truth of Alvaros' story which I undertook to make, yesterday afternoon.
Well, I can tell you this: I have ascertained, beyond all possibility of
doubt, that the Montijos are, as that scoundrel stated, in La Jacoba;
and also that they are all to be shipped off to Fernando Po by the
steamer _El Maranon_, which steamer is appointed to leave the harbour on
Sunday next. But by whose authority they are being thus summarily dealt
with, I cannot understand, or ascertain; the only thing which is quite
certain being that they have not been tried or convicted publicly.
That, however, is nothing, for it is common knowledge that scores--
indeed, I may say hundreds--of people who have been suspected of
disloyalty to the Government have mysteriously vanished, from time to
time, and have never again been heard of. In the light of what we now
know, however, there is little doubt in my mind that they have all been
sent either to Ceuta or to Fernando Po. Poor Cuba! She is indeed a
downtrodden country, and it is little wonder that her people are at last
rising up in arms against the atrocious system of tyranny and
misgovernment under which they are groaning. The Capitan-General is a
good man, and means well, I believe: but he is weak, and is moreover
hampered and embarrassed to the point of helplessness by the
multiplicity of impossible instructions which he receives from home;
and, furthermore, he is in the hands of a number of unscrupulous,
overbearing subordinates who have arrogated to themselves almost
autocratic powers, and who act upon their own responsibility, without
consulting him. I believe this is what has occurred in the case of the
Montijos: this fellow Alvaros has somehow managed to work himself into a
position of very considerable power, and I have little doubt that he,
and he only, is responsible for the whole shameful business, which, in
my opinion, has been neither more nor less than a determined but
unsuccessful attempt to force the unhappy Senorita Isolda into a
marriage with him!"
"Well," said Jack grimly, "he is going to repent of that business in
sackcloth and ashes before he dies; he has received his first instalment
of punishment this morning, and there is more in store for him!"
"By the way," said Don Ramon, "what do you propose to do with the
Montijos when you have rescued them, in the event of this mad scheme of
yours proving successful?"
"Oh," said Jack, "I haven't thought of that, thus far! Of course it
will be for Don Hermoso to decide where he will go and what he will do
when we have got him and his safely out of the convict ship. I imagine
that he will be anxious to return to his own place and take care of his
property, if he can. But, if not, he can always find safety in
Jamaica."
"Y-es," assented Don Ramon doubtfully; "that is of course all right, so
far as it goes. But the chances are that Alvaros' next move will be to
procure the confiscation of Don Hermoso's property, and secure its
possession to himself. Now, just let us consider that point for a
moment. Should that happen, what will poor Don Hermoso do?"
"I know what I should do in such a case," said Jack. "I should return
to my property, and if Alvaros happened to be in possession of it--well,
it would be so much the worse for Alvaros, that's all! I tell you, Don
Ramon, that in the struggle which is just now beginning in this island,
it is the bold, strong men who are going to `come out on top', as the
Yankees say; and in the course of the next month or two the Spanish
Government will have its hands so full that it will have no time to deal
with individuals."
"Yes," said Don Ramon with decision, "I believe you are quite right
there, my young friend, and probably the most daring policy will be the
safest for all Cubans to pursue. Yes, there are possibilities in that
idea of yours, I believe; but I must think it over at greater leisure
than I have to spare for it just now. Meanwhile, it will manifestly be
very advantageous for Don Hermoso to know precisely how affairs stand,
and what are the latest developments, before he attempts to return to
his home. I will therefore-- By the way, how long do you anticipate
that it will take you to effect the rescue?"
"Quite impossible to say," answered Jack. "The _Maranon_ will no doubt
keep the Cuban coast close aboard until she gets as far east as, say,
Cavana Point, and then steer about midway between Great Inagua and
Hayti, keeping to the southward of all the banks, and so passing into
the open Atlantic, probably `taking her departure', in the navigator's
sense of the term, from Cape Viejo Francais, on the northern coast of
Hayti, and striking thence, as straight across as she can go, to
Fernando Po. It is my intention to go to sea to-morrow, or next day,
perhaps, and lie in wait for her; after which I shall follow her at a
sufficient distance to avoid arousing the suspicions of the captain, and
pounce upon her at the first favourable opportunity that presents
itself. But probably, if all goes well with us, they will be free again
in a fortnight from to-day."
"Upon my word," said Don Ramon, laughing, "it is positively exhilarating
to hear the confident tone in which you talk; you are actually
inveigling me into the indulgence of some sort of ridiculous hope that
your enterprise will be successful! Now, let us talk for a moment or
two as though that hope were going to be realised. When you have
accomplished the rescue of our friends, you had better put into some
Cuban port where your yacht is not known, and communicate with me by
telegraph. Now, what would be the best place for you to call at?"
"Really," said Jack, "I don't think it matters very much; the _Thetis_
has been into practically every port in Cuba, but that is no reason why
she should not enter any of them again. For you must remember that it
will be some time before the escape of the Montijo family is known;
probably not until the _Maranon_ has travelled all the way to Fernando
Po and back--if she is indeed to return to Havana, which, by the way, is
by no means certain. How would Guantanamo do?"
"Guantanamo would do very well indeed," answered Don Ramon. "Yes;
Guantanamo let it be. Now, the next matter to be considered is the
question of a cipher in which to communicate, for of course it goes
without saying that a cipher of some sort must be used; it would never
do for such treasonable correspondence as we have in our minds to be
carried on in plain language, capable of being understood by every
telegraph clerk or letter-sorter through whose hands it may chance to
pass. You don't happen to be acquainted with any first-class cipher, I
suppose?"
"Yes, I do, if I can but recall it to mind," said Jack. "I met with it
in a book some time ago, and it struck me as being especially good from
the fact that it consisted entirely of figures, and that it was not
necessary to use precisely the same figures every time to represent any
particular letter; hence it seems impossible for anyone to decipher it
without the key. Now, let me consider: how did it go? Something like
this, I think. Can you let me have a pencil and a sheet of paper?"
Don Ramon produced the articles required, and Singleton set to work with
them. Presently he glanced up with an exclamation of satisfaction.
"Yes," he said, "that is right; I thought I had not forgotten it. This
is how it goes:" and he proceeded to explain the system to Don Ramon.
"Excellent!" exclaimed the latter; "nothing could be better, for it is
absolutely safe. Very well, Senor, we will use this cipher, then, in
communicating with each other; and you will wire to me upon your arrival
at Guantanamo. Meanwhile, I will make it my business to watch the
course of events here, and be prepared to furnish you with all the news
as soon as I hear of your return. Now, is there anything else remaining
to be arranged?"
They both considered for several minutes, and at length came to the
conclusion that there was not. Whereupon, breakfast having been by this
time dispatched, Jack rose and took his leave, laden down with kind and
encouraging messages for the Montijos, to be delivered when the rescue
of the family should have been accomplished.
From Don Ramon's house Jack made his way to the British Consulate, where
he bade farewell to the Consul, explaining to that gentleman that he was
tired of shore life, and intended to go to sea for a change; and that,
further, he did not in the least know whether he should return, or
whether he should decide to go home.
"If you will take my advice, young gentleman," said the Consul, "you
will go home--and stay there; or, at least, you will stay away from Cuba
until all these troubles are over."
Jack promised that he would give that advice his most careful
consideration; after which he bade his fellow-countryman adieu, and made
his way aboard the yacht, where Milsom was found busily arranging to
take the _Thetis_ alongside a coal hulk as soon as the water lighter had
cast off. The remainder of that day was a busy time for both men, for
Milsom still had his clearance to effect, and all the stores to receive;
while Jack spent the afternoon at the railway station awaiting the
arrival of the baggage, the due dispatch of which Calderon had notified
to him by telegraph. It arrived late in the afternoon, and was taken
straight aboard the yacht, where it was placed at haphazard in the
cabins lately occupied by the various members of the Montijo family.
Then, when at length the bustle of preparation was ended, and the yacht
was in condition to leave at a moment's notice, Jack and Milsom
adjourned to the chart-house to discuss those matters which were to
ensue upon the departure of the _Thetis_ from Havana harbour.
"Now," said Singleton, as he took from a drawer in the chart case a
large-scale chart of Cuba, and laid it on top of the case, "how long do
you suppose it will take you to effect the transmogrification of this
ship by means of that disguise of yours?"
"Well," answered Milsom, "seeing that I have never yet rigged the
arrangement, I am not prepared to say, to half an hour or so, just how
long it will take. I reckon that, under favourable conditions, it ought
to be done in about four hours; but, to make all certain, suppose we
call it twelve hours. That ought to suffice and at the same time leave
a sufficient margin for any small alterations that may be necessary.
You seem just a little bit inclined to sneer at my `wonderful' disguise,
Master Jack; but you had better wait until you have seen it before you
do that. I venture to remind you that I am a Navy man, and, as such, I
know a thing or two about disguising ships: I've had a little experience
in that direction during the carrying out of manoeuvres; and I am
prepared to make a bet that if you--not knowing anything about the
arrangement, mind you--were to pass this vessel, in her disguised
condition, within half a mile, you would never recognise her."
"All right, Phil, old chap, don't get your back up! I'll take your word
for it that the thing is all right," said Jack. "And if I seemed to
speak disparagingly of your contrivance, forgive me, old man, will you?
I've had a good deal to worry me lately, and I'm afraid that both my
nerves and my temper are a bit on edge; but I daresay I shall feel
better when we get to sea again and can start to circumvent the Spanish
Government, or at least that part of it which is responsible for the
misrule and shameful injustice which are rampant in Cuba. Now, I think
I understood you to say that you require quiet water to enable you to
rig this disguising arrangement, so I propose to go to sea to-morrow--
which will be Thursday--and run down the coast to the eastward in search
of a secluded spot in which we can effect our transformation without
being interfered with or overlooked by anybody. Now, let us have a look
at the chart."
"There ought not to be very much difficulty in finding a suitable spot,"
remarked Milsom, as the pair bent over the sheet. "Ah," he continued,
laying his finger upon the paper, "here we are! This should be a
perfectly ideal place; just sufficient water, a lee to shelter under,
and very little likelihood of being disturbed at our work. We can go in
here through the Boca de Sagua la Grande, haul up to the south-east, and
come to anchor in this little bight in two and a quarter fathoms of
water. And when our preparations are complete we can go out to sea
again by way of the Boca de Maravillas, thus avoiding the observation of
the people who tend the light on Hicacal Cay, who will be sure to notice
us as we go in. By the way, I picked up a rather useful little item of
information while I was ashore this afternoon. I fell in with the
harbour-master, who seems quite a decent sort of chap, as Spaniards go;
he and I have gradually grown to be rather chummy since we have been in
harbour here, and upon the strength of the fact that I was clearing for
sea I took him into that place on the quay yonder and cracked a farewell
bottle of wine with him. As we emptied the bottle we yarned together
upon various topics; and by and by he made some casual mention of the
_Maranon_, to which I replied by saying that she had the appearance of
being rather a fast vessel, and that I thought it a pity that her
skipper did not take a little more pride in her appearance and smarten
her up a bit by giving her a lick of paint occasionally. He shrugged
his shoulders and asked: What would I? The ship was a convict ship, and
her appearance was a matter of no consequence. As to her speed, she
could steam twelve knots, but her most economical speed was eight, and
he opined that eight knots would therefore be her pace on the trip to
Fernando Po, for which reason he rather pitied the unfortunate convicts
who were doomed to travel in her, for she had the reputation of being a
most uneasy ship in a seaway. I also ascertained from him that she is
timed to sail at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, which should bring her
off our hiding-place about--let me see--yes, about seven o'clock on
Monday morning. Now, if her skipper should chance to keep the coast
pretty close aboard, as he possibly may, we ought to catch a glimpse of
her from our masthead as she goes past: but if, on the other hand, he
should push her off into mid-channel, to get the full benefit of the
current, I think our best plan will be to allow her, say, four hours for
delay in starting, and then follow until we sight her, when our further
actions can be governed by circumstances. So I have instructed Perkins
to pass the word round among the deck hands for everybody to take a good
look at her, so that they may know her again when they see her."
"Good!" exclaimed Jack. "That is excellent; the news is well worth a
bottle of wine. You don't think, I suppose, that your friend had any
suspicion of our intention, and deliberately told you all that for the
purpose of misleading you?"
"Not he," answered Milsom confidently; "he is too simple a chap to
conceive any such suspicion as that. Besides, why should he? We have
done nothing to lead even the most suspicious Spaniard to connect our
departure with that of _El Maranon_. Oh, no! what he told me slipped
out in the most casual way in the ordinary course of conversation, and
you may be sure that I was particularly careful not to question him, or
to say anything which might lead him to suppose that I took the least
interest in the movements of the ship."
"Well," said Jack, "we must hope for the best; but I am horribly
anxious, Phil, lest anything should go wrong with this scheme of ours.
So much depends upon its success, you know. By the way, what about a
pilot for this place where we are going to transform the ship? How
shall we manage about him?"
"We shall not need to `manage' at all," answered Milsom, "for the simple
reason that we shall not take a pilot. If we get under way at about
eight o'clock to-morrow morning we shall reach our destination with
several hours of daylight in hand; and with the help of this chart, a
hand aloft on the foremast, and two leadsmen in the forechains, I will
guarantee to take this little hooker in and out of that berth without so
much as scratching her paint. Oh, no, we shall not take a pilot, who
might possibly go back to Havana and set people wondering what the
mischief was our object in slipping in behind Esquivel del Norte cay!"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE RESCUE.
With all due observance of the courtesies of the sea the graceful,
white-hulled _Thetis_ dipped a farewell salute to the Spanish warships
in Havana harbour as she next morning swept past them, outward bound,
shortly after nine o'clock in the morning of a glorious April day. Jack
was on the navigating bridge with Milsom, and as the beautiful little
ship, looking as spick and span as though just fresh from the stocks,
and with all her brasswork gleaming and flashing like burnished gold in
the brilliant morning sunlight, brought the lighthouse abeam and gaily
plunged her keen, shapely bows into the heart of the first blue, wind-
whipped, foam-crested surge that met her, and in joyous greeting
playfully flung a shower of diamond-tinted spray over her starboard
cathead, the young man sighed a sigh of relief, and flung from his
shoulders the heavy load of care and anxiety that had of late been
wearing him down a great deal more than he knew or even suspected: for
now, at last, the expedition that meant so much to him had actually
begun, and very soon he would know the best and the worst that was to be
known; and perhaps, after all, the worst might prove to be not nearly so
bad as he had been led to believe. Alvaros, he was convinced, was not
only a blatant braggart, but also an unmitigated liar, and it might be
that the foul deed of which he had boasted had never happened, and that
the boast was merely another lie.
Milsom, regarding his companion with a sympathetic eye, noted how Jack
straightened up and flung back his shoulders like a fighter preparing
for the fray, and how his eye brightened and his cheek flushed as the
strong, salt breeze met his nostrils and swept into his lungs,
exhilarating as a draught of wine--and chuckled, for he knew now that
the worst was over, and that the collapse which he had been half-
dreading would not now come. As for himself, he was as happy as a man
can be who is unable to forget that a calamity has befallen certain of
his friends. But he was a keen, light-hearted sailor, intensely fond of
his profession, and he was now fairly started upon an expedition that
very strongly appealed to his professional instincts; he felt like a
hunter, and the exhilarating excitement of stalking and running down his
prey tended to very largely obliterate the memory of everything else.
And he was throwing himself heart and soul into this mad undertaking of
Jack's for the deliverance of their friends; he saw the difficulty and
recognised the extreme danger of the adventure, and with keen zest he
laid himself out to conquer the one and evade the other. Even now, when
the yacht had but barely cleared the harbour mouth, he adopted his first
ruse for the mystification of the foe, for he understood that it was
quite possible that some curious eye might follow the course of the
vessel and possibly suspect something if it were seen that she was going
the same road that the convict steamer would be following a few days
later; he therefore instructed the helmsman to make a very wide and
gradual sweep to the eastward, hauling up almost imperceptibly at the
rate of a point every quarter of an hour, and thus rendering it
absolutely impossible for an observer to guess whether the _Thetis_ was
going out through the Florida Strait or down the Nicholas and Old Bahama
channels. Also, for the first hour he allowed her to travel at the
sober pace of fourteen knots; after which he spoke down the voice tube
to Macintyre in the engine-room, and the next instant the little craft
was shearing through the long, foam-flecked surges like a chasing
dolphin, as the Scotchman gave her all the steam that her engines could
take.
It was about seven bells in the afternoon watch when, the yacht running
in toward the land on a south-easterly course, the head of the mast from
which the light on Hicacal Cay is shown appeared dead ahead, and Milsom
at once gave orders for the engines to be slowed down to fourteen knots.
Then, turning to Jack, he said: "Now, young man, I shall want your
assistance, for I am going to personally undertake the job of piloting
the little hooker into her hiding-place. The chart still lies spread
out on the chart-house table, where we left it last night, and with that
before you you ought to be able to con the ship into the Boca without
the slightest difficulty. Once she is there, I will take charge again,
and give you my directions from the fore-masthead, whither I am about to
go; and I shall want you to stand by the engine-room telegraph and
transmit my orders to the engine-room smartly. You had better keep that
mast yonder fair and square over the bowsprit end until the Boca opens
out clearly; then you can ease your helm over to port and head her
straight in. Now, I'm off."
And, therewith, Milsom left the bridge and ran down on to the fore deck,
from which he was presently hoisted to the fore-masthead in a
boatswain's chair bent on to a whip rove through the sheave-hole at the
masthead. By the time that he was up there the low, mangrove-clothed
cays were visible from the bridge; then Jack gave orders for the helm to
be ported, and a quarter of an hour later the yacht shot into smooth
water between Bushy and Hicacal Cays, and Milsom took in hand the
conning of the craft, following the trend of the channel by eye from his
lofty lookout, with a couple of leadsmen in the forechains to further
help him. But there was no difficulty, for, once inside the cays, the
water was both smooth and clear, and Milsom was able to follow
unerringly the line of deepest water. As he had anticipated, the
unwonted spectacle of so trim and handsome a little vessel as the
_Thetis_ attracted the interested attention not only of the lightkeepers
but also of the fishermen inhabiting the little cluster of huts near the
cottage of the former; but that could not be helped, and, after all,
they probably concluded that the yacht was bound to Sagua la Grande, and
would think no more about her. And a quarter of an hour later she had
slipped round a projecting point, out of sight, and was safely riding at
anchor in her hiding-place.
As Milsom had foreseen, they reached their destination with some hours
of daylight in hand, and the moment that the anchor was down all hands
went to work and routed out from the secret recesses of the ship a
heterogeneous assortment of light iron rods, bars, angles, and sheets;
wood framing and planking; and great rolls of canvas, painted a light,
smoky-grey tint, which Milsom asserted would render a vessel practically
invisible at a distance of three miles, and the precise composition of
which had cost him weeks of anxious thought and study. Then the crew
were divided into three gangs; and while one party busied itself, under
Macintyre, in sorting out, bolting together, and fixing in position
those portions which were to effect a transformation in the appearance
of the yacht's bows, another party, under Milsom, was similarly employed
in altering the appearance of the vessel's handsome stern, and the third
party, under Perkins, was clothing the brightly varnished masts in
tight-fitting canvas coats, painted in the all-pervading grey which was
to be the colour of the vessel when the work of disguising her should be
complete; fixing a bogus fighting top on the ship's foremast; enclosing
the chart-house in a casing which should give it the semblance of a
conning tower; getting a couple of light signalling yards aloft; and
painting the several boats grey. When the men knocked off work at
sunset, a great deal had been done; but it was not until six bells in
the forenoon watch next day that the work of transformation was finally
completed to Milsom's satisfaction, and then the _Thetis_--temporarily
re-christened the _Libertad_--so strongly resembled a modern two-
funnelled torpedo gunboat that she might easily have deceived even a
professional eye at a distance of half a mile; and when, further, a long
pennant flaunted itself from the main truck, and the flag of Cuba Libre
waved from the ensign staff, the gallant skipper, critically surveying
his transmogrified ship from the dinghy, confidently announced that he
would defy anybody to trace the most remote resemblance between the
vessel upon which his eyes rested and the trim English yacht which had
steamed out of Havana harbour on the previous day.