"You are a good fellow, Simpson, and a true British seaman, whatever
your past may have been," said I, "and I accept your proposal, which I
can see is made in perfect good faith. Now, it seems to me that all
that we have to do, in the first place, is to get on board yonder ship.
The question is: How is it to be done without the knowledge of any of
the _Francesca's_ people?"
"Well, sir," said Simpson, "I don't think as there'll be any great
difficulty about that, so far as I'm concerned; and I don't think there
need be much with you neither, if you wouldn't mind changing your rig
and shiftin' into some togs of mine, so as these chaps of the
_Francesca_, won't recognise you. Then, when the next boat comes from
the ship, we'll tumble down into her and offer to give two of the others
a spell; they'll be only too glad of the chance to get a little relief
from the job of pullin' backwards and for'ards and the handlin' of a lot
of stuff, and, once aboard the ship, we can stow ourselves out of sight
until they leave her for good and all."
"Very well," said I, "that seems as good a plan as any, and we will try
it. Let me have some of your old clothes, Simpson--a flannel shirt and
a pair of canvas trousers will do--and I will shift into them at once.
And there is another thing that occurs to me. If we could manage to
secure a little further help it would be so much the better. Now, if I
am not mistaken, a good many of the crew of yonder ship joined the
_Francesca_ this afternoon as the only means of saving their lives. We
must get hold of a few of them, if we can, and, by means of a few
judicious questions, find out whether they would be willing to throw in
their lot with us and take their chance of ultimate escape, rather than
become slavers and pirates. With only half-a-dozen stout, willing
seamen a great deal might be done to better the state of affairs
generally."
"You are right, sir, it would make a lot of difference, and I'll see
what can be done," answered Simpson. "And now, sir, shall I go and get
you the togs? I s'pose that whatever we do might as well be done at
once?"
"Certainly," said I, "the sooner the better. I can see no object in
delaying our movements, now that we have determined upon a definite
plan."
"All right, sir, then here goes," answered Simpson. "I'll be back with
the duds in a jiffey."
Simpson's "jiffey" proved to be a pretty long one, for it was fully
twenty minutes before he returned with the clothes--a thin flannel shirt
that had seen its best days, and was so faded from its original colour
and so thoroughly stained with tar and grease that it was difficult to
say what that original colour had been, but was therefore so much the
better suited to the purpose of a disguise--a pair of equally faded
dungaree trousers, and a knitted worsted cap. But his delay had not
been profitless, for happening to find in the forecastle two of the crew
of the _Bangalore_, who had been compelled to join the _Francesca_, and
who, from their dejected appearance, he conjectured were not altogether
pleased or satisfied with the arrangement, he entered into conversation
with them, and soon contrived to elicit from them that his conjecture
was well founded. Thereupon, as there was no time to lose, he took the
bold course of asking them outright whether, in the event of there being
a scheme afoot on the part of others to escape from the brigantine to
the ship, they would be disposed to join in it, to which they replied
that they would gladly, and that indeed they had been discussing the
possibilities of such an attempt when he interrupted them by his descent
into the forecastle. This was enough for Simpson, who at once brought
them aft to me, and I, finding them fully in earnest in their expressed
desire to have nothing to do with the pirates, forthwith unfolded my
plans to them, carefully directing their attention to the somewhat
desperate aspect of the adventure, but at the same time pointing out to
them that every additional seaman whose help we could secure added very
materially to the chances of a successful issue. What I said seemed
only to render them the more determined to sever their brief connection
with the pirates at any cost, and they unhesitatingly declared their
readiness to join me, and to implicitly obey my orders. More than this,
they informed me that there were others of the _Bangalore_ crew who,
they were sure, would be equally ready with themselves, if permitted, to
take part in the adventure, and they consented to hunt up as many of
these men as possible at once, and to have them ready to meet me on the
forecastle to discuss the matter in a quarter of an hour.
My scheme, which, prior to my conversation with Simpson, had been of the
most vague and nebulous character, had now taken shape and wore so
promising an appearance that I felt sanguine of its ultimate success; so
without further ado I retired right aft to the wheel grating--that part
of the brigantine being now quite deserted, and wrapped in total
darkness save for the dim and diffused light that issued from the cabin
skylight--and there, unseen, shifted into the clothes that Simpson had
brought me. They were not particularly comfortable nor quite so
well-savoured as I could have wished; but it was no time for
ultra-squeamishness, and I was soon transformed into a very colourable
imitation of a fo'c's'le hand. This done, I went forward, past the open
hatchway down which the plunder from the _Bangalore_ was being struck,
noticing with bitter distress and anger the forlorn, dejected, worn-out,
and despairing attitudes of the unfortunate blacks closely huddled
together on the slave-deck, their forms faintly indicated in the yellow,
smoky light of the lanterns which the men were working by, and noticing
too, with keen satisfaction, that most of the crew had reached that
stage of intoxication wherein the victim's whole attention is required
for the conduct of his own affairs, with none to spare for those of
others. Many had gone considerably beyond this stage, and were
staggering about, pulling and hauling aimlessly at the first object that
they could lay their hands upon, and proving far more of a hindrance
than a help to their less intoxicated comrades; while there were some
who had reached the final stage of bestiality, and were lying about the
decks in a helpless condition of drunken stupor. Nothing more
favourable for our scheme than this condition of general intoxication
could possibly have happened, unless it were that Pedro was below, fully
occupied in attending to his father, and was therefore the less likely
to discover my absence from the brigantine until it should be too late
to take any steps toward the investigation of the phenomenon; I
therefore hurried to the rendezvous with a sudden feeling of elation and
joyousness and confidence in the conviction that the time of release
from my exceedingly uncongenial and disagreeable, if not absolutely
hopeless, situation had at length arrived.
Upon reaching the forecastle-head--the appointed spot of our
rendezvous--I found it tenantless; but presently a man came lounging up
to me from the group of workers about the hatchway, and, after peering
into my face, inquired--
"Got any 'baccy about you, mate? Mine's down below in my chest, and I
haven't unlashed it yet. If you've got any, just give me a chaw, will
ye, and maybe I'll do as much for you another time."
"I am sorry to say that I have not any," I answered. "I do not use it
except in the form of a cigar now and then. But I expect my mate
Simpson on deck every moment, and I have no doubt that he will be able
to accommodate you. You are one of the new hands, shipped from the
_Bangalore_, are you not? I don't seem to remember having seen your
face before."
"No, perhaps not, and it's precious little you can see now, I should
think, unless you've got cat's eyes, and can see in the dark," was the
somewhat surly response. "Yes," he continued, "I'm Joe Maxwell, late
carpenter of the _Bangalore_, and--well, yes, `shipped' is the word, I
suppose. And pray who may _you_ be, my buck, with your dandified talk--
which, to my mind, is about as like any fo'c's'le lingo that I ever
heard as chalk is like cheese? Are all hands aboard this dashin' rover
of the same kidney as yourself?"
"Scarcely that, I think, as you seem to have already had an opportunity
of judging," I answered, laughingly, as I glanced in the direction of
the hatchway. "No," I continued, determined to sound him forthwith, as
his speech and manner seemed to indicate that he was by no means
satisfied with his changed lot, "I am a naval officer, and a prisoner, I
suppose I must call myself, although, as you see, I have the liberty of
the ship. And now, having told you thus much, I should like you to tell
me candidly, Maxwell, did you join this afternoon of your own free will,
or under compulsion?"