The work for the day was nearly concluded, and the captain of the slaver
was walking by himself beneath the awning spread over the after-part of
the deck, when he observed a canoe suddenly dart out of the main stream
into the bay where the schooner lay concealed. It was soon alongside,
when a black jumped on board.
"Senor capitan, you must be pronto," he said. "Big man-of-war come, big
canoe, mucho hombres, come up river."
"Ah, have they found me out?" muttered the captain to himself. "I'll
give them a warm reception if they do come. Very well, Queebo," he said
aloud, "now pull back and watch them narrowly. Take care they don't see
you, and come and report their movements to me."
At a signal all the crew were summoned on board, the awning was handed,
boarding-nettings were triced up, the guns were double-shotted and run
out, and a thick screen of boughs was carried across the part of the bay
so as still further to conceal the schooner from the eye of any
stranger. Two guns were also sent on shore and planted in battery, so
as to command the entrance of the bay. Every other precaution was
likewise taken to avoid discovery; all fires were extinguished, and the
blacks were ordered to remove from the neighbourhood.
By the time these arrangements had been made, the scout returned to give
notice that two boats had entered the river, and were exploring one of
the numerous passages of the stream. The captain on this ordered the
scout to remain on board, lest he might betray their whereabouts to the
enemy. He had no wish to destroy the boats, as so doing would not
benefit him; concealment, not fighting, was his object. When night,
however, came on, he sent out the scout to gain further intelligence.
Scarcely had the man gone, when he returned, and noiselessly stepped on
deck.
"Hist, senor, hist!" he whispered. "They are close at hand, little
dreaming we are near them."
"Whereabouts?" inquired the captain.
"On the other side of the long island which divides the middle from the
southern stream," was the substance of the reply.
"We'll attack them then, and either kill or make them all prisoners.
They may be useful as hostages," muttered the captain, and calling
Antonio to him, he ordered him to man two boats with the most
trustworthy of their people, and carefully to muffle the oars. This
done, both boats left the schooner, under his command, in the direction
indicated by the scout.
They pulled across the channel to a thickly-wooded island indicated by
the scout. The negro landed, and in a few minutes came back.
"Dere dey are, senor," he whispered; "you may kill all fast asleep;
berry good time now; no make noise."
On hearing this, the slavers, all of whom were armed to the teeth,
advanced cautiously across the island, by a path with which Queebo
seemed well acquainted. The black pointed between the trees, and there
was seen the head of a man, fast asleep in the stern-sheets of a boat.
Just then a light rustling noise was heard, and a figure was seen
advancing close up to where the slavers were crouching down, ready for
the command of their officer to fire.
He advanced slowly, looking out for the very path apparently by which
they had gained the spot. He reached within almost an arm's length of
the captain. The impulse was irresistible; and before the stranger was
aware any one was near him, he was felled to the ground, and a
handkerchief was passed over his mouth, so that he could not utter a cry
for help. Two other men, who were doing duty as sentinels on shore,
were in like manner surprised and gagged, without uttering a sound to
alarm the rest. The slavers then advanced close up to the nearest boat,
and pouring a volley from their deadly trabucos into her, killed or
wounded nearly all her crew. A larger boat was moored at some little
distance farther on, and her people being aroused by the firing, they at
once shoved off into the stream, which the survivors of the other also
succeeded in doing. They then opened a fire on the slavers, but
sheltered as they were among the trees, it was ineffectual.
The contest was kept up for some time; but reduced in strength as the
crews of the boats were, they were at last obliged to retreat, while the
slavers returned with their prisoners to the schooner. As the slavers'
boats were left on the other side of the island, which extended for more
than a mile towards the sea, they were unable to follow their retreating
enemy had they been so inclined; but in fact they did not relish the
thought of coming in actual contact with British seamen, as they had
good reason in believing the enemy to be, although weakened and
dispirited by defeat.
When the prisoners, who had not uttered a word, were handed up on deck,
the captain ordered lights to be brought, for he had no longer any fear
of being discovered. One evidently, by his uniform, was an officer; the
other two were seamen. The captain paced the deck in the interval
before lights were brought, grinding his teeth and clinching his fists
with rage, as he muttered to himself,--
"He shall die--he wears that hated uniform: it reminds me of what I once
was. Oh, this hell within me! blood must quench its fire."
A seaman now brought aft a lantern; its glare fell as well on the
features of the prisoner as on that of the slave captain. Both started.
"Staunton!" ejaculated the latter.
"Daggerfeldt!" exclaimed the prisoner.
"You know me, then?" said the captain of the slaver, bitterly; "it will
avail you little, though. I had wished it had been another man; but no
matter--you must take your chance."
The slaver's crew were now thronging aft.
"Well, meos amigos," he continued, in a fierce tone, "what is to be done
with these spies? You are the judges, and must decide the case."
"Enforca-los--hang them, hang them--at least the officer. The other two
may possibly enter, and they may be of service: we want good seamen to
work the vessel, and these English generally are so."
"You hear what your fate is to be," said Daggerfeldt, turning to Captain
Staunton. "You had better prepare for it. You may have some at home to
regret your loss. If you have any messages, I will take care to
transmit them. It is the only favour I can do you."
While he spoke, a bitter sneer curled his lip, and his voice assumed a
taunting tone, which he could not repress.
The gallant officer, proud in his consciousness of virtue, confronted
the villain boldly.
"I would receive no favour, even my life, from one whose very name is a
disgrace to humanity. Even if the message I were to send was conveyed
correctly, it would be polluted by the bearer. It would be little
satisfaction for my friends to know that I was murdered in an African
creek by the hands of a rascally slaver."
While Staunton was uttering these words, which he did in very bitterness
of spirit, for, knowing the character of the wretch with whom he had to
deal, he had not the remotest hope of saving either his own life or that
of his people, the rage of Daggerfeldt was rising till it surpassed his
control.
"Silence!" he thundered, "or I will brain you on the spot!"
But Staunton stood unmoved.
"Madman, would you thus repay me for the life I saved?" he asked,
calmly.
"A curse on you for having saved it," answered the pirate, fiercely,
returning his sword, which he had half drawn from its scabbard. "My
hand, however, shall not do the deed. Here, Antonio Diogo, here are the
spies who wish to interfere in our trade, and would send us all to
prison, or to the gallows, if they could catch us."
"The end of a rope and a dance on nothing for the officer, say I,"
answered the mulatto mate. "See what his followers will do; speak to
them in their own lingo, captain, and ask them whether they choose to
walk overboard or join us."
While he was speaking, some of the crew brought aft the two British
seamen, with their hands lashed behind them. Others, headed by Antonio,
immediately seized Captain Staunton, and led him to the gangway, one of
the men running aloft to reeve a rope through the studding-sail
sheet-block on the main-yard. Staunton well knew what the preparations
meant, but he trembled not; his whole anxiety was for the boats' crews
he had led in the expedition which had ended so unfortunately, and for
the two poor fellows whose lives, he feared, were about also to be
sacrificed by the miscreants.
The British seamen watched what was going forward, and by the convulsive
workings of their features, and the exertions they were making to free
their arms, were evidently longing to strike a blow to rescue him.
Daggerfeldt was better able to confront them than he had been to face
Staunton.
"You are seamen belonging to a man-of-war outside this river, and you
came here to interfere with our affairs?"
"You've hit it to an affigraphy, my bo'," answered one of the men, glad,
at all events, to get the use of his tongue. "We belongs to her
Majesty's brig `Sylph,' and we came into this here cursed hole to take
you or any other slaver we could fall in with; and now you knows what I
am, I'll just tell you what you are--a runaway scoundrel of a
piccarooning villain, whom no honest man would consort with, or even
speak to, for that matter, except to give him a bit of his mind; and if
you're not drowned, or blown up sky high, you'll be hung, as you
deserve, as sure as you're as big a rascal as ever breathed. Now, put
that in your pipe, my bo', and smoke it."
While he was thus running on, to the evident satisfaction of his
shipmate, who, indifferent to their danger, seemed mightily to enjoy the
joke, Daggerfeldt in vain endeavoured to stop him.
"Silence!" he shouted, "or you go overboard this moment!"
"You must bawl louder than that, my bo', if you wants to frighten Jack
Hopkins, let me tell you," answered the undaunted seaman. "What is it
you want of us? Come, out with it; some villainy, I'll warrant."
The captain of the slaver ground his teeth with fury, but he dared not
kill the man who was bearding him, for he could not explain to his crew
the nature of the offence, a very venial one in their eyes, and he
wanted some good seamen.
"I overlook your insolence," he answered, restraining his passion. "My
crew are your judges. You have been convicted of endeavouring to
capture us, and they give you your choice of joining us, or of going
overboard; the dark stream alongside swarms with alligators. That fate
is too good for your captain: he is to be hung."
"Why, what a cursed idiot you must be to suppose we'd ship with such a
pretty set of scoundrels as you and your men are," answered Jack
Hopkins, with a laugh. "I speak for myself and for Bob Short, too.
It's all right, Bob, I suppose?" he said, turning to his companion.
"There's no use shilly-shallying with these blackguards."
"Ay, ay; I'm ready for what you are," replied Bob Short, who had gained
his name from the succinctness of his observations apparently, rather
than from his stature, for he was six feet high, while the name by which
Jack Hopkins was generally known on board was Peter Palaver, from his
inveterate habits of loquacity.
"Well, then, look ye here, Mr Daggerfeldt, I knowed you many years ago
for an ill-begotten spawn of you knows what, and I knows you now for the
biggest scoundrel unhung, so you must just take the compliments I've got
to give you. Now for the matter of dying, I'd rather die with a brave,
noble fellow like our skipper than live in company with a man who has
murdered his messmate, has seduced the girl who sheltered him from
justice, and would now hang the man who saved his life. Your favours!
I'll have none on 'em."
The fierce pirate and slaver stood abashed before the wild outbreak of
the bold sailor, but quickly recovering himself, livid and trembling
with rage, he shouted out to his crew--
"Heave these fools of Englishmen overboard; they know more of our
secrets than they ought, and will not join us. Send this talking fellow
first."
"If it comes to that, I can find my tongue too, let me tell you,"
exclaimed Bob Short; "you're a murderous, rascally, thieving--"
"Heave them both together," shouted Daggerfeldt.
"Stay," said Antonio, who was refined in his cruelty; "let them have the
pleasure of seeing their captain hang first, since they are so fond of
him. He well knows what their fate will be, and perhaps he would rather
they went overboard than joined us."
"Do as you like, but let it be done quickly," answered Daggerfeldt.
"I'm sick of this work, and we must be preparing to get out of the
river, or their friends will be sending in here to look for us."
Hopkins and Short did not understand a word of this conversation, and
finding themselves brought close up to where their captain stood engaged
in his devotions, and preparing like a brave man for inevitable death,
they believed that they were to share his fate.
"Well, I'm blowed if that ain't more than I expected of the beggars,"
whispered Jack Hopkins to his companion; "they're going to do the thing
that's right after all, and launch us in our last cruise in the same way
as the captain."
"Jack, can you pray?" asked Bob Short.
"Why, for the matter of that I was never much of a hand at it," answered
Jack; "but when I was a youngster I was taught to thank God for all his
mercies, and I do so still. Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking as how as the skipper is taking a spell at it, whether
we might ask him just to put in a word for us. He knows more about it,
and a captain of a man-of-war must have a greater chance of being
attended to than one of us, you see, Jack."
Poor Bob could never thus have exerted himself had he not felt that he
should only have a few words more to speak in this life. Jack looked at
him in surprise.
"I'll ask him, Bob, I'll ask him; but you know as how the parson says,
in the country we are going to all men are equal, and so I suppose we
ought to pray for ourselves."
"But we are still in this world, Jack," argued the other; "Captain
Staunton is still our captain, and we are before the mast."
He spoke loud, and Captain Staunton had apparently overheard the
conversation, for he smiled and looked towards them. He had been
offering up a prayer to the throne on high for mercy for the failings of
the two honest fellows, whose ignorance it was now too late to
enlighten. Antonio was a pious Catholic, and, villain as he was, he was
unwilling not to give the chance of a quiet passage into the other world
to his victims.
"What are you about there?" shouted Daggerfeldt; "is this work never to
end?"
"The men are praying, senor, before they slip their cables for
eternity," answered Antonio.
"Is there an eternity?" muttered the pirate, and shuddered.
On Captain Staunton's turning his head, on which the light from the
lantern fell strongly, Antonio believed it was the signal that he was
prepared,--"Hoist away!" he shouted, in Spanish; but at that instant a
light female form rushed forth from the cabin, and seizing the whip,
held it forcibly down with one hand while she disengaged the noose from
the captain's neck.
"Oh, Juan! have you not murders enough on your head already that you
must commit another in cold blood?" she exclaimed, turning to
Daggerfeldt, "and that other on one who saved your life at the risk of
his own. I knew him--before all my misery began, and recognised him at
once. If you persist, I leave you; you know me well, I fear not to die;
Antonio, you dare not disobey me. Unreeve that rope, and leave me to
settle with our captain regarding these men."
The slaver's crew stood sulky and with frowning aspect around her, yet
they in no way interrupted her proceedings, while Daggerfeldt stood a
silent spectator in the after-part of the vessel.
"Unreeve that rope! again I say," she exclaimed, stamping on the deck
with her foot. The order was obeyed without the captain's interference.
"Your lives are safe for the present," she said, addressing the
Englishmen. "I know that man's humour, and he dares not now contradict
me. I am the only thing who yet clings to him, the only one he thinks
who loves him, the only being in whom he can place his trust; that
explains my power." She spoke hurriedly and low, so that Staunton alone
could hear her, and there was scorn in her tone. "Cast those men
loose," she continued, turning to the crew, while with her own hands she
undid the cords which lashed Staunton's arms, and as she did so she
whispered, "Keep together, and edge towards the arms-chest. There are
those on board who will aid me if any attempt is made to injure you."
Saying this she approached the captain of the slaver; she touched his
arm: "Juan," she said, in a softened tone, totally different from that
in which she had hitherto spoken; "I am wayward, and have my fancies. I
felt certain that your death would immediately follow that of those men.
I was asleep in my cabin, and dreamed that you were struggling in the
waves, and they, seizing hold of you, were about to drag you down with
them."
Daggerfeldt looked down at her as she stood in a supplicating attitude
before him. "You are fanciful, Juanetta; but you love me, girl."
"Have I not proved it?" she answered in a tone of sadness; "you will
save the lives of these men?"
"I tell you I will. We will carry them in chains to Cuba, and there
sell them as slaves."
"You must let them go free here," she answered.
"Impossible, Juanetta; do you wish to betray me?" he asked, fiercely.
"Go to your cabin. The men shall not be hurt, and they will be better
off than the blacks on board."
She was silent, and then retired to her cabin, speaking on her way a
word to a negro who stood near the entrance. "Mauro," she said, "watch
those men, and if you observe any signs of treachery, let me know."
The black signified that he comprehended her wishes, and would obey
them.