PLOTTING TREASON.
My escape from Sargasso was due largely to Fidette. Through her I
secured the command of my vessel, the Caribas.
Do you wonder that I loved her?
The fidelity of Fidette to me extended to acts of treason to her
native community. Although the great world was to her only a
tradition she had developed a deep longing to live, as her mother had
done, upon land, and to escape forever from the uneasy, unquiet sea.
One of my first acts on assuming control of the Caribas was to remove
the men’s quarters from the centre of the ship. The first mate was
provided with apartments directly underneath my own, and he was glad
of the change. My purpose in making these transfers was to render it
possible for me to thoroughly overhaul the engines of the Caribas in
the hope that they could be restored to effectiveness. The various
small and vital parts of the engine that had been taken away had been
distributed among the other ships nearby, where they were regarded
as souvenirs. These, by her admirable art of making and cultivating
friendships on the other vessels, Fidette was able to secure, and
one by one return to the ship. This labor of appreciation and love
occupied much time.
Thanks to my knowledge of marine engineering I was able to readjust
the various parts, and when they were all in place I gave the engine
the finishing touches one night during a violent storm of thunder and
lightning, when the necessary hammering could not be heard by the
crew. I next secured great quantities of seaweed, to be used under
the boilers, especially the waxy and oleaginous kinds that come from
the mouth of the Amazon. When thoroughly dried I was confident these
plants would burn admirably. Wood was also procured from the floating
logs.
On one of the large mahogany trees, covered with parasitic plants and
vines, we encountered a huge anaconda. It had evidently been brought
down the Amazon in one of the Spring freshets, and had sustained
itself, probably for many months, upon the birds, nautili, crayfish
and animalculae that gathered upon the branches of the floating trunk.
My audacious plan was to take the Caribas to sea and to trust to
encountering a tow. She was the latest and most valuable possession
of the Sargassons. She was valued for her enduring qualities far
above any other ship they possessed.
I finally reached a stage in which it was absolutely necessary
to take somebody, at least partially, into my confidence. I had
carefully studied the members of the crew, and had fixed upon a man
for my purpose. He was the boatswain, and I knew by my own experience
as a deep-water sailor that that subordinate officer is rarely
popular with the crew. I therefore hoped that, by attaching him to
my interests and encouraging him to hope for advancement, I could
make sure of his secrecy. I sent for him one night and broached the
subject.
We stood alone on the quarter deck to make sure that nobody
was within hearing distance. I led him to believe that what I
contemplated was securing a better berth for the Caribas. Without
being guilty of absolute falsehood, I caused him to think that I had
permission to move the vessel out of the narrow strait in which we
were berthed to the large lagoon just out of the Grand Canal and in
close proximity to the Inland Sea.
This was the highly aristocratic part of Sargasso, and the boatswain
was delighted.
After the watch had been set and the ship’s company had gone to sleep
I visited the engine room, the key of which I carefully guarded, and
found the machinery in excellent condition. I saw the necessity of
being provided with plenty of oil for the engine, and directed that
fifty porpoises should be harpooned and their fat dried out. This oil
I stored in some empty water casks.
How could I prevent the smoke from being observed? Fires would have
to be lighted under the boilers fully a day to generate sufficient
steam to move the engines. The moment a huge volume of smoke was
seen to issue from the funnels of the Caribas a general signal would
be flashed from the ship of the Chief Kantoon, and before we could
hope to get under way we would be beset on all sides by at least one
thousand canoes, each manned by two blood-thirsty Sargasson devils,
who, despite our efforts at defense (and I could not count upon my
crew), would swarm aboard the ship and literally carve us to pieces.
The Sargassons acted strictly upon the motto, “Dead men tell no
tales.” They did not intend that anybody should ever escape from
Sargasso, and I have always believed that the sad end of Arthur Gray
was due to the fact that the Chief Kantoon had, under Gray’s artful
persuasions, allowed him the privilege, never accorded to any other
Sargasson, of revisiting his native land. Popular as he was said to
have been prior to that time, it was notorious that he was regarded
with suspicion after his return. Of course, I knew of no reason
for such distrust. Gray had added one of the finest vessels to the
community, and that ought to have evoked gratitude.
But gratitude is as rare in Sargasso as in the more highly civilized
parts of the world.
The problem of preventing the smoke from becoming visible was solved
by Fidette. Since her active labors for the regeneration of woman
among the Sargassons it had become a very common custom for the
daughters and wives of the Kantoons to do cooking surreptitiously on
board their ships. Many of them could now broil a bloater or make a
crayfish chowder equal to the best Fulton Market cook. In order to
do this they had had to devise means by which the presence of fire
and smoke was disguised. They had found that crushed barnacles,
mixed with bits of salt-encrusted wood sprinkled upon the fire,
destroyed the carbon in the smoke and caused it to assume a yellowish
hue. It then readily assimilated with the dense atmosphere of the
mid-Atlantic, and was not observable during the night by the men on
watch on the other ships. During daylight I feared that the keen-eyed
Sargassons would detect the presence of heat by the currents in the
atmosphere; but some risks had to be taken.
Under the pretext of providing better comforts for the men and giving
them more privacy, I had the fore part of the deck cut up into
cabins, with accommodations for eight sailors in each. My purpose was
to separate the men into groups so that I could handle them. I dared
not trust the entire ship’s company at liberty. I had calculated that
eight stokers would be sufficient to keep the fires going. In one of
the lockers that had remained untouched I had a gross of padlocks,
and these I intended to utilize upon the doors of the rooms. The
plan was to march the eight men to the boiler room under the charge
of the boatswain and myself. We would then lock them in, with the
understanding that they were to have eight hours of continuous work,
after which they would be relieved.
The boatswain was to stand guard over them at the head of the
iron ladder, where he readily could defend himself, because of the
inaccessibility of the position. I carefully instructed Fidette about
the machinery, as I expected to have to rely upon her to answer the
calls of the bell in the engine room.
I hoped to get the vessel well under way and then to remain in the
wheelhouse myself long enough to effect our escape. Once out upon
the broad Atlantic, it did not matter very much whether the engine
broke down or the fuel gave out. If we could gain one hundred miles
of offing we would be in the track of vessels bound for the Canary
Islands, and might hope to be picked up before long.
The greatest problem was the feeding of the crew during the
semi-imprisonment. This serious question was solved by my
recollecting that fifty barrels of salt pork and one hundred barrels
of hard crackers, hermetically sealed, had been stowed in the hold;
and an examination showed that these provisions had escaped discovery
during the possession of the ship by the Sargassons. This greatly
encouraged me. Apparently, Providence had special interest in my
behalf.
Another detail that I had planned was to send the first mate on a
fictitious mission to the Gassoon, a neighboring derelict. Several of
the most untrustworthy members of the crew could also be dispatched
on the weekly voyage for provisions, just prior to my departure.
I knew very well, as I have already stated, that the agitation for
universal rights among the ships had utterly destroyed the rigidness
of the discipline that had formerly existed, and I hoped to be able
to allay the curiosity of my crew when they discovered that fires
were burning under the boilers by telling them that I was about to
prepare a great feast for their entertainment.
Every day’s delay added to my danger.
At roll call one morning a member of our ship’s company was missing.
A search of the most rigid character, in which I joined, because of
my anxiety, failed to find him anywhere on board. I had the boats
counted, and none was missing. If he were a fugitive the man had
escaped over the floating sod--a very difficult act in the darkness.
The chances of his reaching any other vessel by that means were
infinitesimally small. Not to mention the dangers encountered from
the poisonous snakes and scorpions that infested the vines and
parasite growths upon the tree tops, the fugitive could not avoid
thin places in the sod that would appear safe to the eye, but would
yield at once to the slightest pressure of the foot.
The mystery of this sailor’s absence was never explained, but from
the hour of his disappearance until I was safely out of the Seaweed
Sea I did not pass a moment without anxiety.