"Then git out o' here, ye darned galoot, as quick as you knows how," he
snarled, "and thank your lucky stars that I don't freshen yewr way wi' a
rope's end!" Then, suddenly changing his tune, as he followed me out on
deck and saw me glance round, he remarked:
"Purty ship, ain't she? and roomy for her size. Guess I can stow away
all of seven hundred niggers down below, and not lose more'n twenty per
cent of 'em on an ordinary average passage. And the _Preciosa_ is the
very spit of this here craft--built in the same yard, she was, and from
the same lines; there ain't a pin to choose atween 'em. Now, if yew was
only lucky enough to fall in with _her_, stranger, I guess she'd be a
prize worth havin', eh?"
"She would!" I agreed. "And, what's more, my friend, we mean to have
her, sooner or later."
"Yew don't say!" he jeered. "Waal, I guess yew'll have to fight for her
afore you git her. And yew'll have to find her afore yew can fight for
her, won't yew, sonny? And p'rhaps that won't be so very difficult,
a'ter all, for when I next see my friend Rodriguez--that's the cap'n of
the _Preciosa_--I'll tell him that yew're out arter him, and maybe he'll
lay for yew; for Rodriguez hates the Britishers 'most as bad as I do,
and I'm sure he'd enjy blowin' _El Caiman_ outer the water now that
she's fallen into yewr hands. He and Morillo was great friends; and I
reckon he'll feel bound to avenge Morillo's loss. Yes; I'll tell him,
for sure. And I'll also tell all the others on the Coast to keep a
bright look-out for the brigantine. Waal, so long, stranger. I'm bound
for the Congo, if yew're anyways anxious to know."
The foregoing remarks were made as he followed me to the waist and
watched my progress over the rail and from the main chains into my boat;
and the last item of information was yelled after me when we had put
about twenty fathoms of blue water between the boat and the ship. As I
flourished my hand by way of reply to his jeers, he turned away and I
heard his harsh, nasal accents uplifted in an order to his crew to
"Swing the main-yard; haul aft the jib-sheet; and sway away them
t'gallan' and r'yal yards."
Profoundly disappointed at my non-success, and bitterly mortified at the
insults to which I had been subjected by boarding the Yankee, I moodily
returned to the _Dolphin_ and, upon mounting to the deck, ordered the
gig to be hoisted and the helm to be put up in order that we might
return to the _Eros_, the royals of which were now just rising above the
horizon to the westward. Three-quarters of an hour later we were again
hove-to, and I was once more in the gig, on my way to report to Captain
Perry the result of my pursuit.
To say that the commodore was also deeply disappointed is only stating
the bare truth; yet I was not more than half-way through my narrative
before I saw that some scheme was taking shape in the back of his mind.
He questioned me very closely indeed upon certain points, one of his
questions having reference to the point of the possibility of effecting
a change in the name of the ship displayed upon her stern, it being
evident that a suspicion had arisen in his mind that the two ships
might, after all, be one and the same craft, sailing under different
flags as circumstances might require. To speak the truth the same
suspicion had once or twice crossed my own mind, but had been completely
dissipated by my visit to the _Virginia_; I was quite convinced there
could be no possible tampering with the name on the stern, while the
papers were undoubtedly genuine, and the crew were as undoubtedly
genuine Yankee as were the papers. Yet, despite all this, the fact that
such a suspicion had arisen in Captain Perry's mind caused it to recur
in my own; I was therefore very glad when he finally said:
"Thank you, Mr Fortescue. You appear to have executed your mission
very effectively, and to have done everything that I should have done,
had I been there. Of course I should have preferred to have been there
myself; but--well, I have no doubt the result would have been precisely
the same. Now, having found the _Virginia_, I am minded to send you
after her, to keep an eye upon her and also to drop a friendly hint to
any Yankee cruiser that you may happen to fall in with; for, although
you cannot touch her, they can; and they ought to be exceedingly
grateful for a hint that will ensure them against making any further
mistakes. Yes; you shall follow her up, every inch of the way; go into
the Congo with her, and, unless there is some very strong reason against
it, come out again with her and follow her right across the Atlantic to
her destination, wherever it may be. And while you are doing that, I--
confident that you are keeping the _Virginia_ under observation--will
look out for the _Preciosa_, and endeavour to nab her. Go and have a
yarn with Mr Hoskins while I prepare your written instructions."
The skipper was much longer than I had anticipated over the job of
drafting his written instructions to me, and Hoskins and I therefore had
an opportunity to discuss the situation at some length. I ventured to
voice the suspicion that, for some inexplicable reason, so persistently
suggested itself to me that the _Virginia_ and the _Preciosa_ might
possibly be one and the same vessel, despite the weighty evidence
against such a supposition, but the first lieutenant laughed at the
notion, which he pronounced in the highest degree fantastic.
"No," said he, "I do not think you need worry about that, Fortescue.
But, all the same, you will have to keep your weather eye lifting, on
this expedition upon which the captain is about to despatch you. For,
from your account of him, I judge the skipper of the _Virginia_ to be an
exceptionally vindictive individual, with a very strong animus against
us `Britishers,' as he calls us, and such men are apt to be dangerous
when provoked, as he will pretty certainly be when he discovers that you
are following and watching him. Therefore, be on your guard against
him, or he may play you one of those ghastly tricks that the slavers are
apt to play upon the slave-hunters when the latter chance to fall into
their hands. In my opinion you are rather too young and inexperienced
to be sent alone upon such a job."
"Nevertheless," said I, "one must acquire one's experience in some way
before one can possess it; and I suppose there is no way in which a
young officer can learn so quickly as by being placed in a position of
responsibility. After all, there is no danger in this forthcoming
expedition, so far as I can see; it is but to follow and keep an eye
upon a certain ship, and do what I can to promote her capture. But I
will keep your warning in mind, never fear. And now I suppose I must
say good-bye; for here comes Parkinson, the captain's steward, doubtless
to say that my instructions are ready."
It was even as I had anticipated; Parkinson was the bearer of a message
summoning me to the skipper's cabin, where my written instructions,
having first been read over to me, in order that I might be afforded an
opportunity to seek explanation of any doubtful points, were placed in
my hands, and I was dismissed; the skipper's final order to me being to
carry on and, if possible, overtake the _Virginia_, thereafter keeping
her in sight at all costs until the remainder of my instructions had
been carried out. Ten minutes later I was once more on the deck of the
_Dolphin_, and giving orders to make sail, the signal to part company
having been hoisted aboard the _Eros_ the moment that my boat left her
side.
Having braced up on the same course as that steered by the _Virginia_
when last seen, and crowded upon the brigantine every square inch of
canvas that her spars would bear, I sent a hand aloft to the royal yard
to take a look round and see whether he could discover any sign of the
chase; but, as I had more than suspected, she had completely vanished;
and my first task was now to find her again. To do this, two things
were necessary; the first being that we should follow precisely the same
course that she had done; and the second, that we should sail fast
enough to overtake her. I therefore ordered the boatswain at once to
get up preventer backstays, fore and aft, to enable our spars to carry a
heavy press of sail; and then went to my cabin, where, with a chart of
the Atlantic spread open before us upon the cabin table, Jack Keene and
I discussed the knotty question of the course that should be steered to
enable us once more to bring the _Virginia_ within the range of our own
horizon.
The point that we had to consider was whether our Yankee friend would or
would not anticipate pursuit. If he did, he would probably resort to
some expedient to dodge us; but if he did not there was little doubt
that he would make the best of his way to his port of destination,
which, if he spoke the truth, was the Congo. Now, we were well within
the limits of the north-east trade-winds, the wind at the moment
blowing, as nearly as might be, due north-east, and piping up strong
enough to make us think twice before setting our topgallantsail; it was
therefore perfectly ideal weather for so powerful a craft as the
_Virginia_, which might dare not only to show all three of her
topgallantsails but also, perhaps, her main-royal. We therefore
ultimately came to the conclusion that, the weather being what it was,
our friend the Yankee would shape a straight course for Cape Palmas,
with the intention of then availing himself of the alternate sea and
land-breezes to slip along the coast as far as the Congo--that being the
plan very largely followed by slavers on the eastward passage--and that
he would only be likely to deviate from that plan in the event of his
actually discovering that he was pursued. Consequently we determined to
do the same; and I issued the necessary orders to that effect. We were
not very long in getting our preventers rigged, after which we not only
set our royal and flying-jib, but also shifted our gaff-topsail, hauling
down Number 3, a jib-headed affair, and setting Number 2 in its place, a
sail nearly twice as big as the other, with its lofty, tapering head
laced to a yard very nearly as long as the topmast. Then, with her lee
rail awash--and, in fact, dipping deeply sometimes, on a lee roll--and
the lee scuppers breast-deep in water, the _Dolphin_ began to show us
what she really could do in the matter of sailing when called upon;
reeling off a steady eleven knots, hour after hour, upon a taut bowline;
the smother of froth under her bows boiling up at times to the level of
her lee cat-head, and her foresail wet with spray to the height of its
reef-band. It was grand sailing, exhilarating as a draught of wine,
maddening in the feeling of recklessness that it begot; but, all the
same, I did not believe that we were doing more than perhaps just
holding our own with the _Virginia_; it was not under such conditions as
those that we were likely to overhaul her; our chance would come when,
as we gradually neared the equator, the wind grew more shy and fitful.
Nevertheless, I kept a look-out in the fore-topmast cross-trees
throughout the hours of daylight, to make sure that we should not
overtake her unexpectedly.
We carried on all through that night, and the next day, and the next,
with the breeze still holding strong, yet there was no sign of the
chase; and, meanwhile, the carpenter informed me we were straining the
ship all to pieces and opening her seams to such an extent that the
pumps had to be tended for half an hour at a time twice in each watch;
while the boatswain was kept in a perpetual state of anxiety lest his
rigging should give way under the strain.
At length, on the afternoon of the fourth day after parting from the
_Eros_, the wind began to moderate somewhat rapidly, with the result
that by sunset our lee scuppers were dry, although we still had all our
flying kites aloft; and that night the watch below were able to bring
their mattresses on deck and sleep on the forecastle, a luxury which had
hitherto been impossible during our headlong race across the Atlantic.
And now I began to feel sanguine that before many hours were over we
should see the mastheads of the _Virginia_ creeping above the horizon
somewhere ahead of us; for I felt convinced that, in the moderate
weather which we were then experiencing, we had the heels of her.
But when the next morning dawned, with the trade-wind breathing no more
than a gentle zephyr, the look-out, upon going aloft, reported that the
horizon was still bare; which, however, was not to say that the chase
might not be within a dozen miles of us, for the atmosphere was
exceedingly hazy, and heavy with damp heat which was very oppressive and
relaxing, to such an extent, indeed, that the mere act of breathing
seemed to demand quite an effort. After taking my usual morning bath
under the head pump, I made my way below to my state-room to dress, and
found Keene sitting in the main cabin, on one of the sofa lockers,
attired only in shirt and trousers, perspiring freely, and in a general
state of limpness that was pitiable to behold.
"Morning, skipper!" he gasped. "I say, isn't this heat awful? Worse,
even, than that on the Coast, I think! And what has become of all the
wind? I say, I suppose we haven't made a mistake in our reckoning, and
run down on to the Line unbeknownst, have we?"
"If we have," said I severely, "the mistake is yours Master Jack; for,
as you are very well aware, I have been entrusting the navigation of
this ship to you."
Which, by the way, was only true in a certain sense; for while I had
given the young man to understand that, for his own benefit and
advantage, I intended to make him perform the duty of master, and hold
him responsible for the navigation, I had taken care to maintain a
strict check upon his calculations and assure myself that he was making
no mistakes. Of which fact he was of course quite aware. Wherefore his
reply to my retort was simply to change the subject with some celerity.
"I say, old chap," he remarked, "you look awfully cool and comfy. Been
under the head pump, as usual, I suppose. Upon my word, if it were not
for the possibility--not to say the extreme probability--of being
snapped up by a shark, I should like to go overboard in a bowline and be
towed for half an hour. And--talking of sharks--have you noticed how
often we have seen the beggars following us since we have been in this
ship? I suppose her timbers have become saturated, as it were, with the
odour of the slaves she has carried, and so--but, hillo! what has
happened to the barometer?"
I glanced at the instrument, which, together with a tell-tale compass,
swung from the skylight transoms, and saw that the mercury had sunk in
the tube to the extent of nearly an inch since the last setting of the
vernier; and, as it was our custom in the Slave Squadron at that time to
set the instrument at 8 o'clock a.m. and 8 o'clock p.m., it meant that
the mercury had fallen to that extent during the night! What was about
to happen? I had observed nothing portentous in the aspect of the
weather, while on deck, unless, indeed, the softening away of the trade-
wind and the hazy condition of the atmosphere might be regarded as
portents. Yet that could hardly be, for I had observed the same
phenomena before, yet nothing particular had come of it. I decided to
have a talk with Tasker, the gunner's mate, and get his views on the
matter; he was a man of very considerable experience, having been a
sailor before I was born; I therefore at once entered my cabin, and
proceeded to dress; after which I returned to the deck, where Tasker was
officer of the watch. I found him sitting aft on the stern grating,
replacing his socks and shoes, which he had removed from his feet at
four bells in order to take a leading part in the matutinal ceremony of
washing decks. I had already seen him a little earlier that morning,
and exchanged greetings with him; I therefore at once, and without any
circumlocution, plunged into the subject by asking:
"What do you think of the look of the weather, Mr Tasker; is there
anything unusual about it, in your opinion?"
Tasker rose to his feet and cast a prolonged glance at the sky before
replying. Then he said slowly:
"I can't say as I sees anything much out of the common about it, so far,
Mr Fortescue. The wind's dropped a bit more than's quite usual,
certainly; but I don't know as there's very mich in that. And then
there's this here thickness o' the hatmosphere--well, that may or may
not mean somethin', but I don't see anything alarmin' about it just yet.
Why d'ye ask the question, sir? Is the glass droppin' at all?"
"It has dropped nearly an inch since it was set last night," I answered.
"Phew! Nearly an inch since eight bells last night!" ejaculated the old
salt, with an air of concern. "That means, sir, that it have fallen
that little lot since midnight; for I looked at it then, when Mr Keene
relieved me, and it hadn't dropped nothin' then."
"Then what is going to happen?" I demanded. "Are we going to have a
hurricane?"
"I should say yes, Mr Fortescue, most decidedly," answered Tasker.
"And yet," he continued, again carefully scanning the sky, "I must
confess I don't see nothin' very alarmin' up there at present. I s'pose
the mercury bag haven't sprung a leak, by no chance, have it? This here
sudden drop reminds me of a yarn a shipmate of mine once told me about a
scare he had when he was in the sloop _Pyramus_ in the Indian Ocean,
outward bound to the China station. The scare started with a sudden
fall of the barometer, just as it might be in this here present case,
and it went on droppin' until the skipper began to think he was booked
for the biggest blow as ever come away out o' the 'eavens. He started
by sendin' down royal and t'gallan' yards and housin' the t'gallan'
masts. Then, as the mercury still went on droppin', he shortened sail
to close-reefed fore and main taups'ls, sent the t'gallan' masts down on
deck, and housed the topmasts. While this work was goin' on the mercury
kept fallin' until it sank out o' sight altogether; and the skipper had
actually given the order to furl the taups'ls and send the yards and
masts down when the cabin steward happened to make the discovery that
the mercury bag had busted and the mercury from the barometer was
rollin' in little balls all over the cabin floor! My mate told me that
the time in which they got that there _Pyramus_ ataunto again, that day,
and the royals upon her, was never a'terwards beaten!"
I could not avoid a good hearty laugh at this quaint story of a
phenomenal fall of the mercury in a barometer; for it was easy to
conjure up a picture of the rapidly growing alarm and dismay of the
captain as he watched the steady and speedy shrinkage of the metallic
column, and of the feverish anxiety and haste with which he would
proceed with his preparations to meet the swoop of the supposedly
approaching typhoon, as also of his disgust at the discovery that all
his alarm and anxiety had been brought about by the unsuspected leakage
of a leather bag! But the story served as a hint to me; what had
happened once might happen again; and I forthwith retired to the cabin
and carefully examined our own instrument to discover whether, haply,
such an accident had occurred in our case. But no, the bag into which
the base of the glass tube was plunged was perfectly sound and intact;
and, meanwhile, during my brief colloquy with Tasker a further fall of a
full tenth had occurred. I lost no time in returning to the deck.
"The scare is quite genuine this time, Mr Tasker," I said; "there is no
leakage in our mercury bag to account for the heavy drop; moreover, the
drop has increased by a full tenth. Therefore, although the present
aspect of the weather may not be precisely alarming, we will proceed to
snug down at once, if you please, in view of the fact that the crew we
carry is not precisely what might be called efficient, and will probably
take an unconscionably long time over the work."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Tasker. "I expect the mercury ain't droppin'
exactly for nothin', therefore, as you says, we'd better be makin' ready
for what's in store for us." Then, facing forward, he gave the order:
"Clew up your royal and t'garns'l, furl 'em, and then get the yards down
on deck. Hurry, you scallywags; the more work you does now, the more
time for play will you have a'ter breakfast."
The "snugging down" process occupied us until nearly four bells of the
forenoon watch; but when at length it was completed we felt that we were
prepared to face anything, our royal and topgallant-mast and all our
yards being down on deck, the fore and main-topmasts and the jib-boom
housed, the great mainsail snugly stowed and the heavy boom securely
supported in a strong crutch, and the ship under fore and main storm
staysails only.