Ludar's forecast was destined to a swift and sudden fulfilment. The red
glare was scarcely out of the west when the wind began to howl and
whistle through our rigging with a presage of the tempest that was to
come. What was of worse omen still, the long streamer on the main-mast,
which hitherto had spread due eastward, now suddenly flapped to south-
east, showing that the gale was coming upon us from the one quarter we
had most cause to dread, namely, the north-west.
For, as Ludar well knew by this time, unless we could keep the
_Gerona's_ head out so as to clear the far Antrim Headlands of Bengore
and Benmore, we ran the peril of being driven in on an iron-bound shore,
which had short shrift and little mercy for such as fell upon it.
The danger soon became manifest to others beside Ludar, and once again
the oars were ordered out and the ship's head put across the wind.
Ludar and I were among the party of cursing and mutinous rowers whose
turn it was to be relieved, and we were about to crawl below for a
snatch of repose, when a messenger came from Don Alonzo bidding Ludar
attend him.
"Come with me," said Ludar, and we followed the man.
Don Alonzo, who, from the moment he could stand upright, had resumed his
post of command, stood in his cabin, pale and stern, surrounded by his
officers, who, by their uneasy study of the charts before them, were
plainly alive to the peril that threatened the ship.
"Sir Ludar," said he, "your presence on board is not without a fortunate
meaning for us. The account betwixt us runs high already. I have no
means to pay you, but by demanding a further service at your hands. You
know this Irish coast well?"
"I have sailed from Malin Head to Cantire in an open galley many a time
as a boy," said Ludar.
"And you know specially the coast about your father's castle, and this
great causeway of rocks near it?" said he, pointing on the chart to
Dunluce and the jagged headlands beyond.
"I know them, every inch," said Ludar.
"Then," said Don Alonzo, "I make a request of you, Sir Ludar, in the
name of my master, the King of Spain."
"'Tis more than enough," said he. "Ask me in your own name. I owe you,
Sir Don, more than I do the King of Spain."
"Well, then, will you honour me and my company by taking the helm, and,
if it be possible, clearing us of the peril which this foul wind
threatens?"
"I will do my best," said he. "But I doubt the ship's power to keep a
course across the wind. 'Twill need more than one man at the tiller;
and, by your leave, I appoint my comrade here to assist me."
"So be it," said Don Alonzo. "And, whatever befall, we thank you, Sir
Ludar, for this service."
Thus honourably did Ludar McDonnell step, where he deserved, to a post
of command on board this ship. As for me, 'twas glory enough to stand
his second; and, so soon as I saw his hand on the helm, all my doubts of
our safe passage round the headlands and on to Scotland, were at an end.
Not so his.
"I have undertaken more than I can perform," said he, "and the Don knows
it. If this wind hold, nothing can persuade this lob-sided, ill-trimmed
craft out of the bay. Away with sleep, man! and chain down the helm
across the wind. Bid them put all their strength on the starboard
oars."
An hour after that the gale broke in full fury from the north-west. It
must have caught us some two leagues north of Malin Head; for, as we
drove down before it, we could hear a thunder of breakers on our right,
which Ludar pronounced to be the Tor Rocks, off the island of
Instrahull.
"'Tis a mercy to be past them, anyhow," said he. "But see, for all our
turning of the helm, we are driving down the wind."
So indeed we were. To our dismay, the _Gerona_ sailed almost as far
sideways as she did forward; and, had we not been well out to seaward to
start with, we might have been hard put to it even to clear the
headlands of Innishowen.
About midnight there was nothing for it but to order the sails to be let
go, and depend only on the oars for our course. After that, for a
while, we went better. But the men, worn-out and dispirited, pulled
with but half a heart; and hour by hour the vessel drifted in, until it
was clear that nothing but a shifting of the wind or standing to at
anchor could keep us off the opposite rocks.
Off Innishowen, as we crossed the mouth of the Foyle river, we fell on a
shoal of terrible shallows, which spun the _Gerona_ round like a top,
and washed her in raging foam from stem to stern.
"Go and tell the Don he must either let go his anchors, or double the
men at the oars," said Ludar, when presently we had staggered out again
into blacker water.
Word was given immediately to try the former, and the only two anchors
we had were let over. For a moment or two, as the ship swung round,
creaking in every joint, it seemed as if she would ride out the gale
thus. But with a report like the crack of a gun, first one, then the
other of her cables broke short at the gunwale, and we knew we had only
lost time and water in the attempt.
Instantly the Don called upon his nobles to volunteer for the oars.
Gallantly they responded; and occupied the after benches, while all the
slaves rowed forward. Then, for an hour, the _Gerona_ seemed to hold
her own, and reeled across the bay on an eastward course.
But, presently, even the lordlings of Spain flagged, and once again we
drove in, amid the thunder of surf, on an ever nearing shore.
"We should be near the Bann mouth," said I. "To think of the last time
we heard that thunder together!"
"We are clear of that," said Ludar, quietly. "Tell the Don his
lordlings must work harder if we are to weather the next point."
I told the Don as much, hat in hand; and once again the gentles gathered
themselves together and made a course for the labouring ship.
Ludar was breathing hard when I returned to his side.
"That may put us past Ramore," said he. "In the bay beyond that lies
Dunluce. If we be driven in there, Heaven help us indeed!"
"I would as soon perish there as anywhere else."
"Talk not of perishing, fool, while a hope remains! Bid the Don cut
away his poles forthwith. They are worse than useless now."
So, one after another the stately masts of the _Gerona_ went by the
board, and the ease their going gave us, added to the fresh vigour of
the rowers, helped us, as Ludar foretold, round the rough little head of
Ramore.
No sooner had we passed it than the wind and current together got hold
of us again and swept us in betwixt the islands of the Skerries and the
mainland. Not even twice the number of rowers could have saved us then.
"Listen!" said Ludar presently.
I listened, and could hear ahead of me a thunder deeper and more awful
than any we had yet passed.
"What is it?" I asked.
"My father's castle," said he. "We are going home with a vengeance
now!"
Scarce a man remained at the oars. We could hear shouts of praying and
cursing intermingled, as all hands crowded to the decks and gazed
forward in the direction of that warning sound.
A lanthorn on the quarter-deck showed us the Don, standing there alone,
bare-headed, in his steel breastplate, and sword in hand, quietly
waiting the end. Beyond was a troubled crowd of doomed men, counting
the moments and straining their eyes into the darkness.
Beside me, on the poop, Ludar stood erect and noble, with the half-
defiant, half-triumphant gleam on his face, as, with hands still on the
tiller, he listened to the fatal music of his old home ahead.
In the darkness we could see nothing but the white waste of breakers on
to which we were driving.
Presently, as we were almost upon them, Ludar grasped my arm, and
pointed high overhead.
There was a momentary gleam of light, and with it a glimpse of a rugged
battlement at the rock's edge.
"Dunluce! Dunluce!" he shouted, and let swing the now useless tiller.
Scarce a minute later the _Gerona_ was in her death agony among the
lashing breakers.
For a moment or two she held up bravely. Then with a mighty swirl she
reared upward and hung quivering an instant in suspense.
Ludar's hand and mine sought one another, and, as we waited thus, we
could see above us the noble form of Don Alonzo, cool and impassive as a
man on parade, saluting his King's ensign for the last time.
Then all I remember was a great yell from the slaves at the poop, and
the dull thunder of a broadside, as the _Gerona_ fell crashing to her
doom.
It was broad daylight when I opened my eyes and saw the sun struggling
to break through the black clouds overhead. The thunder of waves still
dinned in my ear, the salt wind was still on my lips, while a sharp pain
at my shoulder, when I turned my head to look about me, told me that I
was at least alive.
The pain was so acute that I closed my eyes again, and opened them not
till I heard the sound of a harsh voice at my side.
What it said I know not, but some one turned me over with his foot, and
brought from me a cry of agony which made him reel a pace or two back in
consternation.
Then, just as I heard another voice, in plain English, say, "Great God,
he lives!" all was dim again before my eyes. Once more the pain awaked
me; and I found myself lying, I suppose, on some stretcher, being slowly
borne on men's shoulders up a steep path. I was too weak to do aught
but groan, and my groans my bearers heard not. But at last the English
voice said; "Halt, and set him down. He may be dead already and so save
us the pains of carrying him further."
'Twas a voice I knew; but the agony of my setting down made me forget
whose, until once more bending over me, and putting back the hair from
my brow, the fellow exclaimed:
"Why, this is--mercy on us!--if it be not him they called Dexter."
"What!" cried another voice, "doth Neptunus yield us pearls? and on
these inhospitable shores doth Arion indeed discover his lost 'prentice?
hath the Hollander wings to carry--"
"A curse on thy tom-fooling tongue!" said the other. "Hath not the poor
wretch had drenching enough, that you must spout thus on the top of him?
Say, Humphrey Dexter, how fare you?"
"Is that you, Jack Gedge?"
"Sure enough."
"And Ludar?"
The fellow gave a gasp, but said nothing. And, in the horror of that
silence, I lost all care of life.
I must have been lying still in the same place when next, with a strange
thrill of wonder, I lifted my eyes and saw, bent over me, the sweet face
of my own Jeannette.
"Humphrey," whispered she, as she kissed my wet brow, "is it indeed
thou?"
"Ay, sweetheart," said I.
And I forgot all else for a while.
Presently they carried me up to the top of the path, Jeannette walking
with her hand in mine. And so, till before us rose a grim portal which
I knew well to be the gate of Dunluce.
The sight of that familiar entry recalled to my mind the great burden on
my heart.
"Jeannette," said I, as she bent beside me. "What of Ludar?"
"We hope, dear Humphrey, thine is not the only life saved from the
wreck."
"Is he heard of? And the maiden--?" I asked.
"I know not. Till you named him just now, no one knew he was with you.
But now the soldier and the poet have gone to seek news. And my dear
mistress, I think, waits here."
"She is here? How come you both in Dunluce?" I asked.
"The old McDonnell will not allow the maiden out of his sight, so dearly
he loves her," said Jeannette.
As soon as I was laid in a bed, and my broken arm set by the castle
leech, I revived quickly. And as I did so, the load on my heart
concerning Ludar grew so heavy, that not even the presence of Jeannette
could banish it.