He, with about half the number of our party, now proceeded to one side
of the town, while the other marched to the farther end, three or four
armed men entering any of the large houses which appeared likely to
contain booty worth carrying off. My party had accompanied the marines
under Lieutenant Pyke, who was shouting out "he only wished he could see
a foe worthy of his steel." As we went along, we came to a small
square, at the other side of which a band of some twenty persons
appeared, others coming up in the distance. I am not sure that all had
arms, though they presented a somewhat military aspect. Our commander
ordered the marines to charge them.
"On, lads, on!" cried the lieutenant, waving his sword, but he did not
move very fast. The Spaniards, however, seeing the invaders coming, ran
off as fast as their legs would carry them, when the lieutenant doubled
his speed, waving his sword still more vehemently, and shouting out:
"On, brave lads! Death or victory!" By the time he got across the
square, no foe was to be seen, and after looking round the corner to
ascertain that they had not reassembled, he marched back his men in
triumph.
In a short time every house had been ransacked, and, with our booty and
prisoners, we returned to the boats and regained the ship, not a shot
having been fired nor a life lost.
The commandant having agreed to pay five thousand dollars as his own
ransom and that of his companions, one of the fat friars was sent on
shore to collect the money, having orders to return by noon. He shook
his head, and declared that this was impossible.
"It might take four or five days, perhaps a week, to collect such a
sum."
"Very well," said the captain at last. "By sunset, if the ransom is not
brought on board, we shall have a fine bonfire out there," and he
pointed to the town.
"Arra' now, captain, you may as well cook and eat us at once, for sorrow
a dollar have ye left us, and all the crucifixes, and candlesticks, and
beautiful images, which we might have pledged for the money, stowed away
in your hold!" exclaimed the fat friar, betraying his Hibernian origin,
and that he had understood every word which had been spoken.
"Are you an Irishman, and living among these foreigners, and pretending
to be one of them?" cried the captain. "If I had known that, I would
have clapped on another thousand dollars to your ransom."
"Sure, captain, dear, it would have been more charitable to have taken
them off," observed the jovial friar. "However, just be after giving me
four days, and ye shall resave the dollars all bright and beautiful,
though not a quarter of one could all the blessed saints together
collect in the whole of our unfortunate town and the circumjacent
country."
The friar's eye twinkled as he spoke. At last he proposed paying even a
larger sum, provided that the captain would prolong the time to five
days for its collection. Captain Podgers, eager to get more money, and
not suspecting treachery, agreed to the proposal, and Fra Patricio,
chuckling in his sleeve, prepared to take his departure.
"Captain, dear," he said, turning round with a comical look as he
reached the gangway, "ye haven't got a bottle of potheen, the raal
cratur, have ye? It would just be after comforting me in my trouble."
A bottle of Irish whiskey being handed to the friar, he tucked it away
in his sleeve, and his boat pulled off towards the shore.
Mr Falconer, who understood Spanish, shortly after this informed the
captain that he had discovered, from the prisoners' conversation, that
the object of Friar Patrick in asking for more time to collect the
ransom, was that troops might be sent for to protect the town. The
captain replied that he would hang his prisoners if any such trick was
played.
We remained two days longer, and no news came from the Irish friar.
Our prisoners were well supplied with eatables and drinkables and
tobacco, and appeared perfectly happy, talking freely among themselves,
as they sat at table and smoked their cigarettes. Mr Falconer, though
unwilling to be an eavesdropper, could not help hearing what they said,
and as he had prudently not let them discover that he knew Spanish, they
did not suspect that he understood what they said. He was sitting
writing in his own cabin, which opened on the gun-room, when he heard
one of them remark that, in a couple of days, at furthest, the tables
would be turned, and that those who were now their masters would be
prisoners, or hung up at the yard-arms of their frigate.
"Which, pirates as they are, will be their just fate," observed another.
On this, the rest of the party laughed grimly.
"The ladies we cannot hang, though."
"No; they can be sent to a nunnery, or perhaps you, Seignor Commandant,
who are a bachelor, would wish to wed the fat widow."
Some remarks were made about Miss Kitty, which Mr Falconer did not
repeat.
"How soon can the two frigates be here?" inquired another.
"In two days, or three at most," was the answer. "But we shall be in no
slight danger. I wish we could escape before then."
"No fear about that," answered one of the former speakers. "The
Englishmen won't attempt to fight against so overpowering a force, and
will, depend on it, haul down their flag as soon as they see the two
frigates enter the harbour."
This idea seemed to make the whole party very merry.
Mr Falconer, after sitting quiet for some time, went on deck, and
informed the captain of all he had heard.
Captain Podgers was not a little put out by the information he received.
He was very unwilling to lose his dollars, but if he remained in
harbour, he might lose his ship, and his own life into the bargain; for
Mr Falconer did not fail to repeat the threat of the Spaniards, to have
him hung up at the yard-arm as a pirate. He vowed that he should be
ready to fight one Spanish frigate, but two were more than even the
_Dolphin_ could venture to tackle.
After pacing the deck two or three times, he summoned the officers into
the cabin; and it was finally settled that the other fat friar should be
at once sent on shore, with orders to make his appearance next day at
noon at the landing-place, with all the dollars that had been collected,
and should the amount not be sufficient, he was to warn the inhabitants
that their town would be set on fire. That the _Dolphin_ might run no
risk of being entrapped, she was at once to put to sea, while the boats
alone were to go in the following day and bring off the ransom.
The Spaniards were very much alarmed when they saw preparations going on
for making sail.
Fortunately, a Spanish merchant among our prisoners spoke a little
English, so that Mr Falconer had not to betray to them his knowledge of
their language. The fat friar shrugged his shoulders when he heard what
he was to do. He seemed, however, not a little pleased to get out of
the clutches of the terrible privateersman. As soon as he had been
landed, the _Dolphin's_ anchor was hove up, and the land breeze still
blowing, we sailed out of the harbour.
We were standing on and off the island during the night. It was a calm
and beautiful one. I had gone on deck to be near Dick, which I
frequently did during his watch, when, the moon shining brightly from
behind some light fleecy clouds which floated over the sky, we caught
sight of an object gliding over the glittering waters. As it
approached, Dick pronounced it to be a raft, with a small square sail
set, and soon afterwards we distinguished two figures on it. He hailed.
There came, in reply, a faint cry across the water. Directly
afterwards the sail was lowered. Mr Falconer, who was officer of the
watch, ordered the ship to be hove-to and a boat lowered, which quickly
towed the raft and its occupants alongside. The men were hoisted on
deck, for they were too weak to climb up by themselves. Dick and I, who
had good reason to feel for them, hurried to the gangway. Dick, without
asking questions, filled a cup of water and brought it to them; they
both drank eagerly.
Mr Falconer while by his orders a couple of hammocks were being got
ready for them, inquired who they were and whence they had come. One,
who appeared the least exhausted, answered that they had been ten days
at sea, and for the three last they had been without food or water, with
the exception of half a biscuit apiece, and that they were the survivors
of six who had embarked on the raft.
"I am the second mate of the _Juno_, armed whaler," continued the
speaker. "Our crew mutinied, murdered the captain and several of the
other officers; but the third mate and I, with four men who refused to
join them, were turned adrift on this wretched raft, with but a scanty
allowance of water and provisions, which the mutineers gave us,
asserting that it was enough to support us till we could reach the
shore. Calms and light winds prevailed, and we were almost abandoning
hope, when, this afternoon, we made the land, though I doubt if we
should have survived had we not fallen in with you."
Mr Falconer treated the two mates with great kindness, and did his best
to make them comfortable, not doubting the truth of their story. They
had farther added, that as soon as they had been sent off from the side
of the ship, the mutineers hoisted the black flag, with three cheers,
announcing that they intended to turn pirates and attack ships of all
nations.
From their account, there remained no doubt that the _Juno_ was the ship
which had lately engaged the _Dolphin_, and met with so awful, though
well-deserved a fate. They also told us that the _Juno_ had been about
to enter a harbour a short distance off, when two men-of-war were seen,
with their lower masts only standing, that several boats had been sent
out in chase of the ship, but, a breeze springing up, she had escaped.
This confirmed what Mr Falconer had heard from the Spaniards, and made
the captain thankful that he had listened to his advice.
The next day we stood in to the mouth of the harbour, when the boats
were sent on shore, each carrying half a dozen torches. Our prisoners
were in a great fright on seeing this, saying that the friars would very
probably be unable to collect the money, and earnestly urging that we
would remain two or three days longer at anchor before setting fire to
the town.
"We are not to be so caught, seignors," answered the captain, laughing
grimly. "If your friends bring the dollars, well and good; if not, we
will make a bonfire which will light the two frigates you expect into
the harbour."
Away the boats pulled, one only being left alongside, in which the
governor and his companions were ordered to seat themselves. We waited
anxiously for some time, when wreaths of smoke were seen to ascend from
various parts of the town, and the whole place was shortly in a blaze.
The captain considered himself very humane, when he allowed his
prisoners, after having been stripped of nearly every particle of
clothing, to be put on shore on the nearest point. This he did to
revenge himself for the loss of the expected dollars, which he knew, on
seeing the town set on fire, had not been obtained.
Scarcely had the boats returned and been hoisted up, when two large
ships were seen steering for the entrance of the harbour. Every stitch
of canvas the _Dolphin_ could carry was set. The strangers, on seeing
her, made all sail in chase, and, from the way that they overhauled her,
there appeared but little prospect of her escape.