Amos Tells his Story
"Body o' me! Will 'ee squall like babbies? Make for the boat, you
howling knaves!"
And then Turnpenny launched into a tirade of Spanish abuse, which came
somewhat more trippingly from his lips than sentences of sound
instruction. Dennis rose, and staggered towards the sailor.
"God be praised! I feared you were dead, sir. The knave has blowed up
the powder magazine, and in five minutes by the clock the ship will
tottle down by the stern. These black rascals were howling like souls
in bale, in the stead of swinging overboard into the boat while there
is time. Come away, sir; the craft will sink to the bottom or ever we
gain the island."
Bruised and sore, dropping blood from his untended wound, Dennis
hastened with Amos to the side, and was in the act of following the
maroons into the boat when he suddenly remembered the two sick men in
the forecastle.
"I'll be with you anon," he cried, hurrying across the waist.
"What a murrain!" muttered Amos, scrambling back and running after him.
"Shall we drown for a brace of savages! Wilful! Wilful!"
He reached the forecastle in time to see Dennis hauling from his bunk
the fat negro, who lay there huddled and shivering with terror.
"Make the fat fool understand!" cried Dennis, shoving the cook into
Amos's arms. Then he hurried to the further end, where the maroons lay
in a stupor of fright. Having no words to acquaint them with their
peril, he sought to move them by signs; but the men gazed at him in
fear, regarding him doubtless as a new oppressor.
"Amos, leave that lump of jelly and come hither," he shouted. The
sailor bawled a word or two in Spanish, and sped the negro towards the
side with a kick. Then he made haste to join Dennis.
"The wretches are helpless," said the boy. "We must carry them--fair
and softly, Amos."
"Ay, sir, an you will; but our case is parlous; I fear me our leisure
will not serve."
"No delay, then. Hoist this fellow upon my back; do you bring the
other. We cannot suffer the knaves to drown."
They staggered forth with their burdens, Dennis foremost. As he
stumbled towards the side he caught sight of a man crawling slowly from
the direction of the cabin. The man called to him feebly, but Dennis
did not pause until he had reached the gangway by the netting, where he
laid the maroon down.
"Call to his fellows below there to assist him into the boat," he cried
to Amos. "There is a man yet alive; we must save him."
"Beseech you let the knave drown," returned the sailor. "'Tis a
pestilent Spaniard--a meal for sharks. Be jowned if the lad be not a
mere dunderpate," he grumbled, as he lowered his burden into the hands
of the men below.
Meanwhile Dennis had hastened to meet the wounded man, who groaned
miserably as he dragged his limbs along. Half supporting, half
carrying him, Dennis brought him to the side just as the second maroon
had been bestowed safely in the boat. Turnpenny, still growling under
his breath, helped to lift the Spaniard down. Then the boat was cast
off, and the men rowed for the shore.
"Canst see any sign of the knaves that leapt overboard?" said Dennis,
looking around.
"Never a hair," replied Turnpenny, "Sure they be swallowed quick by the
sharks, and there's an end."
Dennis shuddered. It was his first acquaintance with the tragedy of
adventure on the Spanish Main, and his unschooled heart turned sick at
the thought of the terrible fruit his scheme had borne. He gazed at
the dark form of the vessel that was gradually fading into the night.
The poop was already under water. He had not foreseen this end to his
enterprise; the rapid sequence of events had bewildered him. What had
caused the second explosion? Had the magazine been fired by accident?
What a mercy it was that he and all his party had not been blown to
atoms! He could not but feel a poignant pity for the poor wretches who
had thus suddenly met their doom.
The boat grounded on the shoals. He sprang into the water and assisted
Turnpenny and the maroons to carry the helpless men to the fringe of
grass, and to haul the boat up the beach. Then he turned once more to
look at the vessel. No longer was her dark form outlined against the
starlit sky; she had gone down, leaving no trace.
Joining the men on the stretch of greensward where they were assembled,
he suddenly heard the shrill voice of Mirandola close at hand, and next
moment felt the touch of the animal's paw upon his arm. The monkey had
followed the party at a distance when they came down to the shore in
the dusk, and sat forlorn on the grass, watching the boat that carried
his master away. Could the poor beast think human thoughts, Dennis
wondered, as he felt its body trembling against his? Had it believed
that it was deserted by the being who had treated it with kindness?
Certainly it showed clear signs of gladness now, and its joy at
recovering its one friend had vanquished its dislike and suspicion of
the rest.
"Here we be, sir, ten martal souls," said Turnpenny, "reckoning
Baltizar, who in sooth is more like a jellyfish than a man. What be us
to do?"
"We cannot tramp across the island in the dark, Amos. What say you to
camping in the logwood grove? 'Tis nigh at hand, and we can lie there
with fair comfort until the dawn."
"With all my heart. 'Twill be a drier bed than those villanous knaves
yonder can boast."
"Poor wretches! How came it that the magazine blew up, think you?"
"I know not, sir. I will ask the knave you brought last from the
vessel--a deed of merciful madness."
He spoke a few words to the wounded prisoner, while the maroons who had
formed the wood-cutting party conveyed their sick comrades to the
grove. The man replied in feeble accents.
"This was the manner of it, sir," said Amos, after a minute or two.
"The captain being sore wounded, and two killed outright, the other
knaves, seeing how that they stood in danger of being sliced by our
bilbos, did incontinently call upon him to render up the vessel, hoping
thereby to come off with their lives. But the captain, a tall man and
of a good spirit, did resolutely refuse to yield to their entreaties,
swearing that he would with his own hand blow up the vessel rather than
deliver it to heretics and dogs of English. Straightway he passed into
his own cabin, and made fast the door; which seeing, and knowing that
what he had said, that would he perform, the knaves began to whoop and
hallo for quarter. Then did the captain, as 'tis to be supposed, make
into the after cabin and fire his pistol into the magazine, and so
dealt the ship that mighty blow."
"And this man--who is he?"
"A man of Portingale, sir, not of Spain, and so somewhat nearer grace.
He thanks you and all the saints that he remains alive, though his
limbs be maimed withal."
"Let us convey him softly to the grove; on the morrow we will look to
his wounds and bind them up with balsam and other salves from the
wreck."
"Marry, you use him too gently. 'Tis like warming a snake in your
bosom; and, since charity begins at home, we will look to our own hurts
first."
When the party was settled as comfortably as possible in the grove,
Dennis and the sailor disposed themselves side by side to sleep. But
both were wakeful, for all their fatigue. They lay for a time in
silence, each fearful of disturbing the other; but Dennis, hearing at
last a long pent-up groan from his companion, asked what ailed him.
"Thinking, sir--old thoughts of home."
"I have been minded to ask you of your history, Amos, but we have had
other matters to speak of. How came you to be a prisoner of the
Spaniards?"
"'Tis a tale long in the telling, sir, but I will give 'ee the drift of
it. I were a young cockerel of twelve when I ran away to sea. It kept
a-calling me; night and day I heard the sound; and when I could no
longer endure it, I went and joined myself ship-boy to a worthy mariner
o' Plimworth. Afterwards he made me his prentice, and so a mariner I
have been from that day to this. Ay, 'twas a brave life for a man, in
the days of King Hal, lad. I mind me I were but rising seventeen when
the French king took a conceit to invade England. My heart! he had
reason enough, for King Hal had before sent a power to capture
Boolonny, on the French coast, which they did, and burnt it with fire.
The French king would have his tit for tat, and he gathered a great
power and a mighty fleet to strike at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
"I was rising seventeen, as I said, and gunner's mate aboard the _Anne
Gallant_, a noble galleass. The fleet made a brave show, lying off
Spithead, and I was hot to show my mettle; 'twas my first fight, by the
token, and sure 'twas a famous fight. The _Anne Gallant_ and others of
her sort, with the shallops and rowing-pieces, did so handle the French
galleys that our great ships in a manner had little to do. The only
hurt we suffered was the breaking of a few oars. We anchored for the
night, as did the French fleet, we hoping to come at them in the
morning; but when daylight broke, hang me if the French were anywhere
to be seen, and though we gave chase they got away and ran into their
ports. But a little after, the _Anne Gallant_, with three other
galleasses and four pinnaces, was set upon off Ambletoosy by eight
great galleys. There was great shooting betwixt us; we drew alongside
of the _Blancherd_ galley in the smoke, and leaping aboard her, we took
her captive, with two hundred and thirty pikemen and musketeers, and a
hundred and forty rowers. Master King Francis got the wrong pig by the
ear when he tackled King Harry.
"Ah me and well-away! That was over twenty-five year ago. I served
many years on merchantmen, under many a master, good and bad. I made
one voyage to the Guinea coast with Master Hawkins, and five year ago,
being about to set sail to the Indies for to trade slaves with the
Spaniards, he sent for me and made me boatswain aboard his own great
ship, the _Jesus of Lubeck_, of 700 tons. Marry, 'twas a goodly
squadron that sailed out of Plimworth Sound. Besides the _Jesus_,
there was the _Minion_ of Captain Hampton, the _William_ and _John_,
all great ships, and three smaller vessels, of the which Master Francis
Drake commanded the _Judith_. Hast ever set eyes on Master Francis?"
"Ay, indeed, once only--this very year, in Plymouth, some months before
I sailed."
"And I warrant he was stout and brave, and as 'twere a raging fire
against the Spaniards, making ready to chastise the villanous traitors
and promise-breakers: was it not so, good-now?"
"Well, to say sooth, when I saw him he seemed to have no thought of
Spaniards: his whole mind was set on a game at the bowls, and he was
some little put out when he failed of winning."
"Master Francis put out over such a trifle? Why, believe me, with
these very eyes I saw him warp his bark clear when beset by Spanish
fire-ships and battered by Spanish guns, with as serene a countenance
as he were sailing a shallop for pleasure on the Plym. Master Francis
put out for losing at the bowls! Tush, lad!"
"Nevertheless 'tis true, for I was there present, and saw and heard it."
"God-a-mercy!" ejaculated Turnpenny. "And what was the manner of it?"
"Why, Master Drake came to two gentlemen bowling on the Hoe, and one of
them, being summoned away, left the other to play out the game with the
Captain. He was beat, as I said, and being well conceited of his
skill, he was for a moment vexed. Then he laughed, and clapped his
hand on the shoulder of the other--a stripling he was--and said: 'A rub
for me, my lad; 'twas a rare game, and I thank thee.'"
"Ay, that was true Master Francis: he is ever gall and honey mingled.
Art then of Plimworth, sir? As you love me, your name?"
"Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston."
"Of Shaston? I was never there. I will mind of your name. You be
gentle, I know by your speech, and Dennis Hazelrig do sound richer to
the ear than plain Haymoss Turnpenny, but----"
"Come, man, to your story," interrupted Dennis.
"Ay, sir, then I must make a tack. I was at Plimworth, a' b'lieve,
when the name of Master Drake set me out o' my true course. Well, the
ships I named, great and small, sailed right merrily out o' the Sound
o' Plimworth; 'twas a day of October, I mind me, the very season o'
gales. We had a deal of buffeting afore we made the coast of Guinea,
and a deal of hard knocks afore we took on board our store o' negroes
for to sell to the Spaniards of the Main."
"To sell?"
"Why yes, sir; that is Captain Hawkins his trade; and knowing now
myself what it is to be a slave, I have a fellow feeling for the poor
knaves, black as they be, and bought and sold like cattle. Well, 'twas
near six month afore we came to the Indies and did some traffic among
the islands. Then by ill hap, as we sailed for Cartagena, we were
caught in a most violent and terrible storm, the which battered us
mightily for the space of four days; in sooth, we feared we should go
to the bottom. The _Jesus_ was dealt with most sorely, her rudder
shaken, and all her seams agape. Then, coasting along Florida, we ran
into the jaws of another tempest, the which drave us into the bay of
Mexico. There we sought a haven, and moored our ships in the port
called St. John d'Ulua, where we landed, and our General made proposals
of traffic.
"The next day did we discover a fleet of thirteen ships open of the
haven, and soon we spied a pinnace making towards us. There was in her
a man bearing a flag of truce, and he came aboard the _Jesus_,
demanding of what country we were. I mind we laughed at the knave; he
swelled himself out like a turkey-cock. Our General made answer that
we were the Queen of England her ships, come for victuals for our
money, and that if the Spanish General would enter, he should give us
victuals and other necessaries and we would go out on the one side of
the port, the while the Spaniards should come in on the other. But it
had so fell out that with their fleet there came a new viceroy of the
Spanish king, and he was mightily put out by our General's reply,
thinking it something saucy from an Englishman with so small a fleet.
The proud knave returned for answer that he was a viceroy with a
thousand men, and would ask no man's leave to enter. Our General
laughed, and set us laughing too when he said: 'A viceroy he may be,
but so am I. I represent my Queen, and am as good a viceroy as he; and
as for his thousand men, I have good powder and shot, and they will
take the better place, I warrant him.'"
"A right proper answer," said Dennis. "And what then?"
"Why, Master Viceroy gave in, and swore by king and crown he would
faithfully perform what our General demanded, and thereupon hostages
were given on both sides. The villanous knave! Our General chose out
five proper gentlemen and sent them aboard the Spanish admiral; but the
viceroy, stuffed with fraud and deceit, rigged up five base swabbers in
costly apparel and sent them to our General, as if they were the finest
gentlemen of Spain. Yet did we use them right royally, deeming it to
be an act of courtesy and good troth.
"Then their ships came with great bravery into the port, and there was
great waste of powder in firing salutes, as the manner is at sea. But
'twas not long afore our General became doubtful of their dealings. So
did we all, for with my own eyes I saw them, when they moored their
ships nigh ours, cut out new ports in the sides, and plant their
ordnance towards us. 'So ho!' says I, 'there be trickery and
hugger-mugger in brew.' Our master, one Bob Barrett, chanced to be
well skilled in the Spanish tongue, and him our General sent aboard
their admiral to know the meaning of these same doings. The base
villains set poor Bob under guard in the bilbows, and we had scarce
seen that mark of their knavery when they sounded a trumpet, and
therewith three hundred of them sprang aboard the _Minion_ from the
hulk alongside. My heart! Many a time afore had I seen the blazing of
our General's wrath, but never so fierce as it blazed then. His eyne
were like two coals of fire as he called to us in a loud voice. I mind
his very words. 'God and St. George!' cried he. 'Upon those
traitorous villains, my hearts, and rescue the _Minion_; and I trust in
God the day shall be ours.' And with that, with a great shout we leapt
out of the _Jesus_ into the _Minion_, and laid on those deceitful
knaves, and beat them out; and a shot out of the _Jesus_ fell plump
into the poop of the Spanish vice-admiral, and the most part of three
hundred of the villanous knaves were blown overboard with powder.
"It was a good sight to see Captain Hampton of the _Minion_ cut his
cables and haul clear by his stern-fasts, the while his gunners poured
round shot into the vice-admiral that rode ablaze. But there was but
four of us to their thirteen. The Spaniards came about us on every
side, and began to fire on us with brass ordnance from the land. My
heart! 'Twas hot work for us when we scrambled back on to the _Jesus_
as the _Minion_ sheered away. Being so tall a ship we could not haul
her clear. She had five shot through her mainmast; her foremast was
struck in sunder with a chain-shot, and her hull moreover was
wonderfully pierced. Our General gave orders that we should lay her
alongside of the _Minion_ till dark, and then take out her victuals and
treasure and leave that noble vessel. A right true man is Captain
Hawkins. In the midst of that noise and smoke he called to Samuel his
page for a cup of beer, and it was brought to him in a silver cup; and
he drank to us all and called to the gunners to stand by their ordnance
lustily like men. He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but a
demi-culverin shot struck away the cup, and a cooper's plane that stood
by the mainmast, and ran out on the other side of the ship; the which
nothing dismayed our General, for he ceased not to encourage and cheer
us. I hear his voice in my ears now. 'Fear nothing!' he cries, 'for
God, who hath preserved me from this shot, will also deliver us from
these traitors and villains.'
"But on a sudden we perceived that the Spaniards had loosed two
fireships against us. The men of the _Minion_ were in such a taking
with fear of those monsters that they bided not the outcome, nor did
they heed their captain's commands, but in a mighty haste made sail.
The _Jesus_ being then alone,--for the _Angel_ was sunk and the
_Swallow_ taken, and Master Drake had warped the little _Judith_
clear--our General cried to us to spring upon the _Minion_ ere her
sails could draw, which he himself did. As I made to do his bidding,
my heart! there came toppling on my head a portion of the main topsail
cross-tree, and struck me senseless withal. When something of my wits
returned to me, there was I, amid a score of wounded and captive
fellows, on the deck of the noble _Jesus_, and a mob of Spaniards
around; sure she must have been built under an evil star."
"And what befell you then?" asked Dennis, eagerly, for Turnpenny had
fallen silent.
"God-a-mercy, sir, the fear takes me when I think on't! They hauled me
ashore, with certain others of our men, and hanged us up by the arms
upon high posts, until the blood gushed out at our finger-ends. 'Tis
by the merciful providence of God alone I am yet alive, carrying about
with me (and shall to my grave) the marks and tokens of their barbarous
cruel dealings. 'Tis by the same wondrous grace I 'scaped handling by
the Inquisition, that hath devoured many of my poor comrades. My heart
and my reins cry and groan for the terror and pain of their sufferings.
God have mercy on us all!"
Overcome by the recollection of what ensued upon his capture by the
Spaniards, Turnpenny went by turns hot and cold and was unable to
continue his story. Many times during the night Dennis was woke from
his own troubled slumbers by a cry from his companion, upon whom, now
that the time of action had ceased, his former sickly terror seemed to
have returned with double force. Both were heartily glad when morning
came, and with the new day the necessity of facing their new situation.