a foul wind and a heavy sea; and we were driven past Cape Hatteras
before we could make a bit of easting in our longitude. You never saw
such a rough time of it as we had. The watch below had no sooner turned
in than they had to be called up again to reef topsails or make sail,
for there were too few hands to be of much use without both watches
worked together, and so the men had to do double tides, as it were, with
neither time to eat nor sleep comfortably. To add to their hardships,
they were constantly in wet clothes, as it poured with rain the whole
time; besides which, the ship was so heavily laden that we were
continually taking in seas over the bows as she laboured, the water
washing aft of course, and drenching them who might have escaped the
rain to the skin, so that not a soul aboard had a dry rag on. You can
imagine, sir, how the men stomached this, particularly when there was
the skipper swearing at 'em all the time, and saying that they were lazy
lubbers and not worth their salt, when they were trying hard to do their
best, as I must give them the credit of! I spoke to the cap'en, but it
was of no use--not a bit; you might just as well have expected a capstan
bar to hear reason!
"`Mr Marling,' says he, in the still way he always spoke when he was
real angry. `Mr Marling, I'm captain of my own ship, and always intend
to be so as long as I can draw my breath: I'll thank you to mind your
own business!'
"What could I say after that? Nothing; and so I said nothing more,
although I could almost foresee what was coming, step by step!
"This dirty weather had been going on for about a fortnight, or
thereabouts; the wind heading us every now and then and veering back
again to the southward and westwards, accompanied by squalls of hail and
rain following each other with lightning rapidly; so that no sooner had
one cleared off than another was on to us, and we had to clear up
everything and let the ship drive before the gale as she pleased, for it
was of no use trying to make a fair wind out of a foul one any longer.
As well as we could make out our reckoning, with the aid of some lunar
observations Captain Jarvis booked the night before, for we were unable
to see the sun long enough for our purpose, we were about some three or
four hundred miles to the west of Bermuda, when, just as the clouds were
breaking up blue-black against the sky, and the barometer told us in its
plain language that it was coming on to blow harder, and that we would
have worse weather than we had yet had, all the hands, as if with one
accord, struck work--with the exception of the man at the wheel, who
stuck to his post! There was no mistake about it: the watch on deck
refused point-blank to go aloft when the skipper ordered them, for about
the fourth time in the hour, I should think it was, to take in sail;
while the watch below, in spite of the boatswain's hammering away at the
fore-hatch and the capen's swearing, declared that they wouldn't rouse
up, not even if the ship was sinking, and if they were shouted at any
more they would sarve him out. It was a mutiny, there's no denying; a
regular crisis, if ever there was one; and just what I expected, seeing
as how things were going ever since we left Mobile, not three weeks
before."
"Captain Jarvis," he resumed after a brief pause, "no sooner heard the
men refuse to come on deck than he went below. Not to where they were
in the fore-hatch--he knew a thing or two better than that--but to his
cabin, and in a minute he comes up again with a revolver in each of his
fists.
"`Now,' says he in a firm, hard, but quiet voice, not loud--he always
spoke particularly quiet when he was angry, as I've told you; and he was
angry now, if ever a man was! `Now, you skulkers,' he says, addressing
first the hands on deck--`Aloft every man-jack of you! I'll shoot the
last man that's up the shrouds!' They were up in the rigging pretty
smart, you bet, at that, when he had a revolver levelled dead at their
heads. `See that you stow that main-topsail in a brace of shakes! And
you lubbers below, wake up there!' he exclaimed over the fore-hatch,
firing a shot down below as he spoke. `Wake up there and on deck; or,
I'll riddle every mother's son of you before I count ten. You, Black
Harry, I know you've set this pretty little scheme going! Up with you,
or by the Lord Harry, your namesake, I'll put a bullet through your
carcass!'
"With that the watch below, knowing with whom they had to deal, thought
it best to give in; and up they came, Black Harry at their head, as
sullen as a lot of schoolboys going up to be flogged, who had just
thought they had barred out the master.
"`It's no use your grumbling,' says Cap'en Jarvis, with a queer grin on
his face that was more angry-like than a pain, `It's no use your
grumbling with me! Aloft with you, and make that fore topsail all snug,
and set storm staysails, for we've got something rougher coming. I'll
settle with you, Master Harry, by-and-by!'"
"You haven't told me yet about this man, though I've read his name in
the papers. Who was Black Harry?" asked I.
"Haven't I told you about him yet? No; then, I'll tell you all about
him now, for he had more to do with the row aboard the _Gulnare_ than
anybody else! He was a regular dare-devil of a pocket-a-win, as they
are called at Liverpool--a tall, lean, down-east Yankee from Boston,
with jet-black hair, and a swarthy face, which made you think he had
nigger blood in him and got him his name of `Black Harry.' A powerful
man and a good foremast hand; but an all-fired lazy devil about work,
and as sulky as a bear when he didn't get his grub regular. He was no
coward though; and no skulker in danger, as some white-livered chaps are
who ought to be ashamed to ship as sailors, for he'd venture aloft
sometimes when no one else would dare, and was the first man at the
weather-earing when it was `Reef topsails!' But he had a temper as
skittish as the cap'en's, and couldn't stand being swore at. I've heard
him many a time mutter after the captain had been going on at him. I
know I'd not have liked to have said half to him that Captain Jarvis
did, for Black Harry looked like a man who would never forget nor
forgive a grudge.
"Well, by-and-by the hands came down from aloft; and amongst them Black
Harry, who lagged behind the rest, although he had been the first in the
foretop going up.
"`Come here, you lubber!' said the cap'en to him, singing out aloud as
he touched the deck--`you, I mean, Black Harry. I've got a little
matter to settle, I think, with you. Who incited the hands to mutiny
just now? I don't forget, Master Harry--I don't forget!'
"`Neither do I!' grumbled Harry below his voice.
"`What is that, you mutinous dog?' exclaimed the cap'en, flying into a
violent passion again, although he had somewhat calmed down from his
former rage--`Answer me to my teeth, you scoundrel? Take that!' and he
hit a drive full fair in the centre of the forehead, with the butt-end
of his revolver, holding it by the barrel, felling Harry to the deck
senseless, like a bullock under the poleaxe!
"Some of the crew murmured `Shame!' But the cap'en kept up his
authority. `Silence there!' he cried out. `Down with you, watch below,
if you want to see your bunks to-night, and take that hulking carcass
with you, or I'll throw it overboard!' And then the men went below, and
took poor Black Harry, with them; the vessel was made snug under her
jib, storm staysails, and close-reefed mainsail; and Captain Jarvis, who
hadn't been off the deck, except to fetch his revolver that time, once
in the twenty-four hours, returned to his cabin to have a bit of sleep,
leaving me on the watch; the second officer and boatswain, who acted
also as third mate, having also turned in for a caulk and gone down into
the steerage.
"The sun, which we couldn't see, had set long since, before indeed that
little misunderstanding had occurred about going aloft; and the moon
shone feebly now and then through an occasional opening in the clouds,
which had piled up atop of each other so heavy to windward that they
were like a pall in the sky.
"There was only myself and the steersman aft, the rest of the watch,
which were only five in number altogether, being stowed somewhere under
the bulwarks amidships, trying to get an odd wink if the seas that were
shipping in as the ship's bows fell would let them. Not a sound was to
be heard save the whistle and screech of the wind through the cordage,
and the creak of a block occasionally aloft; and I was looking out at
the weather, wondering how soon the next squall would tackle us, when my
arms were seized by somebody behind me, who held them down close to my
sides, and a gag of a reef-knot or some piece of rope shoved into my
mouth, so that I couldn't cry out.
"`Mr Marling!' says a voice, which I recognised at once as Black
Harry's, whispering in my ear, `you need not fear nothing, only keep
quiet, and no harm will be done to you; but if you tries to make a
noise, why, we'll have to quiet you in a way you won't like!'
"With that, you may be sure, I was as tranquil as a mouse, while they
tied me down to a ring-bolt close by the cabin skylight, so that I
couldn't move; but from my position I could see and hear everything that
went on afterwards, although I couldn't get the gag out of my mouth so
as to be able to speak.
"`Now, men,' I heard Black Harry then say aloud; `now, we'll pay out
that devil below! I wonder how he'll like his mutinous dogs at close
quarters?' and he laughed a horrible bitter laugh.
"Then I heard them begin to descend the companion ladder into the
captain's cabin.
"They didn't go far enough! No sooner had Black Harry placed his foot
on the first stair, followed by the other mutineers, than there was a
flash and a stunning explosion from below. The captain, who had the
quick hearing of a hound, must have caught the sound of their tussling
with me on the deck, for he was ready for them with his double-barrelled
gun. I saw him distinctly by the flash through the skylight, standing
at the foot of the companion, while Gripper, the second officer, was
hurrying up behind him through the door leading into the steerage where
our berths were. Yes, I saw the captain. He had fired one shot, and
stood waiting with the other barrel ready.
"`Come on, you dogs!' I heard him exclaim as he discharged the gun.
`There's one dose of slugs, and I've got another handy for you!'
"The men from the sound appeared to shrink back for a second, but the
next minute they rushed down in a body; there was a second report of the
captain's gun, and I received, unbeknown to him, poor fellow--for he
didn't intend it, I know--a slug right in my eye here; and for some time
I was in such agony that I didn't know what occurred below, although I
heard plenty of shots fired, and the sound of hand-to-hand fighting
mingled with oaths, and curses, and cries.
"When I recollected myself again there was Black Harry near me
surrounded by only four others, as well as I could see after wiping the
blood off my face with part of my arm, which I was able to do by
wriggling at my lashings; the rest must have gone under in the
scrimmage.
"`Now, you villain,' I heard Black Harry say again in a voice full of
spite and anger, `I've got you! Lash him up there in the lee rigging!'
says he to his fellow-murderers; and in a trice I saw the poor cap'en,
quite pale and exhausted, fixed like a spread eagle in the mizzen
shrouds to leeward. `Now, you villain!' says Black Harry again, cocking
one of the captain's revolvers which he had ready in his hand, `you said
you would riddle us just now if we didn't go aloft after treating us
like dogs ever since we came on board your cursed ship! Well, Jarvis,
you dog--Cap'en Jarvis, I beg your pardon!--I intend to riddle you now!'
"The cap'en didn't say a word; he only looked at him; but if looks could
kill, his would then!
"`You dog!' said Black Harry again, after a stop to see if the captain
would speak. `I've got three slugs in my stomach, and you've swore
three times at me to-day like a dog--that makes six in all; I intend to
send six shots through your vile carcass without killing you if I can
help it. You knocked me down on the deck with the butt-end of your
pistol, and ordered my body to be taken below by the hands, or else you
said you'd throw it overboard. For that outrage I'll take my last
revenge, after riddling you like a sieve, by smashing in your skull, and
pitching your vile carcass to the sharks--Dog!'
"With that the ruffian fired his first shot with the revolver at his
powerless victim. The captain winced slightly, and I saw the bullet had
carried off part of one of his ears.
"`Ha!' said Black Harry, `nervous, are you? Here's another fillip for
you.'
"But at the same moment the storm, which I had seen brewing up to
windward, burst over the ship; and a tremendous wave seemed to flatten
me down on the deck, the ring-bolt to which I was lashed preventing me
from slipping away. When the rush of water had subsided, and I was able
to hold up my head once more, my wounded eye smarting worse than ever, I
saw that the mizzen and main masts with part of the foremast had been
washed clean away with the shrouds, running-gear, and all their hamper,
and, of course, the body of the poor captain, Black Harry, and all his
companions in crime had been carried off too in the general wreck.
"How long I remained lashed to the deck of the crippled vessel with the
waves dashing over me, the sport of the sea and the mark of the weather,
I know not. The first thing I recollect after what appeared to be an
eternity of torture, was that I found myself on board the _Saracen_, a
screw steamer bound from New York to Southampton, which had sighted the
_Gulnare_ tossing at the mercy of the wind and waves, and sent a boat to
see whether there was anybody alive on board. I was on board, alive
though senseless for a time, and brought to after much kindly
solicitude; so, too, was little Peter, the cabin-boy, whom the mutineers
had tied up in his bunk in the forecastle, and who was also alive,
though nearly starved to death. Besides our two selves, there was no
other living thing; but the bodies of Gripper, the second officer,
Painter, the boatswain, and those of the mutineers who had not been
washed overboard, were found floating about in the cabin, all with the
marks of bullet and shot wounds and other injuries, to show that they
had come by a violent death after a hard struggle.
"When my senses were to the fore again, naturally I informed my salvors
of all that had occurred; and as the cargo of the _Gulnare_ was a
valuable one, her hull not very much damaged, and the weather calm and
favourable, the captain of the _Saracen_, which had so providentially
come across her--and a right good fellow he has been to me!--made up his
mind to salvage my old ship if he could."
"And so he towed her in here at Falmouth, and you made your depositions
along with the cabin-boy, Peter, the only survivors of the catastrophe,
about the facts of the case, for the benefit of the underwriters and the
clearance of your own character?"
"Just so, mister," said the man with the shade over his eye, who it
strikes me from certain circumstances was of American nationality; "and
that's the whole story about `Black Harry,' I guess!"
THE END.