Drake's Camp
Early in the afternoon of the second day thereafter, Dennis and
Turnpenny, with Juan and a company of maroons, came to the outskirts of
a large clearing at a little recess of the shore. A bark and three
trim little pinnaces lay rocking in a secluded roadstead. Neatly
thatched huts of the maroons' pattern bordered the clearing. At one
end of it stood two archery butts at which men were shooting; a smith
was lustily plying his sledge at an anvil; and in the middle, on a
stretch of sward, two stalwart bearded figures were disporting
themselves at a game of bowls.
"I'fegs, 'tis very like home," said Turnpenny. "'Tis Master Francis
himself, as I live, and Master John Oxnam, a gallant soul; and there be
Master Ellis Hixom, the captain his man, and a very worthy gentleman.
And Bob Pike, busy with the rum bowl--a good man, when not betoatled
with the drink. And O cryal! lookeedesee, sir; Bob hath a monkey at
his elbow, and hang me if he be not teaching the poor beast the taste
of rum. Oh Bobby, Bobby, the drink will be your undoing, an ye have
not a care. They spy us, sir; 'tis a right merry sight, good-now, and
warming to the heart."
A maroon came from among the company to meet them. He greeted Juan
warmly, looking with surprise and curiosity at his white companions.
Then they advanced into the clearing. Bob Pike, a red-faced mariner,
sitting on a tub, looked up as they approached, and raised his bowl
unsteadily, singing--
"Let us laugh, and let us quaff,
Good drinkers think none ill a.
Welcome, Haymoss; I know not where be coom from but here be a sup for
'ee, comrade.
Let us trip, and let us skip,
And let us drink our fill a.
Why, what ha' taken the wink-a-puss?"
His exclamation was occasioned by a surprising action on the part of
the monkey that had been crouching at his feet. With a chatter of
delight the animal had sprung up and was bounding on all fours towards
Dennis. Next moment it was on his shoulder, stroking his cap with its
paw.
"Fi, Mirandola," said Dennis, with a laugh, "hast forgot my admonitions
to soberness? Has all thy philosophy and my instruction not steeled
thee against temptation?"
"My thirst to staunch, I fill my paunch
With jolly good ale and old,"
sang Bob Pike; "though in truth it be new rum, for ale, under this sky,
would turn as sour as whey. Good-now, Haymoss, come and take a sup
with me, soul.
I drink to you with all my heart
If you will pledge me the same."
"Stint it, stint it, Robert Pike," said the elder of the two players,
looking up. "You'll be but a buddled oaf an you go this gait. But
odds-an-end, who be this?"
"An Englishman of Devon, so please you, captain," said Dennis, doffing
his cap.
"Out of sky, or earth, or sea, for I swear you are not of my company?"
"Out of earth and sea, sir, newly come to bid you my duty."
"And that is Amos Turnpenny, an I be not in a maze. We will finish our
game anon, Jack," he added, turning to Oxnam, "for there is a tale
hangs by this. Come, young sir, methinks I know your face, though
rabbit me if I can mind the when or the where of seeing it."
"It was on an occasion like to this, sir," said Dennis. "You were at
play with Sir Martin Blunt on Plymouth Hoe when----"
"Stay, I mind it well, and you were the youth that beat me! I was in
somewhat of a dander, to be sure. Are you of Sir Martin's party? Sure
I looked for him months agone to join me, and wanting him has not been
to my comfort. Is he at hand?"
"Alas, sir, Sir Martin has been at the bottom of the sea the washing of
many a tide. I alone am left of all his company."
"God rest his soul! He was a right good man. But tell me, then, how
it chanced that you alone escaped. And what brings you here in company
with this ancient mariner? Furthermore, what strange affinity hast
thou with this monkey, who is friends with that besotted knave alone,
and that only for the love of liquor?"
"Mirandola and I are old friends, sir. How he comes to this place it
passes my wit to guess; but he was my sole companion and friend on the
island whereon by God's mercy I was cast alive, in the same storm that
wrecked the _Maid Marian_ and swallowed all my dear comrades. There I
spent many a day and night without sight of human face or sound of
human voice, until Spaniards came purposing to cut logwood, with slaves
of whom Amos was one, the only white man. He had the good hap to
escape their hands----"
"Nay, captain," Amos broke in; "it was not good hap, but the wit and
spunk of Master Hazelrig. He saved us from the knaves, and led us to
the taking of their vessel, in the which we purposed to sail away; but
the knave captain blew it up with powder; wherefore it was we came to
the main in a canow of the maroons' devising, and did take that strong
fort and fastness of Aguila, where----"
"Stay, stay!" cried Drake. "Ods my life, this your tale makes my
noddle buzz with amaze. What is this about Fort Aguila?"
"Why, sir, 'tis as I say," replied Turnpenny. "We did sail to it in
the canow, which ran aground and was stove in. But we mounted those
walls by a ladder, and crept upon the fort by night, and drew out of
their dungeon all my comrades--Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and Tom
Copstone, and nigh a score more. And we dealt the knave Spaniards many
a dint, and took the fort, and blew up the towers, and sailed right
merrily away in their own vessel with great store of pearls and pieces
of eight. And the vessel was named in the Spanish tongue _Our Lady of
Baria_, but Master Hazelrig he could not abide the Papist name, and
called her by the very name he had afore bestowed on this heathen
beast, Mirandola to wit, whereas I would liever have called her Susan
or Betty----"
"Jack, is 't not a midsummer night's dream? A very mingle-mangle of
madness! Tell on; I have a soft ear for mariners' tales."
"I' fegs, 'tis no mariner's tale, sir, but very truth. We sailed away,
but the morn after, when it was mizzly, we spied a vessel that straight
gave chase, and but for the little small harbour of Maiden Isle,
whereinto we ran and lay hid and so diddled that knavish vessel, we had
e'en fallen again into those cruel hands."
"When shall we laugh, Jack?" cried Drake, smiting his thigh and loosing
a mighty roar that caused the archers to pause, and drew the smith from
his anvil, and at last brought the whole company crowding round. "Why,
friend Amos, that knavish vessel was my own tight bark the _Pascha_
yonder, and 'twas I myself that chased thee, ay, and would have caught
thee, too, but for the huffling of the wind. If 'twas thou handling
the vessel 'twas a mighty good piece of seamanship. And mine was a
knavish vessel, good-now! Ho! ho! 'tis a merry world."
"Be jowned if Ned Whiddon thinks so, or Hugh Curder, or Tom Copstone!
There they be, poor souls, marooned on that same island, which indeed
we took and named Maiden Isle for behoof of her gracious Majesty. We
fled from that craft which in our thought was a knavish vessel of
Spain, and remained a night and a day to refresh ourselves, intending
to sail thence on the morrow. But one of our company, Gabriel Batten,
a quiet good soul, but somewhat of a drumble-drone, did go astraying
after simples, and when the time came for us to embark, ods-fish, he
was not with us. In that night, Jan Biddle, a man of Belial, made off
with our vessel; but Master Hazelrig spied her ere she ran clear, and
we swam to her and clomb aboard, and were vumped topsy-versy by those
knavish mutineers. But they loosed us when she had made an offing, and
right well it was for them, for we were chased by three galleons of
Spain, and hardly escaped ashore in our jolly-boat. And then be jowned
if Jan Biddle and his villainous crew did not skip off hippety-hoppety
with the treasure we got with our pains at Fort Aguila----"
"Aha! I owe you a grudge for that, Master Hazelrig," cried Drake. "I
had heard of the pearl-fishery, and was e'en chasing you, supposing
your craft was a merchant vessel out of Venta Cruz or Cartagena, to
inquire somewhat of the defences of that same fort. I came by chance
to the place, and lo! it was a ruin. You beat me at bowls, young sir;
art minded, meseems, to beat me at other games."
"Truly, sir, had I but known you were in these seas, I would surely
have joined myself to your company, with your good leave, and served
you with all diligence."
"Wilt serve me now, lad?" Drake shot a keen glance at him. "I am
preparing a sore dint for the Spaniards, and have but few men for the
job. Wilt join me?"
"I could desire nothing better," said Dennis, with a flush of pleasure;
"but----"
"Say on; let me hear your but."
"Some half a score of Englishmen, the comrades of Amos, lie marooned on
yonder island, sir; and we came hither, when we heard of your presence,
to beg a vessel to go and fetch them off. Methinks one of the pinnaces
yonder----"
"Knavish vessels, good-now!"
"Crymaces, sir, will 'ee remember that against me?" Amos broke in. "A
man must say what a' thinks, but thinkin' don't alter what is. 'Twas
your vessel; then 'twas no knave."
"Save as the Spaniards think it so. Well, I would fain help Englishmen
in so hard a case, but at this present I cannot spare a pinnace; nay, I
cannot even spare a man. Yet when the matter I spoke of is brought to
an end, and falls out to our liking, I will go myself to that island
and bring off your comrades; for in truth I have a mind to see the
haven into which you fled and so 'scaped my knavish tricks. Methinks
it should prove a secret and comfortable place for myself. In brief, I
give you my word. Now, what say you to my proposal."
"Sir, I am yours," said Dennis, "and I thank you for your good will."
"Ay, and me likewise," said Turnpenny, "and Ise warrant a man of my
muscle can do summat against those villain dons--lookeedesee!"
He exhibited the knotty muscles of his arms with a simple vanity that
set Drake and Oxnam a-laughing.
"But not the monkey," added Drake, as the animal chattered in concert.
"He is prone to utter his voice out of season, and an indiscreet cry
might be the undoing of my purpose, and me."
"How comes the monkey here, sir?" asked Dennis. "We brought him with
us from the island; indeed, he would not be left; but he deserted us
some ten miles beyond Fort Aguila, and I supposed he had gone among his
kind and thought never to see him again."
"Why, we found him among the ruins of that fort, and meseems he saw
some likeness between Bob Pike and Turnpenny----"
"God forbid!" cried Amos earnestly.
"In muscle, not in manners," said Drake laughing. "Howbeit, he hitched
himself on to Pike, and hath accompanied us ever since, and I trow not
what Pike will say if the beast transfers his allegiance. But
good-now, the sun goes down; 'tis time to make our evening devotions
and then to supper. Methinks you, Master Hazelrig, have good cause to
render thanks to the Almighty Father for the wondrous things He hath
wrought in your behoof; and we have great plenty of fish, fowls,
rabbits and the like, which, I doubt not, will be comfortable fare to
you after your late privations. Come with me to my hut: I would hear
of your adventures more at leisure."
And thus Dennis became one of the company of Francis Drake.