Some dozen men only of the pirates remained unhurt. They, with Jack and
Sambo, were forthwith transferred to the frigate and placed in irons
below. "I'm no pirate," said Jack to the men who were handcuffing him.
"Oh, no," they answered with a laugh; "you looks like a lamb, and that
'ere craft there with the black flag flying is just an honest trader."
Poor fellow, he was begrimed with powder and smoke and blood, and looked
very unattractive. He felt very wretched, for he saw no means of
proving that he was innocent. His only comfort was that Sambo was near
him. They could thus carry on a conversation in an undertone. Sambo
had been so knocked about the world, and had been in so many strange
positions, that he was not easily cast down. "Neber mind, Jack--
something save us dis time too--we trust in God."
The _Lion_ frigate, which had captured the pirate, had been dispatched
from the West India squadron expressly to look for him, and now shaped a
course for Jamaica with her prize. From what Jack heard from the
pirates and from the crew of the frigate, he had no doubt that all of
them would be hung, as a warning to other evildoers. Uncomfortable as
he was, he was in no hurry to have the voyage over. He did not like the
prospect at its termination. He tried in vain to get the ear of some of
the officers of the ship that he might tell his tale. There was no
chaplain, or he would have spoken to him.
At length the frigate reached Jamaica, and Jack and his companions were
transferred to the prison on shore. They were there constantly visited
by a minister of the gospel, and Jack seized an early opportunity of
telling him how he had come to be on board the pirate brig. The
clergyman listened attentively to his tale, and cross-questioned both
him and Sambo on the subject. He often spoke to them, losing no
opportunity of turning their minds to eternal things. Still they were
left in doubt whether or not he believed their story.
The day of the trial arrived; Jack and Sambo and the other prisoners
were brought into the court of justice. The evidence against them was
so clear that their counsel had little to plead in their defence. Jack
simply repeated his story, describing how he and others, escaping from
the burning Indiaman, had been picked up by the whaler, and afterwards
wrecked on the coast of South America.
"I can corroborate one part of the story," said a gentleman, rising in
the court, "I was on board the Indiaman, and remember that young seaman
and the black, who both at different times performed some service for
me."
"I felt sure, also, that they were innocent," added the chaplain of the
prison; "they were the only two of all the pirate crew who from the
first knelt in prayer, and were resigned to the will of God,
acknowledging his justice and goodness."
"There's no doubt about their innocence," exclaimed a sunburnt,
broad-shouldered man from the crowd, whom Jack recognised as his friend
Mr Collins. "I was second officer of the Indiaman," he continued; "I
was wrecked in the whaler, carried off by the Indians, and have only
just escaped from them, and found my way here."
Still as Jack and Sambo had been found on board a pirate, and the
frigate wanted hands, though their lives were spared, it was on
condition that they should enter on board her. Three days afterwards
the survivors of the pirate crew were seen swinging on gibbets,--a
punishment they richly deserved.
This event having taken place, the _Lion_ frigate put to sea. Jack soon
found himself rated as an able seaman, and well able was he to do his
duty, to hand and reef and steer with any man in the ship. No one would
have recognised in the active, well-built, intelligent, sunburnt seaman
the poor little spirit-cowed workhouse lad, who a few years before had
left the shores of England.
After serving for some months on board the frigate, Sambo was raised to
the dignity of ship's cook, his chief qualification being his power of
enduring heat. For a better reason Jack was made captain of the
mizen-top, whence he might hopefully aspire to become captain of the
maintop. War, which had only lately been concluded by a peace, again
broke out, and the frigate was sent to cruise in search of an enemy.
Jack's heart beat high at the thought of meeting one. The last time he
had stood at his gun in action, its muzzle was turned against the very
ship on board which he now served, and he longed to show how he could
fight in a rightful cause.
He had not long to wait. The frigate, having the island of Barbadoes
some fifty leagues or so to the westward, caught sight of a stranger,
her topsails just showing above the horizon to the eastward. Sail was
made in chase, and as they rose her courses, she was pronounced to be an
enemy's cruiser of about equal force. The private signals were
unanswered, and as soon as the ships got within range of each other's
guns the action commenced. As the wind was from the westward, the
British frigate had the weather-gauge,--an advantage she kept,--and so
well were her guns served, that it was soon evident the enemy were
getting the worst of it. Still the enemy fought well, and many of the
_Lion's_ crew lost the number of their mess. At length it was resolved
to close, and carry her by boarding, for the night coming on it was
feared she might escape in the dark. Jack buckled on his cutlass with
no little glee, and, following the first lieutenant, as the ships' sides
touched each other, was one of the first on board the enemy. The decks
were slippery with blood; oaths, and cries, and shrieks, and groans, and
clashing of steel, and flashing and rattling of pistols, resounded on
every side, interrupted by loud roars, as both ships continued to work
their heavy guns as they could be brought to bear. Numbers were falling
on both sides; but the intrepid courage of the English bore down all
opposition, and the enemy being driven below or overboard at last cried
out for quarter. It was granted, and their flag being hauled down, the
well-won prize was taken possession of.
A violent south-westerly gale springing up soon afterwards, the frigate
and her prize were driven so far to the north-east that the captain
ordered a course to be shaped for England. There, in seven weeks or so,
they arrived, and the ship being shortly afterwards paid off, Jack found
himself in possession of no small amount of prize money.