THEY CAREEN THE SHIPS, ARE ATTACKED, AND DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE NOT THE
FIRST TO VISIT THE INLET.
It was by this time fast approaching evening, and too late to start
lightening the ships that day, since in the tropics the transition from
broad daylight to total darkness is extremely sudden, the light dying
away after sunset like the drawing of a curtain. The men, therefore,
immediately upon their arrival on board, were piped down to supper, and
ordered by their several officers to turn in early, as the next day
would be a long and arduous one for them.
There was no moon, and the figures of the various men on watch could be
but dimly discerned in the starlight, while the stars themselves,
reflected in the dark water, made the placid surface of the bay look as
though studded with gems, presenting a most beautiful spectacle.
Roger and Harry, although they would have to work as hard as any of the
others next morning, did not feel inclined to sleep, their minds being
still in a state of unrest after their two hairbreadth escapes of the
day. They therefore remained on deck, walking so softly up and down as
to disturb nobody. They had taken but a few turns when their attention
was attracted by the sound of low voices, being those of the men
constituting the anchor watch. Roger and his friend strolled up to
them, and, sitting down on the breech of a gun, prepared to listen to
what was evidently a yarn that the old quarter-master, Cary, was
spinning.
"Yes," they heard him say, "this arn't by no means the furst taime I was
in thaise seas.--Good-even to ye, Mr Trevose and Mr Edgwyth!--No; I
tall 'ee I was 'ere in the zummer of 1582, just after the taime that
that there bloody pirate, Jose Leirya, was sailing of these vury seas.
'E was a fiend in 'uman shape, if there ever was one; nobody was zafe in
anny of the ships 'e tuk. All the men--passengers or zeamen--that 'e
captured 'e did bind and put under 'atches in their own ship, aifter 'e
'ad taken all out 'e wanted. Then 'e zet 'em adrift; but afore 'e zet
'em adrift 'e used to fire the ship in zeveral places, and all they poor
creatures did roast. The childer 'e took aboard his own ship, keepin'
zum on 'em, and the others 'e zold to the plantations. 'E was a reg'ler
devil, 'e was; and they do zay as 'ow 'e be about 'ere even now,
although 'e baint been 'eard of for zum taime. And more; they zay that
zumwheres near this vury plaace 'o 'as buried tons of goold and silver,
precious stones, and all kinds of vallybles; but 'ow far that be true I
doen't knaw. But I do knaw as 'ow I would laike to fall in with 'e with
these 'ere ships; we'd taich 'un a vaine lesson, wouldn't us, laads?"
"Harry, come here a moment," said Roger, jumping down from the gun at
this point in the old man's narrative, and walking aft. Harry joined
him.
"What do you want, old fellow?" said he.
"Well, lad," remarked his friend, "it has just come to me, somehow, as
old Cary mentioned about the treasure of that scoundrel, Jose Leirya,
being buried somewhere about here, that possibly that cipher of ours
which we brought from the _Gloria del Mundo_ may refer to that very
treasure. You see, Cary says that Leirya hasn't been heard of for some
time. That seems to point either to his death or the disbandment of his
crew.
"Now, Cary says he was here in 1582, in the summer, and mentions that
that date was just after the time when Leirya was committing such
atrocities on the high seas. There is what is presumably a date at the
beginning of our document, and that date--if such it is--is 1581, the
year before Cary came to these parts. People do not write in cipher
save to conceal important information from the eyes of those not in the
secret, do they? Very well.
"Now, what would any man wish to conceal by cipher save hidden treasure?
There are other things, certainly, he might wish to write about in such
a way that the ordinary run of people should not understand the writing,
but, to my mind, treasure is the most likely, and the dates coincide
very well. Our date is 1581, and Cary says that when he was here in
1582 it was just after the pirate's depredations; and he has not,
apparently, been heard of since. This, I say, points to his death or to
the disbandment of his crew; and what more likely than that, before
either of these occurrences, he should bury his accumulated booty and
locate its position by cipher? I believe most strongly, Harry, that we
have in our possession the key to the hiding-place of all the treasure
of Jose Leirya--and he must have accumulated millions of dollars' worth
in his time--if we can but come upon the translation of it. What do you
think of it, Harry?"
"Well, Roger, lad," said Harry, "as you put it, certainly it does seem
as though you might be right, and that there may be something in it. We
must make another attempt to find the key to the cipher, and when that
is found I certainly think we shall obtain something valuable for our
trouble, even though it should not be this great treasure of Jose
Leirya. But we had better go below now and try to get some sleep, for
we shall have a hard day before us to-morrow."
They were roused early next morning by the boatswain's whistle, and,
having dressed, came up on deck to find that the boats were just being
got over the side again to take away the kedge anchors, by which to haul
the ships closer inshore for careening purposes.
It was decided by Cavendish that, as the beach was very spacious, and
there were four ships to be careened, they should careen two at a time,
instead of one only, as usual. The vessels that most needed overhauling
and repairing were the commander's own ship and the captured Spanish
vessel, _El Capitan_, which had been rechristened the _Tiger_. So it
was determined to careen the _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ first of all,
leaving the other two vessels, the _Good Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_,
afloat for purposes of defence, should an enemy appear in sight while
the operations were being carried on.
The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were therefore swung broadside-on to
the beach. The anchors were then taken ashore in the boats and carried
up the beach to above high-water mark, where they were buried in deep
holes dug in the sand, with timbers laid lengthwise upon them to prevent
them from being dragged out again when the strain was put on the cables.
The holes were then filled up and the sand heaped high above them, to
get as much weight as possible upon the anchors, and to allow more
purchase.
Then from the cables attached to the anchors themselves, at a distance
of about twelve feet before they disappeared into the sand, a spring of
stout manila rope was led, and fastened securely to a palm-tree at the
edge of the brushwood in a direct line with the ship and the anchor,
thus affording a doubly secure purchase when the time came to heave on
the cable and haul the vessels up on the beach.
Roger and Harry had been sent ashore by Cavendish to take part in this
work, as he wished them to get an insight into every part of the duties
of a sailor, and thus make themselves two useful members of the crew,
for the captain could not afford to carry any man who was not thoroughly
proficient, the capacity of his ships being too small to afford
accommodation to mere idlers.
The lads were, however, very quick to learn, and very anxious to master
all the details of their profession, and therefore never complained,
whatever the duty that was assigned to them. They thus increased their
knowledge and efficiency very quickly, and Cavendish had no grounds for
regret that he had taken them on board his ship.
The anchor belonging to the flag-ship had been taken ashore and securely
buried, and the cable, with the rope attached, bent on to the anchor,
and the _Stag Royal_ was ready for careening. The seamen then tramped
off along the beach to where the anchor for the _Tiger_ had been brought
ashore and laid on the sand, and proceeded with their preparations for
careening that craft also.
They had begun to dig the hole in the sand in which to deposit the
anchor, when Roger's attention was attracted by a sound of rustling in
the wood behind them. He looked round, and perceived that for a
considerable distance along the beach the foliage appeared to be moving
to and fro, as though stirred by a slight breeze. Yet, so far as he
could tell, down there on the beach, there was no wind at all stirring,
nor had there been a breath of air all the morning; the atmosphere, in
fact, was so still, and withal so heavy, that a thunder-storm was
anticipated.
Another circumstance that he noted was that this peculiar movement in
the bush extended only from just beyond where the seamen were now
occupied to a point a trifle beyond where they had been at work a few
minutes before, fixing the anchor of the flagship. Everywhere else the
foliage was absolutely without movement of any kind, as it had been
during the whole of the morning.
Much perplexed how to account for this singular phenomenon, he stood
gazing at the moving foliage, and wondering what it could portend.
The movement seemed to be confined to the one place only, but as he
gazed the motion suddenly ceased, and all was quiet as before.
He looked round to see if any of the other men had observed anything,
but they were all much too intent on the work in hand to take notice of
anything else; and his friend Harry was just as busy as the rest of the
men. He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, thinking that his
eyes might perhaps have deceived him, and set to work again with the
other men.
The hole was soon dug and the anchor deposited therein, planks and
baulks of timber being laid upon it as before. The sand was filled in
and a mound raised above the work, and it only remained to further
secure the anchor by putting a spring on to the cable, and fastening to
a palm-tree as before.
As this last part of the work was being done, and the spring being
lashed round the palm-tree, one of the seamen, named Martin, grasped
Roger by the arm.
"Do you see that, Master Trevose?" said he, pointing.
"What do you mean, Martin?" answered Roger.
"Why, over there, sir," said the man, pointing in the same direction as
that in which Roger had seen the peculiar movement of the foliage some
little time before. "I be sure I saw something shining among the trees
just now. What d'ye think it can be? I only just caught a sight of it
for a moment; but I be sure I beaint mistaken."
Roger looked in the direction indicated by the seaman, but could
distinguish nothing.
"Are you sure, Martin?" asked he. "Because I fancied that I, too, saw a
peculiar movement among the trees over in that direction a little time
ago."
"Yes, I be sartin sure, master," replied Martin. "I only see'd it for a
minute, 'tis true, but there warn't no mistake about it; and it seemed
to me to be very like the glitter of steel."
Roger was much puzzled, and also somewhat perturbed; he therefore
determined to inform the captain of what he and Martin had observed,
immediately upon his return to the ship, but to say nothing to the men
until the work on shore was finished, for fear of distracting their
attention from the task in hand.
This was soon completed, and Roger, calling the men together, got them
into the boats and they pulled back to the ships, leaving the party of
men from the _Tiger_ upon their own vessel, and taking his own crew on
board the flag-ship.
He then sought out the captain, and found him seated in his cabin
working out some observations. The lad duly reported that the work he
had been sent to execute was completed satisfactorily.
"Very good, Roger; very good indeed!" replied the captain. "I will come
on deck presently and see how the tide serves; and if it is suitable we
will haul in at once. For I am anxious to get these repairs effected as
soon as possible, and the sooner we start the sooner we shall be
finished. By the way, Roger," he continued, "as you know, we are
somewhere on the eastern coast of the Spanish island of Cuba; and while
you were ashore with the men just now I have been busy working out our
exact position on the chart."
Cavendish here pointed to a chart which he had open on a table before
him, together with a pair of compasses and a ruler.
"Here we are, you see," resumed the captain, pointing to a spot on the
chart. "Here is the island of Cuba, and here"--pointing to a little
indentation in the coast-line--"are we in latitude 20 north, and
longitude 75 west.
"Now you had better remember that bearing, my boy, in case you should
ever wish to return here when you get command of a ship of your own. We
sailors would call this bearing `20 north, 75 west', leaving out the
word degrees. You, Roger, if you will take my advice, my lad, and your
friend Harry as well for that matter, will start in as soon as you can
and thoroughly perfect yourselves in the science of navigation, for you
never can tell, lad, when you may want it; and if you intend--as I
suppose you do--to follow the sea as a business you will not be able to
do anything without it.
"I will tell you all that you want to know about it if you will come to
me from time to time when I am not busy; and I have here a book which
you may study at your leisure. You will find it very interesting."
Roger thanked the commander both for himself and on Harry's account, and
promised to take up the study as soon as they were again at sea, as he
and his friend would be much too busy for anything of that kind while
the vessels were in harbour undergoing repairs and overhaul. He was
then on the point of informing the captain of what Martin and he had
seen, when Cavendish interrupted him.
"Roger," said he, "I have been much exercised in my mind lately as to
what shall be done with these Spanish prisoners we have on board. There
are nearly three hundred of them, and although many of them are in
irons, and all are imprisoned below, I do not altogether like the idea
of carrying them about with me too long, for they are a dangerous cargo;
and not only that, they are also a great drain upon our stock of
provisions. When we leave this island we shall probably be at sea for a
very long time, as I intend to cruise in the Caribbean Sea, out of sight
of land for the most part, on the lookout for the plate and bullion
galleons from Mexico; and when we finally sail from here I wish to take
on board as much fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables as I can, to help eke
out the ships' stores. Now I do not want to carry about with me nearly
three hundred men who will be of no use to me, and who will only help us
to eat up our provisions faster than I wish. Moreover, these men are a
constant menace to us while they are on board.
"Now I have been working out our position with a view to seeing exactly
where we are, and discovering how far we are at present from the nearest
Spanish settlement on the island. For it has been in my mind for some
days past that we could not do better than land those fellows here, when
we are ready to sail, giving them a few of their own weapons wherewith
to procure food by the way, and defend themselves against any savages
they may meet, and tell them where their nearest settlement lies,
directing them to make their way to it. It is true that I do not much
like the idea of letting loose nearly three hundred Spaniards who are
the enemies of our beloved queen--God bless her--and who will perhaps
compass the death of many an Englishman before they come to their own,
but what else can I do, Roger? Have you any suggestion to offer?"
"No, sir," replied the boy; "I think, with you, that the only thing to
do is to release them and let them make their way to some settlement of
theirs on the island."
"Well then, that settles it," said Cavendish. "While you were ashore I
conferred with others of my officers, and all offer the same advice; so,
when we are ready for sea once more, ashore they shall go. And now it
is quite time that I went on deck and saw about getting the vessels
hauled ashore; that is if the tide yet serves, which it should do by
this time. Let us go."
The captain rose, and was about to leave the cabin, when Roger said he
had something to tell him.
"What is it then, lad? tell me quickly, as I want to get on deck," said
the captain.
Roger then recounted what Martin and he had observed, adding that these
occurrences seemed to him to signify the presence of a body of men
hiding in the brushwood.
"It is possible, Roger," agreed Cavendish, "seeing that you and Harry
were attacked but yesterday. But I thought that we gave the savages so
sharp a lesson then that they would not wish to renew our acquaintance.
Are you sure that it was not wind moving the trees, and that it was not
the sun shining on the palm-leaves that made Martin think of the glitter
of steel?"
"I am sure there was no wind, sir," replied Roger, "for I looked very
closely; and it was no leaf that produced the glitter that Martin saw;
he knows the glint of steel too well to be mistaken."
"Well, many thanks for the information at any rate!" said the skipper.
"I will order a doubly sharp lookout to be kept. We must avoid a
surprise at all hazards, for we might lose a great number of men
thereby."
He then turned and went on deck, followed closely by Roger.
When they arrived on deck, Cavendish considered, upon inspection, that
the tide would serve, as it was now rising rapidly; he therefore
immediately gave orders that the winches and capstans should be manned,
and the ships hove in towards the beach until their keels touched
bottom.
This was done, and soon the two vessels had been hauled in until they
grounded gently.
Then the boats were again got over the side, together with a number of
rafts which had been constructed for the purpose, and the guns were
lifted out by derricks and deposited in the boats and on the rafts, and
so carried ashore.
This unloading occupied a considerable amount of time, and when at
length Cavendish considered the two vessels sufficiently lightened, the
tide was almost at high-water mark.
The boats and rafts were then taken back to the ships, the men climbed
on board, the windlasses and capstans were again manned, and, the
vessels being considerably lightened, and so once more well afloat, were
again hauled in until their keels touched bottom.
The captain considered that they were now far enough up the beach, as
the receding tide would leave them high and dry.
Tackles were next fastened to the masts above the topsail-yards, and
fastened to convenient trees, and all was in readiness to heave the
vessels down as the tide left them.
Roger and Harry had been busy with the rest of the crew, and, as they
worked, Roger had found time to inform his friend of the peculiar
occurrence which he and Martin had witnessed, and he asked Harry his
opinion of it.
"Well," said Harry, "it would seem to me to denote the presence of
savages near us. That there are hostile natives in this part of the
island we know from past experience. Have you informed the skipper?"
"Yes," replied Roger, "I told him what I had seen; but it seemed to me
rather as if he put the circumstance down to my imagination and
Martin's. Nevertheless he thanked me for the information, and promised
to be on the lookout."
"Well," said Harry, "it strikes me as rather a foolish thing to leave
the ships' guns scattered about the beach as they are at present. If we
should be attacked we could never use them, pointing as they are in all
directions; we could not fire without danger of hitting one another. It
would be a good thing, I think, if the captain, instead of leaving the
weapons strewed about the beach as at present, were to arrange them in a
circle round the place where we are working on the two vessels, and get
them loaded in readiness, and we should then be prepared to repel an
attack if it came."
"A very good idea, Harry," exclaimed Roger; "you always seem to be
prepared with good schemes. Go and tell the captain, and see what he
says."
Harry at once ran off and told Cavendish what Roger and he thought of
the matter.
"You two lads," said Cavendish, "seem ever to be thinking of attacks by
natives. Yet your scheme, young man, is a good one, and I will have it
carried out at once; it is well to be on the safe side."
He accordingly gave the necessary orders, and the men turned to with a
will, with the result that the guns were soon arranged as Harry had
suggested, with the muzzles so pointing as to command not only the
adjacent bush but also the whole range of the beach. The weapons were
then loaded, and the party were reasonably secure from an attack in that
direction.
By this time the tide was ebbing fast, and the men took a pull on the
ropes secured to the ships' masts, with the result that the vessels soon
began to heel over perceptibly on their sides. As the tide continued to
drop, the ropes were hauled upon, and soon the vessels were down on
their beam-ends. Then the men, like a swarm of ants, grew busy on their
exposed sides, working with hammer and chisel, paint-pot and brush, and
the scene became one of great activity.
The tide had by this time retreated so far that the hulls of the vessels
were clear of the water, and the men could work right down to their
keels, the ships being hard and fast aground, so that they could not
possibly be moved until the next tide.
As they could not leave the captured Spaniards in the careened ships,
and dared not let them loose to help with the work, they had been
transferred to the two craft still afloat, the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good
Adventure_.
Roger and Harry were slung over the bow of the _Tiger_, both of them
busy with scrapers taking off the old paint before the new was put on.
It thus happened that they were higher above the level of the beach than
any of the others, the part of the hull upon which they were working
being just below the starboard cat-head.
Roger was scraping away merrily, when Harry plucked his sleeve.
"Is that the movement you were speaking of, Roger?" said he, pointing to
the brush.
"Yes, there it is again," said Roger excitedly; "only it is somewhat
nearer this time; and see, I am certain that was the flash of the sun
upon some steel weapon."
"Yes, I see; there it is again. I see it clearly now," answered Harry.
Just then a hail came from below in the captain's voice.
"Roger, my man, the cable secured to the maintopmast seems to be working
loose, and may carry away. Get up aloft, boy, and look at the seizing,
and, if necessary, put a fresh one on."
Roger hastened away up into the main-top, leaving Harry still in his
perch, and examined the seizing. It was, as the captain had said,
loose, so the boy proceeded to secure it afresh.
Having finished his job to his satisfaction, he prepared to descend from
aloft, but, before doing so, cast his eyes round the scene, and nearly
fell out of the main-top in his alarm; for there, coming round a point
half a mile away, and concealed as yet from those on the beach by a low
point, was a large fleet of canoes filled with natives, who were
doubtless hoping to come upon the beached vessels unawares. They would
certainly have done so had it not been for the fortunate circumstance of
Roger being sent aloft.
He threw another glance to seaward, to see if he could count the canoes,
and found that there must be quite a hundred of them; then he took a
survey of the brushwood inland, and found that his suspicions as to
savages being present there were only too true. At his greater
elevation he found himself looking down upon quite a horde of them armed
with spears, bows and arrows, and clubs. They were advancing slowly
through the bush, and their stealthy movement forward had occasioned the
swaying to and fro of the foliage that Roger first, and Harry
afterwards, had observed.
Roger could not tell whether or not the natives had seen him, and were
aware that they were discovered, but hurried down from the main-top with
such speed that, when he had reached the last ratline of the rigging, he
lost his footing and fell on his back on the sand at the very feet of
Cavendish.
Fortunately for him the sand was soft, and he was not much hurt, though
a good deal shaken. Pulling himself together, he got on his feet and at
once told Cavendish what he had seen.
There was no time to lose; a boat was promptly sent away with messengers
to the two vessels afloat, the _Good Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_, to
warn them to be in readiness; and the trumpet sounded for the men to
cease work and muster. Arms were hurriedly served out; men were
stationed at the guns, which the captain was now very glad he had loaded
and arranged according to Harry's advice; and very soon they were as
ready for the attack as was possible in the short time at their
disposal.
Meanwhile the two vessels afloat had lifted their anchors, and were
standing closer in, the better to defend their now helpless consorts.
It was evident that the natives in the bush were waiting for their
friends in the canoes to approach closer before they attacked, and this
hesitation saved the English the loss of a number of men; for had the
savages attacked while the men were at work on the ships, the latter
would have been taken at a serious disadvantage, and the loss would have
been very heavy.
As the first canoe made its appearance round the point, a perfect
pandemonium of savage and ear-splitting yells arose from the bush, and a
loud noise of crashing and crackling announced that the enemy there were
coming along at their utmost speed. The outcry was answered from
seaward as the canoes came pouring into the inlet.
"Now, stand steady, lads!" shouted the captain. "As they come in upon
us give them a round from the guns, and load again if you have time;
then a volley from the muskets; and after that we must trust to our good
swords. But keep cool, and do not throw away a shot."
As he finished speaking the enemy burst from the bush like a swarm of
angry bees, and charged at full speed at the little band of white men
opposed to them; whereupon a perfect storm of grape-shot, old nails,
rusty bolts, pieces of scrap-iron, and even stones, with which the
cannon had been hastily loaded, went hissing through their close ranks;
and, from the piercing screams and yells of agony that at once arose
from them, the execution must have been terrible. Yet they poured out,
checked only for a moment.
"Fire again!" roared the captain; and the muskets crashed out in a
rattling volley, the bullets mowing the natives down in swathes.
This second discharge checked them and caused them to waver; but a tall
man, gaily bedecked with feathers, instantly sprang from the ranks, and,
haranguing them, called to his comrades to follow him, he himself
leading the charge.
They soon reached the guns, and, leaping over them before they could
again be loaded, were at once among the English, who had now to fight
for dear life.
Howling with fury, they stabbed and slashed and struck with spear and
club; and from the other side of the little circle came a shower of
well-placed arrows, and many a brave seaman fell writhing his life out
on the sand, which by this time was assuming a sinister crimson hue.
Roger and Harry, each armed with an excellent sword borrowed from the
ship's armoury, were here, there, and everywhere, but always together,
doing much execution, and repeatedly saving each other's lives.
Cavendish, in the front of his men, swept his long blade from side to
side, and as it fell, flashing meteor-like in the brilliant sunshine,
the naked warriors sank before it in heaps.
Now from seaward came the crashing discharges of heavy guns, followed by
renewed shrieks and cries, as the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_
poured their broadsides into the closely-packed canoes.
"God grant," muttered Cavendish, "that those other vessels of ours may
keep the canoes off; for if these fellows are reinforced, we can never
hold out against them."
But nobody had time to see how the other action was progressing, for all
were too busy with the work in hand, which was the task of defending
their own lives.
Twice had the gallant little band of Englishmen driven the savages back
over the barricade formed by the ships' guns, and twice had the enemy,
led by the tall savage, forced their way in again.
At last, seeing clearly that all hinged upon this man's downfall,
Cavendish made many strenuous efforts to reach him; but for some time he
failed, owing to the press. At length, however, an opening occurred,
and Cavendish, rushing forward, stood face to face with his arch-enemy.
The chief was a man of mighty stature, and evidently of enormous
strength, standing nearly seven feet high; and at first sight the
disparity between the two adversaries seemed enormous. But what the
English captain lacked in height he made up in strength and agility.
Sword in hand he circled round and round his gigantic foe, watching like
a cat for an opportunity to strike a deadly blow.
But the savage took the initiative, and, raising his spear, darted it at
the Englishman with all his force. Cavendish, however, was not to be
caught so easily, and, taking the shaft of the spear with the edge of
his sword, he parried the thrust, and the weapon merely ripped his shirt
instead of piercing his body.
Before the native could recover himself, and guard his body, the English
captain thrust with all his strength, quite unprepared for the wily
savage's next move.
Seemingly careless of the wound that he inflicted upon himself, the
savage caught the keen blade of his adversary in his left hand, and,
although the weapon lacerated his hand in a fearful manner, he succeeded
in wresting it from the captain's grasp, while, at the same time
flinging away his spear, he seized Cavendish round the lower part of the
body, lifted him clear of the ground, and dashed him to the earth,
himself falling with his antagonist.
The pair rolled upon the ground, each striving to obtain a grip of the
other's right arm, to prevent any other weapon being used. Now the
savage and now the white man was uppermost, but at length, with a huge
effort, Cavendish twisted himself from under his foe, and lay
full-length on top of him, feeling for his dagger. The chief, however,
had likewise seized a knife which hung at his girdle, and, before the
captain could draw his weapon, he plunged his knife into Cavendish's
side.
The Englishman's grasp relaxed, he slipped from his position, and lay
upon his side, writhing on the sand. The native now rose to his knees
and raised his arm to deal a fatal blow; but, even as that blow fell, a
sword flashed through the air, and arm and knife fell to the ground
together.
Roger, for it was he who had thus appeared in the nick of time, at once
turned his sword and drove it through the heart of the chief, who rolled
over lifeless at his feet. The young hero then raised his captain in
his arms, and, staggering out of the press of the battle, laid him down
out of sight behind a gun-carriage.
Meanwhile the vessels afloat in the bay had been giving a very good
account of the enemy in the canoes. The natives, it was clear, had been
watching, and, having seen the preparations for careening the ships, had
hoped to find all four hauled up; in which case they would have secured
an easy victory from force of numbers alone, as the ships would then
have been unable to use their guns against the force in the canoes. But
as it was they had to deal with two fully-prepared ships, and, after
several fruitless attempts to board, were now hauling off with the
remnant of their fleet, most of the canoes having already been destroyed
by the broadsides from the _Elizabeth_ and the _Good Adventure_.
The land force, seeing their companions in the canoes withdrawing, and
also having lost their chieftain, now began to waver. Observing this,
the English hastily formed up into line, and, with a loud cheer, charged
the enemy afresh, hewing right and left with hearty goodwill.
This fierce rally proved altogether too much for the savages, and they
broke and fled precipitately.
The English now rushed to their guns, and, hastily completing the
loading which had been checked at the first onslaught of the enemy, gave
the flying savages another dose of grape and canister that strewed the
beach with dead and dying, and further hastened the flight of the
survivors, who quickly vanished in the recesses of the thick bush.
The enemy thus disposed off, finally as they hoped, Roger and Harry went
off to attend to the captain.
They found him sitting up. He averred that his hurt was only a flesh
wound; and after asking for, and obtaining, a draught of water, the
gallant fellow got on his feet and went off to survey the scene of
carnage.
Over a hundred of the natives lay dead on the sands; and a number of
wounded were seen crawling towards the brush, endeavouring to escape.
They were allowed to go, as the English could not be burdened with
wounded savages, and were indisposed to slay them in cold blood. There
were twenty-three of the Englishmen who would never again answer the
roll-call; and over forty wounded, who were conveyed on board the _Good
Adventure_ and the _Elizabeth_, afloat in the bay. The dead, both black
and white, were, for health's sake, immediately buried in the sand where
they lay.
Cavendish, after having had his wound bound up, ordered a stockade to be
at once built, and loopholed for guns and muskets, for their future
defence, in the improbable event of the savages not having already
received a severe enough lesson.
The seamen were now divided into two parties. One half of them were to
continue the work of repairs and overhauling on the two vessels then
careened, the _Stag Royal_ and the _Tiger_, and the remaining half were
to work upon the stockade.
Then, this matter arranged, Cavendish called Roger to him, and, first
thanking him for his timely rescue and the saving of his life, he put
the lad in command of the party who were to build the stockade.
Roger was also publicly thanked, in the presence of officers and men,
for the warning he had given, which enabled the party to make their
hasty preparations for the reception of the natives, without which the
whole party on shore would most likely have been cut off to a man. And
if the ships in the bay had not likewise been warned, it was quite
within the bounds of possibility that they would have been boarded
before the guns could have been loaded and brought to bear on the
canoes; in which case there could be little doubt that the savages would
have captured the vessels through sheer weight of numbers, for there
were several hundred men in the canoes.
It ought to be mentioned that when Cavendish gave Roger the command of
the company to be employed in building the stockade, he also endowed him
with full power to use his own discretion as to how the work should be
carried out, only occasionally giving the lad a few hints. Invested
thus with such great responsibility, and with such important duties to
execute, Roger naturally needed a lieutenant, and he selected Harry for
the post, dividing his men into two parties, one of which he placed
under the command of his friend.
This arranged, he sent Harry away into the woods with his men, armed
with axes and bush knives, to cut timber for the stockade, while he
himself, with his own party, remained on the beach, digging holes in
which to deposit the uprights when they were cut, and also digging a
ditch round where the palisade was to be, in order to drain off any
water that might accumulate, and thus prevent the interior of their
small fort from being flooded.
Harry and his gang soon returned with a load of stout stakes, plenty of
suitable trees for the purpose being found close at hand. Depositing
these on the beach, he then returned into the woods for more material,
Roger and his men meanwhile proceeding to plant the main posts in a ring
round the guns.
It was not long ere they had driven a row of posts deep and firm into
the sand, starting from the margin of the beach nearest the water's
edge.
This brought them, in the direction in which they were going, fairly
close up to where the woods ceased at their junction with the beach.
Roger was watching the men drive in the next post with heavy wooden
mallets, procured from the ship, when he observed that, although they
were hammering hard at the stump, it did not seem to be going down as
quickly as it should; indeed, upon closer inspection, it did not appear
to be moving downwards at all. And, further, the mallets, instead of
giving out a dull sound, as they had done whilst driving through sand,
now gave out a sharper and quite different sound as the top of the post
was struck.
One of the men engaged stepped up to Roger and touched his hat. "It
seems to me, sir," said he, "as though something was stopping of this
here post from going down any furder. I expects as how there is a stone
or summat in the sand under the point. Do you think that ere stump is
down fur enough as it is, or shall us pull un up and put un in
somewheres else?"
Roger stepped up and shook the post, and, finding it quite loose,
decided that it would have to be driven deeper in order to be secure.
Nevertheless it was necessary to space the posts at equal intervals one
from another, if his ideas were to be carried out; he therefore ordered
the stump to be pulled up, the obstruction removed, and the post driven
down again in the same position.
The seamen thereupon laid hold of the post, and, all hauling together,
it soon came out; and with shovels and crowbars they began to break down
the sand and enlarge the hole, so as to get at whatever was in the way
and remove it.
It was not long ere the shovel of one of the men struck upon something
hard, and the man, dropping upon his knees, went to work to scrape the
sand away with his hands, presently laying bare to view what was
apparently part of a spar of some kind, not old or worm-eaten, but
seemingly almost new. Having located this, they started to clear the
sand away from the whole length of the piece of timber, and, while doing
so, found that there were two other poles or spars laid alongside it.
After an hour's hard work the three spars were unearthed, and proved to
be the three poles of a set of sheer-legs, which had evidently only
quite recently been hidden.
Roger then instructed the men to start probing in the sand, to see
whether there might be anything else buried, and he himself took a boat
and pulled away over the bay to the _Elizabeth_ to inform Cavendish of
his discovery.
He found the captain lying in his bunk nursing his recent wound, and
informed him of the circumstance, asking also what he should do in the
matter.
"You have dug out of the sand what you think is a set of sheer-legs, eh,
boy?" said the captain, raising himself in his berth on one elbow. "And
have you found anything beside?"
"No, sir," said Roger in reply, "there was nothing else dug up when I
left; but I told the men to probe the sand, whilst I came off to you, to
see if there was anything else there."
"Well," responded the captain, "I must look into this. I will get up
and come ashore with you; but just go and call the surgeon first; I wish
him to bind this wound of mine up again before I leave the ship."
Roger did so; and, the surgeon having dressed and bound up Cavendish's
hurt again, the two descended the ship's side and, getting into the
boat, were rowed ashore.
When they reached the beach they saw that the men had already lifted out
the three sheer-leg poles and laid them on the sand, and now a gang of
men were hauling upon a rope attached to something still in the sand.
When Cavendish and Roger came up to the spot they saw that the top of an
iron chest had been uncovered, and the men had fastened a rope to a ring
in the lid, and were now hauling on the rope to drag the chest clear.
Cavendish watched the seamen a moment, and then went to examine the
poles. After a few minutes' observation, he said to Roger: "It is
pretty evident to me, boy, that this inlet has been used before for some
such purpose as that for which we are using it, namely, for careening
vessels for repairs and refit. These poles have been employed for
lifting guns or other heavy material taken out of a ship or from off a
raft. Now I wonder who it may be that has used these things? The
Spaniards would not need to use this inlet for any such purpose, for
they have their own ports on the island, where this kind of work could
be done far better than here. Nor can they have been Englishmen, I
should think, for if this place were known to any of our own people it
would be marked on the chart, and we should have heard of it, most
certainly. Also, the fact that these things have been buried points to
the certainty that the people who have hidden them intend to return and
use them again. If they had not meant to come back, they would have
taken them with them when they left. No, it is evident to me that the
people who left these articles will return periodically to this place to
refit; and as this spot is almost unknown, as well as being lonely and
secluded, it would seem to my poor understanding that the men who use
this place are not Spaniards or English seamen proper, but pirates. It
also occurs to me that there may be something in this box that they are
just getting out which will tell us what we want to know."
As the captain finished speaking, the box came up suddenly, and the
seamen, who were hauling manfully on the rope, fell upon their backs,
only to scramble quickly to their feet again with much laughter at the
mishap.
"Now, men," said Cavendish, who had a habit of taking his crew into his
confidence, "before we go any further, let me tell you that I believe
this inlet to be a pirate's resort, which they visit periodically for
the purpose of effecting repairs. If so, we must capture them if we
can. We must, therefore, be careful to leave no traces of our own visit
here or they may become alarmed and desert the place. Therefore all
this gear must be replaced exactly as we found it, before we sail, and
this box must not be broken open, but the lock must be picked instead.
And if we replace everything exactly as we found it, the pirates--if
such they be--will not suspect that anyone else has been here; they will
still continue to use the inlet, and some day they will walk right into
the little trap that I intend to set for them. Now, lads, up with that
chest, and be careful with it. Pass the word for the carpenter and
armourer to come here and bring their tools."
These two men were soon on the spot, and between them they had the chest
open in a few minutes. An eager examination of its contents showed that
there was nothing of any intrinsic value contained therein; but there
were documents and papers written in Spanish which abundantly verified
the captain's conjecture. For from these Cavendish, who could read and
understand Spanish perfectly, learned that the bay where they were now
lying was indeed the resort of a pirate crew; while the name of the
chief miscreant, as ascertained from the papers, was Jose Leirya. The
documents gave, among other particulars, a detailed account of the
scoundrel's doings ever since he had started his nefarious trade on the
Spanish Main; and the mere recital of his atrocities proved enough to
make every man of them there present swear a great oath to hunt the
villain down wherever he might be, and hang him, with all his rascally
crew, from the yard-arms of his own ship.
Nothing else of any importance having been found, the chest was
carefully locked up again, after the papers had been put back,
everything replaced in its former position and buried in the sand once
more, the utmost care being taken to destroy all evidence of the things
having been disturbed.
After this little episode the work on the ships went steadily forward.
The _Tiger_ and the _Stag Royal_ were soon finished, and the _Elizabeth_
and the _Good Adventure_ took their places.
These last-named vessels received the same attention as their consorts,
and were in a fortnight pronounced quite sound and once more ready for
sea. They were hauled off the beach, and Cavendish had the great
satisfaction of seeing his little squadron of four ships once more all
ataunto and ready to sail.
The next morning Cavendish called a meeting of his officers in his
cabin, and their long and earnest consultation resulted in the decision
that they should cruise, as originally intended, up the Mexican coast
and in the Caribbean, with an addendum to the effect that special
efforts should be made to capture the pirate Jose Leirya, whose
atrocious deeds, as recorded by his own hand, had made every man in the
fleet his enemy, determined to hunt him ruthlessly to his death.
This having been arranged, preparations were forthwith made for leaving.
The Spaniards were brought on deck in squads, and armed with weapons
sufficient to enable them to obtain food, or successfully defend
themselves against the attacks of savages. They were then sent ashore
in boat-loads, the ships all having their broadsides trained on the
beach where they landed, to prevent treachery on their part.
In the last boat-load went Alvarez and de Soto, both of whom Roger had
seen on the _Gloria del Mundo_ at the time of the engagement with the
Spanish fleet.
De Soto gracefully thanked his captors for their courtesy and kindness
as he went over the side, but Alvarez scowled heavily round him, and
looked attentively at every face near him before he went, as though he
meant to fix their features on his memory, that he might recognise them
again in the event of a future meeting. Then, with a glare of hatred at
the retreating form of de Soto, he turned his back without a word and
went also.
This completed the landing of the prisoners, and very glad the
Englishmen were to be rid of the responsibility and risk.
"That fellow Alvarez will know us again when next we meet," said
Cavendish with a laugh, to Roger, who was standing by his side watching
the Spaniards on the beach.
"Yes," replied Roger, "and he means mischief, I am sure. I should be
very sorry for any one of us who might be unfortunate enough to get into
his power."
"He seems to hate de Soto also pretty thoroughly," said Harry. "Did you
see the look he gave him as he went over the side?"
"Ay," answered Roger, who went on to tell of Alvarez's little soliloquy
relative to de Soto while searching for the papers in the cabin of the
sinking _Gloria del Mundo_. "He will do de Soto a bad turn, of that I
am sure, if he ever gets the opportunity," remarked Roger in conclusion.
All was now ready for their departure. The Spaniards had formed up on
the beach and marched off in order into the bush, and were by this time
nowhere to be seen.
Sail was hoisted and, the flag-ship leading, the little squadron passed
out between the heads one after another on their way to the coast of
Mexico; and by evening the island was merely a long grey line on the
eastern horizon, while all eyes were strained toward the golden west,
each man eager for the first sight of a sail that might prove to be a
richly-laden galleon, or even the pirate Jose Leirya. Later in the
evening the moon rose in all her tropic glory, and the sea in her wake
gleamed like one huge speckless sheet of silver.
Behind them, in the bush on the island, by the evening camp-fire,
Alvarez, with certain other choice spirits of his own stamp, was
plotting grim and deadly evil by the light of the same moon which lit
the English adventurers on their way.