The recollection of the suspicious schooner was continually haunting me.
Being unable also to account for our not having fallen in with the
"Lady Alice" made me feel far from happy. Medley tried to cheer me up
by suggesting that she had probably sailed for the westward, and that we
should find her by-and-by in that direction. At last we reached the Bay
of Tumbez, and came to an anchor off the mouth of the river. I looked
eagerly out, half expecting to see the "Lady Alice" there, but no other
English ship was in the roads besides ours. As soon as we had got off a
supply of wood and water on rafts through the surf as before, the
captain said, "Now, lads, I will fulfil my promise and allow you all a
run on shore for three days, a watch at a time; I'll pay for your
lodging, but you must be back at the hour I fix."
The men expressed their satisfaction by a cheer, and that they might
have three full days, the starboard watch, to which I belonged, at once
shoved off. A surf was breaking on the bar, where an upset would have
been a serious matter, as sharks abounded ready to pick us up. We
crossed, however, in safety, and pulled up the stream for five or six
miles. The scenery was very pretty. In many places the trees grew
thickly on the banks, their branches, among which numbers of amusing
little monkeys were sporting, hanging completely over the water; now we
could see the creatures peeping out at us from among the leaves; now
they would skip off with wonderful activity; now come back and drop
sticks and nuts down on our heads, keeping up a constant chattering all
the time. As an American sailor observed, we might as well have tried
to stop a flow of greased lightning as to lay hold of their tails.
While we were watching the monkeys I saw what I had taken to be a dead
log begin slowly to move, and presently a huge pair of jaws opened and
an alligator glided off the bank into deep water; we found, indeed, as
we got higher up, that the river swarmed with alligators, so that none
of us were disposed to take a bath in fresh water. We might have gone
up to Tumbez by the river, but as this would have given us a long pull
against the current, we landed at a plantation owned by a kind old lady,
who offered us fruit and cakes and wine, and said that she should be
happy to see me again.
We then proceeded for three miles or so through orange groves and
sandhills to the town, a wretched tumble-down-looking place, half choked
up with sand. Here, as it was now dark, we took shelter in a house
called an inn, but, except in the public hall, where the eating and
drinking went on, not a room contained a particle of furniture, so that
we had to lie down on the floor and be devoured by mosquitoes and
creeping things innumerable. There were several young Americans of a
superior class with whom I had associated during the afternoon, and when
we got up we agreed that the wisest thing we could do would be to get
out of the town as fast as possible. We scarcely knew each other at
first, so swollen were our faces and necks from the bites of the
voracious insects. Early in the night the greater part of our men were
drunk, and it appeared probable that before the day was much older the
rest would be so. We, however, had to wait for breakfast, and before we
left the whole place was in an uproar with tipsy seamen and natives
quarrelling and fighting. Escaping from the disgraceful scene we made
our way to the house of Donna Anna, the old lady who had been so civil
to us when we landed. She received us very kindly, and hearing why we
left the town commended us for our discretion, telling us that we were
welcome to remain till we had to return to our ship. As the heat was
too great to make us wish to go out, we spent the day lolling about in a
cool room, and eating when food was brought to us. In the evening we
strolled through the orange groves, eating as much of the fruit as we
desired. Our hostess still further showed her kindness by supplying us
with mosquito curtains to sleep under at night.
We were all sorry when the time came for us to embark, but our men did
not make their appearance, and I don't know when they would have come
had not the second mate gone into the town at daybreak and compelled the
more sober to bring off the others. As we pulled down the river we met
the captain coming up it to look for us. He was very angry, and
declared that he was much inclined not to let the other watch go on
shore on account of the behaviour of the men. He relented, however,
charging them to look out how they conducted themselves.
Soon after they had shoved off, the first mate said that he saw a small
craft of some sort under sail coming in from the offing. All the
telescopes on board were at once directed towards her, and before long
she was pronounced to be a whale boat. On she came, steering for our
ship, which, as we had the British flag flying, was easily distinguished
from the American's. The crew were lying along on the thwarts, the
heads of two of them just raised above the gunwale, as if their eyes
were directed towards us; one man only was sitting up steering, and he
was leaning back seemingly in an exhausted state. I looked at him
several times through my glass till the boat drew nearer, when I was
convinced that he was my kind friend Captain Bland. Yes, there was no
doubt about it. Fearful apprehensions crowded into my mind. What could
have become of the "Lady Alice"?--had any accident happened to her?
Captain Bland would, I was certain, not willingly have deserted his wife
and daughter. How eager I felt to inquire!
Directly the boat came alongside the mate and I, with two other men,
descended to assist up the people in her. "Take them first; they want
help more than I do," said the captain, pointing to the others, one of
whom kept murmuring, "Water! water!"
The others scarcely spoke. Captain Bland himself looked bad enough--so
haggard and thin. We soon had him and the rest on deck and their boat
hoisted in, when their captain was carried into Captain Hake's cabin.
After he had taken some weak spirits and water and some food, he was
able to speak without difficulty.
"O sir, do tell me where are Mrs Bland, and Mary, and the `Lady
Alice,'" I said, as I was taking away his plate.
"I wish, Jack, that I could answer the question," he answered. "They
will be fearfully anxious about me, but I trust that they and the ship
are safe enough. Just a fortnight ago, when off the Galapagos, we
sighted three whales. I went in chase of one of them to the northward.
The other boats pulled after the rest. The whale I was following headed
away from the ship, but still I hoped to come up with him before dark
and make him my prize; I had nearly succeeded, and in another minute
should have had my harpoon in his side, when he turned flukes and
disappeared. Though the sun was setting, I expected that he would come
up again while there was light enough to strike him, so waited on the
look-out, but the weather changed; a thick mist came up, the night
became very dark, and though we heard the sound of spouting in the
distance during the night, when morning broke no whale was to be seen--
nor was the ship in sight. Anxious to be on board, I steered in the
direction where I expected to find her, with, as I hoped, one or two
whales alongside. It was blowing fresh with some sea on, but not
sufficient to make it necessary to cut the whale adrift, should one have
been secured. Every hour I expected to come in sight of the ship, but
we had reached the spot where I thought she would be found, and she was
nowhere to be seen. We then steered to the southward and south-east,
supposing that she might have stood after the boats in that direction.
Once we saw a sail, some small craft, a schooner apparently; we tried to
speak her, to learn if she had fallen in with the `Lady Alice,' but she
kept away from us. At length I came to the painful conclusion that if
we did not before long fall in with the ship, we should run a fearful
risk of being starved. We had providentially brought away a bag of
biscuits of about fourteen pounds weight, half a dozen sausages, and a
breaker of water, and we had besides a pound and a half of wax candles.
A portion of the biscuits and sausages had already been consumed, but I
now put the crew on an allowance, so that the food might last us for
eight or nine days--the time I calculated it would take us, should the
wind hold from the westward, to reach this place, for which I at once
steered. The sausages were soon gone, and then the wax candles helped
out the biscuits. We should have died, I think, though, had not we
caught six flying fish on one day and three another--for our last crumb
of biscuit and drop of water were gone before we sighted the land."
"I hope that Captain Hake will at once sail in search of the `Lady
Alice,'" I exclaimed, "no time should be lost."
I thought of the schooner, but I did not mention my fears respecting
her, lest I should increase the anxiety of my friend.
"Captain Hake has not yet offered to sail, but I trust that he will
without delay," he answered.
Soon afterwards Captain Hake entered the cabin. My friend at once told
him his wishes.
"Sorry that part of my crew are on shore; we must wait till they
return," was his answer.
"Could not you send for them?" asked Captain Bland. "I wish to relieve
the anxiety of my wife and daughter."
"I'll go on shore, sir, and bring them back!" I exclaimed, eagerly.
"More easily said than done," observed the captain. "However, you may
go."
I hurried on deck, selected Pepper and Salt and two Sandwich islanders,
all of whom I could trust--which I could not the English seamen--lowered
a boat, and pulled away. I trusted to Medley and the doctor, who were
on shore, to help me. My aim was to get hold of the men before they
were too tipsy to move. Going up the river we landed at Donna Anna's,
where I found Medley, and together we hastened on to Tumbez. On the way
we fell in with our doctor, McCabe. We told him our object.
"I'll manage it for you," he said. "I'll frighten them out of their
wits, and make them ready enough to return on board. I'll just hint to
them that the liquor is poisoned, and so it is, for it's poison itself.
They saw how the other watch looked when they came back, more dead than
alive, and they'll be ready enough to believe me. I'll go on first, and
then do you come up, and we'll get them down to the boat before they've
time to think about it."
We agreed, and the doctor hurried on. We followed slowly. On arriving
at the town we found some of the men already half-seas over, and the
rest looking very much scared at what the doctor had told them. Some
proposed attacking the place, and burning it down in revenge, but we
suggested that they would be better employed in carrying their helpless
shipmates to the boats, that they might be the sooner under the doctor's
care. The wine-shop keepers and their friends, afraid of losing their
prey, did their utmost to prevent this, but we succeeded, and
half-carrying half-dragging, we got the tipsy men down to the boats.
The doctor observing that exercise was the best thing to keep off the
effects of the poison, the more sober willingly took to the oars, and to
the surprise of the captain we soon made our appearance alongside. The
doctor took good care to dose all hands round, and though several were
very ill from the effects of the abominable aguadente, he got the credit
of saving their lives.
The captain, having no excuse for not sailing, gave the order to weigh
at daybreak. The question was in what direction we should steer?
Should we go back to the Galapagos, look into their harbours, and cruise
about those islands? It was not likely that the mate of the "Lady
Alice," after losing his captain, would remain long in that
neighbourhood when all hope of finding him had been abandoned. Captain
Bland thought that he would go either to the Marquesas or Sandwich
Islands, to obtain hands, without whom he could not prosecute the object
of the voyage.
"Then what will your wife and daughter do?" asked Captain Hake. "Will
they remain on board, or take a passage home in the first full ship they
fall in with?"
"They will remain on board the `Lady Alice', I feel sure of that," said
Captain Bland, in a tone of confidence. "They'll not give me up so
quickly. They'll think that I have got on board some ship, or landed on
one of the islands, or have come across to the mainland. Women do not
give up those they love in the way indifferent persons are apt to do.
They'll not believe I am lost, but oh! how terribly anxious they'll be,
notwithstanding, poor dears, poor dears!" and my kind friend hid his
face in his hands to conceal his grief.
I had all the time the thought in my mind of that abominable schooner
with her miscreant crew, and the terrible dread that she might have
fallen in with the "Lady Alice" while her boats were away, and run off
with her. What resistance could the five or six people left on board
offer, even though they might have suspected her character before she
got up to them? Still, I had the wisdom to keep these thoughts to
myself.
The captains decided on sailing first for the Galapagos, and then to the
Marquesas and Sandwich Islands, calling off all intermediate islands.
They hoped, also, to fall in with other whalers from whom information
might be obtained. Scarcely had we got out of the bay than the wind
headed us, and we were making a long board to the southward, when the
sound of a gun was heard. It was followed by several others in quick
succession. The reports evidently came from the direction in which we
were sailing. Instead of tacking, as the captain had intended to do, he
stood on. I went aloft with a glass, and in a short time I saw two
vessels standing off from the land on the opposite tack to that we were
holding. The leading vessel was a schooner, the other a large ship,
which was firing her bow-chasers at her. I could see the puffs of smoke
issuing from the bows of the ship before I heard the reports. Every now
and then the chase fired a stern-gun, for the purpose, I guessed, of
trying to knock away some of her pursuer's spars, though from the
distance they were apart it seemed to me with very little chance of
success. The schooner showed no colours, but presently I saw a flag fly
out from the peak of the ship, which, though indistinct, I was nearly
sure was that of the Peruvian Republic. That the schooner was the
dreaded craft which had so long haunted my imagination I felt perfectly
certain, as I was that her piratical character was known, and that the
man-of-war was intent on her capture. Still, there seemed a possibility
of her escaping should her pursuer not succeed in winging her. We
might, however, cut her off, and prevent her from getting away. I
watched the two vessels for a few minutes longer, and then hurried down
on deck to tell Captain Hake what I had seen, and to suggest to him that
we might enable the man-of-war to capture the schooner.
"What business have we to interfere with the quarrels of foreigners?" he
remarked. "The chase is probably a smuggler, which has been trying to
land her cargo on the coast, or it may be has some refugees on board
belonging to one of the many parties who are always at loggerheads."
"But, sir, I am morally certain that she is the schooner we saw off the
Galapagos, to which those ruffians who attacked us belonged," I
exclaimed. "Perhaps she has been plundering some English vessel, and
for what we can tell she may have fallen in with the `Lady Alice.'"
I felt constrained to say this to induce Captain Hake to do as I
proposed, I did not stop to consider the effect it might produce on
Captain Bland.
"Jack may be right," he exclaimed, in an agitated tone. "My good
friend, don't hesitate to follow his suggestion. If we make one tack to
the north-west, and then put about again we shall cross her bows, when
it will be hard if we cannot knock away some of her spars; or perhaps
when her crew see what we are about, they'll lower their sails to save
themselves from worse consequences."
Captain Hake made no reply; but, to my great satisfaction, at once put
the ship about, and soon afterwards ordered the guns to be loaded and
the muskets to be brought on deck. He was a man of deeds rather than of
words. Captain Bland thanked him heartily.
"We must see that we are not making fools of ourselves before you need
do that," he answered, somewhat gruffly.
We stood on for some time, and then again put about. After this we
rapidly approached the schooner, which had lately been drawing ahead of
the corvette. The latter had ceased firing, but was crowding on more
sail. Once more we put about so as to be on the same course as the
schooner. Captain Hake had been narrowly scanning her; as we got her
within range he went to one of the guns, Captain Bland took charge of
another, the mate of a third, and I, no one interfering, prepared to
fire the fourth, all run out at the same side. We were now well to
windward, all our guns pointed high. The captain, ordering the man at
the helm to luff up, fired; the rest of us in succession followed his
example. Our crew gave a hearty cheer, for the schooner's main gaff was
shot away, and the next moment down came her fore-topmast, the square
topsail hanging over the side and the jib trailing in the water. Our
work was done, and we stood on. In a short time the corvette was almost
close alongside the schooner, into which she at once poured her
broadside. I fancied that I could hear the shrieks and groans of the
hapless crew as the shot swept across the deck of the chase, or crashed
into her side, and the sound of the rending and tearing of the stout
planks. The pirates had had the madness to fire at the Government
cruiser when all hope of escape was gone.
We were by this time away to leeward, and on the point of heaving-to,
the corvette being the nearest to us. Beyond her I could see the masts
of the schooner; they were bending over away from her antagonist. For a
few seconds my attention was drawn from her, as I had to assist in
bracing round the yards; when I looked again the masts had disappeared,
the corvette was standing on also, about to brace round her head yards--
the schooner had sunk with every human being on board. We saw no boat
lowered to attempt saving the lives of any who might be still floating
on the surface. Perhaps none were seen.
Captain Bland, hoping that he might possibly obtain some information
about the "Lady Alice" on board the corvette at once borrowed a boat and
invited me to accompany him to visit her. He was remarkably silent as
we pulled for the ship, and thus my mind had time to recur to the gloomy
thoughts which had before pained me so much.
"What if on board that schooner there were others than her crew--
prisoners taken from any vessel they might have pillaged? All had
shared the common fate, and I had been instrumental in their
destruction. What if the pirates had, as I dreaded, attacked the `Lady
Alice', and carried off Mrs Bland and Mary?" The idea was too
terrible; I tried to put it away from me. Perhaps the same thought was
causing anguish to the heart of my friend. I was thankful when we got
alongside the corvette; our fears would be relieved, or we might know
the worst. The accommodation ladder was lowered and manned to do us
honour, and the captain, an Englishman by his appearance, stood ready to
receive us. He put out his hand as Captain Bland stepped on deck, and
warmly greeted him.
"I am deeply obliged, captain, for the service you have rendered me in
knocking away that rascally schooner's spars," he said in a frank tone.
"She might have got off otherwise, and given me another long cruise in
search of her. I have been on the look-out for the villains for months
past; for they have plundered numerous vessels, and sunk or destroyed
others I suspect, besides pillaging the villages along the coast. I
should have been glad to have taken them alive to have had them tried,
but our shot made more sure work than I expected."
"Can you tell me, sir, the names of the English vessels the pirates are
supposed to have plundered?" asked Captain Bland in an agitated tone.
"If we are to believe the stories current at the Peruvian ports, I
should say half-a-dozen at least," answered the captain. "Let me see,
there is the `Ruby,' the `Jane and John' the `Lady Alice,' the--"
"Good heavens, sir!" cried Captain Bland, interrupting him. "Were the
people on board ill-treated? Did the ruffians take any of them away, or
did they merely carry off such valuables and stores and provisions as
they could lay hands on?"
"The `Lady Alice' are you speaking of?" asked the captain in a tone
which showed that he did not suppose we were interested in her fate.
"By the bye, though they attacked her they did not succeed in getting on
board, for they were driven off in the most gallant fashion by her crew,
notwithstanding that her captain and several hands were away in a boat,
and it is much feared have been lost."
"Thank heaven," ejaculated Captain Bland. "Blessings on my brave
fellows. I am her captain, sir. Can you tell me where she is? Are my
wife and daughter well?"
"She is safe enough in the port of Payta, I hope, by this time, as we
convoyed her within a few leagues of the harbour, and then stood away in
search of the schooner which has just met her just doom. Your wife and
daughter, to whom I paid a visit on board, were well, and though anxious
about you, persisted in believing that you would be restored to them."
"I knew that they would never give me up for lost. They have been
spared much misery, anxious as they may have been. Thank heaven for
that!" cried my kind friend, grasping the captain's hand. "I am
grateful to you, sir, for the good news you have given me, indeed I am;
and now, with your leave, I'll return on board the `Eagle,' that we may
get to Payta as soon as possible."
Though the captain of the corvette politely pressed us to stop for
dinner, and offered to send for Captain Hake, I was glad that Captain
Bland declined his proposals. Directly we got on board, the boat being
hoisted in, we made sail for Payta, where we shortly arrived. The
appearance of Captain Bland and his boat's crew caused no little
astonishment on board the "Lady Alice," for both officers and men had
given them up for lost. I went into the cabin to break the news to Mrs
Bland and Mary. They guessed at once by my countenance that Captain
Bland had returned. He quickly followed me. "I knew that you would
come back, father. I was sure that God would take care of you,"
exclaimed Mary, as, half-weeping and half-laughing, she clung round his
neck. How blessed it is to possess a perfect confidence in our Heavenly
Father's protecting care over those we love!