you to make away with the ship as I've sailed in, man and boy, ever
since I smelt salt water, not to speak of betraying my owners and their
interests. I'll see you--a--a--shot first!"
As he spoke the captain pulled the trigger of his revolver, and would
have settled all the pirate's chances of present and future booty if he
had not with a rapid movement of his quickly-drawn yataghan struck up
the muzzle of the weapon, causing the bullet to expend itself in the air
harmlessly, although it went uncommonly close to the head of the
trembling Tompkins above, who was waiting for a peaceful arrangement of
the situation before he descended.
On the shot being fired, the main body of the pirates rushed forward,
and would have annihilated the captain and the two lads, had not their
chief stopped them with some harsh word of command, at which they
immediately fell back again.
"I bear no malice, Captain Harding," said the pirate chief, with a
magnanimous air, "and I'll forgive your attempt on my life, especially
as the bullet missed its mark. I will also, as you have such scruples
of conscience, excuse you from acting still as the captain of this
vessel, and promote your chief officer--I believe the gentleman is up
aloft--to that post. I've no doubt he will prove more accommodating,
particularly when I place my reasons strongly before him. But I have
not done with you yet, captain. I shall want you presently below with
reference to the ship's papers and cargo. So now put down your weapons,
and order your men to disarm. I will save your lives, I promise."
"Boys, we must submit; we're in their power, and they are too strong for
us," said Captain Harding, turning to Tom and Charley. "I don't suppose
they'll murder us now in cold blood; we must trust their word for it--
the word of a pirate," he added aloud, with bitter scorn.
"And you can trust it," replied the pirate chief proudly. "The word of
Demetri, the Corsair of Chios, is known to be as sacred as his name is
feared in the Aegean Sea."
"By Jingo!" exclaimed the captain, looking from Tom to Charley, and back
again to the pirate chief. "Demetri, the corsair! Why, that's the very
man that Mohammed told you about at Beyrout, and whom I would not
believe in."
And the honest old fellow seemed to reproach himself for not paying more
heed to the boys' story.
"The same, at your service," said the corsair, as he had better be
called now. "Now lay down your arms, and I shall treat you as prisoners
on parole."
"And you promise that we shall go free?" said Captain Harding, pleading
for terms, although he felt that they were vanquished.
"Yes, when I've done with you. Look sharp! Time is pressing, and I
cannot answer for my men much longer," said Demetri.
So Captain Harding, Tom, and Charley, and the steward, laid on the deck
the weapons with which they had hastily armed themselves when below as
soon as the noise of the outbreak reached them, when they were instantly
picked up by one of the Greeks, who stepped forward for the purpose by
his leader's orders.
"We are now at your mercy," said the captain. "I don't mind about
myself, but, Corsair, or whatever you are, spare the poor boys and my
remaining men."
"Their lives are safe, I tell you," said the other impatiently. "Have I
not given my word? But call your other men down," he added, pointing to
Jack Bower, who was still half-way up the rigging, and Tompkins in the
mizzen-top.
Captain Harding summoned them, and Jack Bower at once obeyed his orders;
but the first mate refused to budge, saying, that as he was no longer
master of the ship, he was not compelled to carry out his directions,
especially if doing so jeopardised his life.
"The cowardly rascal!" exclaimed the captain, hardly knowing whether to
laugh or to be angry; but Mr Tompkins was really so paralysed with
terror that he had not the faintest idea of what he was saying, "I'll
soon make him obey me," said the corsair, cocking the captain's
revolver, which he had taken from him, and pointing it at the frightened
occupant of the top above his head. "If you are not on deck by the time
I count five, you, first officer, or whatever you call yourself, I'll
fire, and you'll descend to Davy Jones's locker quicker than it will
take you to come down the rigging! One--two--three--"
"Stop, sir, good gentleman, stop, and I'll come down," faltered out Mr
Tompkins, roused from his fright more by the corsair's action than his
words, for a pointed pistol has a wonderfully persuasive way of its own;
and, with hesitating feet, he slowly descended the ratlins and placed
himself beside the captain, who looked at him first contemptuously, and
then turned his back, muttering between his teeth--
"If I had had a man in charge of the watch, or even one of these boys,
we would never have been put in this position."
"You are wrong there," said the corsair, "for we would have attacked you
all the same."
"Never mind," retorted the captain bravely. "But we would not have been
unprepared, and you would have had a tussle to get on board, instead of
things being made easy for you."
"Have your own way in that," replied the other, shrugging his shoulders,
as he gave some unintelligible order to his men, ten of whom slipped
forward, placing themselves on either side of the captain and the two
lads, and the other Englishmen, with the exception of the chief mate--
two Greeks to each of them. "I'm sorry, captain," continued the
corsair, "but I am compelled to put you and your countrymen to some
little inconvenience, lest you should be tempted to escape, when it
would be the worse for you."
And, at another word of command, all the hands of the whole party were
securely lashed behind their backs.
"As for you," said the corsair, speaking more harshly than he had yet
done, as he turned to Tompkins, "if you dare move without my permission,
you are a dead man! Stop there, and if any vessel hails you as we pass
into the archipelago, mind you answer correctly as if you were still
pursuing your original voyage, for we are going for a time in the same
course. I shall hear you, so beware!"
And he waved his sharp yataghan before the first mate's eyes in a way
which he did not at all relish, although he took the hint as it was
intended.
The corsair now gave the man whom he had sent to the helm after the
parley was over, some directions as to the steering of the _Muscadine_,
which was then entering the channel between Rhodes and Scarpanto, nearly
about the very time that poor Captain Harding had expected, although
under strangely different circumstances; after which, he motioned the
captain to precede him down the companion, while he told the others to
remain where they were on deck until he returned, enforcing his order by
placing a guard over them.
"We'll now go below, captain, and overhaul the ship's papers, as I
suggested to you just now," said the corsair in a politely peremptory
tone; and the captain, seeing no help for it, and no object to be gained
by opposing the wish of his captor, obeyed the veiled order, the two
descending to the cabin, where they remained some time, whether in
argument or in conference of course those who were on deck could not
guess, although both Tom and Charley would have bet their last sixpence
that the corsair did not get much voluntary information out of their
skipper.
STORY TWO, CHAPTER SIX.
A SELL FOR THE PIRATE.
Acting apparently under instructions previously given, the felucca,
after transferring a large portion of her men to the merchant ship,
proceeded some distance ahead of her, as if not to cause any suspicions
by her propinquity should any vessel pass by them in their passage
through the channel. But she still remained close enough to be
signalled by her commander should her nearer presence be needed.
When the pirate chief and Captain Harding returned on deck from their
visit below, Tom and Charley could see, from the fierce looks of the one
and the stolidly stubborn expression of the other, that their private
interview had not been of the most agreeable nature, and they soon
learned the reason.
"I have been deceived, duped, despoiled of my just dues," exclaimed the
corsair frantically, as he gained the deck, speaking in English as if
for the special benefit of the two lads and their unfortunate
fellow-countrymen; "and had it not been for my sacred word which I never
break once I have given it, overboard you should go, every one, with
your throats cut!"
"But," said Captain Harding, "we have not deceived you as to the value
of the ship and cargo. If anybody is to be blamed, you must look to
those agents and spies you employ who have misinformed you."
"Silence!" shouted out the other, foaming with passion. "You are a
miserable set of impostors, you English! How could I tell that a big
vessel like this would only be half-loaded with a lot of trumpery stuff
that's not worth the freight; and that her captain had hardly a piastre
to bless himself with? And yet you English people boast of your
wonderful wealth. I call it a scandalous imposition, wasting my time in
this way, and the lives of my men, for nothing."
And he stamped his feet in his rage as he walked to and fro.
Charley could hardly refrain from laughing at the pirate chief going on
in this way about being taken in. As he whispered to Tom, when he had
the chance, it reminded him of the pickpocket who had stolen a watch,
complaining of being hardly used because the article turned out to be
pinchbeck!
"If you like to let us go, I will give you a bond for the estimated
value of the ship and cargo," said Captain Harding, wishing to pacify
the man--who now appeared capable of going any lengths in his fury--for
he did not place much credence in his loudly vaunted promise of saving
their lives.
His suggestion, however, only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
"Yes, and a nice fool I should be to present it for payment, and have
the police upon me. Do you take me for an addle-pated idiot? I tell
you what I will do. I will burn your miserable old hulk of a ship, and
its rotten cargo; and you and she can roast together!"
"And your pledged word as to our lives?" said the captain.
"I told you I wouldn't take them, and my word is good, although I spared
your life simply because I might want your signature. But if the ship
catches fire, and you unfortunately cannot escape from her, of course it
will not be my fault--don't you see?"
And the corsair gave a malignant laugh, that disclosed his real
disposition better than words, and convinced the Englishmen of the
futility of appealing to him for pity.
It was now broad daylight, and the _Muscadine_ was working up to
windward of the cluster of small islands that lie to the northward of
Scarpanto, having just weathered the channel that separates it from
Rhodes, when the topmasts of a ship could be seen rounding the headland
nearest them.
"It's one of our cruisers, boys," whispered Captain Harding, whose keen
eyes had distinguished a pendant flying from the main-truck of the
new-comer.--"We are saved! we're saved!"
The pirate captain, however, had ears as quick as the captain's eyes
were keen.
"Gag that babbler," he cried to his men--in Greek of course--"and the
two boys as well, and bundle them down into the cabin. Stay! take those
men also, and serve them the same," pointing to the steward and Jack
Bower and the other three seamen.
All the Englishmen were hurried below without any unnecessary delay,
with the exception of Mr Tompkins, whom the corsair next addressed,
presenting the captain's cocked revolver as he did so, and pressing the
cold steel muzzle of the pistol against his right temple.
"You coward!" said he with a thrilling hiss on his tongue like a
serpent's; "your life trembles in the balance. If that vessel now
approaching hails us, and you do not answer correctly, as I have already
warned you, this bullet goes through your brain. Do you hear?"
"I hear. I--I--I--hear," faltered out the first mate, while the
perspiration stood out in great beads of fright on his forehead.
The vessel in front came nearer and nearer; and presently she rounded-to
under the _Muscadine's_ stern, the old well-known Union Jack of Old
England floating up to the masthead the while, and a hearty voice
hailing the merchantman through a speaking-trumpet from her
quarter-deck, not half a cable's length away, in true nautical fashion--
"Ship ahoy! What ship is that?"
The corsair was standing by the side of Mr Tompkins, close by the
taffrail. Before Captain Harding had been taken below he had removed
his uniform cap and monkey-jacket, and put them on himself, so that he
might pass for one of the ship's officers, and he had likewise directed
the majority of his men to lie down on the deck, lest their numbers
might create suspicion.
As the stranger vessel approached nearer with the intention of speaking,
as he could understand, he lowered the revolver which he had held for
more than a minute pressed against the first mate's forehead. But he
had it still in his hand, as the trembling Tompkins was aware, ready for
action, only that its muzzle was now touching his side instead of his
temple.
"Now, answer correctly," whispered the corsair in the mate's ear, in a
fierce thrilling whisper that penetrated through every fibre of his
body, when the hail of the British man-of-war rang out in the
air.--"Answer as I told you, or you are a dead man, if fifty English
frigates were alongside!"
STORY TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN.
THE LAST OF THE OLD SHIP.
It was not an English frigate, as might have been supposed, from the
observation of the pirate chief, but one of those despatch vessels that
we usually keep in eastern waters in attendance on our Mediterranean
fleet; and being a steamer, of course she could arrest her progress, and
remain in proximity to the _Muscadine_ without the necessity of
laying-to like a sailing-ship, or any trouble save slacking speed.
"Answer," repeated the corsair sternly, still in the same melodramatic
whisper, enforcing his order with a dig of the revolver barrel in
Tompkins' side.
"The _Mus_--" began the mate in faltering accents. But another savage
dig of the pistol improved his articulation, and he shouted out, as loud
almost as if he had a speaking-trumpet like the officer who had hailed
them.
"The _Muscadine_ of Bristol," he cried with all the power of his lungs,
"from Beyrout to Smyrna with assorted cargo."
"Any news from the Levant?" was the next query from the ship-of-war.
"Stop, I'll send a boat aboard."
This, however, was the last thing which the corsair desired, and he
impressed some whispered instructions rapidly on Mr Tompkins, with the
assistance again of the pistol barrel; and that worthy spoke equally
rapidly, to prevent the other vessel from lowering a boat, which they
were on the point of doing, as they could hear the men piped away by the
boatswain's call for the purpose.
"Fever very bad at Beyrout," sang out the first mate, again, inspired by
his tutor. "Had to leave half crew in hospital! Short-handed! Can you
lend us a few men? Who shall we report as having met us?"
This answer at once arrested the intention of the commander of the
despatch vessel, and prevented his sending a boat to them--as the
corsair had surmised it would, from the fear of his bluejackets catching
the infection, Syrian fevers being as much dreaded in the Mediterranean
as the plague--for the reply shouted back was an apology for
non-communication or help.
"Sorry for you, but cannot spare any men! You'll have to go into
quarantine at Smyrna. Report _H.M.S. Batrachia_, from the Dardanelles
to Malta."
And then, in obedience to the orders of the officer on the bridge, the
despatch vessel circled round again on her way; and putting on full
steam was soon lost to sight in a cloud of black smoke far-away to
leeward.
To the captain and two lads below it was the keenest agony to hear the
welcome hail of the English steamer followed by the mate's prevaricating
reply, when they were certain that but one single word as to the real
truth of the case would have summoned their countrymen to their rescue,
and ensured the punishment of their lawless captors.
Of course they knew that Mr Tompkins had acted under intimidation,
having been compelled to give the answers he did and prevented from
calling for assistance; but both Tom and Charley would have died rather
than have sacrificed the chance of their comrades' escape through any
morbid fear as to their own personal safety.
They could not speak to each other, being gagged, and having a couple of
assassin--looking scoundrels mounting guard over them in addition, as
they lay where they were thrown down on the floor of the main cabin; but
their eyes said, as plainly as eyes could speak, the thoughts that were
uppermost in the mind of each--a feeling of disappointment at the hope
of a rescue being so rudely dispelled when it looked so imminent, and a
sense of disgust at the disgraceful cowardice of the mate.
It may seem strange that the corsair, who had spared the lives of the
captain and the remainder of the crew of the _Muscadine_, and appeared
really on such jovial terms with his prisoners up to the moment of his
going below with Captain Harding to look at the ship's papers, should
all at once change his demeanour and come out in his true colours; but,
the matter is easy enough of explanation.
The corsair had been led to think that the merchant ship was freighted
with a valuable cargo of silk and tobacco, the bulk of which he could
have readily transferred to the felucca, as they were handy of shipment;
consequently, when he found out that the vessel was only half-loaded
with wine and fruit, which would require considerable storage room, and
be then almost valueless in the only markets he could command, his rage
knew no bounds. Added to this, Captain Harding, acting under a sense of
duty to his owners, had concealed the fact of his possessing a
considerable sum of money on board in drafts on bankers at Smyrna; while
the pirate chief, supposing that he did have money, looked to find it in
specie, and was correspondingly disappointed a second time. And thus it
was that he was sorry at having spared the lives of the Englishmen after
the fray had occurred; although he regretted that he had planned the
capture of the ship at all, and placed himself and his companions in
peril for a prize that was uncommonly like the king of Siam's present of
a white elephant to one he meant to ruin; for it was useless to him, and
he could not destroy the vessel or abandon it where she was, in the
regular waterway of communication between the cities of the East, for
fear of her being discovered, and he and his band of desperadoes pursued
before they had ensured their safety by flight. He wished now to get
rid of the ship, and secure whatever of her cargo he could carry away--
for his men must have some booty to repay their trouble and risk; but he
must seek some out-of-the-way spot first, where he might unload her, and
then, as he told his prisoners, burn her--and them, too, as far as he
cared--to destroy all traces of his handiwork and the possibility of
detection. Had he not thought it worth his while, he would certainly
never have attacked the vessel.
To tell the truth, the corsair was in a quandary; so, when the smoke of
the man-of-war steamer had melted into the air, he summoned Captain
Harding and the rest on deck again, and having their gags removed,
interrogated them once more.
"You say, captain," said he, knitting his brows and looking the skipper
straight in the eyes, to see whether he was telling the truth, "that you
have no money, beyond the few piastres and two or three English
sovereigns I saw in your desk in the after cabin?"
The honest seaman could not tell a lie even to an enemy and a robber as
this man was--at least, not unblushingly; so, unlike his usual way, he
could not face his questioner, but gazed down on the planking of the
deck as he spoke.
"No--that is, yes," replied the captain hesitatingly: it was very
different to his round, bluff way of bringing out his sentences with an
honest straightforwardness.
"You had better be careful," said the other in a threatening manner.
"It is strange that you should be bound to Smyrna for more cargo, and
not have the wherewithal to purchase it with! Have you got any more
money or not? Reflect, it is the last time I shall ask you the
question."
Mr Tompkins stood by unbound, while his fellow-prisoners had their
hands bound behind their backs, and their legs likewise tied. He
thought it a mark of the higher consideration in which he was held,
whereas the corsair considered he wasn't worth the trouble of binding,
being one who would not have the pluck to help himself or his fellows.
Unbound he was, however; and, anxious to ingratiate himself further with
those in power, the mate up and spoke, heedless of Captain Harding's
angry exclamation to hold his tongue, and the boys' cries of "Shame!"
"The captain forgets," Mr Tompkins said, addressing himself to the
corsair. "He might not have hard cash, but he has a draft, I know, on a
firm at Smyrna."
"Oh-ho!" exclaimed the pirate chief, a gleam of triumphant satisfaction
passing over his face for an instant, and then vanishing as he again
confronted the captain sternly.
"I thought an Englishman's word was his bond through the world," he said
in a scornful tone, which made the captain redden as his conscience
accused him of having told an untruth, or at all events, of having been
guilty of an evasion.
"It wasn't my money," he said, as if to extenuate his previous denial.
"Then you have got a draft, such as this fellow speaks of?" continued
the corsair, pointing contemptuously with his foot at the mate, with a
kick.
"Yes," said the captain.
"Where is it?"
"In a note-book in the pocket of that coat of mine you've got on," said
Captain Harding, with a gesture at the borrowed monkey-jacket which the
other still wore.
"Oh, thanks! Then it is quite handy," said the corsair, clapping his
hand in the breast-pocket of the appropriated garment, and producing a
thick Russian leather wallet, which he proceeded to open with nervous
hands.
"Respect my private papers," said the captain, as the other fumbled
amidst a mass of memoranda and other documents. "There is only one
draft there, and nothing else valuable, I pledge you my word."
"Honour?" asked the other.
"On my honour there is not," replied Captain Harding with dignity. "I
never said that when you asked me about money in the cabin; so, you may
believe me."
"I do believe you, captain," said the pirate chief with a light laugh,
which might have been caused by the sight of a banker's draft which he
unfolded at the moment, as much as by his words. "I give you the credit
of not being able to tell a lie with any spirit, as you tried to do just
now. Here are your papers; this will be enough for me." And he then
read out the draft, which ran as follows:--
"From Bracegirdle, Pollyblank, and Company, Ship and Insurance Agents,
Birchin Lane, London, to Miguel, Mavrocordato, and Thomasson, Freres,
Fruit Merchants and General Shippers, Smyrna, 17th March, 1881. At
three days' sight pay to John Harding, master of the ship _Muscadine_,
or order, the sum of one thousand five hundred and seventy-five pounds
sterling. Value received.
"1575 pounds, 0 shillings 0 pence. Bracegirdle, Pollyblank and Co."
"This is a very nice little sum of money," said the corsair
complacently, restored to all his previous good humour; "a very nice
little sum of money!"
"Wait till you get it," said Captain Harding gruffly, by no means
pleased at the other's satisfaction.
"Oh, I shall get it easily enough," replied the corsair airily. "You've
only to put your signature to it, and the thing's done."
"When I sign it," said the captain, pointedly.
"Ah! my dear captain, there will be no bother about that, when I ask you
politely," retorted the pirate chief, with a significant look, which did
not have the slightest effect on the brave sailor--indeed it only made
him smile.
"We will see," was all he said in reply, but his determined expression
of face added the rest.
"I can wait," answered the other; "so we will not argue the point, for
at present I have got more pressing matters to attend to."