The instant that Captain Montague stepped over the side of the schooner,
a handkerchief was pressed tightly over his mouth and nose. At the same
time, he was seized by four strong men and rendered utterly powerless.
The thing was done so promptly and silently, that the men who remained
in the gig heard no unusual sound.
"I'm sorry to treat a guest so roughly, Captain Montague," said
Gascoyne, in a low tone, as the unfortunate officer was carried aft,
"but the safety of my vessel requires it. They will carry you to my
state-room, where you will find my steward exceedingly attentive and
obliging, but, _let me warn you_, he is peculiarly ready with the butt
end of his pistol at times, especially when men are inclined to make
unnecessary noise." He turned on his heel as he said this and went
forward, looking over the side in passing and telling the crew of the
gig to remain where they were till their captain should call them.
This order the men felt constrained to obey, although they were
surprised that the captain himself had not given it on quitting the
boat; their suspicions were farther awakened by the active operations
going on upon deck. The sounds apprised them of these for the bulwarks
hid everything from view. At length, when they heard the cable slipping
through the hawse-hole, they could stand it no longer, but sprang up the
side in a body. Of course they were met by men well prepared. As they
were armed only with cutlasses, the pirates quickly overcame them and
threw them into the sea.
All further attempt at concealment was now abandoned. The man-of-war's
boat, when it came up, was received with a shot from Long Tom, which
grazed its side, carried away four of the starboard oars, and just
missed dashing it to pieces by a mere hair's-breadth. At the same time
the sails of the schooner were shaken out and filled by the light
breeze, which, for nearly an hour, had been blowing off shore.
As the coming up of the gig and the large boat had occurred on that side
of the schooner that was farthest from the _Talisman_, those on board of
the latter vessel could not make out clearly what had occurred. That
the schooner was a pirate was now clearly evident, for the red griffin
and stripe were suddenly displayed as well as the blood-red flag; but
the first lieutenant did not dare to fire on her while the boats were so
near. He slipped the cable, however, and made instant sail on the ship,
and when he saw the large boat and the gig drop astern of the schooner--
the former in a disabled condition--he commenced firing as fast as he
could load; not doubting that his captain was in his own boat.
At such short range the shot flew around the pirate schooner like hail,
but she appeared to bear a charmed existence, for, although they
whistled between her spars and struck the sea all around her, very few
indeed did her serious damage. The shots from Long Tom, on the other
hand, were well aimed, and told with terrible effect on the hull and
rigging of the frigate. Gascoyne himself pointed the gun, and his
bright eye flashed, and a grim smile played on his lips as the shots
whistled round his head.
The pirate captain seemed to be possessed by a spirit of fierce and
reckless jovialty that day. His usual calm self-possessed demeanour
quite forsook him. He issued his orders in a voice of thunder and with
an air of what, for want of a better expression, we may term ferocious
heartiness. He generally executed these orders himself, hurling the men
violently out of his way as if he were indignant at their tardiness,
although they sprang to obey as actively as usual--indeed more so, for
they were overawed and somewhat alarmed by this unwonted conduct on the
part of their captain.
The fact was, that Gascoyne had for a long time past desired to give up
his course of life and amend his ways, but he discovered, as all wicked
men discover sooner or later, that while it is easy to plunge into evil
courses it is by no means easy--on the contrary it is extremely
difficult--to give them up. He had formed his resolution and had laid
his plans; but all his plans had miscarried. Being a man of high temper
he had been driven almost to desperation, and sought relief to his
feelings in physical exertion.
Of all the men in the _Avenger_, however, no one was so much alarmed by
the captain's conduct as the first mate, between whom and Gascoyne there
had been a bitter feeling for some time past; and Manton knew (at least
he believed) that it would be certain death to him if he should chance
to thwart his superior in the mood in which he then was.
"That was a good shot, Manton," said Gascoyne, with a wild laugh, as the
fore-topsail yard of the _Talisman_ came rattling down on the deck,
having been cut away by a shot from Long Tom.
"It was, but _that_ was a better one," said Manton, pointing to the boom
of the schooner's mainsail, which was cut in two by a round shot, just
as the captain spoke.
"Good, very good," observed the latter with an approving nod; "but that
alters the game; down with the helm! steady!"
"Get the wreck of that boom cleared away, Manton, we won't want the
mainsail long. Here comes a squall. Look sharp. Close reef topsails."
The boom was swaying to and fro so violently, that three of the men who
sprang to obey the order were hurled by it into the lee scuppers.
Gascoyne darted towards the broken spar and held it fast, while Manton
quickly severed the ropes that fastened it to the sail and to the deck,
then the former hurled it over the side with as much ease as if it had
been an oar.
"Let her away now."
"Why, that will run us right into the Long Shoal!" exclaimed Manton,
anxiously, as the squall which had been approaching struck the schooner
and laid her almost on her beam ends.
"I know it," replied Gascoyne, curtly, as he thrust aside the man at the
wheel and took the spokes in his own hands.
"It's all we can do to find our way through that place in fine weather,"
remonstrated the mate.
"I know it," said Gascoyne, sternly.
Scraggs, who chanced to be standing by, seemed to be immensely delighted
with the alarmed expression on Manton's face. The worthy second mate
hated the first mate so cordially, and attached so little value to his
own life, that he would willingly have run the schooner on the rocks
altogether, just to have the pleasure of laughing contemptuously at the
wreck of Manton's hopes.
"It's worth while trying it," suggested Scraggs, with a malicious grin.
"I mean to try it," said Gascoyne, calmly.
"But there's not a spot in the shoal except the Eel's Gate that we've a
ghost of a chance of getting through," cried Manton, becoming excited as
the schooner dashed towards the breakers like a furious charger rushing
on destruction.
"I know it."
"And there's barely water on _that_ to float us over," he added,
striding forward, and laying a hand on the wheel.
"Half-a-foot too little," said Gascoyne, with forced calmness.
Scraggs grinned.
"You shan't run us aground if I can prevent it," cried Manton, fiercely,
seizing the wheel with both hands and attempting to move it, in which
attempt he utterly failed, and Scraggs grinned broader than ever.
"Remove your hands," said Gascoyne, in a low calm voice, which surprised
the men who were standing near and witnessed these proceedings.
"I won't. Ho! lads, do you wish to be sent to the bottom by a--"
The remainder of this speech was cut short by the sudden descent of
Gascoyne's knuckles on the forehead of the mate, who dropped on the deck
as if he had been felled with a sledge hammer. Scraggs laughed outright
with satisfaction.
"Remove him," said Gascoyne.
"Overboard?" inquired Scraggs, with a bland smile.
"Below," said the captain; and Scraggs was fain to content himself with
carrying the insensible form of his superior officer to his berth,
taking pains, however, to bump his head carefully against every spar and
corner and otherwise convenient projection on the way down.
In a few minutes more the schooner was rushing through the milk-white
foam that covered the dangerous coral reef named the Long Shoals, and
the _Talisman_ lay-to, not daring to venture into such a place, but
pouring shot and shell into her bold little adversary with terrible
effect, as her tattered sails and flying cordage shewed. The fire was
steadily replied to by Long Tom, whose heavy shots, came crashing
repeatedly through the hull of the man-of-war.
The large boat, meanwhile, had been picked up by the _Talisman_, after
having rescued Mr Mason and Henry, both of whom were placed in the gig.
This light boat was now struggling to make the ship, but owing to the
strength of the squall, her diminished crew were unable to effect this;
they therefore ran ashore to await the issue of the fight and the storm.
For some time the _Avenger_ stood on her wild course unharmed, passing
close to huge rocks on either side of her, over which the sea burst in
clouds of foam. Gascoyne still stood at the wheel, guiding the vessel
with consummate skill and daring, while the men looked on in awe and in
breathless expectation, quite regardless of the shot which flew around
them and altogether absorbed by the superior danger by which they were
menaced.
The surface of the sea was so universally white, that there was no line
of dark water to guide the pirate captain on his bold and desperate
course. He was obliged to trust almost entirely to his intimate
knowledge of the coast, and to the occasional patches in the surrounding
waste where the comparative flatness of the boiling flood indicated less
shallow water. As the danger increased, the smile left Gascoyne's lips,
but the flashing of his bright eyes and his deepened colour shewed that
the spirit boiled within, almost as wildly as the ocean raged around
him.
The centre of the shoal was gained, and a feeling of hope and exultation
began to rise in the breasts of the crew when a terrific shock caused
the little schooner to quiver from stem to stern, while an involuntary
cry burst from the men, many of whom were thrown violently on the deck.
At the same time a shot from the _Talisman_ came in through the stern
bulwarks, struck the wheel and carried it away with part of the tackle
attached to the tiller.
"Another leap like that, lass, and you're over," cried Gascoyne, with a
light smile, as he sprang to the iron tiller, and, seizing it with his
strong hands, steered the schooner as if she had been a boat.
"Get new tackle rove, Scraggs," said he, cheerfully, "I'll keep her
straight for Eel's Gate with _this_. That was the first bar of the
gate--there are only two altogether, and the second won't be so bad."
As the captain spoke, the schooner seemed to recover from the shock and
again rushed forward on her foaming course; but before the men had time
to breathe, she struck again--this time less violently, as had been
predicted--and the next wave, lifting her over the shoal, launched her
into deep water.
"There, that will do," said Gascoyne, resigning the helm to Scraggs.
"You can keep her as she goes; there's plenty of water now and no fear
of that big bully following us. Meanwhile, I will go below and see to
the welfare of our passengers."
Gascoyne was wrong in supposing that the _Talisman_ would not follow.
She could not, indeed, follow in the same course, but the moment that
Mulroy observed that the pirate had passed the shoals in safety, he
stood inshore, and, without waiting to pick up the gig, traversed the
channel by which they had entered the bay. Then, trusting to the lead
and to his knowledge of the general appearance of shallows, he steered
carefully along until he cleared the reefs and finally stood out to sea.
In less than half-an-hour afterwards, the party on shore beheld the two
vessels disappear among the black storm-clouds that gathered over the
distant horizon.