"We were now about two days' sail from the island of Porto Rico, and we
had discovered from the ship's papers that it was from the Port of San
Juan in that island that she had recently sailed.
"The name of the craft was the _Villa de Vera Cruz_, and our plan was to
re-christen her, alter her rig and general appearance, and sail boldly
into the Port of San Juan, hoping to be taken for some vessel just
arrived from Spain or elsewhere. Then, if unmolested, we should examine
the harbour; and, if it were found to contain any vessel suitable for
our purpose, the plan was that we were to wait for nightfall, and then
board the other vessel by means of the boats, capture her, and sail out
of the harbour again before daylight with both vessels. And when once
well out of sight of land, and reasonably safe from pursuit, all the
survivors of her crew, if any, were to be killed and flung overboard.
All stores, cargo, and guns were to be transferred to the new capture,
and our present craft sunk--as we had done with the galley.
"It had become a saying with us that `dead men tell no tales'; so it was
agreed to kill every soul we captured, taking care that none escaped us.
We should thus--so we believed--keep our movements secret for some
considerable period at any rate. For--it is useless for me to attempt
to disguise the fact--we had not been in possession of our prize
twenty-four hours ere we had agreed to start piracy in earnest, preying
on all nations, and selecting some nook where we could hide what
treasure we captured.
"Well, we duly arrived in the roads of San Juan, and anchored well out
of gunshot from the forts, seemingly without exciting any suspicion
whatever. We carefully examined the roadstead, and there, sure enough,
was just the craft for our purpose; but she was lying right under the
guns of the fort. She was a pretty vessel: schooner-rigged, very low in
the water, and--as we found out when we took her--of very deep draught;
broad in the beam, and `flush-decked' fore and aft, with no raised fore
or after castles. We could see, by her open ports, that she carried
twelve guns of a side--nine-pounders they were,--with a long gun forward
of her foremast that threw a thirty-two pound shot. She was therefore
quite heavily armed enough for our purpose, and there would be no need
to transfer our old guns to her when she was captured; and we should
thus be saved a great deal of labour. Her masts were very long and
tapering, with a big rake aft, and from a distance the vessel looked
overmasted; but when one got on board her one saw that her great width
of beam gave her the stiffness necessary to carry such lofty masts with
their corresponding spread of sail. In short, she was just what we
wanted, and, indeed, we could not have had a ship better suited to our
purpose even though we had built her ourselves. Needless to say, we
determined to cut her out from under the guns of the fort, and capture
her, at any risk, that very night. During the day we got up our arms,
loaded our pistols, sharpened up our swords and cutlasses, and got all
ready for the night attack. We were in a fever of impatience to try our
luck, and could hardly bring ourselves to wait until dark, still less
until midnight, which we decided was the earliest hour at which we could
make an attempt. So great was our excitement and impatience that we
strove to allay them by drinking raw spirits continually; and by night
we were mad with drink, the only effect of which was to turn us into a
gang of demons who would stop at nothing. It was perhaps due to the
drink--though we did not know it--that we actually took the vessel after
all; for we encountered a most stubborn resistance; and had there been
any people in the fort, they would certainly have opened fire upon us,
and we should have been killed to a man. Luckily, as it happened, for
us, there was a carnival in progress in the town that night, and nearly
every man in the place was attending it. Those who had not got leave
deserted, and went all the same, even to the last sentry; so that when
we made our attack there was not a solitary soldier in the fort.
"At length the hour came; we got our boats over noiselessly, and pulled
away toward the schooner. It was dark as the inside of a wolf's mouth,
and there was but little phosphorescence in the water. We pulled with
muffled oars, and were nearly alongside her, when someone on board must
have caught a glimpse of the faint flash as our oars dipped, for we
heard a voice giving the alarm on board in Spanish. Seemingly they did
not want us to know that they were on the alert, and reckoned on giving
us the surprise we intended for them; but we had caught the low words of
warning, and knew that they were ready for us. We laid our boats
alongside one another, and held a whispered council, as a result of
which we very slowly and cautiously pulled round to the farther side of
the vessel, and boarded her silently there, falling upon the Spaniards
in the rear. This was the saving of us, for they had lined the bulwarks
on the other side, and had we attempted to board on that side we should
never have been successful.
"The fight was fierce and grim, and, strangely enough, silent; there was
not a cry, save the groans and moans of the wounded and dying. We
struggled and fought in silence, and in the dark it was difficult to
tell friend from foe. At length, to make my long story a little
shorter, we drove them below, and, cutting the vessel's cable, made sail
for the open sea. We had agreed to show a red light to our own vessel,
as a signal for her to slip out also, if we were successful; so we
looked round for a red lantern, and presently found one. The signal was
made, and immediately answered by three flashes of a white light from
our old ship, as decided upon before leaving her. Both craft were soon
under way for the open sea, and kept each other in view by the light of
the stars; and at daybreak we could only just see the land. We kept on,
however, until mid-day, to make ourselves doubly safe, by which time we
had run the land out of sight; when both craft were hove-to. Then the
crew of the prize were brought up on deck; and as we were, after our
recent rights, very short-handed, we gave them the choice of joining us
or of walking the plank. They were, for the most part, a rascally lot
of men, and did not need the persuasion of `the plank' to join us;
indeed they seemed glad to have the opportunity. By this means we
replenished our crew, and our total number now exceeded by forty-nine
that which we were before taking the galley. We had, therefore, a crew
of two hundred and twenty-five men, which was a big crew for so small a
ship. But then, as Leirya said, we had to provide against casualties.
Seventeen men walked the plank, rather than join us, and after that we
made the necessary transfer of stores and other material, and sank our
old vessel. We were now ready and well equipped for our piratical
undertaking, and we started at once on our nefarious career.
"I cannot recount to you all that took place, for many long years have
passed since I first threw in my lot with that scoundrel, Jose Leirya;
but we took countless ships, and accumulated a vast amount of treasure,
the most part of which is buried in a certain spot. I know the bay
where the hiding-place is; but exactly where the `cache' itself is I
know not. Of that, however, a little later on. To shorten my story--of
which I expect you are now heartily tired--I will pass over my life and
experiences during the years that I have been with the pirate, until
about six months ago. But I must tell you first that, what with fights,
disease, punishment by death, accident, and so on, our crew gradually
changed until I and two others, with Jose Leirya himself, were the only
survivors of the original galley-slaves. The other men hated me, and
for some time had been putting about false reports of me, and other
matters to my great harm, until at length Leirya said he would get rid
of me. The men clamoured for my death, for I had often sent others of
them to their death; but Jose refused to kill me, as I had been so long
with him. He promised to maroon me, however, and the scoundrels had to
be satisfied with that promise. They made many attempts, however, to
murder me, but I escaped them all.
"We did not sight an island for some time, and now, every day, I brooded
over the wrong Jose had done me in listening to the lies of others, and
acceding to their demands, and I determined to have my revenge on him.
He had always trusted me, and did so still, and I had a key that fitted
the lock of his cabin. One day we sighted a ship; and, as it fell calm,
the boats were ordered out to pull to her and capture her. Nearly all
hands went, including Leirya himself, but I remained behind to help look
after the schooner. While they were away, I went into the captain's
cabin, and, finding his keys in the pocket of a jacket of his that hung
there, I opened his private drawer and took out all the papers that were
there, putting back blank ones of similar appearance to those that I had
stolen, relocked the drawer, and replaced the key. I then hid the
papers in my own chest, which I was certain Jose would allow me to take.
I will tell you why I stole those papers. It was because I thought I
should find the key to his hidden treasure among them; and I was not
mistaken. I found it, or what I believe to be it, but it was in cipher;
and I have spent nearly all my time since I have been on the island in
trying to translate it, but have not been able to do so. I know,
however, whereabout the bay is in which the hiding-place is situated.
It is at the east end of the island of Cuba, in latitude 20 degrees
north, longitude 75 degrees west.
"I have those papers still; and before I die I will give them to you,
Master Trevose. They may be useful to you; and if you can translate the
cipher, why, there are millions there for you, unless, indeed, Jose
Leirya removes them before you can get there. Well, sirs, Jose did not
discover the loss by the time that we fell in with this sand-bank, and,
according to his promise to the crew, I was marooned here; but he gave
me a musket, with powder and ball, and enough provision to keep me for a
year. The men who went in the boat to put me ashore were, however, my
most deadly enemies; and before we reached the shore, and when they were
far enough away from the vessel not to be seen, they dropped musket and
all overboard, leaving me only a very little provision, saying that they
did not wish me to die too soon. Then, after landing me, they returned,
the ship disappeared, and I have seen no sail but yours since they left
me here two months ago. That, gentlemen, is my story. To help you hunt
down that bloody pirate, however, I will tell you that he intended
sailing up through the bays of Honduras and Guatemala, and through the
Yucatan channel into the Gulf of Mexico, to cruise there for merchantmen
sailing to and from Vera Cruz and the other ports. And it is there that
you will find him, sirs. Chase him; run him down; take him, at all
costs, and hang him and his crew from his own yard-arm, and burn his
ship; so shall you exterminate one of the most cruel, ferocious,
bloodthirsty devils who ever sailed the sea, and avenge me, sirs. For I
shall soon die; the hardship and exposure that I have suffered here have
killed me! But now that I have told you my story, I can die
comfortably, for I have only lived to impart my information to someone
else, and so help them to hunt that man down. But see, the dawn is
breaking!"
The other three had been so intensely interested in the outcast's tale
that the time had passed unnoticed, and the first streaks of dawn were
indeed in the sky. Moreover, the wind had dropped, the rain had ceased,
and the sea was going down. The unfortunate ex-pirate seemed exhausted
by the long recital of his experiences, and looked very weak. Presently
he laid himself down on the sand under his shelter, and fell fast asleep
through sheer fatigue. The others went outside and took a survey of the
beach, and were lucky enough to be able to collect quite a respectable
quantity of wreckage, together with several casks of provisions. And
they could see several more being gradually washed in, so they were in
no danger of starvation, at all events for the present. They at once
began to roll up the casks to the shelter, promising themselves a good
meal before beginning the work of collecting all on which they could lay
their hands. They resolved to collect all that they could, for it was
impossible to be sure as to when the three vessels of Cavendish's fleet
would return; they knew that there were too many vicissitudes in a
sailor's life to permit of their absolutely depending upon anything, and
they therefore resolved to make every possible provision for a lengthy
stay where they were, should such prove to be necessary. That Cavendish
would never abandon them they knew, but it was easy to think of a dozen
circumstances or accidents to defer his search for them indefinitely.
Roger and the two seamen rolled up a few of the casks to the door of the
little shelter, and, all feeling very hungry, they determined to broach
one of them, as they judged from their appearance that they were
provision-casks. They first glanced at the marooned man, to see if he
had yet awakened from the slumber into which he had so suddenly fallen,
but he was lying in his former position, breathing very heavily, and he
had evidently not moved since they left him. Roger remarked to the two
seamen: "I fear that poor fellow will not live much longer; he says he
is exhausted by exposure and privation, and, looking at him, I can
easily believe it. I hope he will live long enough to be taken on board
the ships, and so be able to tell his story in his own words to the
captain; but unless the squadron appear very soon it will be too late,
for I am afraid a few days will see the last of him!" Then, as there
seemed no fear of rousing him, they went into the shelter to look for
themselves and see how much provision he had left. They found it
without difficulty. There was only about three pounds of ships'-biscuit
left, and two or three strips of dried meat. This was absolutely all
the food that was left, and had it not been for the wreck, and the casks
of provisions being washed ashore, their position would have been very
serious indeed. Jake Irwin had been searching for some cooking utensil,
or some article which could be used as such, and presently appeared with
an iron three-legged pot, which was the only thing in the small
establishment that would serve their purpose. Meanwhile Roger and
Walter Bevan had secured the ex-pirate's only axe, and were busily
engaged in removing the head of one of the casks which they had rolled
up opposite to the little shelter. The top presently came away, and
they saw, disclosed before their longing and hungry eyes, not the
provisions they so much needed, but a hard and rocky mass of caked
gunpowder, made useless and solid by the action of the sea-water that
had penetrated through the crevices of the cask.
"God help us!" exclaimed Roger. "If all these casks hold nothing but
powder, we shall slowly starve to death. I hoped they would all be
provision-casks; I never thought they would contain aught else!"
"Never despair, Master Trevose," replied Bevan, "they may not be all the
same. Let us try another cask. We may have better luck this time."
Disheartened and anxious, they set to work, desperate with hunger, and
beat in the head of the next cask with savage blows. And, oh joy! in
this cask they at length found the much-needed food in the form of salt
pork, with which the barrel was filled.
"Hurrah," shouted Roger, "we are saved after all!"
They took out two large pieces. Jake Irwin filled the pot with water
from the spring, and, having soon made a fire, they set the meat on to
boil. The savoury odour of the cooking meat soon met their nostrils and
encouraged them to fresh efforts on the other casks. Strangely enough,
though the first cask opened was filled with spoilt gunpowder, all the
rest of the barrels had good wholesome provisions in them. The second
barrel opened was found to contain ships'-biscuit, the third and fourth
salt pork; the fifth had beef in it, and in one or two more casks they
found further food, sufficient in all to last them for some months
without going on short rations. It was not long ere the meat was
sufficiently cooked to satisfy them, and they went in to call Evans and
acquaint him with the fact that he could now have a good wholesome meal.
They aroused him with great difficulty, and he seemed to be weaker than
ever. He revived somewhat under the stimulating influence of the hot
food, and told them that if only he had had such food a little earlier
it would have saved his life.
Their meal finished, they got up a few more casks which had meanwhile
come ashore, and gathered more wreckage, piling all their material
recovered from the sea in a place of safety well above high-water mark.
Having at length collected everything in sight on the beach, the next
thing they set themselves to do was to find a suitable spot and erect,
with the wreckage that they had found, a hut large enough to contain the
entire party with comfort. But first, as Roger very rightly observed,
it was necessary and prudent to build a fire the smoke of which could be
seen out at sea, and which might serve as a guide to Cavendish in his
search for the sand-bank should he happen to be looking for it. Their
plan was to feed the fire with damp wood and sea-weed during the day, to
produce a thick smoke that could be seen at a long distance out at sea,
and to put on dry wood at night to make a bright blaze which could also
be seen a long way off. This was soon done, and a site was then
selected for the projected hut. Among the palm-trees on the summit of
the bank were three trees so placed as to form the points of a fairly
spacious triangle. Roger selected these, intending to nail or otherwise
secure planks to their trunks, making a three-sided enclosure; leaving
space, of course, in one of the sides for a door. A roof they believed
they could dispense with, as the trees were not very high, and the tufts
of leaves at their summits were so thick, and grew so close together,
that it seemed very doubtful whether even the furious rain of the
tropics would be able to penetrate them. They found a number of nails
in the planks and timbers which they had collected, and these served
their purpose. Roger, Jake Irwin, and Walter Bevan worked right
manfully at the job of erecting the new hut, and in a few hours it was
finished. Evans, poor fellow, was far too weak to take a hand in any of
the operations, and lay in his shelter almost unable to move. When the
new hut was finished, the builders found the man too far gone to walk,
so they brought some planks and put him on them, carrying him up in that
way. He was laid gently down and made as comfortable as possible under
the circumstances. A pannikin of water was left with him, and some cold
provisions placed near him in case he should feel hungry. The others
then went away to seek further wreckage and casks, but they found no
more. Then they decided to make another shelter wherein to protect
their provisions. It was thought advisable to construct this place near
the new hut; so the old shelter--such as it was--was taken down and
replaced close behind their new structure, and the casks, barrels, and
other perishable matters were placed therein as being safer, as well as
easier to get at at all times. They were now fairly settled down in
their new domain; they had shelter, and plenty of food to last for some
months, even on full rations. There was water in abundance to be had
from the spring, and altogether their lot was far and away more
satisfactory and endurable than that of the poor marooned pirate had
been. Besides, there were now four of them, and they had the advantage
and comfort of each other's company, while Evans had been entirely alone
with only his own miserable thoughts for companions until Roger and his
two seamen made their welcome appearance on the sand-bank. It occurred
to Roger that it would be a very good thing to have a flag and
flag-staff, because their fuel would not last for ever, and with it
would go their only means of signalling to passing ships; so several
narrow pieces of wood were nailed together, and the two seamen, both of
whom were wearing red shirts, sacrificed those garments in the interests
of the community. The lad then split them both down one side, to
increase the area of his improvised ensign, and tied the arms together
to increase the length. This "flag" was then nailed to the makeshift
flag-staff, and Roger and Jake Irwin swarmed up a palm-tree--one of the
three composing the posts for the support of the walls of their hut,
while Walter Bevan passed up the flag and staff to them from below.
Then Roger, with his sword, which he had carried up naked between his
teeth, cut away part of the foliage, and the staff was pushed up through
the hole thus made, the lower portion being secured to the top of the
trunk of the palm-tree. Both men then scrambled down to the ground
again and looked up at their handiwork. There it fluttered, far above
the tufted crowns of the palm-grove, a large red flag at the top of its
lengthy staff, some eighty feet above the ground, and visible, as they
judged, at a distance of at least ten miles out at sea on a clear day.
This, as Roger remarked, gave them an extra chance of being recovered by
the fleet, as the flag would be seen at almost as great a distance as
the smoke from the fire, while the two together ensured their being
sighted by any vessel that approached the island within ten miles.
Satisfied at last with their work, and seeing that there was nothing
further for them to do at the moment, Roger determined to make a tour of
their little domain; so, leaving Jake Irwin to attend to the sick man
Evans, Roger and Walter Bevan set off. Starting from a point on the
beach opposite the hut, they began their walk, going towards the eastern
end of the sand-bank. They found that the shore was everywhere sand
until they had gone some half a mile and nearly reached the end of the
island, when they came upon a ledge of rocks over which they had to
clamber, and which stretched out for quite a long distance into the sea.
The two ventured out some few hundred yards along the ridge to seaward,
and found that it had deep water on each side of it, the rock seeming to
run perpendicularly down to the sandy bottom. The place struck them as
being an excellent situation for fishing from if only they possessed
hooks and lines, for, peering down into the water--which was clear as
crystal,--they saw all manner of many-hued and beautiful fish disporting
themselves below. They gazed admiringly and somewhat longingly at them
for a few minutes, determining to return later and attempt to catch
some, and then resumed their explorations. They had not gone very far,
and were walking side by side, when Roger stumbled over an inequality in
the surface of the sand. He passed on, taking no notice of the
circumstance, thinking it to be only a stone or piece of rock covered up
by the sand; but Bevan, who had noticed the occurrence, stepped back,
and, dropping on his knees, began to clear away the sand with his
fingers, presently revealing to Roger's wondering eyes a number of eggs.
"Whatever are those?" exclaimed the lad, hardly able to believe his
senses. "I suppose they are eggs; they look like eggs; but I have never
before heard of eggs being buried in sand."
"These, Master Trevose," responded the man, smiling at Roger's
astonishment, "are turtles' eggs, and they are excellent eating, I can
assure you. They will be a grand change of food for us, as will the
fish when we can catch them. Moreover, having laid these eggs here, the
turtle may very possibly come back to this spot to lay more. We will
look out for her, and if she returns we must turn her over on her back
and then go back and fetch Jake, who will help us to carry her to the
hut. We need not worry about fresh meat now, Master Trevose. If we can
catch turtle we shall have meat enough to last us for some time."
"I am rejoiced to hear you say so," returned Roger. "But why turn the
turtle on her back, should she make her appearance?"
"Well, sir," replied the man, "the way of it is this. By turnin' a
turtle over on its back you can always make certain that, if you're
obliged to go away and leave it, you'll find it in the same place when
you come back; because if a turtle's laid on its back it can't turn over
again by itself, and so is perfectly helpless and unable to move."
There were fourteen eggs in the "nest" in the sand; so Roger took off
his coat, and, tying the arms together, made a sort of bag of it, into
which he carefully put a few of the eggs. Then, carrying his parcel
very carefully, they resumed their journey. They found no more eggs at
that time, and discovered nothing further of importance, and shortly
afterwards arrived back at the hut, having completed their walk round
the islet.
Irwin reported that the man Evans had called for water, and had seemed
in great pain, but had revived a little after drinking, and was now
again asleep.
The two explorers deposited their burden of eggs, and told Jake of their
hopes regarding the turtle, arranging to go down again later and watch
for the creature, knowing how important it was to their health to secure
as varied a diet as possible. But before setting out again they put a
few of the eggs into the hot ashes of the fire and baked them in their
shells. When they thought they would be sufficiently cooked, they took
them out of the ashes, and roused Evans up with the news that another
meal was ready for him.