thrown out, now edging down towards us for a few minutes, and anon
hauling her wind again, her commander apparently suspecting some ruse on
our part. But at length our seemingly single-hearted anxiety to place
as much water as possible between ourselves and him, together with the
fact that both vessels were perceptibly increasing their distance from
him--the galleon fairly rapidly, the schooner much less so,--got the
better of his prudence; and, suddenly putting up his helm, he came
booming along down to leeward, wing and wing, steering a course that, as
I had expected, would soon carry him alongside the _Senora_.
The moment that it became apparent that he was in earnest I sent my
scanty crew to quarters, the long thirty-two was cleared away and
loaded, and all hands stood by to haul inboard again the sail that had
hitherto served so efficiently as a drag. But, beyond this preparation,
no other change was made, the schooner still adhering to her course, as
though only anxious to escape from so formidable an adversary.
About half an hour after bearing up, by which time the galley had neared
us to within about a mile and a half, she fired a shotted gun in the
direction of the galleon, and hoisted her colours. Saunders, to whom I
had communicated my intentions, took no notice whatever of this; nor did
we. The shot fell a long way short, and was of course merely intended
as a hint for the galleon to heave-to. Another quarter of an hour
brought the galley down abreast of us, and about a mile distant, but she
took no notice whatever of us, her object evidently being to recapture
the galleon first, and so secure--as they would suppose--the treasure
that had been embarked aboard her; after which her commander would
doubtless have a word to say to the schooner which had so audaciously
presumed to appropriate, even temporarily, the gold of His Most Catholic
Majesty the King of Spain. As the galley swept past us I observed, with
keen satisfaction, that she was not going much over eight knots; and I
estimated that, when we should have got rid of our drag, we should be
fully a knot and a half better than she was. Of course it would be in
her power to rig out her sweeps to increase her speed; but I considered
that, with the breeze that was then blowing, they would be practically
useless except when going directly head to wind; and what I had to do
was so to manoeuvre the schooner as to cut off her escape in that
direction. What I was chiefly afraid of was that the consorts of the
galley--for I was confident that she had consorts somewhere or other--
were close enough at hand to hear the sound of firing; and to make
certain upon this point I shinned up to the royal-yard and had a good
look round, and I was greatly relieved to find that there was nothing in
sight.
I allowed her to get about a mile to leeward of us, and then, instead of
hauling our drag inboard, as I had at first intended, we cut it adrift
and let it go altogether, at the same time jibbing over our main-boom
and giving chase to the galley. For a space of perhaps ten minutes no
perceptible notice was taken, by those on board the galley, of our
change of tactics; but by the end of that time our sudden and--to the
Spaniards--unaccountable improvement in speed had become so marked that
it could not fail to attract attention; and presently signs became
observable that it was occasioning considerable uneasiness. The
galley's sweeps--forty in number--were suddenly rigged out, and she
assumed the appearance of a gigantic centipede hurrying over the surface
of the sea, her long oars rising and falling swiftly, with a gun-like
flash of sunlight off their wet blades, as they churned the water into
snow-white foam on each side of her.
But a very few minutes sufficed to prove the correctness of my judgment
as to their uselessness under the present circumstances, a very distinct
confusion of movement among the shining blades revealing--what I had
foreseen--that her canvas was driving her too fast through the water for
her oarsmen to keep pace with her. The confusion rapidly became more
pronounced, until every individual oar-blade was rising and falling
independently of all the others, while frequent pauses of movement,
accompanied by a great splashing of water, revealed that the unhappy
oarsmen were busily engaged in the unseamanlike operation of "catching
crabs". As a matter of fact, her sweeps were proving to be a hindrance
rather than a help to her, and we began to overhaul her so fast that we
were soon within point-blank range of her. Tom Hardy had assumed charge
of our Long Tom, and he had gradually worked himself up into such an
uncontrollable condition of fidgety impatience, running his eye along
the sights and then glancing round at me, that it seemed cruel to keep
him thus any longer on the tenter-hooks of suspense, and I, rather
reluctantly, nodded permission to him to fire. The next instant the gun
spoke out, the shock of its discharge jarring the schooner to her keel,
and the shot flew high over the mast-heads of the galley and a little
wide of her.
"I expected as much, Tom," remarked I reprovingly. "You are far too
much excited. Take it coolly, man; take it coolly. That galley must be
effectually disabled, or she will give us the slip to windward and bring
two or three more like herself after us, which I have no desire at all
to see. And I have no desire to take her, for she would be worse than
useless to us, she would be a really dangerous possession. Ah! I
expected as much; down comes her canvas; she is going to try to dodge us
and work out to windward in the wind's eye! Never mind the gun just
now; in with the stunsails, for your lives, or she will be too quick for
us!"
What I feared and expected had come to pass. Our heavy shot had fairly
frightened the people aboard the galley; they realised at last that a
trick had been played upon them, and her commander's great anxiety now
evidently was to get as quickly as possible out of the trap that he had
been decoyed into. And, with this object, he had suddenly lowered his
sails and put his helm hard over, with the object of returning by the
way that he had come. But we were to windward of the galley, and, our
stunsails coming in with a run, we were able to haul close upon a wind
almost as quickly as the galley, when--the latter now depending upon her
oars alone--the schooner proved to be considerably the faster of the
two, thus effectually cutting off our antagonist's escape in that
direction.
"Now, back to your gun, and load as quickly as you like!" exclaimed I;
for I knew that a very critical moment was at hand for us; a moment that
would decide whether it was the galley or ourselves that was to be
victorious. And presently my anticipation became realised; the
Spaniard, finding his escape cut off, again putting over his helm until
the vessel swerved round with her long, keen bows pointing straight at
us. Her commander intended to run us aboard--if he could--and, should
he succeed, the schooner would either be sent to the bottom by the
violence of the shock, or we should fall into the hands of the
Spaniards, to endure, in all probability, a fate even more horrible than
that from which Hoard had escaped.
Straight as an arrow for us came the galley, her two masts keeping
steadily in one as her helmsman relentlessly followed the schooner's
movement through the water, while the long oar-blades now rose and fell
quickly in perfect time, urging the long, snake-like hull toward us at a
speed of fully seven knots. Tom Hardy mopped the perspiration of
excitement from his brow with a bright red handkerchief as he muttered
anathemas upon his previous ill-luck, but I saw that he had pulled
himself together, for his hand was as steady as yours is at this moment
as he gently waved it in direction of those who were training the gun.
"Now, Tom," said I, when he had reported all ready, "this shot must go
home, mind; there must be no missing this time! So take it coolly; let
her approach us to within a hundred fathoms before you think of firing--
I will give you the word--and then let her have it as soon as you are
certain of your aim."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Tom. "I'll have her this time or you may call
me a sojer. Give the word, sir, whenever you like."
"There is no hurry, Tom," said I. "Keep her covered for another three
minutes, and then you may do as you like. And you, my man," I
continued, turning to the helmsman, "steer small for the next few
minutes, and give Tom a chance."
"Ay, ay, sir; `steer small' it is!" answered the man.
"They're at work upon that gun of theirs, sir," reported Hardy at this
moment. "Shall I fire and stop 'em, sir?"
"Yes," said I; "she will do now. But don't fire until you are
absolutely certain of her."
The galley was now within about a hundred and fifty fathoms of us,
coming on at a tremendous pace, the water leaping and foaming and
glancing about her bows, and her long length still pointed obstinately
at us. There was a brass gun mounted upon her forecastle, the rays of
the sun flashing off it as though it had been made of gold; and about
this gun some seven or eight figures could be distinctly seen busily
moving; while aft upon her poop were grouped four men in brilliant
uniforms and with their swords drawn. And beyond her forecastle,
grouped along either rail, could be just made out the heads and the
flashing weapons of a strong body of boarders, ready to spring in upon
our decks at the instant when the two hulls should come together.
Despite the anxiety and suspense of the moment I could not help
remarking to myself that, if they intended to carry us by boarding, the
commander of the galley was conning his craft in a very lubberly,
unseamanlike way.
As the thought passed through my brain there was a bright flash, a
stunning report, and a jarring of the whole frame of the schooner as our
long gun again spoke out; and, so instantly following the report that it
seemed to be almost a part of it, I distinctly heard a crash,
immediately followed by a dreadful outcry of screams and yells and
groans of mortal anguish, seeming all to start at the same instant out
of a hundred throats. Our shot had evidently gone home, and it had as
evidently told severely; but exactly how much damage it had done could
not be guessed at for the moment until our smoke had blown away to
leeward of the galley. And ere it had done this there came a flash and
a report from her, and the next instant I was aware of a shot that came
humming so closely past my head that the wind of it actually blew my cap
off and all but overboard. I stooped, picked it up, and replaced it on
my head.
As I again turned my gaze to leeward, there was the galley, with a
clean, neat shot-hole in her starboard bow, so close to the water-line
that the furrow ploughed up by her rush through the water was flashing
and leaping right over it; and--what was of at least equal importance to
us just then--both banks of oars were trailing limp and motionless, as
if suddenly paralysed, in the water alongside of her. And paralysed
they certainly were, for the moment at least, because our thirty-two-
pound shot had evidently raked the oarsmen's benches from end to end of
the ship. Her way immediately began to slacken; and although I saw an
officer dash aft and with his own hands jam the helm hard over to lay us
aboard, her movements became so sluggish that we had no difficulty in
avoiding her, she being fully ten fathoms distant when she went drifting
slowly across our stern. As she did so, a heavy, confused volley of
musketry was poured into us from the boarders that lined her gunwale,
but although the bullets flew past us like hail, not one of us was
touched; and immediately afterwards a loud outcry arose aboard the
galley, upon which every man at once threw down his arms and jumped
below.
"Ready about!" shouted I. "And you, Tom, load again, and stand by to
give her another shot as we cross her bows. We must not leave her now
until we have rendered it impossible for her to get up to windward again
and tell of our whereabouts, and that of the galleon. If you could
contrive to smash a good number of her oars with a raking shot it would
be better even than hulling her; for, after all, it would be a terrible
thing to destroy so much life. She must have at least two hundred and
fifty people aboard her."
"Ay; all that--or more, sir. It'll take at least four men to handle one
of them long, heavy sweeps, the way that they was handled just now.
But, as to smashing of 'em, I don't know as I can do it; a man would
have to be a very tidy shot to hit more'n one or two of 'em. But I'll
do my best, sir; and no man can't do no more."
The schooner's helm was put down, and she was hove round upon the
opposite tack, and at once kept away for the galley, which had by this
time fallen broadside-on to the sea, her oars still remaining
motionless. We steered a little to leeward of her, with the intention
of luffing into the wind athwart her stern and throwing our topsail
aback, so giving Hardy time to level and point his thirty-two-pounder;
and we had gained our position and were in the act of backing our
topsail, when the officer of whom I have already spoken reappeared upon
the poop and, hastily hauling down the galley's colours, hailed in very
fair English:
"We surrender, senor; we surrender! In the name of the Blessed Virgin I
pray you not to fire again! The galley is in a sinking condition; and
unless we can quickly stop the leak she will go down and drown us all.
What is it you will that we shall do in the matter?"
"Where is the leak situated?" demanded I.
"In the bow, senor; so close to the water-line that the sea is pouring
into the vessel like a river," was the answer.
"Then," said I, "you had better cut both your sails adrift and fother
them over the leak; after which your only chance of safety will be to
make for the nearest port--which I take to be Porto Bello. I will stand
by you until you have choked the leak; but I can do no more for you, as
my carpenter is aboard the galleon; and moreover he does not understand
Spanish, and therefore could not direct your people."
"A thousand thanks, senor," answered the Spaniard, bowing low to me. "I
will follow your instructions, and am in hopes that, by adopting the
plan you have suggested, we may be able to reach the land."
Then, with another bow to me, which I duly returned, he disappeared; and
a moment later I heard him shouting some orders to his people, some
twenty or thirty of whom at once sprang on deck and began to cut the
lateen sails away from the long, tapering yards. Meanwhile, I could now
see that the galley was gradually filling, as she was perceptibly deeper
in the water than when we had first encountered her; and thinking it
possible that I might be of use, I ordered our people to launch the
dinghy, in which, with one hand, I went under the bows of the galley.
The shot-hole which was the cause of all the mischief was now completely
under water more than half the time, showing only when the bows of the
vessel lifted over a swell. I saw that they had plugged it with canvas
from the inside, and the officer informed me that two men were engaged
in holding the canvas in place against the pressure of the water, while
the rest of the crew were, as I could see, engaged in baling. I thought
I could see my way to improve matters a little; so I directed the
officer to launch his gun overboard, to lift the bows a little, and to
shift all his movable weight as far aft as possible. I then returned to
the schooner, and procured a thin sheet of lead, a dozen nails, and a
hammer, and with these I contrived, with some difficulty, to pretty well
stop the leak, although I was careful not to stop it too effectually,
lest the officer should decide to take the risk of making his way to
windward instead of to the nearest land. But I do not think I had any
real ground for apprehension, for I could see that the poor fellow was
thoroughly frightened; and when I had patched up the hole, and had told
him that there would be no need to use the sails, save to help him to
reach Porto Bello as quickly as possible, he was overpoweringly profuse
in his expressions of gratitude for my help and what he was pleased to
term my "generosity."
It was drawing well on toward noon when at length the galley was once
more in a condition to get under weigh, which she did forthwith, heading
to the southward under oars and sails; and inexpressibly thankful was I
to see the last of her, and still more so to think that I had contrived
to get rid of her without sending her and all her company to the bottom.
Before parting I contrived to elicit from her commander that two of his
consorts had proceeded to search for us in the Gulf of Darien, while
three more had made the best of their way to Point Gallinas, to
intercept us there in the event of our trying to make our way to the
eastward.
Having thus successfully shaken off our formidable foe, I crowded sail
upon the schooner in pursuit of the galleon--which all this while had,
in pursuance of my orders, been running off the wind to leeward,--and
when at length we overtook her, the galley had long vanished in the
south-eastern board. We consequently hauled up to the northward once
more, and shaped a course for Jamaica, where,--not to make the story too
long,--we arrived without further adventure on the fourth morning after
our encounter with the galley.
As may be supposed, I lost no time in waiting upon my very good friend,
the Admiral; whom I found up to the eyes in business in his office at
Port Royal. Nevertheless, busy though he was, he gave orders for me to
be admitted, and shook hands with me heartily as I presented myself.
"Good morning, Mr Bowen," said he. "I won't ask you to sit down, for I
am so busy this morning that I positively don't know which job to tackle
first. I merely consented to see you in order that I might congratulate
you--for I hear that you have brought in a prize of some sort, and a big
lump of a craft she is, too," casting his eyes toward her as she lay
full in view of his office window. "Not the galleon, though, I suppose?
No such luck--What? is it really so? Upon my honour, I very heartily
congratulate you, my dear sir, I do indeed. And my ears are tingling to
hear your story, which I am certain will be well worth listening to; but
I haven't the time for it just now. Come up to the Pen to dinner to-
night, and tell it me then, will you? That's right; sharp seven, mind!
And now, good-bye until this evening, you lucky young dog!"
Upon leaving the Admiral, I proceeded up the harbour to Kingston in a
boat manned by negroes. A large fleet of ships of all sizes occupied
the anchorage abreast of the town; and as we drew nearer two vessels
seemed to stand out from among the rest and challenge my recognition. I
looked at them more intently. Surely I could not be mistaken!
"Cuffee, what are the names of those two vessels--the brigantine and the
schooner--that are moored close together there?" demanded I of the
captain of the boat.
"My name not Cuffee, sah; my name am Julius Caesar Mark Anthony Brown,
sah! And dem two vessels am called respectably de _Dolphin_ and de
_Tiger_; bofe of dem privateers, sah," was the boatman's answer, given
with great dignity and the utmost gravity.
"Thank you, Julius Caesar Mark Anthony Brown," retorted I, with equal
gravity. "Have the goodness to shove me alongside the _Dolphin_, will
you?"
"Certainly, sah; wid de utmost pleasure, sah," answered the negro, with
a broad grin of delight at the unwonted receipt of his full cognomen.
And in a few minutes we ranged up alongside the old familiar schooner,
and I recognised many old familiar faces looking curiously down into the
boat.
"By the living jingo if it ain't Mr Bowen come back to life!" I heard
one man say; and in a moment there was an eager rush to the gangway to
meet me. The unexpected sight of so many well-known faces, most of them
hailing from the same birthplace as myself, and all of them evidently
glad to see me again, moved me strongly; and almost before I knew where
I was I found myself on deck and heartily shaking hands all round.
Then, as soon as the excitement had abated somewhat, I inquired for
Captain Winter.
"He is ashore, Mr Bowen," answered the mate, who had caught my name and
evidently appeared to be familiar with it, although the man was a total
stranger to me. "He went ashore directly after breakfast, and I don't
much expect to see him aboard again until pretty late in the afternoon.
But I expect you'll find him and Cap'n Comben either at Anderson's
store, or at Mammy Williamson's hotel. Or, if you don't find 'em,
you'll be sure to get news of 'em at one or the other of them two
places."
"Thank you," said I; "I will look them up. But in case I should not
find them, please say that I will call aboard again to-morrow morning
about nine o'clock."
So saying, I climbed down into Julius Caesar's boat again, and ten
minutes later was landed upon the wharf.
It was by this time drawing well on toward noon, or "second breakfast"
time; so I shaped a course for Mammy Williamson's in the first place;
and there, sure enough, I came upon my old skipper and Comben, seated at
table among a number of other ship-masters and a sprinkling of
civilians. As I entered I heard my name mentioned by Winter, and
thought I also caught the word "galleon."
"Speak of an angel, Captain Winter, and--you know the rest," said I, as
I stepped up to him with outstretched hand.
In a moment every man had started to his feet, and I was surrounded--
hemmed in--by an enthusiastic crowd, who, having somehow got wind of my
lucky capture, were eager to congratulate me. Nothing would do but I
must sit down and take breakfast with them and relate my adventure; and
it was past two o'clock that day before any of us budged. For not only
had I to tell the whole story of my doings from the day when I parted
company in the _Manilla_, but I also had to hear Captain Winter's story
as well. The latter I shall not relate here, as it would require a
whole volume to do justice to it; but for the gratification of the
reader's curiosity, I may say that the _Dolphin_ and the _Tiger_, after
a protracted fight, in which both suffered severely, succeeded in
beating off the French frigate. Since then they had both been knocking
about in the Atlantic, with only moderate success, making Barbados their
head-quarters; hence they had heard nothing of me save in a letter
received from Mr White, in which he stated that, up to the time of
writing, no news had been received of the _Manilla_, and that he greatly
feared she must have been lost or captured.
Having at length transacted the business that had taken me to Kingston,
I returned to the schooner pretty late in the afternoon, Winter and
Comben accompanying me to have a look at the galleon and the _Sword
Fish_; and later on I returned with them to Kingston to keep my dinner
appointment with the Admiral.
I found my host, as usual, with his table full of company, among them
being the captain of the _Triton_ frigate, and several other naval
officers, all of whom were exceedingly civil to me, especially after I
had related the particulars of the capture of the galleon. We spent a
very pleasant evening; and when at length the guests rose to go, the
Admiral whispered to me to remain as he had something to say to me.
Accordingly, when all hands but myself had left, my host conducted me to
what he called his "snuggery", which was a comer of his spacious
verandah inclosed with large glazed partitions, and fitted up as a
smoking-room. His negro butler set out the table with glasses,
decanters, a big crystal jug of sangaree, and a box of cigars, and left
us.
As soon as we were alone and had made ourselves comfortable, the old
gentleman turned to me, seemed to look me through and through for
several seconds, so intently did he rivet his gaze upon me, and then he
remarked:
"I dare say you are wondering what this important matter can be that has
caused me to keep you behind in order that I may have an opportunity to
talk it over with you. Well, my dear fellow, I am a poor hand at
beating about the bush; if I have a thing to say, I like to say it
outright; so tell me, now, has it ever occurred to you to wish that you
were a king's officer, instead of being merely a privateersman?"