Mr. White was only gone for a little more than two days, and when he
returned he brought with him a letter from the pirate captain. The
communication ran thus:
_"To Captain John Mackra, late of the 'Cassandra:'_
_"Sir,--If you choose to risk your life by coming hither, devil a word
have I to say against it. They're a wild set of blades under me, and
mind the helm no better than a washing-tub, so that my orders have
little or no weight with them. All the same, if you're the man to come
aboard, and have the courage to face the matter out, I'll do what I can
to see that no harm happens to you. But if you'll take a friend's advice
you'll stay where you are, and let a bad matter cure itself, for you
know very well that there is no use splicing a rotten rope. As for the
pickle you're in, lay that to your luck, and not to me._
"Edward England."
I was none too well pleased with this precious epistle, for I could see
very readily how little command Captain England held upon the wretches
under him. Nevertheless, it did not alter my determination to to go
aboard of the pirate craft and to speak with him. I was the more
inclined to do this as I felt well assured that the pirates could not
now be as hot for my blood as they had been at first.
* * * * *
It was necessary for me to get away from the king's town without
confiding my determination to any one, or any one having knowledge of my
departure, for I knew very well that there was not one of my officers
but would have stayed me from acting on my plans had they been informed
of them, even if they should find it needful to use force to prevent my
going.
It was the evening of the eighth day since the fight when Mr. White
returned with Captain England's letter, and I determined that that very
night should witness my departure upon my enterprise, which to one
looking coolly upon it might seem little if any better than the frantic
act of a madman. Nor was it that I myself was unconscious of the
magnitude of these dangers, for I entered upon them only because that in
the desperate state of our necessities I could see no other course out
of our difficulties, and so had to choose this for lack of a better.
Accordingly, as said above, I determined to set out that very night, for
nothing could be gained by further delay.
There was no other choice left me but to make my way along the beach,
which, although it would increase the distance by five or six miles,
would yet afford me a sound and level highway for my journeying, the
sand being firm and hard when the water was out at low tide.
That night I wrote a lengthy letter to Mr. Langely, giving him full
particulars as to what I was about to undertake, and also instructions
as to how he should proceed in the event of my not returning from my
adventure. I also wrote my will, and settled all my affairs as well as I
was able. This took until nigh midnight.
All this I managed to do without the knowledge of any one, and by the
light of a little wick floating in a dish of oil, the flame of which I
kept so well shaded that no one perceived it in all that time.
About one o'clock I came out from my hut, and found the stars shining
most beautifully in the sky, and all the air full of the noises of the
night. I did not tarry, however, but walked straight to the beach, and
along it towards the northern end of the island, around which and beyond
the cape I knew the bay to lie, about ten leagues distant from the
king's town.
I had only been twice upon my feet since the fever had left me, and
found that I was far more weak than I had supposed myself to be, so that
I had to rest myself at frequent intervals. However, I managed to cover
some ten miles of my journey by about six o'clock in the morning, by
which time I was so exhausted that I could go no farther, but had to lie
down under the shade of the bushes and rest myself for a long time.
I speak of these things to show why it was that my journey should have
occupied nigh upon two days, for it was not until the afternoon of the
second day that I came within sight of a boat, drawn up on the beach,
which I knew to belong to the pirates, and from which the crew had gone
into the thickets, either to search for game or for water.
I had eaten nothing all that day, for I had not thought that my journey
would have taken me so long, and I did not care to burden myself with
any more food than necessary. So I was glad to see the boat, not only
being very weary, but also having my feet so badly blistered by the
unwonted exposure to the hot sun on the bare sand that it was only with
pain that I could take a single step.
As I drew nigh, two fellows who had been lying in the shade upon the
further side sprang to their feet and hailed me.
"Who are you?" says one of them--a great black-bearded fellow with a
dirty yellow handkerchief tied around his head, a ragged scarf about his
loins, a brace of pistols hanging from a leathern belt, and a dirty
shirt opened at the breast, showing a hairy throat and chest.
"I am Captain John Mackra," said I, and I sat down upon the gunwale of
the boat, for I could go no farther.
[Illustration: "I AM CAPTAIN JOHN MACKRA," SAID I, AND I SAT DOWN UPON
THE GUNWALE OF THE BOAT.]
"The devil you are!" says he, and he stared at me from top to toe as
though I had been some strange creature the like of which he had never
beheld before. Then, without another word, he put his fingers to his
lips and gave a great, long, shrill whistle. I presently heard a great
crackling in the bushes and the noise of loud voices, and soon there
burst out of the thickets six or eight great, bearded, dirty, villanous
rascals, who came running down to the boat, having caught sight of me,
and knowing me to be a stranger. "It's Captain Leach," said the one of
the pirates who had not yet spoken--a young fellow of not more than
twenty.
Some of those who had just come had been drinking, as could be very
plainly seen from the way in which they acted. One of them was for
killing me off-hand, and I verily believe would have done so, in spite
of all that the others could do or say, had not another of them knocked
him down with an oar with such a blow that I thought at first the fellow
had been killed outright.
After that they bound me hand and foot, and chucked me into the
stern-sheets of the boat along with the fellow who had been knocked down
by the oar, and who lay without life or motion, as though neither were
of more account than so much old junk. After that they shoved off from
the beach in the direction of my old craft the _Cassandra_, which rode
at anchor about a mile and a half or two miles away.
The boat had hardly come alongside when the news of my coming ran fore
and aft like a train of powder. They hoisted me upon deck and laid me
just aft of the main-mast, whilst a great crowd gathered round me and
stared at me, some of them grinning and some of them cursing me.
Most of them were more or less in liquor, and it was this circumstance
that came nigh to costing me my life, and this was how it happened:
One great fellow with a dreadful scar across his face gave me a kick in
the loins which I thought at first had finished me, and for no cause
that I could see but that he was drunk and in a savage humor. One or two
of them sang out to him not to kill me just then, but he made no answer
except by aiming another kick at my head, which I warded off with my
arm so that it did me little or no harm. He drew back his foot for
another blow, but just then an iron belaying-pin came whizzing through
the air and struck the fellow in the jaw, knocking him down upon the
deck as though he had been shot.
I turned mine eyes and saw that it was Captain England himself who had
struck the blow.
"Look 'ee," says he, "we'll have none of this; if killing is to be done,
it is to be done lawyer-like. He's come aboard himself, and if he's to
be killed he's to be killed after his trial, and not before."
There was a moment or two of pause, for Captain England had drawn a
brace of pistols, and held one cocked in either hand; but just then up
stepped a fellow who it was very plain to see was of some account
amongst them, for his clothes were of rich stuff, and he had a gold
chain with a cross slung around his neck, and golden ear-rings in his
ears. He walked up to England until he stood face to face with him.
"Look 'ee, Ned England," says he, "what I've got to say is this: you're
carrying things with too high a hand to suit us easy-going fellows. D'ye
think you're king or emperor, and that we're nigger slaves, that you
knock us about as it suits your humor?"
I had expected that England would have shot the fellow down where he
stood, but he stayed his hand, and by the muttering of the rest I knew
that the speaker carried most of them with him.
"Look 'ee, now," says he, more boldly, "didn't we choose you for our
captain ourselves? And here you knock us around with belaying-pins as
though you owned every man of us; and all for what? Why, for giving this
here precious sea-captain an innocent kick or two for all of the good
fellows he's sent to h--ll since ten days ago. What I say is, hang him
up to the yard-arm;" and he fetched me a terrible kick in the side
without taking his eyes from his captain's face.
At this time, although I heard what was said, I thought but little of
what was passing about me, my mind being beclouded with my weakness and
my pains, for I had wellnigh swooned from the agony of those two kicks
upon my flank and loins. Therefore I lay with mine eyes shut, feeling
deathly sick and faint.
A time of silence followed, though how long it might be I could not
exactly tell. Then I heard Captain England speak, the words coming to my
ears as though from a great distance, because of my condition.
"D--n you, Burke, what do I care for the fellow? If you want the man's
life, take it!" and I knew that he swung upon his heel and walked away.