*IV*
Notwithstanding, or maybe by reason of, the marvellous good hap that hadattended all my devices up to this present time, I was aware of aflutter of disquietude about my heart as I followed Don Ygnacio into thebuilding. What I purposed doing must needs be done very quickly, andone untoward accident might very well prick the bladder of my impostureand wreathe a noose about my neck. I had laid my plans as warily as Imight, and now all stood upon my composure, the degree ofbrazen-facedness I could muster, and the degree to which the Spaniardcould be gulled.
We came first, having entered the passage, to the guard-room, where somedozen soldiers were assembled, casting the dice and taking their ease.The door of a room adjacent to it stood open, and there my eyes lit uponthe captain that had accosted me by the sea-wall, who, when he beheldme, rose up from his seat with trepidation, believing without doubt thatI had brought his general to punish him. I paid not the least heed tohim, and he made haste at Don Ygnacio's bidding to go to the hallbeyond, where the galley-slaves were confined, and bring forth theFrenchman.
When he was gone I asked Don Ygnacio whether there were not some privateroom where we might do our business, since it was not seemly that weshould be at the gaze of so many goggling eyes while the experimentumwas a-doing. He led me to a small ante-chamber some few steps along thepassage towards the hall, Stubbs remaining with his parcels at the doorof the guard-room, perfectly at ease, though he stood withinarm's-length of the men that had formerly oppressed him. Presently Iheard a clanking of chains, and the captain returned, bringing with hima lean and lanky scarecrow of a man, naked save for his loin-cloth, hispoll and face being shaven clean. It smote me to the heart to see inhis hollow eyes and sunken cheeks the altered lineaments of my dearfriend, erstwhile comely and jocund as any you would see. He lifted hiseyes as he came in, and regarded Don Ygnacio with a look of gall, notturning his gaze upon me.
"A sorry knave," said the Spaniard to me. "Think you, cousin, there isenough virtue in him for our business?"
"We can but try, excellency," I said, and at the words Raoul shiveredand looked at me with such amazement that I feared lest an unlucky wordshould betray me. I dealt upon him a sudden and meaning frown, thewhich escaped the observation of the others, they having eyes for theslave alone. To my exceeding joy he had the wit to take me, and castdown his eyes in the manner of one that hath no more hold upon theworld. Then I turned to Don Ygnacio and said:
"He hath a wild look, senor. It were meet that we have two soldiershere with us, so that we may make our trial in comfort and security."
"Certes," he replied, "we have already Captain Badillo; we will have aman from the guard-room."
"By your pardon, senor," I said, "the senor captain did me the honour toaffront me a while ago, and his presence at this time will so troublethe conjugations of the nerves, the which needs must be in perfecttranquillity, as to imperil the good success of our undertaking."
"It was a lamentable error, excellency," stammered the captain. "I wotnot that the worthy physician was akin to your excellency."
"Go, sirrah," said Don Ygnacio sternly. "Who affronts my kin affrontsme. Send hither two men from the guard-room."
I was never better pleased in my life than when the captain departed,for the two common ignorant soldiers would be much less like to suspectme. Thereupon I called to Stubbs to bring in the parcels, and when hecame, a little behind the soldiers, I shut the door, bade him undo oneof his bundles, and said gravely that all would soon be ready for theexperimentum.
Stubbs loosed the ropes and laid them, in the manner of a carefulservant, beside the bundle. From this when it was unrolled he took firstthree strips of a dark cloth, about an ell long, which he laid over hisarm. Then he brought forth a small roll of white canvas and gave it tome. I motioned him to withdraw to a little distance, as also thesoldiers; then I made Raoul stand a few paces from Don Ygnacio, facinghim. Posting myself betwixt the two, I drew from my pocket a small boxof powder of chalk, and unrolled the canvas, yet so that the Spaniardmight not see its inner side, and with solemn circumstance I dusted itwith the powder. This done, I stretched it out between my arms, andmaking two strides towards Raoul I bade him look intently thereuponwhile I counted ten. I heard Don Ygnacio breathing hard behind me as Igravely told the numbers one by one, and when Raoul informed me with hiseyes that he had read the words I had carefully imprinted on the canvas(they were: "Grip the Spaniard by the neck whenas I give the sign") Irolled up the canvas and stepped slowly backward, beckoning with the onehand Don Ygnacio, with the other Stubbs and the soldiers, to draw near.
You are now to observe that Raoul and Don Ygnacio were within ahand-breadth of each other, that one of the soldiers was close to me,and the second beside Stubbs. All was silent. On a sudden I let forth,very sharply but without raising my voice, the one word "Now!"Instantly Raoul was at Don Ygnacio's throat; I closed with my soldierand held him in a strangling embrace; and Stubbs, with the neatness of askilled hand, dealt his man a blow that stretched him senseless on thefloor. Quick as thought he handed to us two of the cloths that he hadupon his arm, and we clapped them into the mouths of our prisoners, hedoing the like with the third. So sudden were our motions that therehad been not the least opportunity of resisting us, and though DonYgnacio offered to cry out before the gag was comfortably settledbetween his teeth, Raoul bade him in a fierce whisper be silent or hislife was forfeit. It was short work to truss them with the ropes,thanks to Stubbs his deftness, and I knew with infinite gladness ofheart that the first part of my device was accomplished.
INSTANTLY RAOUL WAS AT DON YGNACIO'S THROAT]
There was still much to do, and our peril was but beginning. In twowords I acquainted Raoul with my plan. I asked him how many soldierswere on guard among the galley-slaves; he told me four, and every onehad a key to the padlocks wherewith they were fettered to the wall. Mydesign was to set free the slaves, seize upon the Captain-General'sgalley, the which he had so obligingly shown me, and put to sea. It wasnecessary to our success that the soldiers in the guard-room should besilenced, and also the Captain Badillo, if he was yet at hand; but sincewe could not hope, being but three, to overcome a dozen men, we mustperforce first set free the slaves, by whose assistance the feat mightbe easily compassed. Moreover, there was great need for haste, Stubbshaving told me that it was drawing near the time when the cookmen werewont to bring in the slaves' supper from the outhouses.
I opened the door stealthily, and peered along the passage to theguard-room. There was none in sight, but neither was there so muchnoise proceeding from the room as I should have liked. Nevertheless,since our case was desperate and would not abide long rumination, wedurst not stay for the nice weighing of chances, but had to act at once.I had had the soldiers brought into the room for a purpose, namely, thatwe might dress ourselves in their garments and so gain some covert forour device. I bade Stubbs strip the two soldiers of their gaberdines,and these we donned, he and I, and then proceeded with all quietnessalong the passage to the slaves' hall, Raoul being carried betwixt us,so that the clanking of his chains might not draw the soldiers forth ofthe guard-room.
Coming to the door of the hall we set Raoul down, and thrust him beforeus into the room, entering close behind him. I saw in a quick glancethe miserable slaves lying in a long row by the wall, and four soldiersconversing in a group about the middle of the room. The dusk of eveningforbade them to perceive at once that the two supposed soldiers that hadentered were not their comrades, and when at our approach they werecertified thereof they had not the time to collect their wits, forStubbs, by a little the foremost, smote one of them a dint that sent himheadlong against the wall, and then immediately grappled with another.Meanwhile Raoul and I had not been idle, each dealing with his man, andin a few moments we had all four at our feet, begging for mercy.
This had not passed without some noise, but having been careful to shutthe stout oaken door behind me I had a reason
able hope that the soundwould not have penetrated to the guard-room. The clamour that might havebeen feared from the slaves did not arise, so great was theirconsternation. I asked Raoul to acquaint them with our design, whilesthat with Stubbs' aid I stripped the soldiers of their outer garmentsand their arms, and trussed and gagged them as we had done afore withthe others.
Raoul told the men that all who could muster their courage had a goodchance of escape, but they must in all points obey me, a countryman ofthe great Dragon (so Sir Francis Drake was commonly known among them),who had come to their succour, and had already made a prisoner of DonYgnacio. He promised them hard work, and maybe their fill of fighting,and adjured every man that had no stomach for it to remain in hisfetters rather than irk the rest. Then we went swiftly from one toanother, unlocking their chains with the keys we had taken from thesoldiers. Never a man of them elected to remain, and though Raoul wasfor leaving certain of them that he knew to be poor-spirited, I deemedit best to release them all, lest those that were left should raise anuproar and so bring us into danger.
We arrayed four of the stoutest of them in the garments we had takenfrom the soldiers, covering their shaven heads with the morions thathung on pegs to the wall. Then with these four and four others, Raoulremaining in the hall, we ran swiftly down the passage to theguard-room, burst open the door, and by the vehemency of our onsetoverthrew the soldiers there in marvellous brief time. Stubbs andmyself we set to a-trussing the fellows, but the slaves contemned suchdelicate work, and gave quietus to their whilom oppressors with suchweapons as came first to hand.
While we were in the midst of this hurly-burly, on a sudden lifting ofmy eyes I saw Captain Badillo standing in the door betwixt theguard-room and his own apartment, and gazing at us in the manner of onebereft of his wits. I left trussing my fellow and sprang towards thecaptain, whom I caught by the scruff of his neck, and, showing him mydagger, bade him hold his peace on peril of his life. At that sameconjuncture some one cried that the cookmen were crossing the outercourt, bearing hugeous baskets of biscuit and great two-handed caldronsof meagre broth, as they were wont to do at this time. Extremity, Imust believe, sharpens a man's wits, for in the twinkling of an eye Ithrust the captain into the passage and towards the outer door, straitlycharging him to bid the men carry their burdens to the Captain-General'sgalley, since he had taken a sudden purpose to go a cruise. I hadSpanish enough, to be sure, to give the command myself, but I knew itwould come with authority from Captain Badillo, whereas from me, astranger, it might be slighted. My naked dagger was sufficientenforcement of my bidding, and in a trice I saw with satisfaction thecookmen change their course and stagger with their loads to thequayside. By this means I obtained for the slaves a modest dole offood, whereof I doubted not they stood in need.
SHOWING HIM MY DAGGER, I BADE HIM HOLD HIS PEACE]
Hasting back to the slaves' hall, I found that Raoul had ranged them allin readiness for departure. I had bidden Stubbs see to it that theslaves in the guard-room should don as much as they could of thesoldiers' garments and cover their bald pates with their morions, andbring also the weapons from his bundles, and then, myself going at thehead, holding Captain Badillo by the sleeve, we marched out and made ourway as swiftly as we might without sign of hurry to where the galleyawaited us. There was a sentry at the gate of the munition-house sometwo-score paces distant, but the dusk in some sort enshrouded us, andcertain it is we came to the galley without molestation or so much as acry.
But there a peril that I had not foreseen lay in wait for us. Thecookmen, having bestowed their burdens aboard, stood carelessly on thequay to witness our embarkation. A dozen of the slaves had shippedthemselves before these men were aware of aught amiss; but then onespied the villainous countenance of a notorious desperado beneath asoldier's morion, and communicating his discovery to his fellows, theywith one consent took to their heels and fled towards their quarterswith hue and cry. Sundry of them were felled by the slaves whom theyencountered, but the rest got themselves clear away, and it was plainthat ere long the alarm would be sounded in every part of the town. Icast Captain Badillo into the galley, and urged the rest of the men toquicken their speed, and they came helter-skelter, falling one overanother in their haste.
Now it seemed that all were aboard, but I had not observed Stubbs amongthem, and began to fear lest he had been intercepted. But I thenperceived him, and three of the galley-slaves, staggering towards mewith a heavy burden which as they drew near I discerned to be none otherthan the mountainous bulk of Don Ygnacio de Acosta. I cried to them tohasten their steps, the which they did, and arriving at the quaysidethey let their load fall with no more tenderness than if it had been abale of merchandise, and the Captain-General fell with a monstrousthwack upon the galley's deck.
At Raoul's bidding the men had already gotten out the sweeps. But atthis the eleventh hour I observed a pile of sails lying over against thesea-wall, and I commanded Stubbs and those with him to bring them to thegalley. The men who were aboard, in their haste to depart, had slippedthe moorings, and could hardly be restrained from pushing off withoutus. I heard Raoul upbraid them with great vehemency, and ask them howthey supposed they could escape with oars alone, whereupon they lefttheir striving and gave us time to tumble the sails in among them. Thenthe rest of us leapt aboard, I last of all, and the slaves, thrustingtheir oars with desperate violence against the quay-wall, drove therocking vessel out into the basin.
It was high time, for already there was stir and hubbub not a great wayfrom the quay, and at the very moment when we sheered off a shot wasfired, I doubt not by the sentry at the munition-house. Through thegathering dusk I saw a concourse of folk swarm upon the sea-wall and thequay, there being not a few soldiers among them. But all things hadbeen done so suddenly as that none but the sentry had had time to kindlehis match, and the galley was come forth out of the dock ere theyarrived at the quay. Shouting and cursing they ran hither and thither,in a perfect medley and confusion, there being as yet none to directthem what they should do. I could not forbear making them a mostcourteous salutation with my hat, though I fear the darkness and theirfury forbade them to mark the exceeding grace of it.
Turning to observe how things were ordered, I perceived that Raoul,whose knowledge of the harbour was the fruit of long and bitter travail,had established himself at the helm. I descended to the lower deck,where Stubbs had put himself over the oarsmen, who were set in their dueranks, and tugged at the sweeps with a vigour wherewith they had neverlaboured before, I warrant you. In sooth, Stubbs was constrained to bidthem moderate their ardour, inasmuch as there lay a reef of rocks on thestarboard side, and it would go hard with us if we by any ill-hap ranupon them. But the resolute and assured look upon their faces,villainous and forbidding as the most part were, confirmed me in mybelief that, barring any untoward accident, we should in no long time bebeyond reach of pursuers.
The harbour of Cadiz, you are to understand, hath a northward trend tothe mouth of the river Guadaloto, whence the coast of the mainland runsnorth-westerly until we come to the mouth of the Guadalquivir. Fourgalleys, as I have said, were at anchor nigh the munition-house, and atthe bulwark of Saint Philip at the north-east extremity of the islandlay other sixteen. The first four we had already passed, but we mustrun the gauntlet of the sixteen, the which when we should have done wehad nought to fear save perchance from the ordnance established on thecoast of the bay of Caleta. I knew right well that notwithstanding theclamour that filled the town, where alarm bells were dinning amain, sometime must needs be consumed before the occasion of the pother wasthoroughly known, and the galleys could be put in fair trim to pursueus. So indeed the event answered to my expectation, for we came prettynear to the mouth of the harbour without anything whatsoever happeningto mar our security.
It was now dark, yet not so black but that we could see our course, andbesides there were the lights of the town to serve our helmsman as guideposts. That the town was mightily astir was dem
onstrated by a shot thatwas belched out upon us by one of the great pieces mounted on thebulwark of Saint Philip. But it did us no harm, unless some slightdefacement of our figurehead that I observed next day was the work ofthis shot. Taking warning, Raoul steered the vessel hard over againstthe mainland, though I deplored the loss of time we suffered thereby.Indeed, but for this circuit which we made, and which, being a prudentmeasure, I could not gainsay, verily I believe we should have run outinto the open sea without any let or hindrance whatsoever. But ithapped that as we again bore westward, I perceived the black shape of agalley move from its anchorage in our wake, and presently after other ofthe same sort. This gave me no manner of apprehension, for we werefully manned, and our men, rowing for their very lives, were not like tobe outdone by the hapless slaves in our pursuers, even though they wereurged by the whip.
We were in another case when, as we came abreast of the point at thenorthern extremity of the bay of Caleta, a galley shot forth by theskirts of the rocks and made great speed to sea, not directly towardsus, but taking a slantwise course with intent to head us off, as seamensay. It was a hard matter in the darkness to make a nice reckoning, yetI thought we should outstrip even this the most threatening of ourpursuers. Being ware of a steady fair breeze off the land, I deemed itmere foolishness to neglect it; accordingly I bade Stubbs choose somefew men among the oarsmen that were mariners, and send them on deck tobend the sails. This proceeding caused us to lose way somewhat, thesails having been cast aboard without any care, and so needing time toorder them rightly. And when I saw that the captain of the galley inchase of us had foregone me, and being now come into the wind hadalready gotten his sails ahoist, I was not a little dismayed.Bethinking me of Don Ygnacio and Captain Badillo, hitherto mere idlepassengers and burdensome, I resolved to put them to the oars, notwithout a secret relish in the thought that they would now taste of thetoil they had heretofore inflicted upon the slaves. With my own handstherefore I cast Don Ygnacio loose, and bundled both him and the lessercaptain to the lower part of the vessel, giving them into the charge ofmy good Stubbs, with a strait injunction that he should urge them to adecent industry. I did not see with my own eyes how they accommodatedthemselves to their task, because I returned to the deck to look to thesails and also to keep a watch on the enemy. But Stubbs told meafterwards that he plied the whip right merrily on the backs of thosetwo proud Spaniards, and so wrought them to a just activity, to thegreat delectation of the galley-slaves, who themselves rowed with themore cheerfulness, beholding their tormentors dealt with after themanner they delighted in.
HE PLIED THE WHIP RIGHT MERRILY]
When our sails took the wind, the speed of the galley sensiblyincreased, but it was not long before I was troubled to see that ourpursuer was gaining on us. She had far outstripped her consorts, thewhich indeed were no longer visible, and might be left out of thereckoning. The darkness was waxing deeper, and I could scarce have seenour resolute pursuer had we not come opposite to the extreme westwardpoint of the island, where, before the friary of Saint Sebastian, agreat fire had been kindled, without doubt of set purpose to enfurtherthe chase. It was the customary place where beacon fires were made, togive warning of danger on the side of the sea. The ruddy glare, shiningforth over the water, showed me that the galley was no more than twofurlongs astern. We made all the speed we might, but I could not butperceive that the pursuer crept ever nearer, and I began to be exceedingapprehensive. Her oarsmen, having rowed not above a quarter of thedistance we had come, must needs be fresh by comparison with my own men,who had been straining at the oar without remission for close upon anhour. Furthermore, she would certainly have soldiers aboard her, maybeto the number of fifty or more, and we had no sufficiency of armswherewith to oppose them.
We had come beyond the cast of the beacon fire, into a vast impenetrableblackness. Pacing the deck in sore travail of spirit, and setting mywits on the rack if haply I might devise some stratagem that shouldprofit us, on a sudden I spied by the fore hatch a large vessel of ironshaped like a round bucket, and pierced with holes, which I knew wasdesigned to hold fire, whether for cooking or for illumination. I stoodfor a while chewing upon a device which the sight of this vessel had seta-working in my mind, and then hied me to Raoul to make him partner ofthe merry conceit I had fashioned. He heard it joyfully, and I wentwithout delay to put it in practice.
I gathered together some shreds of canvas and rope ends and stuffed themlightly into the vessel, mixing them plentifully with grease that wasemployed about the rowlocks, and liquid tar out of pots left in thegalley by the men that had been caulking her. Then I thrust two shortpikes through the topmost holes of the vessel opposite one to the other,as it were at the cardinal points of the circumference, and stopped theothers as well as I could. This done I strewed upon the top a handfulof gunpowder, and set in the midst a length of slow match that might betwo or three minutes in burning. Having kindled the match at its utmostend, I let down the vessel over the stern into the water, and with greatsatisfaction watched it float in our wake until nought was visible inthe darkness save the red glow of the match. Then I ran below and badeStubbs put the rowers to a very frenzy of labour, so that we might drawas far as we could from the pursuer while that their strength endured.
Returning to the deck I beheld my beacon burst into a bright flare; andthe pursuer coming upon it, I saw the galley with great clearness, andsparkling reflections from the morions and harness of the soldiers thatwere aboard. I knew that so long as the light endured our own galleymust be wholly hid from their eyes, and besides, they would be perplexedto know the meaning of the light, and might even suppose it to betoken afloating mine whereof they must be ware. Without doubt it would delaythem somewhat, and give me the few minutes I needed for the fullaccomplishment of my design.
As soon as I saw the galley come within the circle of light I gave theword to Raoul, who put up the helm, so that our vessel swung round in awide circuit until she was a cable length of her former course. I hadalready commanded the slaves to cease from rowing, lest the sound oftheir oars should acquaint the enemy with our movement. As we cameround I saw the galley draw out from the radiance, and heard the voicesof the men upon her. She sped directly forward, following the courseher captain supposed us to have taken.
When she was almost abreast of us, and scarce three fathom length away,I bade the rowers pull with all their might, and Raoul steered straightfor the galley. The rattle of the oars must have apprised the enemythat we were nearer than they supposed, but they were not thoroughlyaware of us until we were upon them. Then, as they spied our vessellooming big out of the darkness, there was a great outcry among them,and it appeared that divers commands were given, for one moment sheseemed to be swinging round to oppose the imminent shock, the next sheheld on her course as if endeavouring to evade us. By her greater speedshe might without difficulty have drawn clear, but in bearing up shelost way, and so enabled us to diminish the gap between her and ourgalley.
Under the sturdy strokes of our oarsmen the galley in a manner leapttowards her. We were greeted with a pretty hot salvo from hermusketeers, but there were no more than two or three of us upon thedeck, and we were flat on our faces, all save Raoul, so that what withthe sway and toss of the vessels and the flurried aim they took, wesuffered no hurt. While the smoke still hung in the air there was amighty crash: the bow of our galley had cut the other a little abaft ofthe mainmast. Being fashioned for this very device of ramming, our beakhad, I doubted not, stove a hole in her side, whereas I could notsuppose that we had been endamaged, though the vessel quivered from stemto stern.
Immediately after we struck I commanded the oarsmen to back water, bywhich means, and the cunning handling of the helm, we withdrew a space.From the enemy's galley came loud shouts of fear and consternation, andI heard some say that she was sinking. It troubled me that, to save ourown skins, we had perforce imperilled the lives of three-score haplessslaves that had done us no wrong, but were indeed in a
like case withour own men; but the breeze brought with it the rattle of the oars ofthe galleys that had first set off to pursue us, and I could very wellleave the men of the foundering vessel to be rescued by their fellows.Our need was to draw clear away as swiftly as we might. Accordingly Icommanded our men again to ply their oars, and this they did the morewillingly, despite their fatigue, because they exulted in the cripplingof their adversaries.
We were now come into the open sea. Our men pulled with measuredstrokes for a full half-hour before I deemed it prudent to suffer anyintermission. Then I bade them lie upon their oars while I hearkenedfor sounds of our pursuers. There was not so much as a whisper. I couldnot but believe that the commanders of the galleys had given over theattempt to come up with us. Yet, as I took counsel with Raoul, I durstnot rest thoroughly assured that all danger was past, nor all need forlabour and watchfulness vanished. The galleons in the harbour wouldsurely make sail as soon as they could be put in trim, and scour the seafor leagues around. Furthermore, we might fall in with some vesselhomeward bound, or perchance outward bound from Lisbon to the Americas.It behoved us then to be very wary, and, as our proverb says, not toholla until we were out of the wood.
Our men, having fasted since the morning and toiled very hard, were indire need of food, and I hazarded to rest for so long as they might taketheir fill of the broth and biscuit which the cookmen had broughtaboard, bidding them spare enough for another meal. We should not beutterly safe until we made a French port, Bordeaux being the mostlikely, and we were distant thence, at the very least reckoning, upwardsof three hundred leagues. Within a single day we must needs be in direstraits for food, but I had conceived a plan for supplying ourselves sosoon as we were free from the immediate fear of pursuit.
When we had all eaten and drunk very heartily, though in good sooth thefare was of the poorest, we sped on again, the men taking turns to row,and so continued all that night. We directed our course at a venture,but at break of day we saw with thankfulness that we were not a greatway from the shore. There was no safety for us but in boldness;accordingly Raoul steered directly for the land, that was very barrenhereabout, and we put into a small bay, and ran the vessel abeach,purposing to lie up there and take our rest. I parted the whole companyinto watches, and we slept by turns, the men of each watch beingstraitly charged not to stray from the low beach to higher ground.While we stayed in that place I saw several galleys and one greatgalleon cruising in the offing, which I guessed to be hunting for us;but we were very well hid, and I thought it would scarce come into theheads of the Spaniards that we had adventured ourselves ashore.
During one of the watches I talked long with Raoul concerning theoccasion of my venturing upon this course for his behoof. He was inperfect ignorance of the complicity of the Count de Sarney in hiskidnapping, and was loath to believe that his uncle could have descendedto such a depth of villainy. I was at no pains to bring him to my ownpersuasion, being content to leave the unravelling of the plot until weshould come safely to his home. He drew from me the full tale of myadventures, breaking into a great gust of laughter when I related themanner of my dealing with Don Ygnacio. I assured him that he owed allto my honest mariner William Stubbs, on whom he bestowed thanks withoutstint, promising me in secret that, if we got safe to Torcy, he wouldreward him with much more than barren words.
We lay in that spot for near six hours, and then, having consumed allour food, saw ourselves faced by the prospect of famine. Certain of thegalley-slaves, who were for the most part desperate and abandonedruffians that richly deserved their fate, began to murmur, and notwithout reason, for it is no profit to a man to leap out of thefrying-pan into the fire. In this strait I bethought me of the usewhereto I had imagined putting our noble prisoners, Don Ygnacio andCaptain Badillo. We launched our galley when the tide was full, andmounting into her, coasted along for a league or two until we descried avillage of fishers nestling in a hollow between the cliffs. We then ranashore, and made Don Ygnacio write on his tables a formal requisitionfor meat and wine, signing it with his full name and titles. And I wentup the land with Stubbs and Captain Badillo, together with a dozen ofthe galley-slaves bearing baskets and buckets; and giving the captain toknow that I would certainly use my dagger upon him if he by word, deed,or even with wink of eye betrayed us, we marched boldly to the village,where he presented his mandate to the people, and received from themenough to supply our instant needs. When I saw how grudgingly theyfurnished us, I pitied the poor folk, and wished with all my heart thatI could pay them, suspecting that the minions of the Spanish king werenot over scrupulous in honouring this sort of debt; but my purse waswell-nigh empty, and I could only trust that Providence would in dueseason repay them a hundredfold.
The story we gave out was that the Captain-General of the King's galleyswas making a voyage to inspect the coast, and we found this served us toa miracle among the ignorant fisher folk, both at this place and at themany other villages on the coast of Portugal where we made likeperquisitions on the days succeeding. We pursued our way every night,and rested every day, choosing only small paltry places whereat toobtain food, and such as we might adventure into without raising a windof suspicion. Nowhere did we come within an ace of danger save at onevillage, whose parish priest, a canon of Salamanca, would not be stayedfrom paying a visit of ceremony to the illustrious and worshipfulCaptain-General. It was a marvellous whimsical thing to behold theirmeeting, the priest offering gracious incense of flattery to the royalofficer, who received his compliments and felicitations, I being at hiselbow, in a mood betwixt dudgeon and impotent rage. I caught a look ofpuzzlement on the worthy canon's face as he made his adieu, and I fearme he carried to his humble parsonage a blighted estimate of thecourtliness of princes' servants. As for me, I thanked my stars thatthe peril of discovery had as it were but lightly brushed us.
Our plan of hugging the coast, yet not so close as to risk our bottom onrocks or shoals, kept us far away from the track of sea-going vessels,and the weather being exceedingly fair, we accomplished fifteen ortwenty leagues a day without danger from the elements or man. Thevoyage was tedious beyond telling, but I did not grudge it, for joy atbeholding the amelioration it wrought in the health of my dear friend.I laughed often to think how the transfusion I had proposed in trickeryto Don Ygnacio was in process of accomplishment by the agency of nature.He became leaner in proportion as Raoul indued flesh, and my scrupulouscare that he should not have the means to overeat, but should perform afitting share of labour at the oar, did not only reduce his bulk, butalso brought his body to a healthful condition whereto he had beenstrange for many a year. He showed me no gratitude, and paid me nofees, though I declare without boasting that I did more for him than anyphysician or chirurgeon that ever mixed a powder or wielded a scalpel.
I used my endeavour to wrest from him a full confession of hisvillainies, but he would never admit further than what we knew: that hehad received moneys from his cousin the Count de Sarney. As for thekidnapping, he avouched most solemnly that he was as ignorant asinnocent in respect of it; but inasmuch as Raoul had acquainted him ofhis name and condition, and besought him with many promises to set himfree, I concluded that he had found his best interest in playing thehorse-leech upon his cousin.
We came in due time to Bordeaux, where our story, when it leaked out,became a nine-days' wonder. I am very sure it would have mightilypleased the Sieur Michel de Montaigne, had he been yet alive; of whoseEssays I purchased a very pretty copy before I departed. We sold thegalley at a price much above its value, to a rich noble of Perigord, whodeclared his intention of keeping it for his private pleasure, and for aperpetual memorial of the gullibility of Spaniards. Every galley-slavereceived his freedom and his proper share of the purchase money, thoughI confess I was uneasy in my mind when I thought of such rapscallionsbeing loosed among honest people. We delivered Don Ygnacio and CaptainBadillo to the mayor, who threw them into prison until he should advisehimself concerning their future. Then o
ne fair day I took ship withRaoul and worthy Stubbs in a vessel bound for Calais, being somewhat inpocket by my adventure.