope for salvation!" fervently answered
Pacheco, looking fearlessly into Chichester's eyes.
"I believe you," returned Dick, releasing his grasp upon the halter
round the Spaniard's neck. "Go, and save yourself while it is possible.
One of your own countrymen will doubtless free your hands; I have no
time to do it. Go!"
"My thanks, senor; and may the Blessed Mother and the saints protect
you!" And, bending forward, he went at a run, with his hands still
bound behind him, toward the soldiers, who, seeing that he was an
apparently escaped prisoner, opened out and allowed him to pass through
their ranks.
At this moment an officer wearing a full suit of plate armour, and
mounted on horseback, advanced, and, lifting the visor of his helmet,
demanded, in fairly good English:
"Where is the officer in command of this force?"
"Here," answered Bascomb, pushing his way to the front.
The Spaniard bowed. Then, indicating with a wave of his hand the troops
present, which must have numbered some eight hundred at least, he said
with a smile:
"Senor, do you need any further argument than these to convince you of
the desirability of surrendering at discretion?"
"_A buena querra_?" demanded Bascomb, who had picked up a phrase or two
of Spanish during his conversations with Marshall.
"Certainly, senor, if, as I presume to be the case, you hold a
commission from your queen."
"I hold no such commission, senor," answered Bascomb, who began to
realise that he and his followers were in a very tight place.
"You hold no such commission, eh? Then, is one to assume that you are
merely a band of ordinary, commonplace pirates, eh?" demanded the
officer.
"You are at liberty to assume what you please," retorted Bascomb. "I
repeat that I hold no commission, no authority save that which is
conferred by my own sword. And I surrender _a buena querra_, or not at
all."
"You surrender at discretion, or not at all, senor pirate. Which is it
to be?" was the rejoinder.
"Not at all, then," answered Bascomb. "We will fight to the death,
rather than surrender to perish in your hellish Inquisition!"
The Spaniard bowed, closed the visor of his helmet, and reined his horse
back very slowly until he had returned to his place at the head of the
regiment of cavalry which he commanded; while Bascomb, turning to his
followers, shouted:
"Now, dogs of Devon, show these cowardly Spaniards a bit of your
quality. Look to the troops, horse and foot, that they've brought
against us, eight hundred of 'em to our forty; that's just twenty to
one, twenty soldiers that each man of us must kill before we can get
back to the ship. For that's where we're going; we can't take the town
with all these soldiers against us. But let us get back to the ship and
we'll tell 'em another story; all their soldiers and twice as many again
won't save 'em from the heavy ordnance of the galleon and the
_Adventure_; and half an hour's bombardment will make 'em glad enough to
come to terms wi' us. Now, the one half of you charge back along, down
the street; the other half will follow, retiring backward and facing the
enemy. Now, have at 'em, my hearts, for here they come! Clear the way
with your arrows first; and then give 'em the cold steel!"
While Bascomb had been delivering his pithy address, the officer in
armour had also been haranguing his troops with much gesticulation and
sword nourishing, which he had wound up with a command to charge,
himself leading the attack upon the little band of English seamen
wedged, so to speak, in the throat of the narrow street. At Bascomb's
word to "Have at 'em" the half nearest the street faced quickly about,
and the whole party fitted arrows to their bows, drew them to the head,
and let fly, half of the arrows winging their way to rake the narrow
street, while the other half whistled into the ranks of the soldiers in
the square, who had just put spurs to their horses. The range was
short, and the aim deadly, consequently every arrow found its mark, some
of them indeed twice over, for there were at least a dozen of the cloth
yard shafts that passed clean through the body of their first victim to
find lodgment in the body of the second. As for Dick, he distinguished
himself by sending an arrow neatly between the bars of the visor of the
officer on horseback, who thereupon reeled out of his saddle, and
crashed down upon the cobbled pavement of the square with a rattle like
that of a whole cartload of spilled ironmongery, close to Chichester's
feet, who thereupon dashed nimbly in and snatched up the splendid sword
that flew from the fallen warrior's grasp. Some twenty soldiers fell to
that first discharge; and so great was the dismay occasioned by their
fall that their comrades, instead of continuing their charge and riding
the Englishmen down, as they might easily have done, reined their horses
sharply back upon their haunches, with the result that their comrades in
the rear dashed headlong into them, and in an instant the whole of that
part of the square which abutted upon the street became a confused
medley of plunging, squealing, and fallen horses, and dead and wounded
men.
Meanwhile, the other front of the English had been equally successful,
their first discharge of arrows having been so deadly that the soldiers
drawn up across the end of the street to cut off their retreat, had
simply crumpled up and withered away, leaving the street open for the
retirement of the English; and the latter had accordingly availed
themselves of the opportunity to dash in, and, as they fondly believed,
secure protection for their flanks. But although the soldiers had given
way before that terrible discharge of arrows, they were by no means
beaten; and presently an officer succeeded in rallying about twenty,
whom he drew across the street in a double rank, with their matchlocks
unslung. Bascomb, however, was quick to see the danger.
"Don't let 'em bring their ordnance into use, or it will be all up with
us," he shouted. "Keep 'em moving, lads, keep 'em moving; so long as we
does that we'm so good as they be--and better; but once let 'em bring
their firearms into play, and we'm done. So, keep 'em moving." And he
himself set the example by rushing upon the enemy, sword in hand, and
laying about him so shrewdly that the Spanish line was once more broken
and forced into full retreat.
And indeed what could the heavily accoutred Spanish soldiers, tightly
strapped up in a suffocatingly hot uniform, do against the nimble
English, who, for the most part, fought in shirt, breeches, and shoes
only, whose arrows flew with such irresistible force that they pierced
right through a man's body, flesh, muscle, bones, and all, and who
seemed to be governed by no laws of fighting, but instead of observing
all the niceties, the rules, and the punctilio of fence, simply rushed
in and cut a man down before the poor wretch could guess what they would
be at!
For ten minutes the fight raged with unimaginable fury before a single
Englishman was hit; and then one poor fellow dropped, with a long knife
quivering in his skull, flung from an upper window of one of the houses.
The man who did the dastardly deed was seen to withdraw hurriedly from
the window; but it was enough; half a dozen of the fallen man's comrades
instantly dashed into the house, were gone about half a minute, and then
returned with a perfectly satisfied look upon their faces, and once more
plunged into the melee. No more knives were thrown from that house; but
unfortunately the deed, and not the swift retribution which followed,
had been seen and thought worthy of imitation, and within five minutes
there was scarcely a window within range of the fighting which was not
vomiting missiles of one sort or another, with disastrous effect upon
the English, who, under this new form of attack, began to fall thick and
fast. For now that the populace had the support of several hundred
soldiers, their courage became so reckless that they could no longer
restrain themselves; and they accordingly engaged in the attack upon the
English with avidity--from the comparatively safe position of the
upstairs windows of the houses on either side of the street. Stukely
and Dick were with the rearguard, making a vigorous and successful stand
against the attack of the soldiery, when this new feature in the
fighting was introduced, and they knew nothing about it until a great
stone, hurled from the attic window of the house in front of which they
were fighting, crashed down fair upon young Chichester's head and sent
him reeling senseless to the ground.