"No, sir," I said. "Everything seems quite right except the
fore-topmast, which has snapped off, and is hanging in a tangle down to
the deck."
"But the fire?"
"That only looks, sir, as if they'd got a stove in the forecastle, and
had just lit the fire with plenty of smoky coal."
"Hah! That's all I can make out. We've come to something at last, Mr
Herrick."
"Think so, sir?" I said respectfully.
"Sure of it, my lad;" and he walked off to join the captain, while just
then Ching came up softly and pointed forward.
"Big ship," he said. "Pilate; all afire."
"Think so?"
Ching nodded.
"Hallo, Gnat, what does the first luff say?" asked Barkins, who joined
us then.
"Thinks it's a vessel cast ashore by the pirates."
"Maybe. I should say it's one got on the reef from bad seamanship."
"And want of a Tanner on board to set them right," said Smith.
"Skipper's coming," whispered Barkins; and we separated.
For the next hour all was eager watchfulness on board, as we approached
very slowly, shortening sail, and with two men in the chains heaving the
lead on account of the hidden reefs and shoals off some of the islands.
But, as we approached, nothing more could be made out till the man aloft
hailed the deck, and announced that he could read the name on the stern,
_Dunstaffnage, Glasgow_. Another hour passed, during which the island,
a couple of miles beyond, was swept by glass after glass, and tree and
hill examined, but there was no sign of signal on tree or hill. All was
bare, chilly, and repellent there, and we felt that the crew of the
vessel could not have taken refuge ashore.
At last the crew of a boat was piped away, and, as I was gazing
longingly at the men getting in under the command of Mr Brooke, a
quiet, gentlemanly fellow, our junior lieutenant, Mr Reardon said, as
he caught my eye--
"Yes; go."
I did not wait for a second order, you may be sure, but sprang in, and
as the _Teaser_ was thrown up in the wind with her sails flapping, it
being deemed unsafe to go any nearer to the barque, the little wheels
chirrupped, and down we went, to sit the next moment lightly upon a
good-sized wave which rose up as if to receive us; the falls were cast
off, the oars dropped, and the next minute we glided away towards the
stranded vessel.
"Quite a treat to get a bit of an adventure, eh Herrick?" said Mr
Brooke.
"Yes, sir. Been slow enough lately."
"Oh, you need not grumble, my lad. You did have one good adventure. By
the way, how are your sore ribs?"
"My ribs, sir? Oh, I had forgotten all about them. But do you think
this is the work of pirates, or that the ship has run ashore?"
"I'm not sure, my lad, but we shall soon know."
We sat watching the fine well-built barque, as the men pulled lustily at
their oars, making the water flash and the distance grow shorter. Then
all at once my companion said shortly--
"Pirates."
"Where, where?" I said eagerly, and my hand went to my dirk.
Mr Brooke laughed, and I saw all the men showing their teeth.
"No, no, my lad," he said. "I meant this was the work of pirates."
"How do you know, sir?"
"Look at those ropes and sheets hanging loose. They have been cut. The
barque has not been in a storm either. She has just gone on to the
rocks and the fore-topmast evidently snapped with the shock."
"And the smoke? Is that from the forecastle?"
He shook his head, and stood up in the boat, after handing me the lines,
while he remained scanning the vessel attentively.
"Hail her, Jones," he said to the bowman; and the man jumped up, put his
hands to his mouth, and roared out, "_Ship ahoy_!"
This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe
crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it
were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger,
twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the
broken foremast.
"Steady," cried the lieutenant; "the water's getting shoal. Keep a good
look-out forward, Jones."
For all at once the water in front of us, from being smooth and oily,
suddenly became agitated, and I saw that we had startled and were
driving before us a shoal of good-sized fish, some of which, in their
eagerness to escape, sprang out of the water and fell back with a
splash.
"Plenty yet, sir," said the man in the bows, standing up now with the
boat-hook. "Good fathom under us."
"Right. Steady, my lads."
We were only about a hundred yards from the barque now, and the water
deepened again, showing that we had been crossing a reef; but the bottom
was still visible, as I glanced once over the side, but only for a
moment, for there was a peculiar saddening attraction about the silent
ship, and I don't know how it was, but I felt as if I was going to see
something dreadful.
Under the lieutenant's directions, I steered the boat so that we glided
round to the other side, passing under the stern, and then ran
alongside, with the bulwarks hanging over towards us, and made out that
the vessel had evidently been in fairly deep water close by, and had
been run on to the rocks where two reefs met and closed-in a deep
channel.
How are we going to get on board? I asked myself, as I looked upward;
but I was soon made aware of that, for right forward there was a
quantity of the top-hamper of the broken mast with a couple of the
square sails awash, so that there was no difficulty about scrambling up.
"I don't think there is any one on board, Herrick," said Mr Brooke,
"but sailors should always be on the _qui vive_. Stay in the boat, if
you like."
"I don't like, sir," I said, as soon as he had given orders to four men
to follow us, and the next minute we were climbing up to stand upon the
deck.
"No doubt about it," said Mr Brooke through his teeth. "She has been
plundered, and then left to drift ashore or to burn."
For there from the forehold curled up the pillar of smoke we had seen,
and a dull crackling noise came up, telling that, though slowly, the
fire was steadily burning.
We could not see much below for the smoke, and Mr Brooke led the way
forward to the forecastle hatch, which lay open.
"Below! Any one there?" cried my officer, but all was silent as the
grave.
One of the men looked at him eagerly.
"Yes, jump down."
The man lowered himself down into the dark forecastle, and made a quick
inspection.
"Any one there?"
"No, sir. Place clear and the men's kits all gone."
"Come up."
We went aft, to find the hatches all off and thrown about anyhow, while
the cargo had been completely cleared out, save one chest of tea which
had been broken and the contents had scattered.
"No mistake about it, Herrick," said Mr Brooke; and he went on to the
after-hatch, which was also open and the lading gone.
The next minute we were at the companion-way, and Mr Brooke hailed
again, but all was still. Just then the man peering over my shoulder
sniffed sharply like some animal.
The sound sent a shudder through me, and Mr Brooke turned to the man
sharply--
"Why did you do that?"
"Beg pardon, sir," stammered the man; "I thought that--as if--there
was--"
He did not finish.
"Come on," said Mr Brooke sternly, while I shuddered again, and
involuntarily my nostrils dilated as I inhaled the air, thinking the
while of a butchered captain and officers lying about, but there was not
the faintest odour, and I followed my officer, and then for a moment a
horrible sickening sensation attacked me, and I shuddered.
But it all passed off, and, myself again directly, I was gazing with the
others at the many signs which told us as plainly as if it had been
written, that the crew of the unfortunate barque had barricaded
themselves in here and made a desperate resistance, for her broken doors
lay splintered and full of the marks made by axes and heavy swords. The
seats were broken; and bulkheads, cabin windows, and floor were horribly
stained here and there with blood, now quite dry and black, but which,
after it had been shed, had been smeared about and trampled over; and
this in one place was horribly evident, for close up to the side, quite
plain, there was the imprint of a bare foot--marked in blood--a great
wide-toed foot, that could never have worn a shoe.
"Rather horrid for you, Herrick," said Mr Brooke in a low voice, as if
the traces of death made him solemn; "but you must be a man now. Look,
my lad, what the devils--the savage devils--have done with our poor
Scotch brothers!"
"Yes, I see," I whispered; "they must have killed them all."
"But I mean this--there, I mean."
I looked at him wonderingly as he pointed to the floor, for I did not
understand.
The next moment, though, I grasped his meaning, and saw plainly enough
what must have happened, for from where we stood to the open stern
windows there were long parallel streaks, and I knew that, though they
were partially trampled out by naked feet, as if they had been passed
over dozens of times since, the savage wretches must have dragged their
victims to the stern windows and thrust them out; any doubt thereon
being cleared away by the state of the lockers and the sills of the
lights.
Just then a peculiar hissing sound came to my ears, and I faced round
quickly, as did Mr Brooke, for I felt startled.
For there behind me was one of our men--a fine handsome Yorkshire lad of
three or four and twenty--standing glaring and showing his set teeth,
and his eyes with the white slightly visible round the iris. His left
fist was firmly clenched, and in his right was his bare cutlass, with
the blade quivering in his strong hand.
"Put up your cutlass, my lad," said Mr Brooke sternly; and the man
started and thrust it back. "Wait a bit--but I don't know how I am to
ask you to give quarter to the fiends who did all this. No wonder the
place is so silent, Herrick," he added bitterly. "Come away."
He led us out, but not before we had seen that the cabins had been
completely stripped.
We did not stay much longer, but our time was long enough to show us
that everything of value had been taken, and nothing left in the way of
log or papers to tell how the barque had fallen in with the wretches.
The crew had probably been surprised, and after a desperate resistance,
when driven back into the cabin, fought to the last with the results we
had seen.
"But surely they must have killed or wounded some of the pirates?" I
said.
"Possibly," replied Mr Brooke; "but there has been rain since; perhaps
a heavy sea, too, has washed over the deck and swept away all traces
here. Let's hope they made some of them pay dearly for their work."
A short inspection below showed that the barque's planking was crushed
in, and that she was hopelessly damaged, even if she could have been got
off, so soon after Mr Brooke gave the word to return to the boat.
"I shall not touch the fire," he said. "If the captain has any wishes
the boat can return. For my part I should say, let her burn."
The captain listened with his brow contracted to Mr Brooke's recital,
when we were back on board; I being close at hand, ready to answer a few
questions as well.
"Yes, let her burn," said the captain; and then he turned his back to
us, but seemed to recollect himself directly, for he turned again.
"Thank you, Mr Brooke," he said. "Very clear and concise. You could
not have done better."