TWO CAPTURES
The meal was a very short one, but the ladies, to please their rescuers,
took a few spoonfuls of soup and a glass of wine. Madame Pickard and her
elder daughter were too much worn out by anxiety and emotion to talk,
Monsieur Pickard was no less moved, and the conversation was supported
entirely by the three officers and Louise. The young men hurried through
their meal, and then, saying good-night to the others, went up on deck.
"Well, never did a thing turn out better," Nat said as he lit his pipe;
"it is a tremendous satisfaction that we have not lost a single man in
the affair."
"And it is no less a satisfaction," Turnbull said, "that we have given a
good many of those black brutes their deserts. It was a good fight for a
bit."
As they were smoking, the seven white men came up in a body.
"We could not lie down, monsieur," one of them said, "till we had come
to thank you for saving us from the most frightful deaths. We had given
up all hopes even of obtaining a weapon and putting an end to ourselves,
which we should certainly have done could we have got hold of a knife,
after having been obliged to witness the tortures of two of our
comrades. Had you been but ten minutes later another of us would have
been their victim. Ah, monsieur! your voice, when you spoke at the
window, seemed like that of an angel who had come to our relief."
"How long had you been in the woods?" Nat asked.
"Six weeks, monsieur, before the negroes found us. We had carried off
some provisions with us, but these were all consumed, and we were
obliged to go down to the plantation to search for food. We suppose that
we were seen and followed, and the next night we were surrounded by the
band you saw."
"Well, we are all very glad to have got you out of their hands, and you
rendered good service when the blacks came down on us."
"We had our revenge to take," the man said, "and not one of us but would
have fought until he was killed."
"You have had something to eat, I hope?"
"Yes, thank you, sir."
"You had better turn in now. I don't suppose you have had much sleep of
late."
"Poor beggars," Turnbull said as the men walked away, "I wonder myself
that they did not strangle each other, or hang themselves, or something.
I am sure I should have done so rather than wait day after day till my
turn came to be burnt alive, or to be cut to pieces gradually, or put to
death by any other means of slow torture."
"Yes, Turnbull, if one were quite sure that there was no possible hope
of rescue or escape; but I suppose a man never does quite give up hope.
This was an example, you see, of the unlikely happening."
"What are you going to do next, Glover?"
"I don't know, I have hardly thought it out yet. You see, we can manage
with this lot we have on board without much difficulty, and I don't know
that I should be justified in going round to Cape Francois on purpose to
land them. So far we have not been able to bring any news of value, and
at any rate I think we might as well cruise about here a little longer.
There is one thing, if we should fall in with anyone bigger than
ourselves and have to fight for it, those fellows who have just gone
below will be a valuable addition to our strength. When it comes to a
hand-to-hand fight seven stout fellows might turn the scale."
"Yes, there is something in that, and I am glad you mean to keep them on
board for a bit. I think the girls will be very good fun when they have
a little got over what they have gone through. The young one is a jolly
little thing, and her sister is very pretty, in spite of her short hair
and boy's dress, though one had not much opportunity of forming an idea
as to whether she had any fun in her."
"I fancy it will be some time before she will feel inclined for a
flirtation, Turnbull," Nat laughed. "What she has gone through, and what
she has seen in the way of horrors, is enough to damp a girl's spirits
for a very long time."
In the morning the ladies did not appear at breakfast.
"My wife is completely prostrated," Monsieur Pickard said, "and the two
girls are shy and do not like showing themselves until they have made
up a couple of dresses. Your steward gave them the roll of white cotton
early this morning and needles and thread, and both are very hard at
work. I hope you will excuse them, they will come out and have breakfast
here after we have done. May I ask where we are sailing now?"
"We are sailing east, monsieur. I hope that it will not inconvenience
you to be a few days on board. My orders are to cruise up and down the
coast, and I wish therefore to go east as far as the boundary between
the French and Spanish portions of the island; after that I can go round
into the bay of Hayti and land you at Port-au-Prince or Cape Francois,
whichever you would prefer."
"It will make no difference whatever to us, and indeed I am sure that a
cruise on your beautiful little ship will be the very best thing for my
wife and daughters. They will have perfect rest and sea air, and it will
not be necessary for them to tell over and over again the stories of
their sufferings; but I lament that we should be putting you to such
personal inconvenience."
"I can assure you, monsieur, that you are putting us to no inconvenience
whatever. We sleep just as well in our cots as in our berths, and the
society of the ladies and yourself will be a very great pleasure to us,
for as a rule we have very small opportunity in that way."
"You speak our language very fluently, Monsieur Glover."
"I am afraid that I speak it more fluently than grammatically. I had the
opportunity of picking it up by ear last year, when I was staying for
six weeks at the house of Monsieur Duchesne at Cape Francois."
"We know him well, and his charming wife and daughter," Monsieur Pickard
said, "for we have a house there, and generally go there for three
months every winter. Can it be that you are the officer who saved their
daughter's life, when she was attacked by a fierce hound?"
"Yes, I had that good fortune."
"I fear that they have fallen in this terrible insurrection. We have had
no direct news from Cape Francois, but we heard that in their district
all the plantations have been destroyed and the owners murdered."
"I am happy to be able to tell you that they were saved. I was staying
there at the time when the revolt broke out We were warned just in time
by an old nurse, Dinah."
"I remember her," Monsieur Pickard broke in, "a tall old woman."
"Yes, Monsieur Duchesne himself was in town, and madame, Myra, and I had
just time to gain the forest. There we were joined by Dinah, who did
everything for us. Madame was attacked by fever, but fortunately Dinah
knew of a very safe place of refuge. She did everything for us, fetched
up provisions, concocted medicine, and after being ten days in hiding,
we were able to get them down to the town."
Both the midshipmen had a fair knowledge of French, though they were not
able to speak it with Nat's ease and fluency. When the latter had
finished, Turnbull broke in:
"Mr. Glover does not tell you, monsieur, that the cave they were in was
attacked by six negroes, led by two mulattoes, and he shot them all, nor
that he and the nurse carried Madame Duchesne down in a litter some
twenty miles to the town, although he had one of his ribs broken by a
pistol shot."
"What is the use of talking about that?" Nat said angrily. "The thing
was done and there was an end of it. There has been a lot too much said
about it as it is."
Monsieur Pickard smiled. "Monsieur Glover is like my daughters at
present, he is shy. He should not be so. It is right that we, his
friends,--for we are his friends, now and for the rest of our
lives,--should know what he is. Ah, my wife and the girls will be
pleased indeed to hear that their friends have escaped! They have often
said how sorry they were that they had not seen the young officer who
rescued their friend Myra from the dog. It is strange indeed that he
should afterwards have saved her and her mother from the negroes, and
should now have so rescued us."
That evening the girls appeared on deck in snowy-white dresses, simply
made, but fitting admirably. "We have always been accustomed to cut out
our own dresses," Valerie said, laughing, when Nat complimented her on
the work. "The slaves did the sewing, but we fitted each other. Of
course at Cape Francois we had our dresses made for us, but on the
plantation we were obliged to trust to ourselves."
One morning, three days later, as they were at breakfast, Nat stopped as
he was raising a cup to his lips. "That is a gun!" he exclaimed. "There
is another!" and with the two middies he ran up on deck. "There is a
fight going on somewhere," he said as the sound of firing was again
heard. "It must be six or seven miles away, somewhere beyond that
headland. At any rate we will hold on and have a look at them. With this
light wind it will take us from an hour and a half to two hours before
we are up with them, so we may as well finish our breakfast in comfort."
"What is it, Monsieur Glover! Are those noises really the sound of
guns?"
"There is no doubt about it. There is a fight going on seven or eight
miles away. We should hear the sound more plainly were it not that there
is a headland between us and the vessels engaged."
"Who can they be?" Madame Pickard said.
"A pirate and a merchantman, no doubt. None of the European nations are
at war, but the seas swarm with piratical craft of one kind or another.
The small ones content themselves with plundering native coasting
vessels, the larger ones attack ships from or to Europe. The _Orpheus_,
to which I belonged at that time, last year rooted out one of their
worst nests. They had no fewer than four ships. We were lucky enough to
catch one of them, and learned where the rendezvous was, and fortunately
found the other three at home, and destroyed them and their
storehouses."
"Are you going on in that direction now?" Valerie asked.
"Yes, we are going to have a look at them. If the trader is making a
good fight of it, our arrival may turn the scale; if we arrive too late
and find the enemy too big for us, we can run away; in a light wind like
this there are very few vessels that could catch us. It is probable that
we should not interfere were it not for the possibility that we may be
in time to save some of the passengers and crew of the merchantman. She
must be a vessel of some size, judging from the sound of her guns. Even
if she has surrendered before we get there, and we find that we are in
any way a match for the pirate, we might, after defeating her, save at
least some of the captives. As a rule, these scoundrels, when all
opposition has ceased, confine the prisoners in the hold, and after
emptying the prize of everything valuable, scuttle her, and of course
drown all on board. In that way all traces of their crime are lost,
whereas if they killed them some of the bodies might float inshore, or
if they burnt the ship the smoke might bring down any cruiser that
happened to be in the neighborhood.
"I am sorry that you are on board, ladies."
"Oh, do not think of us!" Madame Pickard exclaimed. "After the wonderful
deliverance that we have had, I am sure that none of us would mind any
risk if there is a chance of saving others in as dire peril as we
were."
The two girls and Monsieur Pickard warmly agreed. "Please put us
altogether out of consideration," the latter said. "Even if we knew that
it was probable we should all lose our lives we should not hesitate. We
are not, I hope, any of us, afraid of death. It was the kind of death
that we were terrified at."
"I thank you all," Nat said gravely. "I shall not fight unless I think
that there is at any rate a fair chance of victory."
On going on deck when breakfast was finished, Nat ordered the magazine
to be opened and ammunition brought up. The wind had freshened a little,
and the schooner was going faster through the water; and in three
quarters of an hour after hearing the first gun they neared the
promontory.
"I am afraid it is all over," Nat said to the ladies, who had also come
on deck; "there has not been a gun fired for the past two or three
minutes. However, we shall soon see."
On rounding the point they saw two vessels lying side by side, a mile
and a half distant, and about a mile from shore. One was a barque,
evidently a large merchantman; the other a brigantine. There was no
question that the latter was a pirate, and the other her prize. The
sailors, after a glance at them, turned their eyes anxiously towards Nat
for orders. The latter stood quietly examining the ships through his
glass.
"She mounts five guns a side, and I should say that they are about the
same weight as our own," he said to Turnbull; "and from the men swarming
on her deck and that of her prize she must have nearly, if not quite,
three times our strength, even counting the Frenchmen in."
"She is too big to fight squarely, sir," Turnbull reluctantly agreed. "I
am afraid she is altogether too tough a customer for us; and yet one
hates the thought of leaving them to complete their devil's work on
their prize."
"Yes, we can't think of doing that, Mr. Turnbull. The first thing to do
will be to draw them off from her."
"But they would be sure to leave some of their men in possession of
her."
"Well, if they do, there will be so many the fewer for us to fight. We
are within a mile now, I should say?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then train the two forward guns on them, and let them see that we mean
fighting."
A cheer broke from the sailors clustered round the guns as Turnbull gave
the order.
"Now, ladies," Nat said, "you can stop to see the effect of our first
shot, and then I must ask you to go down on to the lower deck. Sam will
show you the way and take some cushions down for you; you will be out of
danger there."
As he spoke, the two guns which were already loaded were fired, and the
men gave a cheer as two white patches appeared on the side of the
brigantine.
"Please hurry down, ladies," Nat said, checking the entreaty which he
saw they were going to make. "It won't be long before they answer us."
"Give them another round, lads!" he said, as they reluctantly obeyed his
orders. "Get them in if you can before he is ready."
Busy as they were, the pirates had not observed the schooner until her
guns were fired. With shouts of alarm they ran back to their own ship,
but these were succeeded by exclamations of anger and surprise when they
saw how small was the craft that had thus intruded into the affair. By
the captain's orders twenty of the crew, under his first mate, returned
to the deck of the prize; a portion of the men ran to the guns, others
threw off the grapnels fastening them to the prize. Before they were
ready to fire, two more shots from the schooner crashed into the
brigantine, one passing through the bulwarks, killing three men and
wounding several others with the splinters. The other struck her within
a few inches of the water-line.
The schooner at once bore up, discharging the guns on the starboard side
as she came round, and laying her course as close to the wind as she
could be jammed, showed her stern to the pirate. Two of his guns forward
were fired, others could not be brought to bear. The Arrow was now
almost retracing her course, for the wind was west-nor'-west, and she
could just follow the line of coast.
"Here they come after us!" Turnbull said, rubbing his hands, "as savage
as bees whose hive has been disturbed."
"Now, Mr. Turnbull, get the two guns right aft, so as to fire over the
taffrail. We must see if we cannot knock some of her spars away. As soon
as you have moved the guns let all hands, except those serving them, go
forward and lie down there. The weight of the guns will put her rather
by the stern, and I don't want to let that fellow come any nearer to us.
She is in her best trim now."
As soon as the guns were ready they opened fire. The brigantine answered
with her bow-chaser, but, as she was obliged to yaw each time she
brought it to bear, she presently ceased firing.
"We are gaining on her, sir," Lippincott said, as he watched the pirate
through his glass.
"Yes, and sailing fully a point nearer to the wind than she does. Get a
stay-sail fastened to a rope, and drop it over close to the bow. I don't
want to run away from her. If she found that we were too fast for her
she would give up the chase, and go back to the prize. I want her to
gain just enough to encourage her to keep on. She is a fast craft, but
we are faster. We shall be able to manage her, providing she does not
knock away any of our spars."
The start the schooner had made had at first widened the distance
between them, and there was now a mile and a quarter of water separating
them. The brigantine was hulled several times and her sails pierced, but
her spars were still intact. She was permitted to gain until she was
little more than half a mile astern, but the schooner had weathered on
her, and was now nearly half a mile to windward.
"If we had an open sea on this side instead of the land," Turnbull said,
"and were to cut away that sail, they would not see us again."
"No; they must have come to the same conclusion. As it is, they no doubt
think that our clawing out to windward is of no advantage to us. Now,
get another gun over to the larboard side. It is lucky that there is a
spare port there. We must make an effort to knock one of his spars out,
or he may cripple us." For by this time the brigantine had again opened
fire. "Let the three best shots we have got lay the guns on her
mainmast. Tell them to train them rather high, so that if they miss the
mark they may cut one of the halyards, which will give us all the start
we want."
The guns were run into their position on the broadside. "Don't hurry
over it," Nat said; "let each fire as his gun comes to bear." There was
a crash and a cry as he spoke; a ball had gone through the Arrow from
side to side, tearing jagged holes through her bulwarks, one of the
sailors being struck to the deck by a splinter. No one spoke, every eye
being fixed on the guns. These were fired almost together. There was a
pause for a second or two, and then a burst of cheering as the gaff of
the great mainsail of the brigantine was seen to collapse.
"It is hit close to the jaws," Turnbull, whose glass was levelled on the
pirates, exclaimed.
"Cut away that sail in the water!" Nat shouted. "Up with your helm,
men, and bring her round. That is right," he went on as the schooner
came up into the wind and payed off on the other tack. "Now, slack away
her sheets!"
Three guns were vengefully fired by the pirate, but the sudden change in
the schooner's position disconcerted their aim, and the shot flew wide.
Without waiting for orders, the seamen at two of the guns ran them over
to the starboard side, and, all working at the highest pressure, poured
shot after shot into the brigantine, which answered but slowly, as
numbers of the men had run aloft to get the sail down to repair damages.
Before she was under way again the schooner had left her a mile behind.
She was now on her best point of sailing, while the brigantine was to
some extent crippled by the mainsail setting badly, and by the time the
headland was again passed the schooner was fully two miles ahead. Her
crew had for some time been puzzled at the action being so abruptly
concluded, and Turnbull had even ventured to say:
"I should think, sir, we should have a fair chance with her now."
"Not a very good chance. We have been lucky, but with ten guns to our
four, and her strong crew of desperate men, she would be a very awkward
customer. We can think of her later on. My plan is to retake the prize
before she can come up. It is not likely that they have killed the crew
yet, and I expect the captain told those left behind to leave things as
they were until he returned. We may scarcely be a match for the
brigantine, but the prize and we together should be able to give a good
account of ourselves."
"Splendid, sir!" Turnbull exclaimed joyously; "that is a grand idea."
"Have the guns loaded with grape," Nat said quietly, "and run two of
them over to the other side. We will go outside the prize, bring our
craft up into the wind, and shoot her up inside her, and give them one
broadside and then board. Tell the men to have their pistols and
cutlasses ready, and distribute the boarding-pikes among the Frenchmen."
As soon as they rounded the point they could see by their glasses that
there was a sudden commotion on the deck of the merchantman.
"They did not expect to see us back first," Lippincott laughed.
"Even now, I should think, they are expecting to see the brigantine
close behind us in chase, and don't suspect what we are up to. Don't
head straight for her," he said to the helmsman, "take us a couple of
lengths outside her."
The pirates, indeed, were completely deceived, but when at last they saw
that the brigantine did not appear, they ran over to the guns. It was,
however, too late. Two or three of these were discharged as the schooner
passed, but beyond making holes in her sails no damage was done, and one
of the schooner's guns poured in a volley of grape. When she was two or
three lengths ahead her helm was put hard down. She flew round and just
caught the wind on the other tack, gliding up alongside the merchantman,
the three guns being discharged in succession as the two vessels
touched.
The grapnels were thrown, and the sailors and Frenchmen leapt on to her
deck headed by the three officers. Nearly half the pirates had been
killed or wounded by the four discharges of grape. The remainder made
but a poor fight of it, and were cut down to a man.
"Off with the hatches, men!" Nat shouted. "Run down and release the
crew."
He himself ran aft into the saloon. Here six gentlemen and eight or ten
ladies were lying bound hand and foot. Several of the men were wounded.
Nat at once cut the cords.
[Illustration: "THE CAPTAIN OF THE PIRATES SHOOK HIS FIST IN DEFIANCE."]
"You are safe," he said. "The ship has been retaken by his majesty's
schooner _Arrow_, but we have not done with the brigantine yet, and any
of you who have weapons and can use them may lend a hand."
Without waiting to listen to the chorus of cries of gratitude, he ran
out again. A minute later a number of seamen poured up on deck. Many of
them were wounded.
"How many are there of you?" he asked an officer among them.
"There are thirty of us," he said; "we had lost nearly half our crew
before they boarded us. The captain was killed early in the fight, as
was the first officer."
"Well, sir, set your men to load the guns at once. There is the
brigantine just coming round the point. Monsieur Pickard, will you
remain here with your party and help the sailors? Get your sails sheeted
home, sir!" he went on to the ship's officer. "Is your vessel a fast
one?"
"Yes, but she is not so fast as that brigantine."
"That is of no consequence," Nat said. "Get every sail you can on her.
Now get twenty of our men on board again, Mr. Lippincott, and on second
thoughts I will take five of the Frenchmen. Mr. Turnbull, you will
remain on board in command of this ship with the other five of our men.
My endeavour will be to knock away one of her masts. Do you keep as
close as you can to us, and we will board her together, one on each
side. If she knocks away one of our spars, I shall as far as possible
come back to meet you, and if she follows us we will fight her
together."
"I understand, sir."
"The moment we push off, get your head sails aback and put her on the
wind so as to get out of our way. I shall fill her off on the other tack
and then come round and join you. We will keep together until we see
whether she means to fight or run. Remember, the great thing is to
knock a spar out of her."
So saying, he leapt on to the deck of the schooner, and Turnbull's voice
was at once heard shouting the order, "Haul aft the weather sheets of
the jibs;" and in a minute the two vessels were gliding away from each
other on opposite tacks. Then the _Arrow_ was brought round and followed
the _Thames_, which was the name of the merchantman. The brigantine was
now three quarters of a mile away. Suddenly she was seen to change her
course. As she wore round she presented her broadside to the two
vessels, and her five guns puffed out together. The reply, both from the
merchantman and the _Arrow_, followed almost simultaneously, and a cheer
rang out from both ships as the pirate's bowsprit was seen to snap off.
"Place yourself two or three cables' length from his larboard quarter,"
Nat shouted.
Turnbull, who had leapt on to the rail to see the result of the
broadside, waved his hand.
"Down topsails!" Nat shouted, "she will be handier without them."
In a moment the two great sails came fluttering down. Turnbull followed
the example, and the men ran up the ratlines and furled some of the
upper sails. Deprived of her head sails, the pirate was unmanageable,
and the two vessels speedily ran up and laid themselves a couple of
hundred yards from his quarters and opened a steady fire. The pirates
endeavoured to drag two of their guns right aft, but the volleys of
grape poured into them were too much for them, and although their
captain was seen to shoot two of the men, the rest ran forward. The
helmsman deserted his now useless post.
"Give her one more broadside," Nat shouted to Turnbull, "and then run in
and board."
The captain of the pirates, mad with rage, leapt on to the taffrail and
shook his fist in defiance. At that moment two rifles cracked out from
the merchantman, and he fell forward into the sea. The effect of the
storm of grape from the three guns of the schooner, and the four from
the trader, among the men huddled up in the bow of the pirate was
terrible, but knowing that their lives were forfeited if they were taken
prisoners, none made a movement aft to haul down the black flag that
still floated from the peak. In two or three minutes their antagonists
were alongside; a volley of musketry was poured in, and then the crews
of both ships leapt on to the deck. The pirates, who were now reduced to
about thirty men, rushed to meet them, determining to sell their lives
dearly. But the odds were against them; they missed the voice of their
captain to encourage them, and when twenty of their number had fallen,
the remainder threw down their arms.
"Let no man stir a foot to go below," Nat shouted, remembering the
explosion in the pirate's hold, and fearing that one of them might make
straight for the magazine. He had not used his pistols in the fight, and
now stood with one in each hand pointing threateningly to enforce the
order.
"Mr. Lippincott, take four men below and close and securely fasten the
magazine."
The middy ran down, and returned in two or three minutes to report that
he had executed the order.
"Tie those fellows' feet and hands," Nat said, "and carry them down into
the hold."
When this was done he was able to look round. The deck was a perfect
shambles. The brigantine, as he afterwards heard, carried originally
eighty hands. Ten of these had been either killed or seriously wounded
in the fight with the _Thames_, and twenty had been killed on board that
barque when she was retaken. Forty lay dead or dying on the deck. One of
the Frenchmen had fallen, six of the sailors and three Frenchmen had
been severely wounded, Turnbull somewhat seriously wounded, and
Lippincott slightly. Monsieur Pickard, and the male passengers on board
the _Thames_, had all joined the boarders.
Two of them had previously done good service with their rifles. Had not
the pirate leader been killed, the fight would have been even more
desperate. One of the passengers was, fortunately, a surgeon. He at once
set to work attending to the sailors' wounds, and after he had bandaged
them he examined those of the pirates. These had for the most part been
killed outright, and of the wounded there were but four or five with any
prospect of recovery. These he first attended to, while the other
passengers carried water to the dying men.
"Now, my lads," Nat said, "clear the decks of the dead, and get up an
awning and carry those who are alive into the shade."
All the dead pirates were thrown over without ceremony, the body of the
Frenchman being laid down by his compatriots by one of the guns for
proper burial in the evening. As soon as the fight was over, Monsieur
Pickard--who, after the capture of the _Thames_, had gone below to
assure his wife and daughters that all was going on well, and that they
had saved nine ladies and six gentlemen from the hands of the
pirates--hurried down with the welcome news that the fight was over and
the brigantine captured.
"You can go up to the cabin," he said, "but don't come on deck till I
come down and tell you that everything has been made clean and tidy. You
will be glad to hear that, although we have several wounded, Francois
Amond is the only man that has been killed."
One of the passengers of the _Thames_ had carried similar news to the
ladies there. The crews of both were at once set to work to wash decks,
and in an hour the holy-stones had obliterated the worst signs of the
conflict, though it would require many more scrubbings before the stains
of blood entirely disappeared. All this time the vessels had remained
side by side, and the ladies now ventured on to the decks of the
_Thames_ and _Arrow_.
"What do you intend to do, sir?" one of the passengers asked Nat.
"I shall sail at once for Jamaica," he said. "We shall want some more
hands, and I must at present borrow a few from you, for my own men are
not sufficiently strong to navigate my own craft and the prize. The wind
is favourable, and if it holds as it is we shall be at Kingston in
forty-eight hours, so there will be no great loss of time."
He then crossed to the _Arrow_.
"I must congratulate you most heartily on your success," Madame Pickard
said. "It is wonderful indeed that you should have taken both these
vessels. The pirate ship is, I should think, three times as big as you
are, and the other looks a giant by her side."
"Yes, she is six hundred tons, and the brigantine is about three
hundred. However, it has all gone very fortunately. In the first place,
we have rescued some fifteen gentlemen and ladies, and twice as many
seamen, from the death that they would certainly have met with; and in
the next place, we have thrashed this pirate; we shall get both credit
and prize-money, and a good sum for the recapture of the _Thames_, which
the chief officer has just told me carries a very valuable cargo.
Lastly, I am happy to say that, although several of the crew are
injured, I have not lost a single life among them. I am sorry that one
of your men fell in the fight."
"But they have sadly spoiled the appearance of your ship," Valerie
Pickard said. "There are three or four great holes along the side, and a
ball has gone through your cabin, and the sails, which were so white and
pretty, have lots of holes in them."
"Yes, we shall want a good many new cloths," he said; "but that is a
very minor matter."
"Monsieur Turnbull is hurt, I hear!"
"Yes, madame; happily it is not very serious--a blow which he only
partly parried struck him on the shoulder. It looks a very serious
wound, but the doctor says there is no need for any great uneasiness
about him; and being seriously wounded in action has its advantages, as
it always counts towards promotion. Mr. Lippincott has had one of his
ears nearly slashed off, and is not pretty to look at at present, with
his head done up in bandages, but the surgeon thinks that, as it was
attended to so soon, it is likely that it will heal up."
"And you have escaped altogether, Monsieur Glover?" Louise said.
"Yes, for once I have had good luck. Hitherto I have always come out of
a fight more or less damaged; this time I have escaped without a
scratch."
"I should feel very proud if I were you," the girl said, "at having done
so much with such a small ship--and you so young, too! Why, you do not
look more than a year or two older than Valerie, and you have rescued us
and all the people on the other ship, and taken a pirate and the vessel
they had captured. It seems almost impossible. And you look so quiet and
nice, too."
"Louise, you should not talk like that," her mother corrected.
Nat said gravely:
"Mademoiselle, do you know that you are talking to the commander of one
of his majesty's ships on his own quarter-deck, where he is, as it were,
the monarch of all he surveys, and might inflict all sorts of terrible
punishments upon you for your want of respect?"
The girl laughed merrily.
"I am not afraid," she said, "not one little bit, and I don't see why
you should mind being told that you are young and quiet-looking and
nice, when you are."
"I do not mind in the least," he said, "and certainly I am young; but I
can assure you that my former captain would not tell you that I was
quiet, for I had the reputation of being the most troublesome middy on
board his frigate. But, you see, responsibility has sobered me, and I
can assure you that there is a great deal of responsibility in
commanding a small craft like this, which has nothing but her speed and
her luck to rely on if she happens to fall in with a strongly-armed
vessel."
"How can you say that, monsieur," Valerie said indignantly, "when you
have taken this pirate, which is ever so much stronger than you are?"
"There may be a little good management in it, but more luck,
mademoiselle. If one of his shot had damaged me instead of one of mine
damaging him, we should all have had our throats cut two hours ago."
"I don't believe it," she said. "I believe that you would have beaten
him anyhow."
"Ladies very often think what they wish," he said with a laugh, "and no
doubt we should have fought to the last; but I can assure you that we
should have had no chance with them, and the best I could have done for
you would have been to have fired the last shot of my pistol into the
magazine."
"Please don't talk about it," Madame Pickard said with a shudder. "And
now I suppose that you have had fighting enough, and are going to carry
us quietly into port?"
"Yes, madame, to Jamaica; but if you would prefer to be landed at Cape
Francois or Port-au-Prince I shall be happy to give you a passage back
again."
"We do not want to go there at all, but my husband will go to wind up
his affairs, and sell his house there. We have been talking it over, and
agree that we should never like to go back to the estate again. Even if
things did quiet down the memories are too terrible; and, besides,
having once broken out, the blacks might do so again at any time."
"I think you are perfectly right, madame; but I am afraid you will not
get much for your estate."
"My husband thinks that, although no white man would buy it, there are
plenty of mulattoes who would give, not its real value, but a certain
amount, for it. Many of them are rich men who have already large
plantations. Ours was one of the most valuable on the island, and with
the title from us a purchaser would not be afraid of being disturbed
when the soldiers arrive and put down the insurrection; while, even if
this should never be done, the negroes, with whom the mulattoes are now
friends, would not interfere with him. My husband thinks that perhaps he
will get a third of its value, which would be sufficient to keep us all
comfortably in France, or wherever we may settle; but our best resource
is that we have the whole of last season's produce stored in our
magazines at Port-au-Prince."
It was not until the next afternoon that the absolutely necessary
repairs to the three vessels were completed, the holes near the
water-line covered by planks over which pitched canvas was nailed, the
ropes shot away replaced by new ones, and the brigantine's gaff
repaired. Then sail was hoisted again, and the three vessels set sail
for Kingston, where they arrived on the evening of the third day after
starting. No little excitement was caused in the harbour when the
_Arrow_, with her sails and sides bearing marks of the engagement,
sailed in, followed by the brigantine flying the British ensign over the
black flag, and the _Thames_ with the same flags, but with the addition
of the merchant ensign under the black flag, following her. There were
two or three ships of war in the port, and the crews saluted the _Arrow_
with hearty cheers. The flag-ship at once ran up the signal for her
commander to come on board, and, leaving Lippincott to see to the
operation of anchoring, Nat ordered the gig to be lowered, and, taking
his place in it, was rowed to the flag-ship.