brightly, and the air was deliciously cool after the scorching heat of
the day. Strange to say, I no longer felt hungry. The craving for food
was gone, but its place was more than supplied by an increased agony of
thirst which seared my vitals as with fire. My lips were dry and
cracked; my tongue felt shrivelled and hard in my mouth. I tried to
speak to Dumaresq, who was lying in the bottom of the boat with his
glazed eyes turned up at the stars, but I could give utterance only to a
husky, hissing sound. There was no movement on the part of any of the
forms that were dimly discernable, huddled up in the bottom of the boat.
Whether they were dead or only asleep I knew not, nor cared. Life and
everything connected with it had lost all interest for me I was dying.
I knew it, and longed only for the end to come that I might be delivered
out of my misery. With inexpressible pain I raised myself to my knees
to take one more last look round, lest peradventure a sail should by
some miraculous interposition of Providence have drifted within our ken,
but there was nothing. There could be nothing while that murderous calm
lasted. I felt the old delirium returning upon me; it was rioting
within my brain. Strange forms and hideous shapes floated around me.
The dead steward climbed in over the gunwale and stood in the eyes of
the boat, denouncing us as murderers and calling curses down upon us.
Then the scene changed. A glorious light shone round about us; soft
strains of sweetest music came floating to us across the placid waters;
delicious perfumes filled the air. There was a gentle murmuring sound
as of a soft wind among trees and a gentle tinkling as of a running
stream. Then my brain seemed to burst. I was dimly conscious that I
was falling backward, and I knew no more.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
CAPTAIN RENOUF.
Where was I? What was this darksome, foul, and evil-smelling place?
Who was that forbidding-looking individual sitting there smoking under
that swaying, smoky, dimly-burning, miserable apology for a lamp? And,
finally, what had happened that my limbs should feel heavy as lead, and
that I should be too weak to turn upon my cruelly-hard, box-like pallet?
Such were the questions that slowly and laboriously formed themselves
within my mind when I at length awoke from that state of blessed
unconsciousness which I had believed to be death. For some time I lay
painfully revolving these questions in my mind, groping about for
information in a sort of dim, mental twilight, so obscure that I was not
even certain of my own identity. Gradually, however--very gradually,--
the twilight brightened with returning life and reason, and I found
myself beginning to identify my surroundings. I became conscious of a
rhythmical rising and falling and swaying movement, accompanied by a
creaking, grinding sound, and the wash and gurgle of water outside the
planking that formed two of the three walls of the triangular apartment
in which I found myself, and I somehow recognised these movements and
sounds as familiar. Then I heard a voice at some distance, shouting
something that I could not distinguish, answered by two or three voices
almost immediately overhead. There was a noise of ropes being thrown
down upon planking, and a further outcry of voices, accompanied by a
creaking sound and the flapping of canvas. And then it suddenly dawned
upon me that I was lying in a bunk in a ship's forecastle, and that the
forbidding-looking stranger must be one of the crew.
But why was it, I asked myself, that this man was a stranger to me?
Why, indeed, was it that all my surroundings were strange to me; for I
could not recall that I had ever seen any of them before? And then, as
I lay puzzling over this perplexing problem, the past gradually unfolded
itself before me; first of all confusedly, as one recalls the images and
incidents of an imperfectly remembered dream, and then more clearly,
until it had all come back to me in the fulness of its hideous reality.
I recollected everything, my memories beginning, strangely enough, as I
think, with the incidents of my earliest childhood, and gradually
extending through the years until I arrived at the incident of the
burning Indiaman, the boat-voyage, the pursuit of the strange ship, the
gale, and our subsequent sufferings from thirst and starvation. And, as
the remembrance of the final horrors of that awful experience returned
to me, my thirst seemed to return with it, and I cried aloud for water,
feeling surprised, as I did so, to find that my voice had returned to
me, and that my throat, tongue, and lips, although still very sore and
painful, were no longer dry and hard as they had been when I was last
conscious of anything.
The repulsive-looking individual, apparently the sole occupant of the
forecastle except myself, at once rose from the chest upon which he was
sitting, and approached my bunk, bending over and peering down into my
face.
"Aha! my frien'!" he exclaimed, in a strong French accent; "so you have
come to life again, have you? _Bon_! zat is grand; ze capitaine he vill
be rejoice to hear ze news; for he say, ven ve pull you up out of ze
_bateau_, `Aha! here is von fine fellow; he mus' be _tres fort_ ven he
is vell; ve mus' try to save him; he vill be more useful in our--vat you
call, eh?--_gaillard d'avant_, dan in ze stomach of ze shark!' You vant
vattare, eh? _Bon_! plenty vattare here, _mon ami_; plenty provision
too; you not starve no more; you lie still in ze bunk, and I shall bring
you all t'ings _necessaire_ to make you veil, _promptement_."
So saying, he went to the other end of the forecastle, and producing a
large, rusty, tin can, and an equally rusty, and woefully battered tin
pannikin, poured out a draught, which he brought to me, and, supporting
my head upon his shoulder, held to my lips. I had an opportunity to
take a good look at him now, as he bent his face close to mine, and, so
far as I could see by the dim light of the forecastle, his repulsiveness
of appearance was due rather to the filthy condition of his person and
clothing than to the expression of his countenance; for although his
skin was dark with accumulated grime, his long whiskers, moustache, and
black greasy locks matted and unkempt, and his features frightfully
scarred with small-pox, there was a genial, mirthful sparkle in his
coal-black eyes that somewhat favourably impressed me.
The draught which he offered me was deliciously cool and refreshing;
being composed of water strongly dashed with a crude, sour sort of wine.
I swallowed it at a gulp, and was about to put a few interrogations to
my new friend, when, from the bunk adjoining my own, there arose a
feeble cry that I identified as the voice of Dumaresq; and my grimy
nurse, gently laying my head back upon the pillow, at once hurried away
to attend to his other patient. I heard a few low-murmured words from
Dumaresq, followed by a reply from the unprepossessing unknown, and then
I fell into a delightfully refreshing, dreamless slumber.
When I next awoke it was night, for I could just catch a glimpse of a
narrow strip of star-lit sky swinging to-and-fro athwart the open
scuttle communicating with the deck, in unison with the pendulum-like
roll of the ship. There appeared to be a fine breeze blowing, for the
vessel was heeling strongly; the thunder of the wind in the sails, and
the piping of it through the taut rigging came down through the scuttle
with a pleasant, slumberous sound, and the roar of the bow-wave, close
to my ear, with the quick, confused swirl and gurgle of water along the
planks, assured me that the ship was moving at a tolerably rapid rate.
The ever-burning lamp still swung from its blackened beam, its yellow
flame wavering hither and thither in the eddying draught of wind that
streamed down through the scuttle, and its fat, black smoke coiling
upward in fantastic wreaths until it was lost in the darkness among the
beams.
A figure--a slumbering figure--still occupied the chest, and mistaking
it at first for my grimy unknown friend, I called to him, for I felt
both hungry and thirsty. He was evidently not sleeping very heavily,
for he awoke at my first call and came to the side of my bunk; but I at
once perceived that it was not the man I had before seen; this fellow's
voice and manner were surly in the extreme, and as he bent over me he
gruffly demanded, in a scarcely comprehensible French patois, what I
wanted. I answered, in French, that I should like something to eat and
drink; whereupon he produced, from a sort of cupboard in the darkest
corner of the forecastle, a bowl and a large can of soup, together with
a wooden tray of flinty biscuit and an old iron spoon. Pouring a
liberal quantity of the soup into the bowl, and plunging the spoon into
it, he handed it to me, placed the bread barge within my reach, and
again composed himself to sleep. The soup was quite cold, and its
surface was covered with floating lumps of congealed grease;
nevertheless, after rejecting the grease, I consumed the whole of the
soup, together with about half a biscuit, and felt very much the better
for it. By and by the watch was called. I heard the men swarming up
from the 'tween-decks abaft the forecastle; and presently my pock-marked
friend of the repulsive countenance but kindly eye, descended into the
forecastle to the relief of the surly dog who had handed me the soup. I
thought this would be a good opportunity to learn something with regard
to the character of the craft on board which I found myself, and also to
obtain an insight into the circumstances under which we were picked up.
I therefore proceeded to put a few questions to the new-comer, by means
of which I elicited the following information from him.
The vessel which had picked us up was the privateer schooner _Jean
Bart_, of Morlaix, commanded by Captain Henri Renouf, an exceptionally
brave and skilful seaman, it would appear, if the story of his
successes, as told by Rene Ollivier, was to be believed. Indeed, if I
understood the guileless Rene aright, it was chiefly, if not wholly due
to these successes, or rather one result of them, the extreme short-
handedness of the _Jean Bart_, caused by the losses sustained in her
recent engagements, that Captain Henri Renouf had troubled himself to
rescue us in the first place, and afterwards to issue orders that every
effort should be made to restore us to health and strength; it being his
intention to make good some of his losses by enrolling us as members of
his crew. A little further questioning on my part resulted in the
discovery that we had been picked up some four hours previously to my
return to consciousness; our boat having been sighted right ahead at
daybreak after the springing up of the breeze that had followed a period
of calm of unprecedented duration in the experience of those on board
the _Jean Bart_. Eight of us had been found in the boat, of whom six
still exhibited some faint signs of life, and these six had been
domiciled in the schooner's forecastle, and simply placed in charge of
two of the crew--the vessel not carrying a surgeon--to recover or not as
fate might decide. Upon learning from my friend Rene the date upon
which we had been picked up, I made a little calculation, by which I
arrived at the conclusion that I must have lain absolutely unconscious
in the boat something like thirty hours, during which one of our number
had mysteriously disappeared, probably by jumping overboard in a fit of
delirium.
During my conversation with Ollivier, Dumaresq awoke and joined in; upon
which, assisted by the repulsive-looking but really sympathetic French
seaman, I contrived to get out of my bunk and reach a chest alongside
Dumaresq's bunk; and I was much gratified to find that the gallant young
fellow, although still terribly weak, was making satisfactory progress.
Further research resulted in the discovery that those saved from the gig
were, in addition to Dumaresq and myself, Tom Hardy, Peter Green, Henry
Anstey, and Philip Sendell; all four of whom were thorough staunch
British seamen, who, except when driven mad by hunger and thirst, were
to be implicitly depended upon.
It was a very great relief to me to find that so many of us had
survived; for, apart from other considerations, I foresaw that, if
Captain Renouf's intentions towards us were such as Ollivier had stated
them to be, complications were likely to arise of such a character that
the strongest possible mutual support would be necessary to enable us to
face them. The mere fact that this fellow, Renouf, had in so off-handed
a manner arranged the destinies of six of his fellow-creatures, without
even the formality of consulting them in the matter, rendered me
exceedingly uneasy; such a proceeding seeming to indicate a headstrong,
overbearing, exacting character, with which it would be exceedingly
difficult to deal. Of course, so far as Dumaresq was concerned, the
arrangement was not so objectionable; he would probably be quite willing
to work his passage to the next port. But with us who were English it
was quite another matter. The worst that Renouf had a right to do was
to treat us as prisoners of war; to impress us into an enemy's service
would simply be an outrage. Yet it was not infrequently done, not only
by the French, but also by our own countrymen. Before any further
development was possible, however, it would be necessary for us to
become well and strong again; and there was always the hope that before
that time should have arrived the _Jean Bart_ might fall in with an
enemy and be captured.
This hope, however, was not destined to be fulfilled; and on the third
day after the recovery of my senses, being once more well and strong
enough to move about, I determined to take the bull by the horns
forthwith; with which purpose I sent a message aft by Ollivier to
Captain Renouf, expressing a desire to personally thank him for his
rescue of myself and the survivors of my boat's crew, and to make
arrangements for obtaining our parole. By way of reply to this I
received a curt intimation that Captain Renouf was in his cabin, and
that I was to proceed thereto forthwith.
In response to this summons I at once mounted to the deck for the first
time, and, flinging a keen, hurried glance about me, found that I was on
board a slashing schooner, some fifty or sixty tons bigger than the
_Dolphin_. She was a tremendously beamy craft, flush-decked fore-and-
aft, and was armed with ten twelve-pounders in her broadside batteries,
with a thirty-two-pounder between her masts--a truly formidable craft of
her kind. And it was evident, moreover, that she was manned in
accordance with her armament, for the watch on deck, although I did not
stay to count them, mustered fully forty men, as ruffianly-looking a set
of scoundrels as I ever set eyes on. A glance over the side showed me
that the vessel was a regular flier; for although there was but a
moderate breeze blowing, and the craft was close-hauled, she was going
along at a pace of fully nine knots. So smart a vessel, so heavily
armed and manned, ought to have been the pride of her captain; but I
could detect no traces of any such feeling, her decks being dark with
dirt, while a general air of slovenliness pervaded the craft from stem
to stern.
I was conducted aft to the companion by Ollivier, who whispered to me,
just as I was about to descend:
"_Courage, mon ami_!"
That the man should have deemed such an exhortation necessary was the
reverse of encouraging, for it seemed to indicate that, in his opinion,
I was about to undergo some more or less trying ordeal, a suggestion
that only too strongly confirmed my own forebodings. If, however, I was
about to be involved in a difficulty, my first step was, manifestly, to
ascertain its nature; so, making my way down the companion ladder, I
knocked at a door which confronted me, and was immediately bidden, in
French, to enter.
Turning the handle of the door and flinging it open, I obeyed, finding
myself in a fine, roomy, well-lighted cabin, the beams of which,
however, were so low that I could only stand upright when between them.
The place was rather flashily decorated, with a good deal of gilding,
and several crudely executed paintings in the panelling of the woodwork.
A large mirror, nearly ruined by damp, surmounted a buffet against the
fore-bulkhead, and the after-bulkhead was decorated with a trophy
composed of swords, pistols, and long, murderous-looking daggers
arranged in the form of a star. A massive mahogany table, occupying the
centre of the cabin, reflected in its polished depths a handsome lamp of
white, silvery-looking metal that swung in the skylight, and the locker
underneath the trophy was occupied by a slight, youthful-looking,
sallow-complexioned man, whose well-oiled hair clustered in coal-black
ringlets all over his small, shapely head, while a pair of small,
piercing black eyes flashed out from beneath black eyebrows that ran,
unbroken, right across the root of the nose, and a set of large, even,
pearl-white teeth gleamed through a well-kept, coal-black moustache and
beard. The fellow was attired in a showy, theatrical-looking costume,
consisting of blue cloth jacket, adorned with a double row of gilt
buttons and a pair of bullion epaulettes upon the shoulders, over a
shirt of white silk, open at the throat, a sword-belt of black varnished
leather, fastened by a pair of handsome brass or gold clasps, served the
double purpose of a support for his blue cloth trousers and a receptacle
for a pair of pistols, handsomely mounted in silver. This was, of
course, Captain Renouf; and a man who looked like, and afterwards proved
to actually be, his brother sat beside him. This individual I rightly
conjectured to be the chief mate of the _Jean Bart_. Both men were
young, the captain being, perhaps, about four-and-twenty, while his
brother would be about two years younger, and both would have been
handsome but for the cruel, sinister expression of the eyes. They were
ocean dandies of the first water; for, in addition to their showy garb--
that of the junior being similar to his captain's, except that the
epaulettes were lacking,--they both wore gold ear-rings, while several
apparently valuable rings flashed upon the rather dirty fingers of the
senior officer.
The pair looked at me intently as I made my bow, and, ere I could speak
a word, Captain Renouf accosted me in French.
"Well, my good fellow," said he, "pray who may you be?"
"My name is Bowen," I answered. "I am chief officer of the British
privateer _Dolphin_, and I was in command of the boat, the occupants of
which you so humanely rescued a few days ago. Permit me, monsieur, to
express to you, without further delay, on behalf of myself and my
fellow-sufferers, our most hearty thanks for--"
"And, pray, how came you and your fellow-sufferers to be adrift in that
boat?" demanded Renouf, unceremoniously cutting short my expression of
thanks. I could not help thinking that there was more than the
suspicion of a mocking sneer in the tone in which he uttered the words
"you and your fellow-sufferers". Moreover there was a distinct air of
discourtesy in his manner of interrupting me, and a suggestion of
antagonism in his flashing eyes that put me on my guard; so, curbing a
very decided disposition to make a resentful retort, I answered:
"The gig was one of the boats of the late East Indiaman _Manilla_, which
the _Dolphin_ had recaptured from a French privateer named the _Tigre_,
and which was afterwards set on fire by lightning and destroyed. I was
prize-officer in charge of the _Manilla_ at the time; hence my presence
in one of her boats."
"And how came you, sir, to be chief officer on board a British
privateer?" now demanded Renouf.
I could not, for the life of me, comprehend the drift of this question,
but there was no mistaking the insolent intonation of it. I therefore
answered, rather haughtily:
"Pardon me, sir, if I say that I cannot see what possible concern a
Frenchman can have in such a matter as that which you have just referred
to."
"You cannot, eh?" he retorted, with a sudden flash of temper. "Then I
will explain to you, my fine fellow. I asked the question because I
feel curious to know what induced a French citizen to become a renegade
and take up arms against his own country. You are a Breton, sir. I
recognise you as such by your unmistakable dialect. And if I am not
greatly mistaken you hail from Morlaix, in the streets of which town I
am certain I have met that lanky carcase of yours hundreds of times.
Nay, do not interrupt me! I will not have it--"
"But I must and will interrupt you, Captain Renouf," I broke in, despite
his efforts to talk me down. "What you assert is simply ridiculous,
sir. No man in his senses would ever mistake my imperfect French for
Breton or any other dialect than that of an Englishman. What your
motive may be for endeavouring to persuade yourself that I am a fellow-
countryman of your own I cannot guess; but I reject the suggestion with
scorn. I am an Englishman, as you are certainly quite aware, and I
insist upon being treated as such. It was my intention to have asked
parole for myself and my four fellow-countrymen; but with a captain
possessed of such extraordinary hallucinations it will probably be
better for us to remain close prisoners."
Renouf laughed disdainfully. "I have no doubt," said he, "that such an
arrangement would suit you admirably, but it will not suit me. Now I
want you to understand me clearly. You and your `four fellow-
countrymen' are Frenchmen. Your clumsy attempt to pass yourselves off
as Englishmen does not deceive me for a moment, nor do I believe it has
really deceived that dolt Dumaresq, although he professes to have been
temporarily taken in by you. You are all Frenchmen, however; that fact
is indisputable. My brother here is as firmly convinced of it as I am;
and, as France just now stands in need of the services of all her sons,
it is my duty to see that you are made to serve her, willingly or
unwillingly. But let me recommend you to render your service willingly;
for if you do not it will be the worse for you. Now go on deck and turn
to. And observe, my fine fellow, you will do well to recommend your
`four fellow-countrymen', as you are pleased to term them, to commence
duty at once, and to behave themselves; for I learn that you have great
influence with them, and I shall hold you responsible for any
shortcomings on their part. Now, go!"
"Captain Renouf," answered I, "I have listened to you patiently, and I
understand that it is your intention to compel us five Englishmen to
serve on board this ship. You can only do this by force, sir, and I
warn you that if you dare to use force to either of us you shall suffer
for it. You are certain to be captured by an English ship sooner or
later, and the captain of that ship will not be slow to amply avenge any
violence you may be foolhardy enough to resort to in your determination
to compel five Englishmen to serve an enemy of their country."
"So!" he ejaculated, starting to his feet in a frenzy of passion. "You
dare me, do you, you insolent rascal? Very well. Let us see how far
your courage will carry you!"
He struck a hand-bell furiously, and shouted "Gaspar!"
A man, evidently the steward, promptly made his appearance at the cabin
door, and responded:
"Monsieur called?"
"I did," answered Renouf. "Go on deck and tell Pierre to bring three
men and some lashing down into the cabin."
The steward disappeared, and, as he did so, Renouf whipped a pistol out
of his belt and covered me with it.
"Now, Monsieur Englishman, since you insist upon being so considered,"
he said, "if you make the slightest show of resistance I will shoot you
through the head. Do you comprehend?"
"Clearly," I answered. "But as I cannot fight all hands single-handed,
and as I am not yet tired of my life, I shall not resist. You at
present have me in your power, and, by the exercise of that power, can
compel me to do your will. But you are laying a heavy debt upon me,
Captain Renouf, a debt which I will not fail to pay off in full at the
earliest opportunity."
"_Pouf_!" answered he scornfully; "a fig for your threats! I have
always been able to take good care of myself hitherto, and I doubt not I
shall always be equally able to do so."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE JEAN BART BECOMES MANIFEST.
At this moment Pierre, who turned out to be the boatswain of the ship,
accompanied by the three other men, one of whom carried a length of
ratline in his hand, came clattering down the companion ladder, and
entered the cabin.
"Now, monsieur," continued Renouf to me, "will you go on deck and do
your duty, or shall these men drag you there and compel you to do it by
seizing you up to the gangway and flogging you into obedience?"
"I will obey your orders, Captain Renouf," said I, "since you leave no
alternative but that of being flogged, which I do not choose to submit
to. But--"
"Well, but what?" sneered Renouf.
"Nothing at present," answered I, suddenly realising the absurdity as
well as the imprudence of continuing to threaten while in so utterly
helpless a condition.