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[Illustration: A Queen but yesterday. (See page 418.)]
LATITUDE 19 deg.
A ROMANCE OF THE WEST
INDIES IN THE YEAR OF
OUR LORD EIGHTEEN HUNDRED
AND TWENTY
_Being a faithful account and true, of
the painful adventures of the Skipper,
the Bo's'n, the Smith, the Mate, and
Cynthia_
BY MRS. SCHUYLER CROWNINSHIELD
_Author of Where the Trade Winds Blow_
ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE GIBBS
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1898
COPYRIGHT, 1898,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
_All rights reserved._
To
C. S. C.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--OUR INVOLUNTARY LANDING 5
II.--OUR FIRST VIEW OF THE NATIVES 29
III.--WE CHANGE OUR CAMP, AND CYNTHIA DISCOVERS A
DISTURBING ELEMENT 45
IV.--THE SKIPPER MAKES A PRAYER 68
V.--A MYSTERIOUS FLIGHT 84
VI.--THE PIRATES RETURN 99
VII.--A VILLAIN MEETS HIS END AND A PRISONER ESCAPES 125
VIII.--A LIVING DEATH 143
IX.--I AM RESCUED 159
X.--THE MINION POINTS A MORAL, ALTHOUGH HE DOES NOT
ADORN A TALE 169
XI.--THE BO'S'N HIDES THE TREASURE 189
XII.--THE SKIPPER AGAIN ENACTS THE ROLE OF CHAPLAIN 204
XIII.--I COMMIT THE ERROR OF MY LIFE 222
XIV.--WE START OUT TO LAY A SNARE AND FALL INTO A TRAP 240
XV.--WE MEET SOME STRANGE ACQUAINTANCES, ARE MADE
PRISONERS, AND LOSE OUR ONLY MEANS OF RESCUE 259
XVI.--THE GOAT WITHOUT HORNS 277
XVII.--I MEET AN OLD FRIEND AND LOSE MY ALL 297
XVIII.--WE FIND A NEW ABODE, AND ZALEE DEPARTS TO SEEK SUCCOUR 308
XIX.--WE MEET FOR THE SECOND TIME WITH "LE BRUIT
DU GOUFFRE," AND I TAKE ANOTHER JOURNEY 325
XX.--I MEET WITH THE TERRIBLE BLACK KING, AND VOLUNTARILY
ASSUME A TASK TO REGAIN MY LIBERTY 345
XXI.--I OFFEND THE KING'S FOSTER BROTHER, AND AM
FORCED TO TAKE THE CONSEQUENCES 368
XXII.--WE ENGAGE IN BATTLE, MURDER, SUDDEN DEATH,
AND--FREEDOM 393
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE
A Queen but yesterday _Frontispiece_
Pirates at play 134
The Skipper's marriage service 220
The Pythoness circled slowly around 284
Cynthia was standing on the very edge of the chasm 330
_Sans Souci_, the Palace of King Christophe 342
I placed my foot on his neck 355
LATITUDE 19 deg..
THE HOMESTEAD, BELLEVILLE, N. J.
_September 23, 1867._
_DEAR SON ADONIAH: In complying with your request that I jot down the
facts with regard to my early experiences at the time when I was cast
away, I have hardly known what to tell and what to leave untold. I could
not relate to you the detailed occurrences of each day, though you will
think that I have come quite near it, for it would have made a
manuscript too large in size. I have told you much when we have been
sitting by the fire on a winter evening, you with your leg on a chair,
and little Adoniah hanging round you trying to persuade you to "make
Grandpa stop," that you might tell him your more recent tale of interest
of the battle of Gettysburg. Many a time, as we have been talking, I
have seen your dear mother, always beautiful and always young--though
she has been a grandmother now seven times, what with Mary's children,
and Gertrude's, and yours--many a time I have seen her look at us
disapprovingly, as if wondering what pleasure we can take in such
gruesome tales, but I find that with most men adventure is as the breath
of their nostrils, and that no matter what suffering they have
undergone, they always hark back to the wild, exciting scenes of youth,
forgetting the pain and dwelling only on the pleasure._
_Miserable as I have been at times, and in some pretty tight places,
too, now that we are all happily at home together, I would not exchange
one of those experiences for a pot full of gold. I would not give away
the remembrance of them any more than you would have blotted from your
memory that fight in the Wilderness, where you led so gallantly; any
more than you would be willing to discard the scar on your leg, or the
strap on your shoulder, the one gained because of the other._
_Sometimes, as I sit on the settle at the door of the farmhouse, when
the sun has gone down and twilight is coming on, I dream those days all
over again. I see the buccaneers in the cave. I experience again the
suffocation of the cage in which they left me for dead. I see before me
as plainly as if I held it in my hand, with those wondrous eyes intact,
and shining like two living balls of fire, that symbol of mysticism, the
serpent ring. I see again the vaudoux dance and the long, light eyes of
the Pythoness, which fascinated while they struck terror to the very
soul. I again take part in those sad and dreary burials at sea, in which
the dear old Skipper so revelled, and once more I find myself at
Christophe's Court, with all its magnificence, all its barbarity, and
all its horrors, and I wonder if any other life ever crowded so much
into itself in so short a space of time. My letter must not be too long
or tell too much in advance. I am not an author, son Adoniah, nor do I
wield the pen of a ready writer even for my children. This has been to
me a laborious task, though at the same time a labour of love._
_If you should show these recollections to some of your friends, they
will probably discredit the statement that anthropophagi have lived in
the recent times of which I write, and so near our own coast. What would
they say, I wonder, should they meet my friend, the late United States
Minister to the Island, and learn from him that the dreadful practice
existed not only at the date of which I write, but that it is actually
extant, though more concealed, at the present day. And we pour our gold
into old Africa while New Africa, where these awful crimes are rampant,
is but twelve hundred miles from Belleville!_
_Finally, son Adoniah, believe that I have set down nothing here which
can not be substantiated by historians, by living witnesses, and by the
published proceedings of courts of law._
_Your affectionate Father_,
HIRAM JONES.
CHAPTER I.
OUR INVOLUNTARY LANDING.
I put my head down through the hatchway and called to Cynthia to come on
deck. I always called her Cynthia to myself. What I said was:
"Come up, Miss Archer; I can see Christophe's castle."
"You can't!" she said. These words were uttered, I was convinced, more
in astonishment than in contradiction. They issued from the funnel of a
white cotton sunbonnet. The funnel appeared above the hatchcombings,
then a pair of shoulders incased in blue dungaree followed suit, and,
finally, the tall figure of Miss Cynthia Archer emerged from the open
hatchway and stepped lightly on to the deck.
"Where is it?" she asked.
"I will answer that question if you will answer mine," I responded.
"I was never good at guessing riddles," she said.
"It's no riddle," returned I.
"Oh, the same old question!" hazarded Cynthia. The handsome gray eyes
looked out questioningly from the depths of the funnel. I nodded
appealingly.
"You've got me up here under false pretences," said Cynthia. "I will go
below again. I don't believe there is any castle."
"There is, indeed, Miss Archer." I held the spyglass tightly under my
arm. "I will show where if you will answer me."
"The chronic question?"
"Yes, the chronic question."
Cynthia looked out at me, a world of sincerity shooting from her eyes.
"To tell you the truth," said she, "Jones is simply impossible! I
couldn't, really! Why, Mr. Jones, Jones is synonymous with anonymous.
And then _Hiram_ Jones!" She knew as well as I did myself what I wanted
to ask her. I told her so.
Cynthia stood for a moment looking meditatively at me.
"I don't know why I shouldn't, after all," said she in a musing tone.
My heart leaped up into my throat.
"I might call you 'J,'" she said.
"And I might call you 'A,'" answered I. "'"A" was an archer and shot at
a beau.'"
"Shot with a bow, you mean," said Cynthia; "but, really, the words run,
'"A" was an archer and shot at a frog.'"
"Thank you," said I. Of course, she knew what I had in mind. I said it
every time she came on deck. I made a point of it. I thought that she
might get used to it after a while.
"You haven't been up all day," said I reproachfully.
"There's no variety in your conversation, Mr. Jones," said Cynthia. "The
parrot is much more interesting. But when you called down that
Christophe's castle was in sight, I thought that perhaps you were in
your right mind once more."
"If my present mind's wrong, I shall never be right," said I, as I hove
the wheel over to larboard to keep the Yankee Blade on her course.
"Archer's so much prettier than Jones," said Cynthia in a dreamy,
convincing tone. She reached out her hand and took the glass from me.
Her touch was like a magnet. I couldn't have held it back to save my
life. She stepped to the rail and rested the barrel of the glass upon
one of the ratlines.
"Now where's your castle?" she asked; and added, "How this ship rolls!"
"The wind is falling light," I said. "Seems to me we're farther in shore
than we ought to be.--Tomkins, did you keep her exactly on the course
the Captain gave you?"
"Yessir," said Tomkins, without winking.
"Now where is it?" asked Cynthia.
I called one of the men to take the wheel and went to Cynthia's side. I
guided the glass very slowly to within a hair's breadth of the imposing
structure, ran it hurriedly past, so that the view was all in a blur,
then I searched slowly and carefully for the thing that we had passed
by. Cynthia was not long deceived.
"Give me that glass, Mr. Jones," she said with dignity. "I will find the
citadel if it is there."
"It is there, upon my soul!" said I. I saw that she was angry. "There!
Don't you see that big pile of stone?"
"Where?"
"There! Just there!"
"Is--that--Christophe's castle? What--a--big--thing--it--is!
Why--Mr.--Jones--you--never--told--me--half!
How--I--should--like--to--go--there!"
"God forbid!" said I, and I shuddered.
"Hand me that glass!" said the Skipper, who had tumbled up from below.
He laid a heavy hand upon the spyglass and took it without ceremony. He
could. He was her Uncle. He could call her Cynthia, too. I could only
think it. The Skipper wheeled about and looked out to sea.
"Here, you, Mr. Jones!" said the Skipper, his gaze fixed on the
stranger, "what did you do with that Cook?"
"The Cook?" said I inquiringly.
The Skipper removed the glass from his eyes.
"Didn't I tell you that pudding wasn't fit to give to a dog?"
"Yes, you did, sir, but the man did his best. I thin----"
"Mr. Jones, am I Captain of this vessel, or am I not?"
An acquiescent nod from me.
"Very well, then! You go below, Mr. Jones, and you take Bill Tomkins and
the Growler, and you take that pudding, and you put it in the brig, and
you take that Cook and you set him alongside of it, and you lock the
door, and don't you let either of 'em come out until one of 'em's inside
of the other!"
"Yes, sir," said I, and I went below to carry out his orders.
I closed the door of the brig, leaving the Cook sitting in the hot
little place, looking ruefully at the nauseous mess that he had tried to
force on the cabin table. I suddenly remembered something that I wanted
done about the men's mess gear, and returned along the companion way. It
was evident that I was not expected, for I heard some words, not
overcomplimentary to myself, proceeding from the Growler, who had
lingered behind; and he added, calling out to the Cook:
"Never mind, doctor,[A] you will be ashore in less than an hour."
[A] A sailor's name for the Cook.
When I came on deck again the Skipper had the glass glued to his eyes.
"Did he eat it?" asked the Skipper.
"No, sir, not yet," said I. "He'd just had his dinner."
The Skipper did not seem to listen to my answer. He handed the glass to
me and pointed seaward.
"Don't like the looks of that vessel out there, Jones. She's been
crawling up on us for the last hour. Looks as if she was trying to head
us off. About three points forward of the beam now, I should say. Isn't
this vessel off her course, Jones?"
He walked over to the binnacle, and took a look at the compass.
"No, you're right. But we certainly are farther in shore than I expected
we would be. Head her up, man, head her up!"
"Tomkins had the wheel while I was below," said I. "He said he kept her
just as you told him. That stranger's flying the English flag." The
Skipper shook his head, looked at the Union Jack, and then over the side
of the Yankee Blade.
"Didn't know there was any currents around here. Strange! Strange!"
Cynthia stood sniffing and wrinkling up her handsome nose.
"What is it smells so sweet?" she asked.
"The land," said I.
"Yes, I know, of course. But I never smelled land so sweet as this
before. Now, off Martin----"
"The wind has fallen light, Captain," said I.
"How monotonous you are," said Cynthia, "not to call it----"
"Damn the wind!" said the Skipper. He wet his finger in his mouth and
held it up.
"Why don't you throw the cat overboard, and shoot an albatross?"
questioned Cynthia, who was versed in sea lore.
"The cat was left behind at Martinique," replied the Skipper. "I guess
with some of those girls Jones was hanging round, and any fool knows
that no one ever saw an albatross in these waters."
"Well, please don't damn the wind, Uncle, while I'm on board." Cynthia
spoke with some asperity, and turned her back squarely on me. "You know
very well you promised Aunt Mary 'Zekel----"
"Damning the wind ain't anything; _want_ a blow!" said the Skipper.
"Do we? Why?"
"That's our safety," growled he, with his eyes glued to the glass.
"Are you really afraid, Uncle Antony?"
"Well, no, not what you might call afraid. Wouldn't be very agreeable to
be taken prisoner just now. Damn if I don't believe that's a letter of
marque, that fellow!"
I laughed.
"Don't be afraid, Miss Archer," I said; "there are no letters of marque
nowadays."
"Oh, do let me see! I hope he is one. I never saw a letter of marque."
The Skipper growled in my ear, "Pirates are just as bad."
"Will he take my cassava bread, and capture Solomon?"
"He'll capture you and the whole bilin' if we don't get ahead a little
faster. I'd like to head her up. Can't, till we pass those nubbles on
the starboard bow. Jones, we may have some tough work. You go below and
get a bite, while I take the deck. May have to run."
"Where to?" asked Cynthia.
"Ashore, I guess," answered the Skipper. Most girls would have fainted.
"I'd better go below and pack my bag," said Cynthia. She turned to me
condescendingly. "I'll give you something, Mr. Jones, if you choose to
come."
Choose to come! I would have followed her to a much warmer interior. The
cabin was close and stuffy. There were some cushioned seats on either
side of the table, just too far from it to allow one to eat comfortably.
The most of my bread dropped, between my knees and rolled away on the
deck.
"What does he carry that ridiculous picture all around the world for?" I
growled.
Cynthia turned and looked at the coloured picture of a falcon which hung
in its frame at the end of the small cabin.
"Doesn't he look foolish? He's so out of drawing. He makes me seasick,"
said I.
"It is an excellent picture," said Cynthia.
"And a plain Yankee skipper coming to sea with a coat of arms and a
motto. It's positively silly!"
"It belongs to him just as much as his name does. I can't see why he
shouldn't bring it. It isn't a coat of arms, either. You can't say such
things to me about the hooded hawk, Mr. Jones, though I am not a
Schuyler exactly. But I have a great respect for the family."
"And a Latin text," I added.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Mr. Jones. Even the bird will be
shocked. Do you know what the motto means?"
"It's Latin," I answered. That was conclusive. At Belleville we had
other things to do besides study Latin.
She turned on her transom and surveyed the coat of arms, her head on one
side, her handsome eyes screwed out of all shape. They rested upon a
very fat bird holding with difficulty to a wrist to which it bore no
proportion. The wrist was as large as the trunk of a tree.
"Aunt Mary 'Zekel did it," said Cynthia. "Uncle says it means, 'A bird
in the hand is worth two in the bush'--the motto, I mean."
"Well, so it is," I answered. "A bird in a white sunbonnet is worth----"
"William Brown is waiting at home on the dock for me," said Cynthia, as
she removed the sunbonnet.
I sat silent and drained my cup.
"Have some more coffee, Mr. Jones?" She took my cup and replenished it.
"I said that William Brown is waiting on the dock for me."
"He can't; a dock's a hole."
"Well, anyway, he's waiting." A short silence, during which she wrinkled
her forehead.
"Wharf, then! William Brown's----"
"I should think Brown was synonymous with synopsis," said I
absent-mindedly.
"Some people have no dictionary knowledge," sniffed Cynthia. "He is,
really."
"Is what?"
"Waiting. We're going to keep house."
"On what?"
"What? On what?"
"Keep house on what?"
"Well, I'm going to begin with the parrot. That's what I got him for."
"Stew him first day. What'll you do next?"
"I decline to talk with you," said Cynthia, twisting huffily around on
the old red plush cushion. "William may be very rich some day. His great
aunt was a Schuyler. He has a share in the Belleville copper mines."[B]
[B] It has been rumoured lately that there is a project on foot to
resume the working of these mines.--AUTHOR.
"You still have faith in them, have you? Now, Miss Archer, let me tell
you----"
Plim! Splash! The water was dashed through the open stern ports.
"What was that?" said Cynthia, rising. "A whale or a hurricane?" And
then, as she sat looking questioningly at me, we heard a report. The
report of a gun. This was followed by the pounding of the Skipper's feet
on the deck above our heads. Cynthia ran out of the cabin door and up
the companion way to the poop. I heard her calling as she went: "Don't
be afraid, Uncle Tony! I'm coming."
"Where's Jones?" I heard him growl, as I followed close at his heels.
"Fainted away in the cabin."
"Damn coward!"
"What's the matter?" said I.
Bill Ware had let go the wheel, and the vessel was yawing round. We were
in the trough of the sea.
The Captain seemed incapable through astonishment. I jumped to the wheel
and got her on her course again.
"That damn fellow fired at me across our bows. Next he'll cut us
amidships."
"Shouldn't wonder," said Cynthia, "if he takes the stern for the bow."
She stood looking calmly at the approaching vessel.
"I should think he'd fire straighter than that. Looks as if he had
something in him."
Her acceptance of the situation threw the Skipper into a towering rage.
He stammered and stuttered. Cynthia paid no attention to his angry
words.
"Shall I take the wheel, Uncle?" she asked.
This seemed to bring the Captain to his senses.
"Take the wheel, Mr. Jones." I had had it for a minute.
"On deck, everybody!" The men came tumbling up in lively fashion. They
could have heard our Skipper on board the other vessel.
"Jump to the lee braces, men! Brace everything sharp up! Get a small
pull of the spanker sheet! Haul all the bow lines! Let her luff! Luff,
you beggar! Bring her close by the wind!"
The Captain stood, his chin raised in the air, his eyes on the yards.
"Well! The main yard!" The men ceased hauling, and belayed the braces.
"Well! The maintops'l yard. Belay the lee braces!"
"Do you think we'll get ahead of that other ship?" said Cynthia.
I looked critically to windward.
"No, I don't," said I.
"Then what will happen?"
"Depends on the other fellow; if----"
"Think we might weather the nubbles, Mr. Jones?" And then, before I
could answer, "Ready about!" he roared.
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"He's bound to catch us on this tack," confided I into the funnel as I
ran to my station.
The men ran willingly to obey the orders; all but Tomkins.
"Blank you, Tomkins! why don't you move? Got rheumatism, or what? Why
don't those sails fill? Darn it all! We're in irons. No, there she goes!
We're forging ahead. Think I'll run for that cove when we tack again.
Might stand 'em off with two four-poun----"
The Skipper was interrupted. He stood with open mouth, from which no
sound issued. We were all, as we stood, swayed slowly forward, then as
slowly backward, with a motion that made me sick and dizzy. There was a
shaking of the hull, an ominous creaking of the masts, as the Yankee
Blade careened slightly and stood still. At that moment a shot struck
the foremast, cutting it in two. It fell to leeward, a mass of
splintered wood and tangled rigging. The crashing of the top into the
water sent the foam flying over us.
"He wants you to stop," said Cynthia.
"Well, haven't I?" said the Skipper dryly.
"Yes, you have certainly," answered Cynthia in a tone of conviction. The
Skipper turned on Cynthia in a sudden rage.
"Can't you cry or do something? Why don't you act womanly. I wish to God
you was home with your Aunt Mary 'Zekel!"
The Skipper seemed to have lost his nerve.
"What shall we do, Jones? Cut away the mast, I suppose."
"Better lower some boats, sir, at once," said I. "We're no match for
them."
Cynthia had the glass raised to her eyes.
"They're getting out a boat," she said.
"Let me see."
The Skipper seized the spyglass from Cynthia so roughly that he pulled
her sunbonnet from her head. She stood beside him bareheaded, the gentle
tropic breeze blowing her hair into a thousand little brown rings. I ran
close to her as I was hurrying to get the boats lowered. Her mouth was
set, as if she did not fancy her Uncle's rough treatment.
"He doesn't mean it, Miss Archer," I said in as sympathetic a tone as I
could command. "He's worried and----"
"You need not apologize to me for my Uncle, Mr. Jones. We understand
each other thoroughly." She went up to the old man and laid her hand
upon his shoulder. He shook it off impatiently.
"Lower a boat, Mr. Jones!" he said. "Lower a boat at once!"
Cynthia put on her sunbonnet to hide, I thought, her mortification.
"I have given the order, sir," said I. "Better lower two, sir. The men
don't want to be captured any more than we do."
"Couldn't wish the stranger any worse luck than to capture them all,
Cook included," said the Skipper with a scowl at the men.
"I guess they did their best, Captain," said I, in a louder voice than
was necessary, with an eye to a possible future.
"Don't answer me, Mr. Jones! Get a boat down!"
"Lay aft there to lower the dinghy! Stand by!"
"How can you worry Uncle so, Mr. Jones, when you know how----"
Two or three of the men lay aft with alacrity at my order. Among them
was Tomkins. He worked with a will.
"Where's Ned Chudleigh?" asked the Skipper.
"In the foc's'l, sir," said the Bo's'n.
"Send him up here. On deck, everybody!"
"Says he's sick, sir."
"Sick, is he? Guess he'll be sick before we've--Why don't you get out
that boat, you rascals?"
"Shall we lower a third one, Captain?" said I. The shore looked
inhospitable. We might as well be on the right side of the men.
"Bear a hand there, whatever you do! They've got their boat in the
water. The men are climbing down the falls now. Put a cask of salt pork
under the thwarts, Mr. Jones, and a breaker of water."
I gave the order, and added thereto a bag of hard bread, some coffee,
tea, and sugar. I saw that the Bo's'n was adding the necessary utensils.
Cynthia watched these preparations with disapproving mien. She came over
to where I stood, her eyes flashing fire.
"Do you mean to tell me," she asked fiercely, "that you'll run from
those letter-of-marque people without even a struggle? There are all my
shells and that West Indian dress of mine down in my box. Do you intend
to let them be taken without so much as----"
"I'm not Captain of this craft," said I, "but he's doing the only----"
"Don't hide your cowardice behind my poor old Uncle. If no one else will
do anything, I'll--Get me a slow match; light it quickly, do you hear?"
with a stamp of the foot at the cabin boy.
"Shall we put any blankets in the boat, Mr. Jones, sir?" asked the
Bo's'n. "Something for the lady----"
I ran down below into Cynthia's cabin. Even with all the hurry,
confusion, and excitement of the moment, I did not fail to note the
neatness of that white little room. I tore the blanket from the smoothly
made bed and seized a pillow from its place. I stood looking around a
moment to see if there was anything more that she might want. I saw on
the dresser a little note-book, with a pencil slipped into the loops.
This I put into my pocket with a picture done by a Belleville artist of
Aunt Mary 'Zekel. Another of a very meek-looking man, with his hair
brushed forward over his ears, and a collar the points of which ran up
nearly to his eyes, I took it to be William Brown. This I detached from
the hook on which it hung, and, going to the open port, I thrust my arm
through and tossed it up in the air, hoping that Cynthia would in this
way look her last on the face of my rival. Simultaneously with my toss
of the picture there came a report from overhead, and I saw some
fragments of shattered glass. I knew that the six-pounder on the poop
had been fired.
I hurried on deck, encumbered with the pillow and blanket. The smell of
gunpowder was in the air. Cynthia was standing defiantly by the gun. She
had just dropped the slow match. The Skipper was dancing in rage on the
poop.
"Now you've done it! Now you've done it!" he screamed. "You've made 'em
so angry there's no telling what they'll do.--Are the boats all ready,
Mr. Jones?"
"If we are going to run, we may as well show them a little Yankee spirit
first," said Cynthia. "I wish I could make them hear me. I would tell
them that the only man on board this vessel's a girl."
I had picked up the glass and was trying to get a sight on the long
boat. She was a little way from the end of the ship, and Cynthia through
sheer luck had struck her amidships. I saw that there were five or six
men struggling to keep afloat. A boat was being lowered to pick them up.
"Seems to me now's our time to go," said the Skipper. "Just look at the
guns on board that fellow!" He turned on Cynthia, his face crimson, his
eyes fierce and angry. "How dare you accuse me of being a coward?" He
shook his fist in her face. "I'm thinking of you more than anybody. We
haven't a ghost of a chance with those fellows if they're what I think
they are. You may talk to Jones there; he's weak enough to stand it, but
by----"
"Mr. Jones has taken the precaution to have a comfortable time, at all
events," said Cynthia, with a scornful glance at the blanket and pillow.
"If you're really going ashore, Uncle, I'll just step below and get my
bag. I'm glad I packed it now."
She disappeared down the companion way, and after a few moments, during
which we were getting the Jacob's ladder slung so that she could descend
into the long boat, she came on deck again. A sound of stumbling and a
banging of metal preceded her.
When she appeared above the hatchcombings, I saw that she held a worked
canvas bag in one hand and a large, square parrot's cage in the other. A
shot from the stranger went over our heads at that moment, doing no
damage beyond cutting away a few threads of rope, which fell upon the
cage.
"Damn those Britishers!" said the parrot.
"They didn't do much that time--only cut off those Irish pennants.
That's a very sensible bird of yours, Cynthy," said the Skipper, who
remembered the late war only too well.
"I'm glad there are some brains on board," answered Cynthia, "if only a
bird's."
"Get in the boat and stop sassin' me!" ordered the Skipper.
I handed the blanket and pillow to the Bo's'n, who placed them in the
bow, thus making a comfortable seat.
"You'd better go up in the bows," I said to Cynthia, as I helped her
down from the wobbling Jacob's ladder. She stepped exactly on the middle
of the seat. I never saw another girl step anywhere but on the gun'l.
The Skipper took the steering oar.
"I'll keep the Yankee Blade between us and them," said he.
"I haven't the slightest doubt of it," remarked Cynthia gratuitously.
I sat forward of the men, next to Cynthia.
"Where's William Brown?" I asked. We were about three boats' lengths
from the ship. Cynthia arose in her seat.
"O Uncle! wait!" she called; "I must go back a moment. I have forgotten
something."
The Skipper paid no more attention than if she had not spoken.
"Not too short a stroke, Bill," he said, "but strong, strong. Am I
keeping the Yankee Blade between us?"
"You be, sir," answered the stroke.
Cynthia sat down, impelled to do so partly by the jerk of the oars and
partly by the silence of her Uncle.
"I thought you never forgot him for a moment."
"I never do. That was the only time all this voyage. If it hadn't been
for you, Mr. Jones----"
This sentence was subject to two constructions. I tried to look upon it
as an admission.
A shot fell over the Yankee Blade and pierced the water just behind us.
"Damn those Britishers!" said the parrot.
"I'll give you fifty dollars for that bird when you get him home,
Cynthy," said the Skipper. "Did you teach him that?"
"_I!_" There was a world of wrath in Cynthia's tones. "He was probably
taught by the Minion when he took the cage out to clean it."
Cynthia jumped excitedly to her feet.
"Oh! See there, Mr. Jones, they are firing on the flag! There goes a
shot through it! I don't suppose they know we have left yet. The Yankee
careened so."
It was true. Our emblem, which we had left floating at the masthead,
had been shot directly through the field, and some of the stars were
carried away with the ball. Cynthia wrung her hands.
"Uncle Antony," she screamed, if that sweet voice could ever have been
said to do anything so vulgar, "let us go back! Don't you see? They have
fired on the flag."
"Don't get flustered," said the Skipper to the stroke. "Steady and
strong wins to-day. My niece's a little excitable."
Cynthia heard the words. She turned on me, her lips white with
suppressed passion.
"You know what the trouble with the English is, don't you, Mr. Jones?"
"Yes, I know of several failings they have; first, they----"
She took the words out of my mouth.
"They haven't a cowardly hair in their heads," she said. "I am ashamed
to-day, for the first time in my life, of being an American."
Of course, she did not see that it would have been worse than foolhardy
to remain, and I did not try to convince her.
"I see a man on the foc's'l," said Cynthia.
"Nonsense!" roared the Skipper from the stern. "We ain't goin' back for
anybody. They had their chance.--Is there any one on board, Bill?"
"There is, sir."
"What's his name when he's sober?" asked the Skipper viciously.
"Ned Chudleigh, sir."
"Didn't you call him?"
"I did, sir," puffed Bill.
"Why didn't he come, then?"
"Said he was _English_, sir; 'd _like_, to go back. Waited a _purpose_
for them Britishers. _Wanted_ 'em to capture him."
"I am afraid he has mistaken their nationality," said I.
"Damn the Britishers!" remarked the parrot.
"We have no quarrel with the British at present," I remarked. "What's
your antediluvian bird talking about, Miss Archer?"
"I should think that with two six-pounders in the waist, and a gun that
none of you had the pluck to fire on the poop, you might have----"
"Too much noise in the bows!" growled the Skipper.
I was sitting in the bows, facing Cynthia, as we left the Yankee Blade.
I had watched the citadel on its far distant height grow lower and lower
to the eye, and finally sink behind its seaward hills and masses of
foliage. I noticed, however, that our course was laid in an almost
direct line for it; a little to the left, but still so that the position
of the castle was impressed upon my mind. As we neared the shore, white
rocks began to show, and the water, from having been blue, of a dark and
beautiful shade, began to fade into tints no less lovely. There were
streaks of pale green upon darker green, streaks of yellow upon blue.
This was caused by the depth or shallowness of the water which flowed
between us and the white rocks. Cocoanut tufts fringed the shore, and
behind them were the various species of trees that thrive in the
tropics. The gri-gri, the mahogany, reared their tall heads and
vari-coloured leaves. Masses of green of all shades clothed the hills,
which sloped upward a short distance from the level of the beach.
"O Uncle! See those lovely pieces of coral! Stop a moment, do, and let
me get a piece to take home to Aunt Mary 'Zekel."
The stroke trailed his oar.
"What are you about, Bill Tomkins, stopping for coral! I never saw a
mite round here. You stop when I give the order.--Don't be too much of a
fool, Cynthy! Do you know we're running for our lives? Look back at
that Yankee of ours, and see if there are any other----"
"I see only one lonely man. He looks repentant, as well as I can make
out. Let's go back and--Why, yes! There are some other people, too. They
seem to----"
"Go slow there, ahead!" called out the Skipper, standing up as he spoke.
He held the steering oar firmly and looked for a landing place, trying
vainly to see over the heads of those in the boat.
"Tom, jump up there in the bows, and see if you see any----"
"There goes another piece of the flag! O Uncle Tony! they've almost shot
our flag away."
The spyglass dropped with a bump into the bottom of the boat, and
Cynthia put her hands inside the funnel and over her eyes, and burst
into floods of tears. She did not cry like a young lady. She cried like
a young cyclone.
"Damn those Britishers!" shrieked the parrot.
"Yes, damn them, Solomon dear! Damn them again, since there's no one
here to even----"
Her words ended in a rain of sobs. They issued from the sunbonnet
wringing wet and soaked through. They might have come out of the
washtub. She stood up the better to see the extent of her misery.
"Down in the bows! You will be overboard."
"There comes the Union Jack! I see it over the Yankee. That letter of
marque's getting closer. Shame on us all! Oh, shame!"
The grounding of the boat seated Cynthia rather suddenly again in a
manner which would have been undignified in any girl in the world but
Cynthia.
The bow of our boat had not reached the shore. Some of the men dropped
overboard and tried to get her clear. She had grounded amidships. As
they pushed, she swung round as if on a pivot. I joined the men.
"We'll have to lighten the load," said I, and without more words I took
Cynthia in my arms and waded with her ashore. I set her high and dry on
the beach. She surveyed me with anger and scorn glowering from her eyes.
"Your Uncle was steering," I explained humbly, "and the men----"
She cast a comprehensive glance at Bill and Tanby.
"Yes, I suppose you are better than----"
"William Brown will have to possess his soul in patience," said I. "Do
you think he'll wait?"
"Yes, he will, but he _will_----"
"What! On that dock?"
"Yes, and I'll wait here."
"I wouldn't; at least, not too long," hazarded I.
"Where's that kag of salt pork and that bag of hard bread?" roared the
Skipper. "Is the breaker ashore?"
"Looks hospitable, don't it?" said I.
She raised her eyes to the wooded heights above us, and then looked up
along the coast.
"I see the other boat has landed."
I looked along the beach, and saw that the men were leaving the dinghy
and were carrying some heavy weights high up on the beach. Cynthia
seated herself upon a rock. She deposited the cage on one side and the
worked bag on the other.
"Jones," said the Skipper, "I wish you'd keep the glass on those people
out there while the men get the provisions up."
I took the glass willingly and seated myself by Cynthia. Before I put my
eyes to the glass, they rested upon the bag which reposed at Cynthia's
side.
"I'm so glad I brought it," said she. "Aunt Mary 'Zekel worked it for
me."
"It's a curious-looking bag," ventured I. "What are those funny-looking
white things on the side, made of glass beads?"
"There's nothing funny at all about that bag, Mr. Jones. That's our
family plot."
"Your what?"
"Plot--our family plot. Aunt Mary 'Zekel worked it for me. She said she
thought it would be a pleasant reminder of home. That's her tomb in the
middle. Don't you see her initials: 'M. S. A.'--Mary Schuyler Archer?"
"Is she inside of it?"
"Who? Aunt Mary 'Zekel? Mercy, no! She's just as much alive as you are.
At least, she was when I left home. There's her tomb in the middle.
Uncle 'Zekel's buried inside of it."
I withdrew my eyes from the Yankee Blade.
"Isn't he rather heavy to carry round?"
"Don't be silly, Mr. Jones. His name's on the other side. It doesn't
show on the bag. On the right you see Antony's shaft, and then little
Peter's--there was always a Peter in the family--and on the left comes
Gertrude, and then Mary--Aunt Mary 'Zekel's little girl. The beginning
of that next one is for Adoniah. She didn't have time to work that in."
"Oh, I see! She chose the time to depict the plot when a burial was in
progress. There are the horses' tails."
"How can you joke on such a solemn subject, Mr. Jones?" I dropped the
glass at her evident displeasure, and it rolled down the slight
declivity. "Those are not horse tails, as you know very well. Besides,
they are green. Any one can see that they are weeping willows. She
didn't have time to work the trunks. She's going to do that when I come
back. Please do not add stupidity to your other failings, Mr. Jones."
She moved the bag to a safe distance from me with a reverential and
disappointed air.
"Where is that glass?" she said.
Every man on the beach ran for the spyglass. The Cook got it first.
"Thank you, Cook," she said, with a radiant smile.
"You never looked at me as you did at that Cook just now," I whispered
under my breath.
"The Cook never presumes," she answered in a low tone. "Lend me your
shoulder, Cook."
The Cook knelt on the beach with Spartan firmness. I did not envy him
his cushion of sharp and jagged rocks. I gloated with joy over the wince
into which his features were twisted. The Skipper turned and waved his
arm at me.
"Come here, Jones! One would think you were at a picnic, the whole of
you."
I walked over to where the Skipper stood, fanning himself violently with
his panama.
"You told me to keep my eye on them, sir," said I. "Hadn't that Cook
better build a fire?"
"What! Think he's hungry so soon?" with a grim smile. "We must husband
our resources, Mr. Jones."
"Sounds just like a shipwreck," called Cynthia, who had caught the
Skipper's words. "'Husband our resources!' Isn't that delightful!"
"We've got no place to sleep to-night, sir," said I, pursuing my theme.
"There are all sorts of crawlers in the bushes yonder. A fire will clear
up the place, and will cool off before night."
"You've got more sense than I credited you with," said the Skipper.
"Cook, build a fire up there under those trees." The Cook arose, joy and
regret intermingled in his looks.
"Thank you, Cook. I never rested the glass on so steady a shoulder."
She had rested it on mine a hundred times.
Thus we each took our turn at the glass, and each told each other what
we saw.
"If they're looking for money, they'll be almighty disappointed," said
the Skipper in a low tone to his niece and myself. "I took all there
was."
Then in an undertone, and with that rashness of statement that sometimes
we live to regret, "I wish I could strike a flint in that magazine. What
was that, Mr. Jones?"
We saw a puff of smoke out at sea, and some moments later a report.
"Why should the British attack us, Uncle?" asked Cynthia. "I thought we
were at peace now."
I shook my head at the Skipper.
"Don't know as they have," answered the old man for want of a better
explanation.
Cynthia jumped from her seat and ran back to a slight ascent which rose
above the beach. To the top of this she climbed, and, shadowing those
wondrous eyes with her hand, gazed out to sea.
"It's another vessel! An American, I am sure! Yes, I can see the flag;
probably a man-of-war. Regular officers, of course. They won't know how
to spell R-U-N--Run!"
"Did you hear me tell you to stop sassin' me a while back? 'Twas the
best we could do. Some one got us off our course on purpose. They tell
me some one's got a Haitien wife down here."
At these words Cynthia, who at this time seemed to live to make me
miserable, surveyed me with unconcealed scorn.
"You had the wheel while Uncle was taking his nap," said she.
"I turned it over to Tomkins a half hour before I called you, Miss
Archer. I have never been here before, give you my word," said I.
"I think they're leaving the Yankee now," said the Skipper. "When they
take what they want and clear out, we can right her and get her on her
course, and I'll take care how I get in these waters again."
Cynthia took the glass from her Uncle without permission.
"Yes, they are," said she. "Don't you see those black figures climbing
over the bulwarks? There, to the right of the mainmast."
"Guess I must be looking through the other end," said the Skipper.
Cynthia restored the magnifying medium with some reluctance.
"My eyes are so much better than yours, Uncle Tony," she urged.
"Use 'em, then!" said the Skipper shortly, as he screwed the glass to a
focus. "Yes, they certainly have gone. Yes, by cracky! there goes
another shot from the American." He ran a little higher up the hill to a
better vantage point. We followed. "I can see 'em now over the bulwarks
of the old Yankee. They're pulling like Satan for the Britisher. Hope
the Americans 'll knock Ned Chudleigh's head off!"
He changed his focus, and fixed his gaze on the newcomer.
"That last fellow's an American, sure! The other has turned his
attention to him."
As the Skipper looked through the glass and reported what he saw, there
were several shots interchanged between the two vessels.
"Hope they'll knock seven bells out of 'em!"
"Cook, send up a smoke. They will see us, perhaps, and take us off. Are
those our colours, Mr. Jones? Perhaps you can make----"
I almost snatched the glass from his hand. I raised it hurriedly to my
eyes.
"It's--yes--no--yes--it is--the----"
"What a lucid description!" remarked Cynthia.
"Don't devil the man, girl! Can't you speak, Jones? It's the----"
"Stars and Stripes," said I.
The Skipper at this juncture snatched the glass from me. He fixed it
upon a nearer point.
"My God!" he ejaculated.