We were, I reckon, somewhere off the Yorkshire coast; for we had been
sailing a week, for the most part against foul winds. To-night, as I
said, the light breeze had backed to the south and was sending us
forward quietly at some six or seven knots an hour. All seemed to
promise a speedy end to our voyage; and yet, as I stood there, drinking
in the beauty of the evening, and rejoicing in my recovered strength, I
would as soon we had been bound on a voyage ten times as long.
I was standing idly near the foremast. On the high poop behind sat the
maiden, singing beside her old nurse, who, like me, was enjoying the air
for the first time to-night. Ludar lolled near me, on a coil of rope,
watching the sun dip as he listened to the singing, and betwixt whiles
unravelling the tangles of a fishing line. On the forecastle, the
French seamen sat and whispered, scowling sometimes our way, and
sometimes laughing at the poet who strutted near them, intent on the
sunset and big with some notable verses thereupon, which were hatching
in his brain. An English fellow was at the helm, half asleep; while the
captain, grumbling at the slackness of the breeze, paced to and fro,
with an oath betwixt his lips and an ugly frown on his brow.
Suddenly I seemed to detect among the Frenchmen a stir, as if something
had just been said or resolved upon in their whisperings. The captain
at that instant was near them, turning in his walk; when, without
warning, two of their number sprang out upon him. There was a shout, a
struggle, the gleam of a knife, and then a dead man lay on the deck.
All was so quick and sudden that the murder was done under my very eyes
before I knew what was happening. Then, in a twinkling, the whole ship
became the scene of a deadly fight. Three of the traitors threw
themselves on Ludar; the poet reeled in the grip of another; two others
made for me.
"Back, back!" shouted Ludar, in a voice of thunder, as he began his
struggle.
'Twas well I obeyed him; for the two who had made an end of the captain
were already rushing in the direction of the women, and had I reached
the ladder a moment later, all might have been lost.
The men, I think, in laying their wicked plan, had scarcely taken me
(who late was so weak), into account as a fighting man. They had
reckoned to carry the poop, where lay the supposed treasure and the
arms, without a blow; and once there, the ship would be theirs. It
staggered them, therefore, to find me standing in the way and laying
about me. The two women, as I said, were on the upper deck which formed
the roof of the poop house. To that there was no access save by the
small ladder, which I accordingly wrenched from its place and swung
round with all my might at my assailants. The blow knocked over two of
them; and before they could regain their feet, I had struck another a
blow with my fist, which needed no second. The fourth varlet did not
wait for me, but closed on me with his knife. Luckily the blade missed
its mark, grazing only my ribs, and before he could strike again I had
him by the wrist, and the blow he meant for me went home in his own
neck. After that, 'twas easy work to hold off the other two, one of
whom was the drunken fool who had blabbed his secret days ago, had I
only heeded it, in my sick cabin. Finding me stubborn, and further
passage barred, they sheered off with a curse and hastened forward. I
durst not follow them; for it might be a feint to decoy me from my post.
So, with all the haste I could, I threw up an out-work of lumber,
sails, spars, and boxes across the deck some distance in front of the
poop, and, relieving my two fallen assailants of their knives, I stood
ready for whatever next might betide.
"Humphrey," called the maiden from above, "put up the ladder quickly and
let me down."
"Nay," said I, "'tis no place for you, maiden. You are safe there.
Stay."
"Obey me, Humphrey," said she in so commanding a voice that I fetched
the ladder at once.
She looked pale and stern; but otherwise was cool and collected as she
descended.
"Now," said she, as she stood beside me, "go and bring down my nurse.
Give me that knife; I will mount guard here till you are done."
I durst not waste time by arguing; she took the knife from me and
motioned me to my task. The poor old lady, more dead than alive, was
hard to move; nor was it till I wickedly threatened to cast her
overboard, that she consented to come at all. As I was catching her in
my arms, the man at the helm, whom I had all this time clean forgotten,
sprang suddenly on me from behind with a pole which, had it been better
aimed, would have ended my troubles then and there. As it was, the
timber fell on my shoulder, almost cracking the blade. But I was in
with him in a twinkling, and had him by the throat before he could
strike again. Next moment, the wretch (woe to us that he was an
Englishman!) was over the board, and the Lord have mercy on his soul!
The delay was pitiable for the old woman, whom, when I came to her
again, I found to have swooned away. It was all I could do with my
bruised arm to lift her and bring her to the ladder. How I got her down
and into her cabin I know not; but when I came out again to my lady's
side, the ship seemed to swim before my eyes. I remember a vision of
Ludar, bloody and gasping, reeling across the deck towards us, fighting
his way, foot by foot, with four or five savage devils who followed
yelling at his back.
Then for a time all seemed dim and horrible. I knew that we were
fighting desperately for our lives; that men fell heavily and with a
groan on to the deck; that the maiden stood by us, undaunted; that
presently there was a report of a pistol, followed by a hideous shouting
and shrieking. After that, all seemed to grow still of a sudden, and
Ludar shouted, "Look to Humphrey."
When I came to, we were still on the deck. The maiden was bathing my
brow with water. Ludar, pale and blood-stained, stood gloomily by. Of
the enemy not a man stirred. My swoon could not have lasted long, for
the hues of the sunset lingered yet in the sky. I tried to gather
myself together, but the maiden gently restrained me. "No, Humphrey,"
said she, "lie still. There is no more work to be done. Thank God you
are safe, as we are."
'Twas sorely tempting to lie thus, so sweetly tended; but the sight of
Ludar shamed me into energy. I struggled to my feet. My arm hung limp
at my side and my head throbbed; but for that, I was sound and able to
stand upright.
Ludar, when I came to look at him, was in a worse plight than I. He was
bleeding from a gash on his face, and another on his leg; while the
jacket he wore was torn in shreds on his back. He came and took my arm,
and then motioned with his head to the ghastly heap of dead men on the
deck.
"Take her within," said he, "and then come and help me."
"Maiden," said I, "thank Heaven you are safe, and that we are alive to
guard you. Your old nurse I fear is more in need of help than we. I
left her senseless. Will you not go to her?"
I think she guessed what we meant; for she said nothing, but went
quickly within.
Then Ludar and I went out to our task. Of the seven Frenchmen who had
set on us, not one lived. Beside these lay the captain, the maiden's
waiting man (who, Ludar said, had taken side with the traitors), and one
other of the English sailors who had fought for us.
"What of the poet?" said I, when after much labour the ship had been
lightened of all that was not living.
"He is safe at the mast-head," said Ludar.
There, sure enough, when I looked up, clung the poor gallant; peering
down at us with pasty face, and hugging the mast with arms and legs.
"Let him bide there a while," said Ludar. "He is safe and out of the
way. He skipped up at the first assault, and wisely cut the rope ladder
behind him, so that no man could pursue him. But tell me, how do you
fare?"
"I am less hurt than you," said I. "Only my arm is numbed by the whack
the English knave gave me; while you, Ludar, are bleeding, head and
foot."
"I was scratched," said he. "The villains who set on me were too quick,
as you saw, and had me down before I could shut my fist. Why they did
not despatch me then and there I know not; but in seizing me they
carried their blades in their teeth, the better to use their hands, so
that I was able to snatch one for my own use as I fell. It served only
to rid me of one of the company. Yet I got my feet again under me, when
the other two made at me, as well as the two who had fled from you.
Among them all I got these scratches. When the fifth came, who had seen
the poet aloft, I knew I could hold ground no longer; so I gave way, as
you saw, and made for your barrier. After that you know, and how the
maiden stood by us all through, and in the end fetched the pistol which
finished the business. Had these villains but been armed, it is they
who would have buried us. But come in now, Humphrey, and take counsel."
'Twas a strange ship's company that met that evening in the dead
captain's cabin. The maiden, Ludar, I, and one of the English fellows,
who had been sleeping below and knew naught of the fight till all was
over. As for the poet, Ludar still refused to have him down till our
conference was over.
Of all our party the maiden was, I think, the most hopeful. "God and
His saints," said she, "have ordered this to try us, and see of what
mettle we be. Shall we despair, Sir Ludar, when He has proved His
goodness to us? The past is done, the future is all before us. You are
our captain now, and Humphrey and I and this brave sailor here, ay and
our poor poet aloft there, are your crew to follow where you lead. I
can man a gun and haul a rope, as you shall see. Come, Humphrey, what
say you?"
"I have vowed," said I, "to follow my master to the death. Nor can I
think heaven will desert us while you who belong there, are aboard."
She blushed at this and turned it off.
"Nay, my friend, it depends on how we do the duty that lies to our hand
whether we belong there or not."
Here Ludar broke in abruptly.
"Seaman, where be we now?"
The sailor got up and went out to ascertain our bearings.
"Maiden," said Ludar, then, more grave than I had ever seen him, "I can
make no fine speeches, such as Humphrey here or yonder monkey at the
mast-head; but I accept you as one of this crew with a prouder heart
than if I were offered my father's castle."
Then he held out his great hand, and she lay her little hand in it, and
her true eyes flashed up to meet his. And I who stood by knew that the
compact I witnessed then was for a longer voyage than from here to
Leith.