THE PRIVATEER'S RENDEZVOUS.
When morning broke the vessel that the privateer had been watching in
the night was seen to be three miles directly ahead. She was a large
vessel, and for some time opinions differed as to whether she was a
frigate or an Indiaman; but when it became quite light a patch or two
in the canvas showed that she could not be a man-of-war, and all sail
was at once crowded on to the privateer. The other ship at once shook
out more canvas, but half an hour sufficed to show that the privateer
was much the faster vessel. The stranger took in the extra canvas she
had set, and continued her course as if altogether regardless of the
privateer.
"They have made up their minds to fight," Jacques said to Ralph. "Now
he finds that he can't outsail us he has got on to easy working
canvas. She is a big ship, and I expect carries heavier metal than we
do. It may be that she has troops on board."
The brig kept eating out to windward until she gained a position about
a mile upon the starboard quarter of the Indiaman, then the long
pivot-gun was leveled and the first shot fired. The crew had by this
time all taken their places by the guns, and Ralph and the other boys
brought up powder and shot from the magazine. It was not without a
struggle that Ralph brought himself to do this; but he saw that a
refusal would probably cost him his life, and as some one else would
bring up the cartridges in his place his refusal would not benefit his
countrymen.
He had just come on deck when the gun was fired, and saw the water
thrown up just under the ship's stern, and the shot was dancing away
to leeward. The next shot struck the merchantman on the quarter. A
moment later the vessel was brought up into the wind and a broadside
of eight guns fired. Two of them struck the hull of the privateer,
another wounded the mainmast, while the rest cut holes through the
sails and struck the water a quarter of a mile to windward. With an
oath the captain of the privateer brought his vessel up into the wind,
and then payed off on the other tack.
The merchantman carried much heavier metal than he had given her
credit for. As she came round too, some redcoats were seen on her
deck. Apparently well satisfied with the display she had made of her
strength, the ship bore off again and went quietly, on her way, while
the privateer was hove to and preventer stays put to the mainmast.
Ralph remained below for some time; he heard the men savagely cursing,
and thought it was best for him not to attract attention at present.
The sails were lowered and the brig drifted quietly all day; but about
ten o'clock Ralph heard a creaking of blocks, and knew that the sails
had been hoisted again. Half an hour later the watch below was ordered
to come quietly on deck. Ralph went up with the rest.
For a quarter of an hour he could see nothing, and then he made out a
dark mass a few hundred yards to leeward; immediately afterward the
helm was put up, and the brig run down toward the stranger. Two
minutes later there was a sharp hail, followed instantly by shouts and
the sound of feet; but before the crew could gain the deck and prepare
for defence the brig was alongside, and a moment later her crew sprang
upon the decks of the stranger. A few blows were given; but the
resistance offered was slight, and in a very short time the crew were
disarmed or driven below, and the vessel in the possession of the
privateer. She proved to be a small bark on her way out to the
Mediterranean. She carried only twenty hands and four small guns, and
was laden with hardware.
The privateer's crew at once set to work upon her. At first Ralph
could not understand what they were about, but he was not long in
discovering. The wedges round the mainmast were knocked out, the
topmast lowered to the deck, the shrouds and stays slacked off, and
then the mast was lifted and carried on board the brig. As soon as
this was done, the second mate of the brig with eight sailors went on
board as a prize crew. Everything was made taut and trim for them by
the brig's crew. The English prisoners had already been disarmed and
battened down in the hold, and the prize crew then hoisted sail and
prepared to take her under mizzen and foremast only to a French port.
This, if she had luck, she would reach in safety, but if on the way
she fell in with a British privateer or cruiser she would of course
fall an easy prey.
No sooner was the bark on her way than the privateersmen set to work
to lift out their injured mainmast, and to replace it with that they
had brought on board from the bark. When daylight broke anxious
glances were cast round the horizon; but although a few distant sails
were seen, none of these were following a course that would bring them
near the brig, and the latter without sail and with her foremast alone
standing would not be likely to be noticed. Ralph could not help
admiring the energy with which the crew worked. Ordinarily they were
by no means a smart crew, and did their work in a slow and slovenly
manner; but each man now felt the importance of getting everything
into order before an enemy appeared, and so well did they work that by
midday the new mast was in its place, and before sunset the topmast
with all its yards and gear was up and the sails ready for hoisting.
Ralph had been in a state of anxiety in the early part of the night
lest he should be sent on board the bark and carried as a prisoner to
France. But no one seemed to give a thought to him, and it was not
until far on in the morning that the captain happened to notice him
hard at work with the rest.
"Ah, are you there?" he said. "If I had thought of it I should have
sent you into Best in the bark."
Ralph did not understand the words but he guessed at the meaning, and
said, smiling, "I am quite content to remain where I am."
"Tell him, Jacques Clery, that I have noticed that he works willingly,
and as long as he behaves well he shall have the same treatment as if
he belonged really to the crew; but warn him that if he is caught at
any time making a signal, or doing anything to warn a vessel we may be
approaching, his brains will be blown out at once."
Jacques translated the warning.
"That's all right," Ralph said. "Of course I should expect nothing
else."
As soon as the repairs were completed the sails were hoisted and the
brig proceeded on her way. In the days that followed it seemed to
Ralph that the tactics of the privateer had changed, and that there
was no longer any idea of making prizes. A sharp lookout was indeed
kept for any English cruisers, but no attention was paid to any sail
in the distance as soon as it was determined that these were not ships
of war. Four days later, instead of there being as before five or six
sail in sight at one point or other of the horizon, the sea was
absolutely deserted. He remarked upon this to his friend Jacques. The
latter laughed.
"We are out of their course now, my lad. We passed the latitude of
Cape St. Vincent yesterday evening, and we are now pretty well off the
coast of Africa. Nine out of ten of the ships we have seen were either
bound to the Mediterranean or on their way home. Now that we have
passed the mouth of the strait we shall not run across many sail."
"Where are we going to, then?" Ralph said.
"Well, I don't think there is any harm in telling you now, that we are
bound south, but how far is more than I know. I expect first we shall
go west and try and pick up some prizes among the islands, and after
that perhaps go round the cape and lie in wait for Indiamen on their
way home. You see, one of those ships is worth a dozen of these
Mediterranean traders, and one is not bothered down there as one is
between the strait and the channel with your cruisers and privateers;
they swarm so there that one can hardly fire a gun without bringing
them down on us. I don't suppose the captain would have meddled with
that Indiaman if it hadn't been that he thought the owners would be
pleased by a prize being sent in so soon. As to the bark, we were
obliged to take her to get a new mast. It would never have done to
have started on a long cruise with a badly-injured spar."
"But I should think it would be difficult to send home prizes from the
West Indies," Ralph said.
"Well, you see, although you have taken most of our islands, there are
still two or three ports we can take prizes into. Beside, we can take
the best goods out, and if the ship isn't worth the risk of sending to
France burn her. Then, too, one can spare hands for prizes better
there; because one can always ship a few fresh hands--Spaniards,
Mulattos, or blacks--in their place."
"But you can't do that in the case of the Indiamen."
"No; but a single laden Indiaman is enough to pay us well for all our
trouble. We can put a crew of thirty hands on board her and send her
home. There is little risk of a recapture till we get near France. We
have only to hoist the English flag if we do happen to meet anything."
Ralph was glad to hear that the ship was bound for the West Indies, as
he thought opportunities for escape would be likely to present
themselves among the islands. Madeira was sighted three days later,
and after running south for another four or five hundred miles, the
brig bore away for the west. By dint of getting Jacques Clery to
translate sentences into French, and of hearing nothing but that
language spoken round him, Ralph had by this time begun to make
considerable progress in the language. Not only was he anxious to
learn it for the sake of passing away the time and making himself
understood, but his efforts were greatly stimulated by the fact that
if any of the crew addressed him in French a cuff on the head was
generally the penalty of a failure to comprehend him. The consequence
was that when six weeks after sailing the cry of land was shouted by
the lookout in the tops, Ralph was able to understand almost
everything that was said, and to reply in French with some fluency. As
the brig sailed along the wooded shores of the first island they fell
in with, Ralph was leaning against the bulwarks watching with deep
interest the objects they were passing.
"I can guess what you are thinking about," Jacques Clery said, taking
his place quietly by his side. "I have been through it all myself and
I can guess your feelings. You are thinking how you can escape. Now,
you take my advice and don't you hurry about it. You are doing well
where you are. Now you begin to talk French and understand orders it's
a good deal easier for you than it was, and the men are beginning to
regard you as one of themselves; but you may be sure that you will be
watched for a time. You see, they daren't let you go. If you were to
get to one of the English ports here we should have five or six of
your men-of-war after us in no time.
"If it was not for that I don't suppose the captain would object to
put you ashore. He has evidently taken a fancy to you, and is pleased
with the way in which you have taken things and with your smartness
and willingness. Beside, I don't think he considers you altogether as
a prisoner. Running you down in the way we did in the channel wasn't
like capturing you in a prize, and I think if the captain could see
his way to letting you go without risk to himself he would do it. As
he can't do that he will have a sharp watch kept on you, and I advise
you not to be in any hurry to try to escape. You must remember if you
were caught trying it they would shoot you to a certainty."
"I should be in no hurry at all, Jacques, if it were not that the brig
is hunting for English vessels. You know what you would feel yourself
if you were on board a ship that was capturing French craft."
"Yes, that is hard, no doubt," Jacques agreed; "and I don't say to you
don't escape when you get a chance, I only say wait until the chance
is a good one. Just at present we are not specially on the lookout for
prizes. We are going to join two other vessels belonging to the same
owners. They have been out here some time and have got a snug
hiding-place somewhere, though I don't think any one on board except
the captain knows where."
For three weeks the brig cruised among the islands. They had picked up
no prizes in that time, as the captain did not wish to commence
operations until he had joined his consorts and obtained information
from them as to the British men-of-war on the station. They had
overhauled one or two native craft, purchased fish and fruit, and
cautiously asked questions as to the cruisers. The answers were not
satisfactory. They learned that owing to the numbers of vessels that
had been captured by the privateers a very vigilant lookout was being
kept; that two or three French craft that had been captured by the
cruisers had been bought into the service, and were constantly in
search of the headquarters of the privateers. This was bad news; for
although the brig with her great spread of canvas could in light winds
run away from any of the ships of war, it was by no means certain she
would be able to do so from the converted privateers.
One morning two vessels--a schooner and a brig--were seen coming round
a headland. The captain and officers examined them with their
telescopes, and a flag was run up to the masthead. Almost immediately
two answering flags were hoisted by the strangers, and an exclamation
of satisfaction broke from the captain:
"We are in luck," he said. "If we had not run across them we might
have had to search for the rendezvous. I have got the spot marked down
on the chart, but they told me before sailing that they understood it
was very difficult to find the entrance, and we might pass by within a
hundred yards without noticing it."
In half an hour the ships closed up together, and the captains of the
other crafts came on board in their boats. A hearty greeting was
exchanged between them and the captain of La Belle Marie, and the
three then descended to the cabin. After a time they reappeared, and
the visitors returned to their respective ships. Five minutes later
the schooner got under way, and La Belle Marie followed her, leaving
the other brig to continue her cruise alone. Toward evening the
schooner ran in toward a precipitous cliff, the brig keeping close in
her wake. Ralph had no doubt that they were now close to the spot the
privateers used as their rendezvous, but he could detect no opening
into the cliff ahead, and it looked as if the schooner was leading the
way to destruction. Not until within a cable's length of the shore
could any opening be discovered by the keenest eye. Then when the
schooner was within her own length of the cliff her helm was put
about. She came round, and in a moment later disappeared. An
exclamation of surprise broke from all on board the brig, for they now
saw that instead of the cliff stretching in an unbroken line it
projected out at one point, and the precipitous headway concealed an
extremely narrow passage behind it.
A moment later the brig imitated the maneuver of the schooner and
passed in between two lofty cliffs, so close that there were but a few
yards to spare on either side of her. Fifty yards ahead the channel
made a sharp turn again, and they entered a basin of tranquil water
three or four hundred yards across. At the further end the shore
sloped gradually up, and here several large storehouses had been
erected, and ways laid down for the convenience of hauling up and
repairing the vessels.
"What do you think of that, youngster?" Jacques said exultantly. "A
grand hiding-place is it not?"
"It is indeed," Ralph replied. "Why, they might cruise outside for
weeks looking for the place and they wouldn't find it, unless a boat
happened to row along at the foot of the cliffs."
As soon as the anchor was down the crew were at once given leave to go
ashore, and ramble about to stretch their legs after their two months'
confinement on board. Ralph was proceeding to take his place in one of
the boats when the captain's eye fell upon him.
"Come below with me, young fellow," he said in French. "Jacques Clery,
I shall want you too."
"I do not think there is much need of interpreting, captain," the
sailor said, as he followed the others into the cabin. "The lad can
get on very fairly in French now, and will certainly understand the
sense of anything you may say to him."
"Look here, my lad," the captain began, "you have been fairly treated
since you came on board this brig."
"I have been very kindly treated," Ralph said. "I have nothing
whatever to complain of."
"And we saved your life did we not?"
"Yes, sir, after first nearly taking it," Ralph said with a smile.
"Ah, that was just as much your fault as ours. Little fish ought to
get out of the way of great ones, and I don't consider we were in any
way to blame in that matter. Still there is the fact in the first
place we saved your life, and in the second we treated you kindly."
"I acknowledge that, sir," Ralph said earnestly; "and I feel very
grateful. You might have sent me with the crew of that bark to prison
had you chosen, and I am thankful to you that you kept me on board and
have treated me as one of the crew."
"Now, what I have to say to you is this lad: I know that you are
comfortable enough on board, and I have noticed that Jacques here has
taken you specially under his wing. You work willingly and well and
have the makings of a first-class seaman in you; still I can
understand that you would much rather be with your own people, and
would be rather aiding them in capturing us than in aiding us to
capture them. Consequently you will if you see an opportunity probably
try to escape. I shall take as good care as I can to prevent you from
doing so, and shall shoot you without hesitation if I catch you at it.
Still you may escape, and I cannot run the risk of having this place
discovered and our trade knocked on the head. I therefore offer you an
alternative. You will either give me your solemn oath not in any case
to reveal the existence of this place, or I will put you on shore in
charge of the party who remain here, and you will stop with them a
prisoner till we sail away from this cruising ground, which may be in
three months or may be in a year. What do you say? Don't answer me
hastily, and do not take the oath unless you are convinced you can
keep it however great the temptation held out to you to betray us."
Ralph needed but a minute to consider the proposal. The oath did not
bind him in any way to abstain from making an attempt to escape, but
simply to guard the secret of the privateer rendezvous. If he remained
here on shore he would have no chance whatever of escape, and might
moreover meet with very rough treatment from those left in charge of
him. "I am quite ready to take the oath not to reveal the secret of
this place, captain," he said. "I do not think that in any case after
having been so kindly treated by you I should have been inclined to
betray you. However as you offer me the alternative I am ready to take
any oath you like of silence, and that oath I will assuredly keep
whatever pressure may be laid upon me, it being understood of course
that the oath in no way prevents my taking any opportunity that may
present itself of making my escape."
"That is quite understood," the captain said. "That is a mere matter
of business. You try to escape if you can; I shoot you if I catch you
at it. But I do not think you are likely to succeed. But in justice to
my employers and friends I should not be justified in running even
that slight risk unless convinced that if you succeed you will keep
silence as to this. Now, what oath will you take?"
"No oath can be more binding to me than my promise, sir; but at the
same time I swear upon my word of honor that I will never give any
information or hint that will lead any one to the discovery of this
harbor."
"That will do," the captain said. "I have liked your face from the
moment you came on board, and feel that I can trust your word."
"I am sure you can do that, captain," Jacques put in; "from what I
have seen of the boy I am certain he will keep the promise he has
made."
"Very well then," the captain said; "that is settled. You can go on
shore in the next boat, and I shall advise you to take the
opportunity, for I warn you that you will not get the chance of
rambling on shore again until we return here next time. You need not
come on board before to-morrow morning."
Half an hour later Ralph went ashore with the last batch of sailors.
He soon found that a general license had been granted. A barrel of rum
and several casks of wine had been broached, and the men were
evidently bent upon making up for the spell of severe discipline that
they had lately gone through.
Jacques Clery had gone ashore in the same boat with Ralph.
"What are you going to do, lad?"
"I am going for a walk," Ralph said. "In the first place everything is
new to me and I want to see the vegetation; and in the second place I
can see that in a very short time most of the hands will be drunk, and
I dare say quarrelsome, and I don't want either to drink or quarrel. I
think I am better away from them."
"You are right boy, and I don't care if I go too. We will take a drink
of wine before we start and fill up our pockets with those biscuits. I
will get the storekeeper to give us a bottle of wine to take with us,
and then we shall be set up for the day. This is my first voyage in
these parts; but I have heard from others of their doings, and don't
care about getting a stab with a knife in a drunken brawl. I can do my
share of fighting when fighting has got to be done, but I do not care
for rows of this sort. Still I know the men look forward to what you
call a spree on shore, and the captain might find it difficult to
preserve discipline if he did not let them have their fling
occasionally."
Ralph and the sailor each took a biscuit and a draught of wine, and
soon afterward started on their ramble provided with food as arranged.
Both were delighted with the luxuriant vegetation, and wandered for
hours through the woods admiring the flowers and fruits, abstaining,
however, from tasting the latter, as for aught they knew some of the
species might be poisonous. Presently, however, they came upon some
bananas. Neither of them had ever seen this fruit before, but Ralph
had read descriptions of it in books, Jacques had heard of it from
sailors who had visited the West Indies before. They therefore cut
some bunches. "Now we will bring ourselves to an anchor and dine. Time
must be getting on, and my appetite tells me that it must have struck
eight bells." Jacques sat down on the ground, and was about to throw
himself full length when Ralph observed a movement among the dead
leaves; an instant later the head of a snake was raised threateningly
within striking distance of Jacques Clery's neck as he sank backward.
Ralph gave a short cry--too late, however, to arrest the sailor's
movements--and at the same moment sprang forward and came down with
both feet upon the snake.
"What on earth are you doing?" Jacques asked as he scrambled to his
feet. No answer was made to his question, but he saw at once that
Ralph was stamping upon the writhing folds of a snake. In a minute the
motion ceased.
"That was a close shave, Jacques," Ralph said smiling, though his face
was pale with the sudden excitement. "I did not see it until too late
to give you warning. It was just the fraction of a second, and even as
I jumped I thought he would strike your neck before my boot came on
him."
"You saved my life, lad," the other said huskily, trembling from head
to foot, as he saw how narrowly indeed he had escaped from death. "I
have been in some hard fights in my time, but I don't know that ever I
felt as I feel now. I feel cold from head to foot, and I believe that
a child could knock me down. Give me your hand, lad. It was splendidly
done. If you had stopped for half a moment to think I should have been
a dead man. Good heavens! what an escape I had."
"I am glad to have been of service for once. You have been so kind to
me since I came aboard the brig that it is fair that I should do you a
good turn for once. I am not surprised you are shaken, for I feel so
myself. We had better both have a drink of wine, and then we can see
about our meal."
"No more lying down on the ground for me," the sailor said. "Once is
enough of such a thing as that. However, hand me the bottle. I shall
feel better after that."
Ralph looked about and presently discovered an open space, free from
fallen leaves or any other shelter for a lurking snake, and persuaded
Jacques to sit down and eat his biscuit and bananas in comfort. The
sailor did so, but the manner in which his glances kept wandering
round him in search of snakes showed that he had not yet recovered his
equanimity. When they had finished their meal Ralph proposed that they
should climb up to the highest point of ground they could find, and
take a view over the island. Two hours' walking took them to the top
of a lofty hill. From the summit they were enabled to obtain a distant
view. The island was, they judged, some seven or eight miles across,
and fully twice that length. Several small islands lay within a few
miles distant, and high land rose twenty miles off.
"This must be a large island," Ralph said. "Do you know where we are,
Jacques?"
"I have no idea whatever," the sailor said; "and I don't suppose any
one on board, except the officers, has, any more than me. The charts
are all in the captain's cabin; and I know no more of the geography of
these islands than I do of the South Seas, and that's nothing. It's
quite right to keep it dark; because, though I don't suppose many
fellows on board any of the three craft would split upon us if he were
captured, because, you see, we each have a share in the profits of the
voyage as well as our regular pay, and, of course, we should lose that
if those storehouses, which are pretty well choked up with goods, were
to get taken, there's never any saying what some mean scamp might do
if he were offered a handsome reward. So the fewer as knows the secret
the better."
"Look Jacques! Look at that full-rigged ship that has just come out
from behind that island. She looks to me like a frigate."
"And that she is," the sailor replied. "Carries forty guns, I should
say, by her size. English, no doubt. Well, we had better go down
again, lad. I must report to the captain that this craft is cruising
in these waters. It will be dark before we are back, and I don't want
to be in the woods after dark; there's no saying what one might tread
on. I thought that we would stretch ourselves out under the trees for
to-night and go aboard in the morning, but I feel different now. Bless
you, I should never close an eye. So I propose as we goes down so as
not to be noticed by them chaps up at the store, and then gets hold of
a boat and rows on board quiet."
"I am quite willing to do that Jacques. I don't think I should get
much sleep either in the woods."
"No, I guess not, lad. Come along; the sun is halfway down already,
and I would not be left in these woods after dark, not for six months'
pay. The thought of that snake makes me crawl all over. Who would have
thought now, when I lugged you in over the bowsprit of La Belle Marie
that night in the channel, that you were going to save my life some
day. Well, I don't suppose, lad, I shall ever get quits with you, but
if there is a chance you can count upon me. You come to me any night
and say I am going to escape, Jacques, and I will help you to do it,
even if they riddle me with bullets five minutes afterward."
"I shall never ask that of you, Jacques," Ralph said warmly. "I
consider we are quits now, though you may not. Indeed, I can tell you
that I don't consider that two months of kindness are wiped out by
just taking a jump on to the back of a snake."
There were loud sounds of shouting, singing, and quarreling as they
passed near the great fires that were blazing near the storehouse.
They reached the waterside without notice, and taking a boat rowed off
to the brig. The captain looked over the side:
"Who is that?"
"Jacques Clery and the English lad, captain."
"You got tired of the noise on shore, I suppose?" the captain said.
"Not exactly that, captain, for we have not been near the others at
all. We took a long walk through the woods up to the top of the hill
in the middle of the island and we came back for two reasons. The
first because I have been so badly scared by a snake, who would have
bit me had not this young fellow leaped on to its back just as he was
about to strike me in the neck, that I would not have slept on the
ground for anything; and, in the second place, we came to tell you
that from the top of the hill we saw a large frigate--English, I
should say, from the cut of her sails--five or six miles off on the
other side of the island, and I thought you ought to know about her at
once."
"Thank you, Jacques; that is important. I was going to sail in the
morning, but we must not stir as long as she is in the neighborhood.
So this young fellow saved your life, did he?"
"That he did, captain; and it was the quickest thing you ever saw. I
was just lying down at full length when he caught sight of the snake.
There was no time to stop me; no time even to cry out. He just jumped
on a sudden and came down on the brute as it was on the point of
striking. Had he stopped for one quarter of a second I should have
been a dead man hours ago."
"That was a near escape indeed, Jacques. Are they pretty quiet there
on shore? I heard them shouting several times."
"They seem quarreling a bit, captain; but they are sure to do that
with all that liquor on hand."
"They won't come to much harm," the captain said. "I gave the
strictest orders that all weapons should be left behind before they
landed, and that any man carrying even a knife would have his leave
stopped during the rest of the cruise. Beside, the first mate is there
to look after them. I will go ashore myself at daybreak and take a
look round from the top of that hill. If that frigate is still
cruising about near the island it must be because they have got some
sort of an idea of the whereabouts of our hiding place. We must wait
till she moves away. It won't do to risk anything."
Upon the following morning the captain and Jacques, accompanied by
Ralph, landed. They passed close by the storehouse, and saw the men
still asleep round the extinguished fires. The captain called out the
storekeeper:
"You can serve out one pannikin of wine to each man," he said, "but no
more. They will want that to pull them together. Tell the first mate
to get them on board as soon as possible, and set them to work to tidy
up the ship and get everything ready for setting sail at a moment's
notice. Tell him an English frigate is reported as close to the
island. I am going up to look after her."
Two hours' steady walking took them to the top of the hill. There were
no signs of any vessel as far as they could see. The captain, who had
brought his glass with him, carefully examined every island in sight.
Presently he uttered an exclamation:
"There are three boats rowing together close under the cliffs there,"
he said, pointing to the nearest island. "No doubt the frigate is
lying behind it. They must be searching for some concealed harbor like
ours. _Peste!_ this is awkward. What do you think, Jacques?"
"I should say you were right in what you said last night, captain.
They must have got an idea that our rendezvous is somewhere
hereabouts, though they don't know for certain where, and they are
searching all the island round. If they come along here like that we
shall be caught in a trap. A vessel might sail close by without
suspecting there was an entrance here, however hard they might be
looking for it; but if they send boats rowing along the shore they
couldn't help finding it. Still, there is nothing to prevent our
sailing away now, as the island is between us and them."
"That is so," the captain said. "But if they come while we are away,
in the first place they would capture all the booty in the stores, and
in the second place they might lie quiet in the harbor and would sink
the other ships when they returned. I will go down to the port again,
Jacques, and will send up two of the men from the storehouse to keep
watch here, turn and turn about. Do you remain here until you are
relieved. I will leave my glass with you. If there is anything fresh,
leave the boy on watch and come down with the news yourself. I must
talk this matter over with the mates. We have no direct interest in
the stores, but we must do the best we can for our owners."
Jacques and Ralph watched the distant boats through the glass until
they disappeared round the end of the island, then turned the glass
seaward. Jacques was using it at the time. "See!" he exclaimed, "there
are three sails together there."
"I can see them plainly enough," Ralph said. "What do you make them
out to be?"
"A schooner, a brig, and a three-masted vessel. They are lying close
together, and I fancy boats are passing between them. However, I
couldn't swear to that. They must be fifteen miles away. I expect they
are our consorts, and a merchantman they have captured."
"Can they see them from the other side of that island?" Ralph asked
excitedly.
"I should say they could," Jacques replied after pausing to calculate
the line of sight. "It depends how far round the frigate is lying, and
how close in shore. But if they have sent any one up on the hill
there, of course they can make them out as plainly as we can." Jacques
handed the glass to Ralph.
"Yes, I think I can make out boats, Jacques. What do you suppose they
are doing?"
"Most likely they are transferring the valuable part of her cargo on
board."
"What will they do with her then?"
"I expect they will let her go; but of course that depends whether she
is a new ship and worth taking the risk of carrying her to France."
"They don't burn or sink her, then?"
"No; there would be no good in that; for they wouldn't know what to do
with the crew. Of course they don't want the bother of prisoners here,
and they wouldn't want to turn them adrift in the boats. They might
land on some island near and see us going and coming here, and carry
the news to some of your cruisers. No, I expect they will take what is
valuable and let them go--that is if the ship isn't worth sending
home. I suppose that is so in this case; for if they were going to put
a prize crew on board and send it to France, they would not be
transferring the cargo. Well, we shall see in another half hour."